A constant theme over 3+ years of blogging has been my desire to have a nice garden to enjoy when we are in residence at the village.
It was back in January 2009 when I first blogged about my plan.
It changed slightly when my father in law died but by May the same year we were knocking down his house to make way for the garden.
I blogged a lot about various aspects of our garden including building a pebble path, trellis, fences and gates, side gardens, water tanks and even a dunny but the main part for me was getting in some turf. To be able to kick a footy or throw a frisbee on my own lawn without tripping over stray dogs, chickens or buffaloes was always going to be the highlight and I was very happy when in July 2011 I blogged about the turf finally going in.
Just a week after the turf was laid we had to return to Australia where I could worry about how my lawn was faring. There were a few reasons for my concern. The main one being that my Brother in Law who was looking after it has no experience at all with lawn. I was worried that prickles would take hold and I was also worried about it dying from lack of water. We do not have enough water pressure to use sprinkles so it was being flooded every day using hoses scattered around the yard. The turf was laid in the dry season so it had to rely on this for four months before the wet season rains arrived. As we have no lawn mower the BIL also planned to use a whipper snipper (weed wacker) to keep it looking neat.
I really should not have been worried as nine months later when we eventually got back the place was in much better shape then I imagined. Sure he had cut it too short in places (brown spots) and it needed some fertiliser but take a look for yourself. The fact that it was copping a hammering with dozens of kids and some adults playing on it for hours every day it held up pretty well considering how young it is.
The pots still have not been moved as their new home is not ready to receive them yet. Hopefully they will be gone by the time we next visit.
Even the pebble path still looked the goods!
The herb garden had really taken off and the neighbours were all happy to receive daily gifts of fresh produce.
The two mango trees we had planted a year ago were really coming along well.
It ain’t no MCG but it is my own little place of fun and games with my kids. Every morning and evening we were out there wearing a hole in the lawn playing all sorts of games. I hope it has enough time to rest and regenerate between visits!