Didn’t winter get off to a thoroughly watery start? I still feel so sorry for all those folk who were inundated (any minor problems we had here were nothing by comparison) and at Glenmore, we were just so excited to see that great rush of water flush through the creek.
It gushed and frothed, swirled and roared over and around rocks that are usually well exposed on our regular walks. Watching it from above was almost enough to make us dizzy!
We even had a new watercourse where there’s never been one before and had to hold tight to the barbed wire fence to cross our usual path, such was the force of water from the dam overflow!
But as the topic of water (or lack of) is always lodged somewhere in our minds, this kind of sight is one to behold – dams absolutely full to the brim and overflowing….so we can breathe a huge sigh of relief for the season ahead.
Of course in the intervening weeks, the silt has settled, the flow has subsided and the waters are clear and sparkling in the crisp winter sunshine.
The following weekend was dry, which gave us the opportunity to carry out a job that had been on our list for a couple of months….I wonder if you remember the giant Agave flower spike I wrote about in spring last year? Well, it was mesmerising for months as it went through its paces, from giant asparagus-like spear to full on branched specimen…until it collapsed in a storm in late summer.
We’ve been waiting for it to shrivel enough to be able to get to the centre and attach a chain to prise it out. We always knew the day would come when this inevitable scenario would arrive, and so it did. The entire Agave plant dies after flowering, but the situation has now been dealt with. Here is Larry looking very pleased with himself! And now there are babies coming up to take the parent plant’s place. With a little more tidying through the coming weeks, I reckon by spring you’d never know this giant was missing.
I’ve spent a few quiet evenings in front of the fire in the kitchen, popping bean seeds from their shrivelled pods. In some cases (especially with those Speckled Cranberries) there are enough for a batch or two of Tuscan Peasant Soup, and for the others, more than enough to sow next season and to share with upcoming Kitchen Gardening participants.
And when not working on our exciting spring calendar of events, including Open Garden, I’ve sneaked in the odd day to work with and guide Jack through the winter pruning process. We’re almost done now – I love to cut back as soon as I have the chance, to let the winter winds blow through what’s left of twigs and stubble cut almost to the ground….to expose the base of perennials to the winter sun and rid any remnant fungal disease caused by humidity in a wet summer. In a few weeks, I’ll go back through all the beds with fertiliser, compost and mulch….feeding and tucking them in for the big spring and summer season ahead.
And then….there’s the Labyrinth! Oh good heavens what have I done now?????!!!!! Those who have been following these posts for awhile know the Labyrinth is something that we did here on the spur of the moment a few years ago, when Emily Simpson began raising money for the (now complete) very serious one in Centennial Park (I am still so thrilled she achieved her goal….we played such a very tiny part with the proceeds from our Open Garden that year, but every little bit helps).
Anyway, ours took on a life of its own, and you can read about it here. But the fact is, it was never really planned, though once here was difficult to let go of. Emily reinstated it for Open Garden last year, and once again it disappeared, but this time we’ve decided to put it in properly, once and for all (and hopefully in the centre of the croquet lawn this time!).
Our long-time builder Rick Eagles is doing a bit of winter repair-work here at the moment – jobs put off last year because we were photographing the book. And it just so happens that he has a machine on site to remove a couple of gate posts that have rotted away….and….well….I got chatting.…and now I have a huge crater in the middle of the croquet lawn! I envision some chaos ahead….weekends with bricks and barrows of earth I suspect, but hopefully the next time you see this, it will look like a Labyrinth!!!