Lots of gardening...

As many of you know, Jake and I have been spending a lot of time over the last few months working hard in our garden.  I don't particularly have green fingers, but Jake does and so I'm learning.  While my initial plan was to have my garden done for me, it ended up being too expensive and I had a friend draw up some plans for me instead.  Just plant-by-number, easy-peasy.  Or not.  It's flipping hard manual labour!!

 

These first few pictures are of our house just before out tenant moved out.  They just show the run down state of the garden.  Above is the front of the house.  The bush in front of the lounge window has been taken out.  And the pots are no longer on the step (they weren't mine)

 

The lawn was in a shocking state, virtually just weeds.  Because of the field opposite us, it's almost impossible to keep our lawn weed free and the front is far worse than our enclosed back yard...

This HUGE New Zealand Pepper Tree has been taken out.  They're a nightmare to get rid of and I still have seedlings popping up in my lawn.  This one was in the way of my fence and it's roots were damaging the drive way, so had to come out... 

 That spiky thing's also gone now.  They get so big...

 Not much has change down the back of my house, except that I no longer own a trolly...

  My tenant's stuff is all gone now too and that huge tree has been cut back considerably...

 This is down the back of the house.  Both those plants have been taken out.  Where Jake's standing, is now our veggie patch.  That's also his bedroom window that he's about to peep in...

One of the first things we did in the back yard, was to plant buffalo grass plugs.  It's a very hard lawn, but grows well and doesn't get too long too fast... 

We also did some hanging baskets, to put up in the big tree to add some colour.  Jake loves snap dragons... 

By then, we'd already had the tree cut back and the spiky bush removed...

 Our "garden" was getting some water and we were enjoying spending time pottering around in our new home...

 Life got busy shortly after that and the garden took a serious knock.  I eventually got sick of the mess, not to say embarrassed and so decided to put the plans into action.  I used string and then white spray paint to mark out the beds and began to dig out the grass.   Digging out grass is hard work... 

I got a little further than this, then decided that I just didn't have the physical strength to do an entire garden and employed a gardener to help me...

After just one day of having a gardener, the garden suddenly took shape (Roo, please note my clean table)...

 Our next project was to tackle the veggie patch...

 We spent the next couple of days sourcing and buying our plants and then laid them out, ready for planting...

 Jake was super excited to get going...

 He had his very own bed to do, as part of a cubs badge and he was very dilligent about planting his plants properly.  His bed is infront of my bedroom window, so every time I open my blinds I am rewarded with his special flowers...  

 By the time Jake's birthday rolled around in May, the plants were all in and the garden was really starting to look good... 

 Lots of room for growth...

 The next project was our veggie patch.  We were determined to get it going by spring time, so wasted no time in ordering our sleepers for raised beds and had the lawn dug out and levelled off...

  We put the sleepers into place and ordered more compost.  We've dug in over 130 bags...

Jake's wonderful grandparents (Jacques' folks) spent 2 solid weekends helping us pur our irrigation system in, I am so grateful for this...

I laid pavers (mostly on my own, not bad) and put ground cover inbetween... 

We moved the big wine barrel kennel that Jacques had made up for our dogs on the farm, to the back corner of the yard... 

 Looking towards the garden... 

 And this is my view from my living room, these days... 

Outside my kitchen door, I've got an assortment of pots with an assortment of flowering plants and special things.  I love looking out when my kitchen door is open...

 Out in the front yard, new beds have also been dug in and we're slowly filling up the beds...

 I've put in canary creepers and bougenvillas to help hide the ugliness of the fence...

 Jake's been super good with helping and is forever pottering along behind me.  Here, he's pulling dead heads off flowers in the hope of scattering seeds... 

 And he's been much better about doing his chores (he's picking up the dog's poop here) around the house lately.  We've got a very good routine in place now and he's really doing his bit...

 As you can see, now that spring has arrived, everything is blooming and growing and I love seeing all the colours appearing around the garden.  At the moment, there's something new happening every day and Jake and I love walking around in the morning before work and school to see what's new...

We love our little garden and our veggie patch is really taking shape.  It's far from perfect, but we like it like that.  It's so rewarding to see everything take root and grow.  It finally feels like home and I'm definitely not shy of our garden any more!!

 

Enjoy the weekend, I'll be in the garden!

 

Love,

Sue XXX 

PS.  My spellcheck's stopped working for some reason, so apologies for any typos, I don't have time to re-read this now... x

A night out...

 I booked 2 tickets months ago for Steenberg's winter theme movie night and decided to take my little sister, Rosanne, with.  Joanne had been already and I'd sent my parents on a date to one as well.  I'd been looking forward to this for ages and had forgotten when exactly it was booked for, so was thrilled when I got my e-mail reminder last week.  Gareth very kindly let me borrow his wife for the evening and we headed off to the beautiful Steenberg vineyard for our night out. 

 

Steenberg is one of Constantia's Big 5 wine farms and is 2 doors down from Buitenverwachting.  It's always a very surreal feeling for me to be back on a wine farm, especially one so close to "home".  I still feel like I'm part of that world and yet I'm not.  From the moment you drive through the farm's gates, the atmosphere changes.  There are big open spaces and the silence of vines as far as your eyes can see.  I still miss it so much.  Anyway... I am still very good friends with Steenberg's ex-wine maker, Ruth, who left wine making to go and do her MBA and now has nothing to do with wine.

