My Patch of Heaven: Let the work begin

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Let the work begin

Hey Everyone,
Yesterday I was out in the afternoon doing some weeding, and one of the major problem spots in the Brom garden. The problem is, in this particular garden the wood-chip mulch is about a foot deep or more, which would normally be fine and deter the weeds... however, last year we got some tree loppers in the clean up some of the trees and bushes that we had because they were a mess and all full of Potato Vine, the trees got cleared away and mulched, and we kept it so that I could use it on the gardens... However, I wasn't there at the time so I didn't realise that they had chipped the PotatoVine... it is at this point that I think I should inform you all that blasted Potato Vine grows from cuttings, so I now had a big mulch pile full of cuttings, and promptly spread it all around the garden.

Now instead of just having potato vine in the front garden, I have it in EVERY SINGLE GARDEN! And it is promptly sending me nuts. Anyways, Back to the broms.

Normally brom gardens are great because they need the thick mulch for the broms to grow in, which also suppresses weeds, however, now the mulch is growing copious ammounts of Potato Vine which is very difficult to pull out of big, spiky Bromeliads, so it's been one of those jobs that got put off, and put off.

But now that's IT, it's over, the garden is gonna get it.

So, shovel, rake and hoe in hand I attacked.

The garden also copped a beating from the storm when the gum-tree above dropped a couple of mammoth branches which brought down the shade cloth which I have only recently put up.

This is what the garden looked like yesterday just before I started, and I'll take some photos this afternoon before I do a bit more work, and then the same again tomorrow, and so on, so forth until the garden is under control!

I swear I shall get this garden looking nice, and under control. I'm debating wether or not to remove all the mulch and replace it, or to just do another layer on top.

Also further down in the garden I'm really glad because everything is finally starting to fill up the gaps. I have a big heliconia that I want to move to a spot under the shade cloth, and the cannas that I placed in the garden are growing fairly well, but they'd probably be growing a million times better if that blasted vine wasn't in there.

An exciting discovery from yesterday was that I've had a Passion Fruit Vine pop up, and I guess sharing the Passion Fruit with the possums from the vine that was on the other side of the house has paid off, because that vine died several years ago, but now this one is here and it is growing great guns, and has HEAPS of new flowers, and subsequent fruits on it. YAY!