Somebody stop me!
It all started when I had to plant my avocado tree. It had been sitting in a pot for 12 months and even though I have a huge block with plenty of room I decided it needed to be planted out the back of the old shed near the mulberry tree in the dense mess that used to be the chook yard and pig pen.
Just like me to choose the hardest space to clear, just to plant one tree.
So I dived into the jungle and fought off snakes and spiders for my love of avocadoes (or maybe hubby helped with the tractor). Yes, I could have just gone to the shops and bought an avocado to have with my morning toast, but that would have been far too easy.
Last time I cleared a garden at the farm I forgot to take before shots (kicking myself because the change was dramatic). So this time I took some before and after shots.
Enjoy!
In case you didn’t notice – this is a ‘before’ shot 😉
I discovered an old toilet and septic from the original house before the main house was built. Handy in the garden! 😀 The large tree to the left is a ‘Five Corner’ (or Star Fruit) tree. The one on the right is a Mulberry.
Another before shot from a different angle…
…and from the same angle after
The good news is I can now get to the mulberry tree!
And I ate that cute little sucker after taking this pic!
The Cooktown Orchids are in bloom so I just had to get a shot of them!
My father-in-law was so impressed he bought another avocado tree so I planted that as well.
Okay – enough of the gardening already! Time to get back to writing
Have a great week!
xxxxx
Dianne Gray author 
Great photos Dianne! You did a great job with this. Good to hear from you. 🙂
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Thanks, John! I think I’m spending far too much time outdoors lately (before that dreadful summer humidity hits). Time to settle back into that comfy chair in front of the computer for a while 😉
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Oh wow, I’ve always been impressed by you, but you’ve just taken my level of admiration to a whole new level! 🙂
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I love that, Carrie. Maybe I should go into business as a gardener (actually, maybe not) 😉
I didn’t see a snake, even though I was fully expecting to so I wore my long boots. But there were loads of spiders who are now homeless. I’ve also planted corn, zucchini and cucumber there as well – so it’ll be a salad kind of summer 😀
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Pretty soon you’ll be able to sell your produce at a local Farmer’s Market (or whatever they call them in your neck of the woods). 🙂
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Yes – it is the local Farmers Market, Carrie. Hopefully I can grow that much! 😀
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Oh my! What a difference. (Though I’d be less than thrilled with the appearance of ancient plumbing.) And orchids, growing wild. We have no such thing and I am duly impressed. I did grow up near an old mulberry tree, though. We loved to climb it and munch to our heart’s content, until we were both full, and fully stained purple. I love avacodo on toast, so I wish you all the best in your garden. You get back to writing now, and I’ll get back to building.
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I actually planted Asters in the toilet so that’ll make an interesting picture soon! 😀
I ate so many mulberries I was nearly sick, so now I’m just making mulberry jam with them. There used to be a white mulberry tree there, but father-in-law ‘cut it back’ about five years ago and it didn’t survive (you should never garden with a chainsaw) 😉
I hope the house is going well and the weather has improved for you! 😀
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That deserves a hearty round of applause!
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Thank you!! It was exhausting, but certanly worth the effort 😀
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Mulberries!! YUM! I haven’t had one or a hundred of those in decades! No mulberries here (that I know of) lots of blackberries, salmonberries and the like…I don’t think they like lots of rain. Well done with the clearing and the planting 🙂 oh and those orchids….gorgeous!
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I actually ate so many mulberries I was nearly sick! LOL. I just love the things 😉 Now I’m stewing up some Mulberry jam – nom nom nom….
The orchids are just sensational and actually look like a waterfall of flowers coming out of the tree 😀
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Good job! So what’s a ‘chook’ yard?
