All Things Lovely

My Backyard Got A Haircut

After only about 7 months, I've finally been able to mow my new lawn! I returfed over the Easter weekend, and since we then went through winter, it's only now that it's really needed to be mown. I was terribly excited (can you tell I've not done this before?) As you can, it was getting a bit desperate.

Given that it's such a small patch of grass, I just bought a little push manual mower, which then had to be put together. Fortunately Dad was able to help with that, or I would be screwed.

Indiana of course was a huge help.

So, we finally got it together and got the lawn mowed. I'm telling you, it was harder than it looks. I'm hoping next time with less grass it's heaps easier.

And after. The edges still need doing, but I need to borrow an edger and then it will be beautiful. Cricket fans will know what I mean when I say I want to make it look like the MCG for the Boxing Day test.... just once!

Beyond Excitement

Remember the roses I planted recently? Well, I was unable to find one of them as a bare rooted rose, so I was given a 2 year old version of it. It's a David Austin rose named Grace. This is a really special rose to me, as I wanted to plant it to remember someone who I loved and isn't with me anymore.

I only planted it 10 days ago, and yesterday I went and had a look and this is what I was blessed with.

 

Isn't it just exquisite? The fragrance is delightful as well. I am so excited that I'm actually managing to grow something!

More Outdoor Settings

I'm really trying to narrow this down! I really don't feel like traipsing to a million shops, so I researched online and these are the outdoor settings in my price range and the size I need. Not yet tested for comfort, so I should probably do that soon. What do you think? I'm leaning towards one and five at the moment, although I have actually tried out number four and it was pretty comfy. I keep changing my mind all the time about what I want out the back.

1. Outdoor Furniture Specialists  2. Barbeques Galore  3. Bunnings  4. Bunnings  5. Jamie Durie for Big W  6. Homemakers Australia

Outdoor Living

We're now about half way through Spring here in Australia, and it's high time I started thinking about my outdoor space. I've really only gotten around to actually doing something about my backyard this year, so this summer I'm hoping to enjoy the spoils of that hard work.

I don't yet have a table and chairs for outside, and the space is so small I really could only fit a bistro setting out there without it looking ridiculous. I've started my searching and have found something like what's below. Then I thought, how could I jazz it all up. This is a little something I came up with, bearing in mind I probably won't do any of it!

Starting with a small table and chairs from Bunnings, I then thought about placing some decking tiles down over my existing pavers. The planter pot is also from Freedom, with a gorgeous birdcage pillow from Anthropologie. Some cute bird plates, and a hanging lantern complete the look.

Backyard Progress

My backyard is slowly coming along. Now that spring is here I'm hoping that it all starts exploding with growth! My new roses arrived last week, and since they arrived at a bad time in the week, my gorgeous parents came over and did a Backyard Blitz for me! How lovely it was to come home and see the roses planted and all the weeds gone, they truly are the best.

You can't really see the roses that clearly, they are literally just sticks in the ground planted in front of the camellias. I still need to get one more which was unfortunately out of stock as a bare rooted rose, so I'll wait to find it as a slightly advanced plant. There is also a gap right in the middle for a statue I'm planning to buy, if I can find it!

Hopefully over the coming weeks with some sun, water and lots of loving they will start to bud and I'll have beautiful flowers! I can't wait. Oh, and can you believe my grass is still alive! I seriously can't.

Spring Has Sprung

I love Spring, I should say I heart Spring! The flowers and beautiful smells come out, and life is good once again. Unfortunately the weather here in Sydney is cold and wet, but hopefully it's not going to last long.

So, it's time to do some more to my garden. I adore roses, my parents have always had a stunning rose gardem which my Dad in particular tends with a lot of love and care. In my own home I am hoping to achieve even half of that beauty.

Some of my favourite roses are David Austin roses, their 'old fashioned' style, beauty and fragrance makes me smile. I have just ordered six of them, so hopefully they arrive soon and I can plant them.

From left to right: Scepter’d Isle, The Endeavour, The Mayflower, Comtes de Champagne, Kathryn Morley, Grace

The Beauty Of The Orchid

I adore orchids, and I've wanted one of these phalaenopsis orchids for quite a while. My lovely Mum decided to buy me one for Mother's Day and I've finally gotten around to potting it. Isn't it so elegant and beautiful?

