ATOM feed
Must confess to feeling a little bit guilty, but not guilty enough not to see the funny side too. When scrubbie first appeared I was fascinated by his never-ending scratching, and initially I thought he was just being helpful, mulching up the heavy leaf drop from all my trees. check the video action, click here.
Then I discovered the mound (nest) he was building in the next door yard, and that my leaf wasn't just being mulched it was also being transported through a hole in the fence .This was back in November last year, when I first started re-landscaping the yard and creating the gazebo garden. Scrubbie and I have enjoyed the summer in the garden together, he making a superb nest/mound and creating an environment which attracted the required female(s) and produced at least two babies that we have seen so far.
BUT .. I decided last week, as the garden planting is all but complete, that I really needed to keep my own leaf mulch and that he had to be stopped.
Since then, we have had a running battle which I am losing... every day he comes over and trys to get the leaves, he mounds them up at the fence, against the old door I found and have used as a temporary blockage - every day I go out and scrape it all away again, just far enough away to keep him busy for the day so that he will leave the rest of the garden alone. At the moment I am not too unhappy about this, except for that it is wasted effort, but I count the hour or so it takes me as 'activity'.
More on this later, I have been giving some thought lately to 'elder fitness' and been listening to and reading some interesting material. So, okay for the exercise, but I have to find a permanent solution.
I've taken the chance, while I was out filming scrubbie's activities, to get a few shots of my developing garden spaces - I am very happy with the results, it's my own little piece of space and peace and begins to look as I intended.
from the gazebo -
big mango tree in the background
bush garden
inner sanctum garden
tucked happily into the little herb garden, the cuttings I brought back to make the Calurla geranium garden are doing well, even started flowering - great, but I suspect they may be pelargoniums?
Work for me tomorrow - I've had a lovely weekend, I hope everybody else has had too, we've had great weather, nothing to whinge about except housework, cleaning for the big arrival on Thursday.....
14 Comments
well one thing is for sure Della.. the scrub-turkey is going to keep you active, like it or not! lol.. It may well be his purpose in life to keep you hopping! lol.. maybe you should name him "perry mason"..he always kept "Della" busy! lol
your gardens are beautiful!! they are hard work but always seem well worth it when you sit back and look at them later.
I bet you are excited for you "visitor"!! Soon to be near by so he won't be just a visitor anymore!
I am so glad you took pictures and posted them of your garden. Where I live it is still winter with snow and freezing rain today and a temperature of only 32 degrees F., so viewing your garden is very welcoming! It is lovely and I will visualize it as I watch the snow build up outside my window!
They don't look like pelargoniums from the stems, leaves and flowers, Della. I clicked on the pic to enlarge it...and they look like geraniums from what I could see.
I love that you've got a companion gardener, Della...and he's probably very appreciate of you for your assistance.
Your garden is looking great. You've obviously put a lot of work into it...you would need that mulch, too because it's pretty sandy and needs building up, I imagine. It's a natural looking garden, just a I like gardens. I'm not much for organised, set-out gardens, if you know what I mean. I like the 'natural' look.
Great pics...thanks. :)
hahaha DesLily, true on all counts!
thanks
Martie, I know, it's so funny to think of how different it is, we'll be heading into winter soon, but we don't get snow here on the Gold Coast, just cold. Further south they do.
Lee, THANK YOU, I was really hoping somebody would have a look for me - I am not such a gardener that I know these things, but I know I need to know them, if you know what I mean? I was hoping they were geraniums, and I am itching to plant them, but dare not, while scrubbie is still nesting.
I am glad everybody likes my 'garden' look - apart from the sand, of course, it looks exactly like I had pictured it when I planted things, just wild, and bushy with flowers and colour through it, and it needs to perform by itself, without lots of pruning and picking - it is going to do that, I think. whew! but worth the work...
Your garden looks lovely ! I like gardens too but only to be in there and look how beautiful it is to have a garden ! I am not even like your darling turkey, lol ! I hate garden work.
I always remember when I first came to your blog and you talked about the turkey that he is building moulds, I thought it was you, lol !
No-one invites the scrub turkeys, they invite themselves and that one obviously loves your garden, Della. It's all the work you've put into it!
Saw your title 'Turning 60" and had to visit. I will be turning 60 next week, does it hurt?
Lovely photos of your garden, Della. It's all so very green, rather different to our part of the world, although I'm sure the southern suburbs must be greening up as they've had so much rain.
Should I lay bets on who will win the battle of the leaves???
No scrub-turkey here, but how about feral cats?? Several years ago we had a neighbor who bought a female cat for his daughter and never bothered spaying her. Since then, we've been literally overrun with cats of all sizes, shapes, and colors...there were 5 snoozing under my holly tree out back yesterday! And they SPRAY every where!! Talk about never-ending battles! We have vinyl siding on our house which attracts them like flies...I dunno what it is about the smell of it or what, but they spray it like they're part hose, haha! Good grief. Your garden photos are lovely, Della. I took a walkabout my yard yesterday, investigating all the new shoots coming up. I can't WAIT to get out and play in the dirt! Still a little too wet and cool for that here in Oregon as of yet, but I could get out soon to do a preliminary weeding and it'll cut back on what comes up thru the spring and summer.
Haha ... the scrub-turkey sounds like a lot of fun, if a tad annoying !!
Your garden looks lovely.
Take care, Meow
hey Della... everything ok there?? long time without a new post! Just checkin' in on ya!
Hi Pat, thanks - no time this week to do anything but visit with my son.
His tenants have moved, or were supposed to have moved, but he doesn't have access yet, and he leaves again for Sydney tomorrow.
There is an unfenced spa pool at the house, and he wants to see it emptied before he goes, the house will be empty for the next few weeks, until they get back up here...
Hi Vic, nice to see you - does it hurt?... for me, the jury is still out on that one - so far so good though ::smiles::
Hi Gattina, now that IS funny - Noel calls me 'the big scrubturkey' and yesterday my son was helping me, and Noel says 'TWO big scrubturkeys!'
Alice, he is still ahead!
miskris - I hate the way the cats leave that spray, it is very smelly... can you get something to discourage them?
meow, I have had a lot of enjoyment out of him that's why I feel so guilty now, I'vd had my fun and now I am trying to block them out - not fair.. ?
Post a Comment
Links to this post:Create a Link
<< Home