After Budburst

Less than a fortnight ago I commented on the beauty of the delicate tracery of bare branches and "budburst" on the Scottish Wych Elm.

Now these buds  have now matured into seeds, contained within these winged capsules.

The Spring display rolls on, each day bringing new delights.  What a season this is.

Compost.

Making compost is one of those immensely important and satisfying garden activities that continues throughout the entire year here at The Drip.

This morning Peter Marshall was at it again, proudly sporting his new "Peter Marshall Garden Services" uniform.

Here he is adding local Mudgee limestone to the compost pile in The Old Cottage Garden Garden.  For more on The Old Cottage Garden click here

"I Could Taste the History!"

Last week we took a few of our "heirloom oranges" into Mudgee township for Aaron Cole of The Market Street Cafe to test.  Aaron gave them a definite thumbs up, loving the sour tanginess of these oranges that have grown here since the 1880's.  As Aaron said "I could taste the history"

They are quite unlike modern oranges, being small,  tart and highly aromatic. Aaron picked the remaining fruit from the trees and will be using it for marmalade at the Cafe.  We all plan on this becoming an annual routine from now on.  Aaron is also interested in having lamb from our flock of Wilsthire Horn sheep appear on his menu.

Given the uniqueness, age and value of our oranges, we aim to propagate the original trees in The Citrus Grove and keep this little piece of local food history alive into the twenty-first century.  For more on The Citrus Grove click here

What's Blooming This Week

This week is the week when the cherry blossom peaked.

The blossom lasts such a brief time, only a matter of days, making this a most special time of the garden year. The Japanese festival of Hanami  celebrates these brief days as a metaphor for life itself, luminous and beautiful yet fleeting and ephemeral.

Each year we add more cherries to The Hill Garden and each year the display becomes more remarkable.  For more on The Hill Garden click here

Garden Cloches Protect Sensitive Plants

The temperature is rising.  Today in some areas of the gardens here in Mudgee it reached 27 degrees Celsius.  That is enough to cause young or newly transplanted plants to wilt and even die.  So we need now to focus on survival strategies for hot weather, not forgetting that  at this time of year we will still experience frosts.

A traditional solution to heat and cold is a garden cloche, a small "bell" designed to provide protection from the elements  Cloches may be made from various materials.  Modern versions use shadecloth or plastic.  A traditional cloche is more likely to be woven from bamboo or cane.  

A garden cloche can be an expensive purchase.  In some organic gardening magazines we have seen bamboo cloches retailing at over forty dollars. At this price a cloche would be more a fashion statement than a practical item of garden equipment.  So we went hunting and found doormats with a good open weave in the local Mudgee hardware store. And they cost two dollars each.  For the same cost as one organic fashion statement we now have twenty functional cloches at work in the vegetable beds of The Espaliery, protecting this week's plantings of beetroot, French sorrel, land cress and African marigolds.  For more on The Espaliery click here.

Spring Rains

After record rainfall late last year, leading to catastrophic floods, then an extended dry period with lower than average rainfall this year, it seems that anything could happen. 

It does seem now that the climate swings from one extreme to the other.

Last week we got over 40 mm of slow soaking rainfall which topped up these ponds in The Water Garden,  keeping everything very, very moist in this low-lying area of the property.  The Aspens  growing around the edges of the ponds are loving it.  For more on The Water Garden click here

What's Blooming This Week?

In the Northern Hemisphere the Helleborus is known as the Lenten Rose, as it blooms in the period leading up to Easter.  The timing of the Christian Easter is based upon the old pagan Festival of the Spring Dionysia, which was held on the full moon nearest the Spring Equinox. March 20.

This wonderful plant follows exactly the same rhythm in the Southern Hemisphere, starting to flower in late winter and continuing through to around the time of the Spring equinox, September 20.  Sadly we in the south have never developed a festival to mark this "Southern Dionysia".  Perhaps we should?

We have collected many varieties of Helleborus and right now they are at their absolute best, with the Equinox only ten days away and a full moon this week.