Tag: preparing the garden for summer

Australia · clouds · gardening · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · pecan tree · spring · Tweed Valley

A day spent in the garden

Joanne9 Comments

It was another dull weather day today, which worked out perfectly for getting some gardening done. It wasn’t hot, so I didn’t break out in a sweat while hauling branches of fruit frees, that we have pruned over the last month or so, to the mulcher husband hired for the weekend.

We haven’t pruned the pecan tree, which had bare branches for most of the winter, but now spring has arrived the leaves look green and lucious. Around the pecan tree there is the constant buzzing of bees, as they are congregating daily around the pecan tree doing their bee thing with the flowers. Pecan flowers fascinate me every year. Who would think these long strips of greenery would eventually turn into hard, round, brown, pecan nuts?

Just as we were about to head indoors late this afternoon, we caught sight of a foraging kookaburra. They usually watch us from tree branches while we are gardening, and as soon as we leave the area where we have been working they swoop down to find bugs to eat in the loose soil.

I’m dreadfully tired tonight, so I will say goodnight and head off to bed now. Tomorrow we intend spending another full day in the garden while we have the use of the hired mulching machine. It’s a fantastic machine and does a great job of chopping up thick tree branches, so I guess it’s best described as tiring, but satisfying work, which is the way I feel about most gardening chores. 🙂

Australia · birds · in my garden · Mount Warning · native Australian birds · new · spring · Tweed Valley

First 2020 Fledgling Sighting

Joanne7 Comments

It’s our Labour Day long weekend, so husband and I spent the day in the front garden today. (I should also mention that daylight savings started for us this weekend too.) We had already spent a lot of time out there during winter, weeding, pruning, planning and mulching, but of course, now the weather is warming up the grass is growing faster and the occasional weed peeks through the mulch.

We pulled out a few random weeds in the garden beds we’d already tended, then while husband mowed the lawn – it takes a while because it’s a pretty big area – I finished weeding a garden right up the top of the hill, next to the road. I took the photo of the mountain today from right next to the garden bed I was working on.

For the past couple of days I have been hearing the cheeping of a baby bird. Up until today I haven’t sighted it, but today, I did. Mama magpie spent the day either searching for food, or sitting on the branch high up in my Lemon Scented Gum Tree next to her fledgling. I took some photos, and this is the best I could get.

You should be able to see some downy white feathers there. Hopefully it won’t be too long before the parents bring the baby down to the garden to “introduce” their newest addition. I didn’t see father magpie today, so I’m wondering if there might be another fledgling that he’s taking care of elsewhere. I don’t even know if that’s something birds might do – split the care. I’m sure I will soon find out.

I’ve been feeding magpies for so many years now, and every year when the baby birds arrive it’s still an exciting event. 🙂