We've just had nearly a week of glorious days - sunny and warm after a chilly (by Western Australian standards) night. A good thing too as the Council is having its Green Waste Clean Up in our area with roaring chain saws and crashing branches everywhere all weekend. We had relatively little to prune - only six wheelbarrow loads - but I filled five large boxes with couch and onion weed and feel full of virtue. The vegie garden is still a waving pasture of weeds but, given the demands on my time over the last year, that's only to be expected. I miss being able to wander out to pick vegetables for dinner just before I start cooking. Time for positive steps. I'm seriously considering borrowing some of my neighbour's hens and setting them loose in there. Who knows, I might score an egg. Then sheet mulching and an order of sheep poo.
Today there will be no gardening. A severe cold front came through during the night and is still blustering away. Each time I look outside another potted plant has fallen over. I'm glad I picked the roses last night. The few I left on the bushes are already badly battered and bruised.
The other thing I see as I look out is no trees. The house behind us has changed hands. It has been badly neglected for years and the new owners are trying to restore order. Nearly all the trees that lined the back fence have had to go. They were planted much too close to the fence and each other and over-run with star jasmine. I would probably have done the same thing in their place but, oh, the birds. The jasmine thicket provided food, shelter and nesting places. Dozens of birds made their homes there - at least seven different kinds of honey eaters and wattle birds, not to mention visiting mudlarks, willy wagtails, magpies, ravens, butcher birds and parrots. We will put creepers in and a trellis of some sort but it will be years before the nesting and food sources can be replaced.
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