 

Steenberg's wines have always performed well in competitions and they have a wide selection of superbly produced wines.  Their Brut is simply delicious and is definitely one of my favourites.  As is there Sauvignon Blanc...

This is their tasting room; boasting the most extravagant chandelier I've ever seen.  Behind and to the left of this photo, is their Bistro, which was busy and bright and serving tapas for dinner.  I almost stayed... 

 Upstairs, tucked in a quiet corner is their movie "theater".  They can't seat too many guests, so these movie nights were all sold out in April already!  Their theme for the season has been food movies and we saw the movie "Waitress", which both Rose and I enjoyed very much...

 Perfectly chilled Sauv Blanc...

 Hi Rosie.  I know I promised not to post pictures of you, but, well, you know me... I had to.  I love you...

 Part of the evening out, was a bento box style dinner.  An artichoke soup that was divine, pork keftedes with a coriander yogurt dressing, cheese, bread and home made crispy crackers...

 And home made wine gums made with their own wine.  I saved mine for Jake, but he wasn't impressed...

 Our movie was finished by 9, so Rose and I made a quick pit stop at Peddlars on the Bend.  It's a bar/restaurant that's been around forever.  It's one that Jacques and I used to frequent, since it's almost in the same road as Buitenverwachting.  They've changed it quite a bit inside, but the outside part is still gorgeous.  I ended up dragged here by the girls at my kitchen tea (hen night).  Dressed in a nightgown and smothered with chocolate pudding (pretty, I think not?), I was forced to beg male patrons for money to buy the girls a drink each.  Jacques was there watching rugby with some friends.  Was ever so slightly embarrassing... 

Anyway, it was a great evening out and it was awesome to spend some time with Rosanne.  Joanne was jealous that she wasn't included - next time Jo, I love you too.

 

Sue XXX

A furry new addition...

 Meet Riley.  She's Jake's Auntie Tam's new pup.  She was adopted from the Animal Anti-cruelty League on Saturday morning.  Auntie Tam recently had to say goodbye to her little dog, Roxy who was the cutest Jack Russell ever.  Well, besides Wellington (Jacques my first dog ever, who was knocked over at 6 months) and maybe Duracell, but whether he's a Jack Russell is debatable.

 

Riley's joined the family to be loved and adored by all.  She's so soft and furry and she's super gentle.  At just 10 weeks old, she's already snuck her way into her new mommy's heart...

Jake's job is to man-handle her.  He's crazy about her already...

 Welcome to the family, Riley.  We hope you get up to lots of mischief... 

Love,

Sue XXX

Goosey, Goosey, Gander...

I'd just popped in with Jake to visit his granny and auntie on Sunday morning for a quick cup of coffee, when my mom phoned me to tell me I had to get to her house ASAP with my camera.  Turns out a family of Egyptian Geese were parading down the street with their freshly hatched goslings.  I was surprised to see how many people had come out into the street to try keep this precious family from getting hit by a speeding motorist.  And to rescue one or two babies when they fell down a storm water drain.  Fortunately, or unfortunately for you, I missed that part, but Jake and I arrived just in time to help usher this little family safely into my parent's neighbours (Izak & Hester, who've lived there for as long as I can remember) garden.  They have a gate that opens up into the field behind their house, so that was our goal...

 but when we got to their house, the geese made a turn into the garden, instead of heading through the garage to the back.  With all the spectators following them into the garden, the swimming pool was a safe escape for them...

 The babies plopped in after their mom and huddled close.  Getting in was easy, getting out, not so much...

 Jake doing a quick bee rescue.  He's good like that; he knows bees are precious...

Having the goslings in the water meant that I could take some photos without having to worry too much about an attack from one of the bigger geese.  The male was incredibly protective, while the goslings trailed their mom.  He even performed a spectacular dive bomb, beak first, on poor Izak...

 Precious little fluff balls...  Can't we keep them?? 

 Wide eyed with fear, the mommy made sure her babies were nearby at all times...

 "Now listen here, kids, I want you all to swim as close to me as possible.  Stay away from the sides..."

 They were fortunate enough to pick one of the prettiest gardens I know of (besides my own, of course) to take a dip in...

 The goslings got tired quite quickly and below is one hitching a ride on his mom's back...

 When both adult geese got out the water, Izak used his pool net to scoop the babies out of the water onto dry ground.  You can just see how protective they are.  Check the father all ready to attack if he needs to...

 Last one safely on the side and everyone relaxes a little...

 And gets dried off...

 Checking out the garden... 

 See?  It really is such a pretty garden, I'm sure they wished they could stay...

 But it was time to start directing them off to the back garden and then on to the field.  Dad takes the lead, mom follows with her tiny brood...

 Through the back they go, honking noisily all the way, towards the gate and freedom...

 Izak & Hester have a double storey house, with a balcony that looks out into the veld (field) behind.  It's so pretty this time of year and after they burnt a lot of the ground earlier this year, every thing's blossoming...

 And from the balcony, we could see the geese relaxing...

 Jake loved every moment of this little adventure... 

 The geese eventually found a little pond and were happily splashing around by the time we left...

I do love a story with a happy ending and it was so special to be a part of getting these birds back to safety.

 

With love,

Sue X