A few views from my garden

[Dinu]

Wanted to do this since long. My garden is not colourful as one can imagine, but it provides me to dig my hands in the dirt at my own free will!! This is the front space. Almond tree - trimmed to this shape and maintained as it grows big - it was big and I've got it halved in height 8 yrs ago. It must be 100 yrs old. There is also a Fidlewood tree seen at the back. Front gate and drive way seen. I keep a few pots - most of the space is like a passage. The pond is out of picture on the left.

As we enter the gate this is on the left. The stone trough has water lily. The trough is vintage, made to serve cattle in the house with water.

The pond can be seen at the back, my favourite pond bench... where I've most of the time, breakfast and coffee/tea. I've started to grow some plants in 'grow bags'.

This is the side yard where there is a small space - between two sheds - one shelters our scooters and the other, odds and ends. You can see me on top of the scooter shed pruning the Jacquemontia vine last year - photo by my wife from the balcony of the adjacent house [ours, new one]. The house seen on the right is 105 yrs old where we live. As it was May, I had protected the garden space [and moved the pots to protect from harsh sun with coconut fronds].

 

[Beth_B]

Dinu, what a lovely space you have!
I really like those interlocking paving bricks in your third photo.
I'm guessing your climate is warm and lush year 'round?

 

[Becky]

What a fantastic garden! The almond tree is lovely!

 

[Larisa]

Beautiful garden! I see the plants that we grow here only in pots at home. How good they look in the garden!

 

[Rajesh Sethi]

Awesome, well maintained.

You have arch trellis, why not growing some flowering climbers or veggies, grapes, bitter gourd, passion flower, clitoria etc will make it more beautiful and are quite easy to grow.(Rose flower/ climbing rose/cactus is not good for house as it has thorns, in my place thorny plants are prohibited in house)

Pond area need little sorting.

 

[marlingardener]

Oh my, that is all so lovely, and obviously well-planned. Wish I had some coconut fronds--then I wouldn't have to haul heavy pots to a shaded area in our hot summertime!

 

[Dinu]

@Beth_B Many thanks. Those interlocking bricks [cement] - I moved some amount of them they left in front of our gate after they paved the roadside. Actually they are doing this so mindlessly all over the city that avenue trees may be choking slowly [they care less to leave enough space around the trunks, though they have left in some places]. Our place gets warmest at 37-39 C in the peak of summer and gets as low as 11-13 C in winter.

@Becky & @Larisa thanks.

@marlingardener Yes, planning is mine and I can lay claim on it, for this is 'Dinu's Eden'!

@Rajesh Sethi, The arch did have plants on it. The pond side arch had Jacquemontia - it dried up last year. You can see it in this picture - in some glory. If I get it again this year, I'll plant the same - I love the blues! I have Clitoria but they are all dormant now. Have a couple of single blues, a double purple and a double white. Greenery and some colours will show up only after summer - post June.

This is a January picture. The pond liner has holes in it, bigger ones caused by big burrowing rats. They burrowed from the other side and opened up in the side. Tree roots have also punctured it in some places - in fact this liner was put in 2009 and it has over-lived its life. May be sometime this year I'll replace the liner and will have to start all over again. It certainly needs attention - the water lily also has overgrown. I had harvested some ginger and turmeric [see the mess on the left].

 

[Rajesh Sethi]

I love garden with some sort of water construction, like pond, fountain , even bird bath. water bodies some how makes the garden complete.

Are those well rings used as raised bed, I will try that?

Btw after seeing the lily in pond, I ought to ask the question. Do you use fertilizer for water lily?

I recently got a bulb that has started to shoot out leaves(thats a blue one) and purchased few seeds namely tropical water lily white petals with purple or blue streak but don't know what will be the colour of the flower from seeds.

 

[Dinu]

@RajeshSethi ... You are right. Once we have all that... the pond etc.. it is hard to be without them. There is so much activity through them!

Those are discarded tyres... I had pulled them in from the street someone had thrown about 9-10 years ago, much to the displeasure of the frowning wife . I had to cut the inside ring [with some effort] to make it ready as a planter/raised bed. I had seen this idea on the Net - many ideas I have are borrowed from there and some friends plus my own modifications.

I do not use any fertilizer for the pond. I have just added water when it was needed. The fish are happy, the plants are fine and I think they call such ones as 'natural pond', but we have to have the plastic liner because the earth can suck in water very fast. I only remove the excess debris in the form of dry leaves that fall into the pond.

Your new bulb will have a surprise. So wait and watch.
Picture below is from 2010 when it was in full glory.

 

[zigs]

Smashing Dinu

 

[DeborahJane]

Really wonderful Dinu. So interesting to see the garden of such a passionate gardener on the other side of the world.

 

[Dinu]

Really wonderful Dinu. So interesting to see the garden of such a passionate gardener on the other side of the world.

Thank you DJ. Will try to share more whenever I find time.