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Showing posts with the label paving stones

Lipstick plant and more wet weather

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I have put down some stones - still have a bit more to go, but this is definitely keeping the place mud free - whch is marvellous with all the rain we have been having.  This is a true tropical wet season, and I am ready for it to end!  It is hard to even find a few moments without pouring rain in order to take  a few photos! I am happy with how the rain seems to drain away quite quckly from the gazebo and towards the pathway garden which I dug a little lower.    I need to bring the level of the stones up a bit, so still need to haul in a few more loads. After my holiday I noticed that the anthirium flowers were green and have been foliar feeding with liquid seaweed every weekend and now I have nice colourful flowers. Some other flowers that are enjoying the wet weather are the lipstick plant, This year it has developed long tendrils and they are covered in lovely red flowers. When they start out they look like lipstick emerging from a tube!...

Get rid of the grass.

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I typed up this post just after Australia day last week.  A mid week break - now it looks as though I will have another mid week break, but not for such wonderful pursuits.  As cyclone Jasi is heading stright for us!  Holding thumbs that everything in my garden survives and that I can still continue on with this project as posted!  Australia Day was spent tidying up and thinking about yet more garden projects... :) The grass in this area next to the gazebo is in deep shade - We have decided to give in.  Too much time and effort has been wasted.  There is a point where the grass just stops growing, no matter how much water, fertilizer, and even roll lawn we add. This dust is getting everywhere, and then when it rains it is mud..... a project that really is long overdue. Will it look silly to have the row of mondo grass extend across towards the tree?  The area where the grass doesnt grow will probably be filled with stones.  Pavin...

Paving

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My dear hubby went to an auction of the local hardware store and spent ALL DAY waiting for the paving lots to come up for auction. There were a few different lots and he had marked them in order of preference. The first two lots went for way more than we had anticipated, but he managed to get our first choice for exactly our upper limit. Then my dear stepson helped him bring them home in two lots. Thanks to both of them! MY job then started, digging up all the grass - it was very sparse in that area as it has been under the shade of the gazebo and with lots of foot traffic. We just have sand, so I saw no need to go out and buy a load of sand, so once the grass was up I raked and levelled and then started laying the pavers. Two edges were already there - a line of bricks (which I levelled out to the same height) and a patch of cement, and I began to lay the pavers keeping them level with them. It went surprisingly well and I had the whole lot down in two days. oops I should have take...

Dust

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After scrubbing the door screens and cleaning the windows we realised that the dust is getting too bad. You can tell it is the dry season - our soil is basically just sand and so when there is no rain the grass just dies - especially the parts in the shade under the gazebo where we want to eventually lay pavers. The area outside the back door gets walked on so much, and it is in continual shade so that the grass is thinning out, also exposing dust. I decided to put some paving stones in a path leading out toward the vegetables and also to the gazebo, and then plant mondo grass between them and in that whole area. I realise it is going to have to be watered, which I havnt been doing with the grass, because all we end up with is a mud bath. I think that is a more sustainable choice than grass as once the mondo is established it doesnt require watering. So hopefully we will be picking up the paving stones and mondo grass this weekend. We got the paving stones home only to discover that ...