Last challenge of the year in Hive Garden Community #GardenChallenge.
Hello my Garden friends, can't believe it's already the end of the year, what's happening in your garden today? Are you getting sorted for the holidays?
Well!...my garden of just under 1 acre, has too much lawn for my liking, it's such a pain in the butt to maintain, and garden services is so expensive these days.
Don't get me wrong, I love my garden.
Omg!...maybe it's old age creeping in, and the old bones are feeling the wear and tear, Hehe!
There's so much I would like to do. When one does everything oneself with no help, it get's a bit overwhelming at times.
So!...enough of the old thing...let me take you for a walk around my garden and show you what I've been up to. lately.
We've planted quite a few "Agave" succulent plants on the side of the fence and some aloes, trying to cover as much grass as possible.
But...as one can see, still a lot of lawn.
The "Aloe" plant flowers mostly in the winter time, displaying a beautiful deep orangey, red flower.
Being summer time here in South Africa, hence the dowdy look, they're still beautiful though and have quite a lot of medicinal benefits, which I'm still learning about.
The "Aloe" is a fascinating plant with all it's medicinal qualities about it.
Well!...that's another post altogether.
The "Aloe Tree" is getting quite tall, we had one fall down already, hope this one stands it's ground.
The "Cycad" seems to be happy in it's spot on top of the bank in the back yard.
We have a few different species of "Cycads" around the garden.
More "Agave" succulents along the fence.
My lavender bush is doing very well on the bank, I often make "lavender tea" from the flowers, it's very refreshing and calming.
- Pour a cup of boiling water over two tablespoons of lavender flowers and let it draw for about five minutes, strain and drink.
It's excellent for the nerves Lol!
I'm thrilled with my "lime tree" which has produced fruit for the first time in ten years.
I was about to give up hope, then this year she produced a tree full of limes, made me very happy.
The banana tree is also bearing fruit and we only planted it about a year ago.
I just hope the monkeys don't get to them first, they can be so destructive sometimes.
Amatugulu Plant
The "Amatugulu" plant, a very thorny bush, bears a little berry like fruit which turns red when ripe.
The monkeys go crazy over them.
I don't mind if they eat the berries, I don't like them anyway.
My Hubby eats them from time to time, I think they have an acquired taste, sort of sour flavor...nope, not for me at all.
I have a variety of different bird life in the garden, which is wonderful to watch as they bob around chirping and eating the cooked rice I put out for them.
A little "Cycad" pup grown from one of our 'Cycad" plants, doing very well almost ready to plant out some where in the garden.
I had a "Bonsai" in this pot, but it died, so instead I planted little succulents in it's place. They seem to be happy there I think.
I planted some "Green Pepper" seeds in a pot, got 1 pepper plant out of about 10 seeds.
I'm quite happy with that, I might have pulled the other seedlings out by mistake while weeding.
My roses seem to be doing OK, I propagated these from pruning other rose bushes.
Planted the stems from the pruned rose bush in pots of soil, this being the result.
I'm quite chuffed with myself.😘
My tree orchards are doing very well at the moment. I find them to be fascinating plants with their beautifully formed and colorful flowers.
They just do something to my soul, one of my favorite flowers.
My collection of "propagated" plants, ready to plant out in the garden some where.
Have to think where...of course to cover some lawn.😁
I started another tray of green pepper and chili trees. I'm not to sure which are chilies and which are green peppers, will have to wait and see.
My tomatoes are doing well alongside the mint bush, they seem to be good friends, haven't heard them complaining yet Hehe!
Found this little fella hopping around amongst the pot plants, I think he's a tree frog.
Cute little thing.
Hubby and son-in-law had to trim the tree on top of the bank next to the house ,because it's branches were hanging over the roof.
With all the storms we've been having, we thought it best to trim it a little incase it decided to fall over onto the house.
We don't like cutting trees down so we just gave it a good trim.
With a few cuts and bruises, the job was done at the end of the day.
At least it wont be falling onto our house any time soon.
I thought I'd just add a few of my pottery art work displayed in my garden.
I wont take you inside my green-house because nothing is happening there, in-fact, I'm giving up planting anything in there, I think that part of the garden is cursed, I planted beans and pumpkin, they came up beautifully, then some little slimy creatures (you know who I'm talking about) ate them all up, leaving just the stalks of the plants.
I did go up there with my torch one night, to catch them red-handed, but the little monsters went into hiding.
I've tried egg shells and cans of beer, they're to clever for me I'm
afraid.
They're definitely not my friends those dreadful things.
So I'm hanging up my tools for now until I figure out how to eliminate those little terrors.
Maybe someone out there has some advise for me.
Love you all, hope you enjoyed the walk with me around my garden today.
Until next time.
Happy Gardening
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All photos property of @artywink
Original content by @artywink