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Oh dear – it’s my Aussie slang coming into play again. It used to be a chicken coop (we call it a chook yard) 😉 I was going to plant some sunflower seeds in there and didn’t realise until I plunged the spade into the dirt that it was actually cement. Oops! That’s how long anyone has been in there, none of us knew the chicken coop had a cement floor, but I got about 100 years of poop out of there so I can put it around the garden 😀
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That’s okay. I’m sure I use a US or Brit slang at times. At least you have some free fertilizer now!
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I’ve got bucket loads of it, Ruth 😀
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Have fun looking after those avocados!
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I certainly will! 😀 I just love the things (especially on toast with a little lemon juice and pepper) 😉
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Gorgeous–you really did some amazing work in the garden. That mulberry looks very yummie. 🙂
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The mulberries are absolutely beautiful, Kourtney! 😀 it was hard work, but certainly worth it 😉
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Wow, you are wonder woman! lol You made me tired though. Goodness, what a difference! (and I knew what a chook yard was 😉
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LOL! I’m glad you knew what a chook yard was, Jackie. I’m often using terms that people don’t understand – but hopefully I’m spreading local dialect far and wide 😉
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Wow! That’s some project. I’d love to start a garden, but I think we’d just do herbs to start off with since neither me nor my husband have any gardening experience. Good luck with the avocado tree!
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I actually started with herbs but forgot to take pics (silly me!) After they went really well I guess I just saw the ‘bigger plan’ and went for it 😀 I really hope you can get into growing herbs because they come in very handy when you’re cooking 😉
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I wish I could have an avocado tree!! I just made Broccoli, Kale and Avocado soup…..so good!!
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YUM – I must try that. I’m going to search Google right now for the recipe 😀
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I didn’t find a recipe….I can send you what I made. So good….
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So you just made it up as you went along? I LOVE that kind of cooking 😉
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That is how I create all my soups! 🙂
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wow!! what a difference! Well done!! Looks fabulous!
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It’s like a huge weight has lifted off the garden (very good Feng Shui!) 😀
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Home grown avo’s… After grabbing a couple from Woolies last week during a rushed shop and being disappointed yet again, I’ve sworn off supermarket avo’s. Unless I can buy them from farmers markets etc or I visit my aunt who has a magnficent old avocado tree in ther backyard, that’s it, I will not put up paying for soft, bruised avo’s ever again. Rant over.
I’m impressed with your clearing efforts. I love the old dunny sitting in the midst of it all. Handy if you over-indulge in mulberries – yum – and get caught short! I’m going before I start another rant about chainsaw “gardeners”…
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The old dunny will be very handy near the mulberry tree! I’ve planted Asters in it so it’ll be interesting to see how they go. I also planted rows of corn, three varieties of cucumber (crystal cucumber is my fave) and zucchini.
I hate buying avocados at the supermarket because they’re SO expensive and usually bruised (I see people squeeze them all the time).
If there was ever a chainsaw gardener, it’s my father-in-law. After his stroke two years ago he can’t pick up a chainsaw anymore so that’s kind of a good thing 😉
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Love avocados. Mine is just started in a pot. 🙂
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Mine was in a pot for far too long, but they will fruit in a pot so you’ll need to get some pictures (before they’re eaten) 😀
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That is truly amazing. You had me swearing to buy the avocado when you brought up snakes and spiders. Better, I’ll just eat a banana.
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You just reminded me, Jacqui – I found some banana trees at the creek. I’m going to send hubby on a hunting expedition this afternoon to get some. Yum! 😉
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Wow, Dianne, you are a go-getter! Avocados are so worth it. I love them. You worked hard. Enjoy those avocados. You deserve them. Your pics are beautiful.
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Thanks, Amy! I guess you have to be a die-hard lover of avocados to do what I did. I just couldn’t stand seeing it wilting away in the pot. It’s taken really well and now has new leaves coming out (after only a week and a half!). I’ll get some pics of the first ‘baby’ it produces 😀
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For some reason I now have the nursery rhyme ‘here we go ’round the mulberry bush’ dashing through my head. I am drooling. Fresh avocadoes yum – and fresh mulberries for double yum. Bet the jam is delicious. I’ve also heard they make really good wine.
