The Good Life

It is spring and I’m loving it. I love the smell of the neighbourhood gardens when I jog by – freshly mown grass and jasmine. I love the locals who all say hello and want to know you. Moving up here has been the right decision. We love our house and love our garden, and it has been the garden where we have spent most of our weekends.

The back patio.

One of the three kookaburras who visit us.

When we first moved in the garden provided us with privacy and the extra space we lacked living in Sydney. On closer inspection there was a lot of overgrown trees and shrubs, bushes that were actually weeds, and vines smothering other plants. We knew that we wanted to get two things out of the garden – a vegie patch and room for a cubby house – so a big clean up was called for.

The backyard before the clean up.

Nanoo and Peter came over to help and we all set to work transforming the garden. By the end of the day it looked bare but now that a few months have passed it is growing back greener and looks great. With spring now here we can sit in the backyard in the late afternoon and smell our own jasmine, see plenty of colour from the azaleas and other flowering shrubs and breath in the fresh air provided from the gum trees.

Michael and Peter cutting down the jungle.

We have started the vegie patch, all from seed, so there isn’t much to brag about yet. We bought a couple of cherry tomato plants which are now bearing fruit, and Peter gave us some of his strawberry plants which have just produced our first homegrown treats.

Tasting the fruits.

Spying on the neighbours.

The side terrace.

Yes, life is good.