Notes from the Library #22

This photograph of The Old Cottage Garden was taken by Rick Martin in April 2010.  It shows the basic layout of the garden as it has been since around 1880 with a straight path edged by pieces of white quartz gathered from the goldfields and creeks of this area.  On the right can be seen the camellia tree planted in this garden in 1880 by descendants of James Blackman, one of the first Europeans to enter the Mudgee valley.

Although the old design is of historical interest, and is an example of a local style of garden developed during the Gulgong gold rush, we have felt for some time that we did not want to be prisoner to the past and that it was time to rethink the garden.  While we intend to maintain strong references to the original style, we feel the need to develop a design more in keeping with the contemporary architecture of the new house that we have built here and reflecting a twenty-first century rural lifestyle and outlook.

It is time to move on. This winter we have begun work on redesigning the garden, so this photo will now become a useful and very beautiful archival record of the way things once were.  For more on The Old Cottage Garden click here

Pickling our Olives

This nasty looking mould formed on the surface of the brine in our olive-picklinng vats. It looks horrid but is not a problem.

The pickling of this years olive harvest is coming along nicely.  The black olives have been sitting in the vats of brine for the last months doing what they do.   We removed the mould and the pickling process continues.

Next week our friends Kath and Ian from Top Shed Olives down the end of The Drip Lane will come  and make sure everything is going according to plan.

Pruning the Grape Vines in the Courtyard

Midwinter is a particularly busy time in these gardens and pruning is one of our highest priority tasks.

Clive has been clambering up on the scaffold to prune the ornamental grape vines on the High Pergola.  These two vines,  which are now six years old,  have finally reached across the entire pergola structure. The vine on the right grows on the steel bars, the vine on the left grows on the intermediate wires.  They are pruned back using the same spur-pruning technique as in a fruiting vineyard and by Christmas, when the real summer heat kicks in,  will produce a dense canopy.

This pergola is pruned every year and takes around four hours, a small investment of time for months of cooling shade  during the heat of summer. For more on the Main Courtyard click here

Recycling Old Wine Barrels

David Hardy helped us out by dragging two old barrels out of our underground Wine Cellar and cutting them in half.

He had more than adequate supervision from Clive, Charmaine Tuck-Lee and Wendy the Garden Goddess.  Wendy and Charmaine were here exploring the gardens and beginning their planning for a proposed garden visit day as a fundraising event for CanAssist. 

The half barrels will soon be planted with dwarf fruit trees and herbs in readiness for summer, adding another component into The Main Courtyard.  For more on The Main Courtyard click here

What's Blooming This Week

More daffodils and jonquils emerge each week in The Old Orchard.

These Paper White jonquils commenced blooming last week but this week have reached their peak.  Once flowering is over we will divide these clumps and replant them immediately in empty areas of the orchard.  While most authorities recommend dividing clumps after the leaves have died down, it is not necessary to wait for this and by replanting during the growing season we know exactly where the blank spaces are.

And what will next week bring in?  To see more on The Old Orchard click here.

Notes from the Library #21

Andy Goldsworthy is regarded as one of the greatest sculptors of his generation and the ever-expanding Goldsworthy section in our library is a never-ending source of delight and inspiration.

In 2003 Goldsworthy installed "Treeline", a row of close planted aspens that will in time form a cage like screen alongside a public road that leads through a private property.  

This work has now become the inspiration for our new hazelnut hedge in The Nuttery which will form a screen along The Drip Lane.

An Edible Hedgerow in The Nuttery

The trenching for the new hedge of hazelnuts was done today.  Peter Marshall has also limed the trench and given it a good sprinkle of organic fertilizer.

Next week the seventy five hazelnut trees that are to form this important new feature will arrive from Australian Gourmet Hazelnuts a local Mudgee company.  We have already planted elderberries, damsons, medlars and crabapples behind the line of the hazelnuts making this hedgerow a very productive one indeed.

The dense screen of this edible hedgerow will add to the privacy of The Caretaker's Cottage.  For more on The Caretakers Garden click here