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Oh my goodness – mulberry wine! Why didn’t I think of that – you’re a star, Suzan!
Now I’ll be humming ‘here we go ’round the mulberry bush’ all afternoon lol 😉
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Skip around the tree with a glass of wine in your hand. Keep the neighbours guessing!
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Haaaa! They’ll just think it’s normal behaviour for me 😉
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Best of luck with the avocados. We planted two trees in Thailand from seeds and seven years later they are beautiful but don’t produce. Here in Florida I’ve planted two from grafts and they look great and expect to bear fruit in the coming year. Here they sell avocados by the pound! And they are expensive.
When I was a kid living in the South– in the States– we had mulberry trees and I would fight the birds for the fruit. I do like your farm.
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These avocados are grafted, Dannie (which means they’ll fruit a lot quicker!) 😀 For some reason avocados are expensive in most places, but I just love them and will usually pay the price.
Thank you so much for the tweet 😀
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Love the after photos . . . that toilet is a hoot. Great for watering, right?
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Great for planting flowers in (LOL). It’ll be interesting when they start blooming 😀
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Please share photos of your POTTED plants!
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HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! You’re a classic, Nancy 😀
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Thanks for the before and after pix; I always love them–and I hate it when I forget to take a before photo. You should have seen that bougainvillea we had to take out on the fence line that it destroyed … It was taking over the neighbor’s yard also.
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Bougainvillea is supposed to be really spiky as well – ouch! I’ve got a small one, but it’s in a pot and I’m not sure what to do with it because I don’t want it growing out of control.
I’m so glad you like the before and after shots 😀
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Wow what a great clearance job.What a difference afterwards. It sounds like you’ve made great progress with the planting and two avocado trees eh. You really have something to look forward to in the future.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
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I always love your hugs, David! It was a huge job, but worth every minute of it when I stood back and looked at the end result 😉 xxxx
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You’re on a roll! Huge difference with it cleared out. I’m about to give up on gardening – the wildlife are reaping the benefits of our hard work 🙂
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Oh dear, don’t give up! I’ve had some bandicoots digging the soil, but nothing major. We usually get flocks of birds that come to eat the mangoes and lichees and they can cause a lot of damage (but they’re Rainbow Lorikeets so they’re forgiven because they’re so very pretty) 😉
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wow – what a project – and avocados are so good – what a nice thing to get going. 🙂 we have an apple tree (a Delicious variety) and it led to my son making apple pies – he is not a baker – but that is one thing he can make and everyone loves it.
like the orchids too . 🙂
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It’s great to have a project and I’m SO impressed that your son makes apple pies – that’s fantastic. What a star! 😀
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So cool, Dianne! I so get the urge to clear the decks! I am doing the same thing with my storage room. When I was a kid I used to eat mulberries from our neighbors trees–tasty! Best of luck.
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It’s such a great feeling to clean u and sit back to see the results, Naomi! Best of luck with your storage room 😀
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That’s some seriously impressive ‘jungle’ clearance you (and hubby’s tractor?) did there! And look what you got – an extra avocado tree for future deliciousness, and a delicious mulberry to eat there and then! Well deserved:-) I do think gardening is a brilliant way to balance all that heady, inner writing work – keeps things in balance and fuels those WIPs! Beautiful photos, those orchids are divine! Blessings on you and your edible Eden, Harula xxx
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It really felt like I was trying to clear a jungle, Harula! Gardening is certainly a great way to achieve balance – it gets you right back into nature (where I think we all belong) 😉 Thank you for your beautiful blessings, my friend xxxx
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Now I just love what you’ve done and to discover a loo out there as well … what a find, now you can take a book and read it in the sun while doing your business… or for that matter when caught short in the garden you don’t have to rush indoors… just place a small tree nearby to hold the bog roll.. you might run out of leaves and rocks…
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You’re always full of great ideas, Rob! It’s really handy having that loo next to the mulberry tree. I’ll make sure I don’t plant any stinging trees next to the loo just in case I grab the wrong thing 😉
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Wow! You’ve definitely been getting quite the workout, Dianne. It looks great!
