Thursday, May 19, 2011

Garden Wreckage

Builders, even nice builders like ours, inevitably damage a garden. Machinery and goods have to be moved in and out, new drainage lines have to be dug (Oh! Farewell, Salvia 'Black Prince'! sob). We also had a huge new pit drain installed, which ran further under my vegetable patch than I realised. I knew its length; I hadn't realised the width! In the left foreground is a mound of reasonable soil from the vegetable patch, taken from the drain area. The bare earth on the right-hand side is mostly clay.


And the only thing coming through the clay is onion weed.


Apart from the occasional nasturtium and borage.


My damaged and unmaintained vegetable patch, however, still has a few surprises. The leeks and red silverbeet are still going, along with the sorrel and a Tuscan kale. I wasn't surprised to find volunteer parsnip everywhere, because that's what parsnip does. What did surprise me was the chervil on the far side of the garden, and feral Florence fennel everywhere!


The other surprise is our sneaky Banskia spinulosa. This plant has been sitting there for years, refusing to flower, growing nicely but not a "candle" in sight. But now we aren't looking at it, what has it decided to do?
Hmph!

5 comments:

Lanie said...

Good post to read as we are thinking of renovating. Note to self - just accept that parts of the garden will be damaged.

Katie M said...

I feel your pain! I have been following your blog for a little while as we are renovating too. This is the state I found my garden in the other day ~sob~
http://heartsdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/05/oh-bugger.html
Good thing it's not forever!

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Builders always wreak havoc on a garden. Sorry about the loss of your beloved Salvia.

It's amazing what sturdy troopers most vegs are. Glad you have plenty to harvest!

OT am enjoying my Australorps chooks very much: they are friendly, good layers, healthy and very pretty. Also very good at demolishing kitchen scraps!

Chookie said...

Lani, yes, it will hurt less if you know that builders need elbow room! Glad to hear your choko report as I'm considering one for quick shade.
Hearts_in_Asia, it does look a mess but it's a lot better than the mess you'd have without drainage!
YE, Australorps are lovely household chooks. You are going to love having them!

Anonymous said...

Oooh that Banksia!! ::love::
I have a dwarf Birthday Candle Banksia near my letter box which has sulked for years.
In the past few years it has put on quite a bit of foliage, but still no flowers :(
...AND I have a builder at my house at the moment ... so obviously the secret must be that it needs more privacy before it flowers ;)