It's been about an aeon or so since I last did a garden journal (last one tagged any thing to do with the garden was bundled in with a homeschooling post from 2013 as the kids helped J plant some stuff during an unexpected communication outage). Quite a bit has changed since then.
First and only very vaguely related because it's out there, J finally got me a new clothes hoist (the old one is collapsible and the catch to hold it open broke some years back but we were able to make do and it has been collapsing a LOT more frequently recently especially when there was a lot on it). Youngest brought the concrete bags in and had the old one dug out in about ten seconds (only a slight exaggeration), after which he and J erected the new post and left it overnight for the concrete to dry. The following day J got Eldest and I to help put the top on (I didn't do much) and then he strung it.
In the background is our illustrious chicken coop with two new passionfruit vines crawling up it. The old one got murdered as it had apparently stopped producing fruit. Fortunately there's shade in the rest of the yard so the chickens don't have to bake while their shade is regrowing (the door on the coop is purely decorative at this point, it's supposed to be shut at night and opened in the morning but J never shuts it now).
At some stage J planted these sunflowers and they nearly got pulled up as I initially mistook them for some weeds that had looked vaguely similar but had been reasonably sure I'd gotten rid of all of the poor things. Fortunately a combination of laziness and mental note to check with J but constantly forgetting paid off as I recognised the leaves when they got bigger.
The important bit ast the bottom is blurry and hard to read but the packet says they grow to 1.8m tall so he'd planted them to provide some shade to some young avocado trees while they got established.
They're slightly bigger than that. And they still haven't flowered, which given the unexpected size may not be a bad thing as the flower would probably give us a concussion if it fell on us. We have been throwing around jokes about how they're going to the sun.
I originally took the photo of the seed packet to send to a friend after their visit and they were asking if we were QUITE QUITE SURE that it was sunflowers that was planted as the stems have wooded XD
The trees we planted when we first moved in 17 years ago have gotten a lot bigger (though it's hard to tell from the photos I decided to take, I just like taking closeups of fruit x_x).
The poor rosemary bush got massive in a hurry when we first planted it but is now looking a bit worse for wear partly due to the fact Youngest LOVES rosemary (he keeps a couple of sprigs in his room and replaces them when they stop activating, and also loves cooking with it) and partly because it's now massively overshadowed by the orange tree and the dwarf nectaine tree (which didn't realise it was a dwarf and now has some stunted branches trying to grow around what looks like the start of a verandah over the side door it was planted in front of which we had dreams of continuing and still haven't).
The mango tree which was gifted to us as a housewarming present from the real estate agent who helped us buy the house has not grown nearly as much as the other trees but it's at least strong enough to support the weight of its fruit now.
There is a plum tree that was here when we got here (and I just got told there might be a prune next to it). We're surmising it was dropped by a bird or something rather than planted intentionally as it's in a really awkward spot way too close to the fence. J eventually figured out it had green plums after we spent some time waiting for the first-to-us crop to ripen but I decided to playfully challenge him on that after seeing some sun baked ones.
This grapevine came along a bit later, replacing another two grapevines that lost games of tugowar with my old dog (between him and our current dog I think they've cost J quite a bit in fruit trees as they kept "fetching" the big sticks in the ground).
Then there was a lengthy period of time where J didn't seem to be doing a lot in the garden and I asked Eldest to come up with some plans which he did but then didn't get around to showing us. They involved some flowers which were supposed to be food for pollinators, easy to care for and happy enough to be in the shade (combination of mine and Middle's requests) but we couldn't find any of them in any nearby nurseries. There was also an idea for a greenhouse.
And then J picked up activities and a spate of new fruit trees appeared.
We enclosed the back patio to make a catio so Eldest's cats could go outside without going outside. We were concerned that the one that had been a stray as a kitten would wander off too far and not come back (due to misadventure as he's very at home here) and it had the added bonus of not having to deal with litter trays. J took advantage of the more protected (from the chickens) area.
Off frame to the left of this is a big patch of aloe vera. It used to be just one plant in a pot and it got blown/knocked over one day while we were on holiday and that's what we came back to.
I have vague plans for flowers much to J's disgust and am also contemplating a little path leading from our front gate to the house to make it a bit easier on the grandparents (and by extension anyone else) when they come to visit (I think you're "supposed" to walk down the driveway, however "everyone" including us when returning from walks takes the perceived shorter route straight across the yard and it's all uneven surface). Like with all my other brilliant ideas I'm not sure when or if I'll find the time to do it.
This post also appears on my blog.
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