You Yangs (oops....)

Sorry everyone, I hastily posted earlier today without putting up new photos.  Sorry.

It is just two years ago (last week) that I moved from Anglesea on the Surf Coast to Lara, just outside of Geelong (about 1 hrs drive from Melbourne).

Here are two links to Parks Victoria for the You Yangs and Serendip Sanctuary which are part of the Lara area.  The You Yangs as you will see is a large rocky outcrop that rises out of the surrounding farmland.  Serendip Sanctuary is a bird and fauna sanctuary located at the base of this Rocky Outcrop.  The township of Lara has two small lake areas one is fed from Hovels Creek and the other is man made.  I actually live between these two areas.  The Melbourne/Geelong Highway (Princess Highway [A.1]) passes by the southern edge of the town.

As you can see from the above links it is a beautiful place to live.  I have gone from a 'sea-change' to a 'tree-change'.

Do you remember my 'blank' garden?  Check back to this posting and also this one to see some of the 'original' photos. The previous owner had mulched everything.  Here is what some of the photos now look like -

This is the corner of the back garden.
Natives plus some Geraniums.

Side garden showing my herbs - Sage, Lemon Thyme,
 Oregano and the big one behind Rosemary

The side wall at the back of the garage, near the outdoor table
 and chairs.
 Growing ferns, yukkas, and shade loving plants

My Stag Fern on the back wall between bathroom
 and toilet windows.

Stage 1 - Starting the garden

Remember when I first moved and the lovely blank canvas I had for my garden.  Well I have cleaned it up, removed the mulch and dug it all over.  Added some compost that came with me from my worm farm. Sadly the worm farm has now found a new home.

First things first - I planted out the herbs that I bought with me, my quite large Rosemary (which by the way has been trimmed);  my oregano, just in front of the Rosemary, that is just starting to show new growth;  chives on the right - they transplant well; lemon thyme, left of the oregano (I prefer this to ordinary garden thyme).  This one has really pretty little flowers when blooming.

Lastly my perpetual Basil, behind the oregano an thyme..  The Bay Tree stays in the large tub (not shown here).

You can also see the small lime tree and in front of it sitting on the small wooden block is my sun dial and in the second photo it is showing the correct time (that is the time I took the photo last week.... You find where direct north is on a map of your street (Google is great for this) face the dial directly north. Then on the first day that sunlight is shining, at exactly 12.00 noon you adjust the arrow so there is NO shadow.  If you go out earlier or later and do your adjustments, the time will always be out by that 1/2 hr or so.  When I took this photo it was 11.35am.

Of course the time is only correct when the sun is out - no shadows and you can't tell the correct time.

Ah, I hear what you're saying - what happens when Daylight Savings begins or ends.....when you change your clocks inside the house you change the dial outside - at the first day when the sun is shining at 12.00 noon.

Mr Garden Gnome is not forgotten - he is sitting on one of the round posts that are attached to the skirting board along the garden bed.  He loves it there - a bit of sun to keep warm and he is doing a marvellous job of looking after my plants.  And he has to take special care of my lemon tree.

Next is the planting out of some of the cuttings and pots I bought with me.  Still working on it.  Will post more photos when finished.

Don't let anybody tell you moving house is a breeze.....

It isn't!

My apologies to you all for not posting sooner, but if you have ever moved a whole house mainly by yourself, you will understand how little time one has for simple pleasures like Blogger, FB, etc.  Just checking emails took enough time to delay some unpacking.

It is a lot of hard work, sometimes very confronting when having to choose if you will take a certain item or not.  I'm not sure if packing up a house after 30 years is harder than unpacking when downsizing to a smaller house or unit in my situation.  Anyway it is all over with now, albeit there are still quite a few boxes in the garage, but the main stuff is out and 'sort of' in it's place.  I have already moved things around after discovering they weren't in the best position!!

Where have I moved to?  A small town called Lara, just the other side of Geelong, which is about 3/4 hr drive from Anglesea, BUT it now means I'm only 3/4 hr or so from the family in Melbourne.  Most of the move was pretty well straightforward, but that skip that you see in the previous posting was not enough - I had to arrange for another one and I filled it as well!

I'm not sure about the population of Lara, I think it's safe to say bigger than Anglesea, but it still has that lovely friendly country feel about it which I love. 

My garden of course is much much smaller - in fact there isn't much at all - I think the previous owner was not a gardener!  The back is paved and although there is a small section along the back and side fence that is fully covered with a wood type of mulch.  So glad I dug up some things from Anglesea, just have to work out which side of the back would suit them best.  As my yard faces north it gets all the afternoon sun with just a few spots near the garage that are in the shade. Great for vegie patch and small fruit trees. (Note to self - must remember to get a lemon tree.....can't live without fresh lemons).

You can see from this photo I also bought with me some pieces of my water feature.  Again have to wait and see where the sun shines the most before I re-install it.  Hopefully along the left side of this pic (which is out of view) will get less sun and be more in the shade than the rest, then I can have my fish again and/or encourage frogs back - love, love the sound frogs at night.

There are many places around and in Lara that are designated 'wet-lands' for nature flora and fauna, so 'fingers crossed' I can encourage some of it into my yard.

I hope you all forgive me for taking so long to post, but this should be remedied now I'm more organised!  Thank you for your patience.
Take care, everyone,

Joy
ps - I'm going to have to change my banner and info...

More Spring colour

Lots more colour in my garden.  As you can see I mulch with whatever I sweep up from the paths and rake up from under the gum trees.  I also use the trimmings from any bushes I cut, and the odd log or two.

 

In a couple of weeks my bottle brushes will be in flower - they have heaps on buds on them now.
.

Amazing what a little bit of sun can do

especially after the rain.  Remember in a previous post I was a tad excited that Spring was coming.  After that posting we had some more light rain and in between beautiful sunny days.  Now look at my garden.

 Colour popping out of every little corner.  Ah Spring, love it, but not the pollen!

  

 

Spring is coming....

How do I know?  Instead of green, green, green, some colour is starting to showing in my garden. 

My Fresias are up but still green. 

Not a lot of colour yet, but this is a start.