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I’ve got muscles upon muscles (lol – I wish!) 😉 But I do have a nice garden now and I bought some eggplant and squash seeds this morning 😉
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What a dramatic transformation! And what a great find (the mulberry tree, not the toilet, haha!).
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LOL! I was SURE you meant the toilet, Letizia 😀
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You live in paradise! Except for the spiders and snakes.
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It certainly is paradise, Betty (but I’m not that keen on stepping on a snake) 😉
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Wow! I just love your before and after shots. That is just amazing. And I love that there was a toilet underneath all that! 🙂
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I was pretty surprised as well, Rebecca. I knew there was an old septic there somewhere because the original house was there, we think (the great grandparents have been dead for many years so we’re not sure where they first lived when they cleared the land). When I saw the toilet I was very taken back! So I planted some Asters in it. Should be interesting to see what it looks like when they grow 😀
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Wow, I’ll bet that took some clearing, but what a difference 🙂
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It certainly did take some clearing, Andrea (and left a big pile of mess that needs to go to the trash), but it was certainly worth the effort. It’s actually quite a nice little area to sit and water in the afternoons 😀
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GREAT job and avocado’s are sooooo worth it!! I am envious that you have your own tree 🙂
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We used to have a tree here years ago but it died and I just loved it! I’ve always wanted another one so I’m glad I found a perfect spot for it, Bonnie 😀
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I’m so jealous of all the tropical fruit you’re able to grow Down Under, and you have growing on your very property (oranges and lemons and avocados, oh my!)
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It’s wonderful to be a able to grow these trees, Janna. I guess if you’ve got the land it’s great to make the most of it! 😀
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Wow, that is some serious clearing work to plant one tree! 😀 And what an interesting setting for a toilet—is that common in your neck of the woods?!
We had a big old mulberry tree at my parents old house when I was little. It took some doing, but we would climb that thing to get at the berries. They were tasty!
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The toilet must have belonged to the original house, JM 😉 The great grandparents died many years ago so no one here knows where the original house was located when they first moved to this area and cleared the land. It’s a great find indeed! 😀
I love mulberries – I don’t climb the tree but hubby does and we picked a lot the other day to make mulberry jam – YUM! 😀
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Good job. I would just never have the strength for it and I’d just pay someone. I bet you can wrestle alligators as well 🙂
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It’s funny you say that, Roy because I used to work in a crocodile farm (lol). I would greet tourists and have a small crocodile (alive of course) that they could touch and have their photos taken with. Ahhh, those were the days… 😉
I just love a project and some of the gardening projects around here have been massive! 😀
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Enjoyed the before and after shots, Dianne. That was quite some clearing out. Yes, very handy to have a toilet in the middle of the garden. 😀 I guess you’ll have to buy quite a few avos from the shops before yours are ready for eating. Love them on toast with cream cheese. 😛
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I’ve never tried them on toast with cream cheese, Sylvia, I usually just have some lemon. Now you’ve got me thinking – it’s breakfast time now, I have an avocado, some bread and some cream cheese. YUM! 😀
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Hope you enjoy. 🙂
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You do like to punish yourself 😃 But it’s clearly (no pun intended) worth it.
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I don’t know why I take on these big jobs – I am certainly a sucker for punishment 😉
(great pun) 😀
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You’re very impressive, my dear! I love avocadoes, too! Yum. And now twice as many!
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YAY! I think I’m addicted to avocados. I remember when I had a check up at the docs a few years back and he said I had a lot of ‘good’ cholesterol to balance out any ‘bad’ cholesterol. He asked me if I ate a lot of tomatoes and avocados and I said yes. He said, ‘they’re the best!’ 😀
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I’m glad to hear that! I need to get some more. Too bad I don’t have a couple trees!