Speaking of Mum, I had to write this post today. She phoned me yesterday 'Kylie, we're not very impressed with your blog.' At 30, I'm still getting in trouble for bad words! So, the main point of this post is to push the brilliant 'You broke my ♥' card below down just a smidge.

Front Garden Pretty Up

After all the attention my backyard has received recently, the front garden was feeling a bit sorry for itself.

I really had no idea what to do with it. The majority of the garden gets very little sun because of where my unit is positioned, so that leaves few options for plants. I don't like many of the shade plants available, mainly because I am a fussy little critter.

I knew I wanted gardenias, their perfume is just so yummy, so I was always planning to plant them around the edge of my garden. It was the plants to go in the middle that had me perplexed. I liked the idea of camellias, but they all seemed to grow too tall, and I wanted to let as much light into the lounge room window.

After wandering the local nurseries for hours, knowing that I hated azaleas... I came home with four gardenias, and four azaleas. Oh well...

So here we go, the transformation. This is kind of the before shot, but I had already ripped a lot out, including a tree.

Then I put in some edging. It's cheap and not overly attractive, but my dream of sandstone edging doesn't quite fit in the budget at the moment.

Then it's time to plant. Although this is the bit that makes it look the best, I hate it! But, I finally got it done, whacked on some sugar cane mulch and I'm in business. One of the little girls who lives opposite me came over to tell me it looked really nice, awww bless.

The dirt at the back of the garden is not a permanent thing, I'm just leaving it until I find some pavers to put there. Some twit put the tap right at the very back of the garden, so I'll put three pavers done to walk on so I can easily get to the tap.

Backyard Renovation Part Two

This weekend it was time to begin to tackle the side garden out the back. Most of the hard work has been done in previous weekends, so it was just a matter of clearing the remaining weeds and then mixing in some old cow manure to get it ready.

I had chosen to plant Camellia Sasanquas along the back of the garden, which will eventually grow up a nice screen for that dog ugly fence. I could cover it with a bamboo screen or the like, but I'm going for a more English looking garden, so the bamboo I think will be a bit out of place. I laid out the plants until I was happy with them. Side note - I absolutely hate the copper log wall, but due to lack of funds unfortunately I'm stuck with it.

After a lot of digging I finally got them all planted. I'm really not a green thumb, so I'm pretty proud of this effort! Let's hope they're not dead within a week.

All done and mulched with a sugar cane mulch. I'd really prefer a nice bark, but I figured it's a waste of money to buy the pretty bark until the roses are done. This was a $12 option for the time being.

The Begining Of My Backyard Renovation

Before I show you this, I'll say I am so not a gardener! I've been in my home two years, and it's now time to do the backyard! I started off with a pile of weeds - which with some help was actually cleared last October. I did nothing with it so they all grew back. This time around, I was on my own to fix it up again.

I ripped it all out and started leveling it out a bit. I did all this last weekend, and for the first three days of this week I could barely walk! Not looking forward to the next couple of days now.

Then yesterday I turned it all over along with a bit of dynamic lifter (my neighbours must love me) and got it reasonably flat. The rain didn't help at this point as it got a little bit muddy.

Then a beautiful pile of turf underlay arrived at the ungodly hour of 7am (on a public holiday no less!) ready to be moved out the back. After about 40 trips with my little barrow, we were ready to level and screed. Fortunately my parents had kindly offered to help, so I wasn't on my own for this one. Dad and I got to work getting it all looking gorgeous.

Once it was all flat we got to work rolling out the turf, and here is the finished result! I've never done anything like this so I'm a little bit proud of my gardening efforts. Next job is to plant out that side garden, I'm thinking camellias and David Austin roses.

What Herb Is That!!???

I freely admit I am so not a gardener, but I'm about to redo my little backyard. I've only been in my house for two years, we can't rush these things! Currently it's a small patch of incredibly overgrown weeds which makes me feel quite depressed, not to mention embarassed when people come over. I have dreams of one day sitting out the back at a little table sipping home made lemonade reading a trashy novel. Hopefully, it will come true soon.

The grass is arriving next week, so this weekend I have to get to work to de-weed the place. In the meantime I'm fantasizing about what to plant - and of course, finding cute little things to buy. I'm hoping to buy a half wine barrell and plant herbs - to um, use in all that cooking I do?? But how cute are these? I want to start buying more handmade things - yep, I took the handmade pledge. These little herb stakes are from Etsy seller (where else?) Nina Gibson Designs.