Some seeds arrived in the post this week, i'm feeling a little excited, that should fuel all the digging i have to do in order to plant them now that the rain has eased up over the last few days.

the peas are part crop and part green manure, the sweet peas will go next to the passionfruit trellis, other green manure seeds here are vetch and buckwheat. There is alyssum, queen annes lace and phacelia tanacetifolia (or fluffy phacelia or purple tansy) that i've read is good for green manure, and bees, and will grow through our mildish winter. I got a free pkt of viola's with my glucosamine delivery.

We have a new addition to the acreage. A 15hp chipper/mulcher.

The ground is still sodden from all the rain, so i can't mow yet. Spent Saturday afternoon working our way through the stockpile of cuttings, turns out the chipper doesn't process wet material well, but still we managed to get quite a nice pile of chips and mulch for the new vegie patch.

boring wet weather

well it's been raining all week, and all weekend so Oden amused himself in true doggy style lol

The persimmons are sweet! a funny squat shape, but they are ripening nicely and have a sweet, perfumed flavour. I think the rain might be too much for them though as most of them have a split in the bottom.

this hibiscus is just gorgeous, the edges are brighter gold than the pic looks. The bush is covered in buds, but needs pruning, I've been giving it seasol.

i don't know what this shrub is called, the leaves are small and the flowers are all single.

lol a great pose by man's best friend. This was a rare bit of sunlight in between all the rain, so I dashed out and planted a tibouchina on the left, the dwarf oleander was already there, a variegated hisbiscus and on the end a gardenia. On the side Oden is, I planted some pink gazanias, and on this side some blue sapphire ground cover.
Since then we've had plenty of rain and the ground is very boggy, so they'll either settle in well or rot!

We had a mini cyclone through here this morning, it lasted for 3 hours. After 12 hours solid rain through the night the wind picked up to damaging speeds, the power went out at 6.15am as i was about to leave for work, i thought i'd wait till the storm was over. About 9am I drove up the road and saw trees down, branches all over the road, and the road was flooded at Mungar, so gave up planning to go to work. Power came back on at 10.15. The rescue helicopter flew over soon after and i read on the SES facebook page that 2 people were swept away at Glenwood not far from here, they've recovered 1 body.

this morning went to a local nursery that usually has discounted plants, and picked up 3 melaleucas, 2 gardenias, 2 grevilleas, a variegated hibiscus, a tibouchina, and a bouganvillea for $50.

Having just bought 5 acres a month ago, my head is spinning in all directions, so many choices about the garden.
The front 2 1/2 ac that has the house in it, is an uninspiring area of lawn dotted with neglected bushes and trees. Too much lawn.

I envisage that we can be almost self sufficient in food produce, I'm just not sure how long it will take to get to that point.
The passionfruit are in, mulberry tree is in, there was a severely neglected persimmon that i will try to nurse back to health.

List:  Yes I want it all :-)
vege patch.
fruit orchard.
reduce size of the lawn by planting groves of trees/bushes.
screening hedge to block out the neighbour's house on the left side.
cottage garden
scented garden
shady glade
meandering pathways throughout