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Dianne Im no gardener but love your before and after shots. Lots of backbreaking work there. My hubs is the gardener and I just get to reap the benefits. I do help if he needs me but its not my passion. A fresh avocado mmm now that would be delicious.
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I find a lot of relaxation in gardening, Kath (although you wouldn’t think so looking at the backbreaking work that went into this project) 😉 My favourite time of day is late afternoon when I pour myself a wine and stand in the garden watering – it’s very therapeutic:D
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Sorry so late in replying hun. Busy with life it seems. Another hard job well done darling and as you wrote nothing more relaxing than standing with a wine, watering your plants on a warm summers night. Hope you did get back to your writing young lady! 📝🌞
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Lovely to see you back from your hols, Jen! xxxx
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Wow! What an amazing difference. I love before and after photos.
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I love them as well. Whenever I do things now I always take a ‘before’ shot because you forget how things used to look after they’ve been fixed 😉
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this is amazing, Dianne! Good for you!
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Thank you. I have the blisters as well as the satisfaction to show for my efforts! 😉
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Yum, Yum and Yum… you have certainly earned the fruits of your labour Dianne, and things grow so fast up in your neck of the wilderness (now tamed…) What a satisfying job that must’ve been. You deserved your celebratory wine
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I’ve got a lot planted there now – and it’s ALL spouting! I’ve put in three types of cucumbers, zucchini, egg plant, corn and squash. Good grief – I can’t wait! 😀
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The pure joy of having your own home grown produce is priceless. Look forward to seeing photos as they all grow
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12 months on! I have the impression that you have enough wilderness there to go on digging and clearing for the next 12 months 🙂 How long till the avocados?
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The trees are doing remarkably well, Jo. They’ve put out new leaves already! They should fruit this year or next year depending on the weather/rain/heat/etc. 😀 yum….
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Avacados seem so very foreign to us. How nice to have them in your backyard. Mulberries, on the other hand, we do have, and a month or so ago I would interrupt my jog regularly while going round the mulberry bush. It was such fun coming home with stained fingers!
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Mulberries certainly leave a great colour on the fingers and mouth, Allen! And they’re SO yummy. The avocados are going very well and I’m hoping they’ll have fruit before February.
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Oh, wow! That is a lot of work, but it would be lovely to have the space to plant an avocado tree. I had one sprout from the compost once, but my yard is so small, my neighbour insisted I had to cut it down 😦
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Nooooo! What a waste of a beautiful avocado tree. I’m so glad I don’t have a neighbour like that 😦
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Dianne, you are amazing and so are those before and after shots! Your energy and enthusiasm is wonderful! It gives me no excuses for not cleaning out a closet or anything else compared to your adventures! 🙂
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It’s so amazing when I sit out there in the afternoon and water, Cathie. What was once a big heap of mess is now a little relaxing oasis! The corn is growing and the trees are looking very healthy and happy. It was certainly worth the effort! 😀
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It’s always easy to remember about taking before pictures after everything looks wonderful. Nice job.
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Thank you! I sometimes forget to take the before shots and always regret it 😉
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I’ve missed so much here. Thankfully, I’m catching up a bit tonight.
Gardens are excellent thinking spaces & stress relievers. I hope this does both for you. 🙂
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I’m so glad you’ve returned! Life gets in the way sometimes 😉
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It certainly does, my dear friend. It certainly does!
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Oh, wow. No need to go to the gym, right? You guys sure work hard, Dianne. But so worth it! It looks great. Your decision made a hug difference to your whole home! And how exciting must it be to find such treasures such as toilets and septics buried in the bush! 😉
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I only wish it had been a treasure chest instead of a toilet (LOL) 😀 The garden has grown so much in the last month and now the fruit and veg are nearly ready – I’ll put some more pics up soon 🙂
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