According to Better Gnomes and Fardels "The greatest challenge facing
Australia's gardeners today is the dreaded side passage"

Amazing. Truly amazing.

David

You are watching Tv too!!!!!! ROFLMHO ;-))

Bronwyn ;-)

David Hare-Scott wrote:
> According to Better Gnomes and Fardels "The greatest challenge facing
> Australia's gardeners today is the dreaded side passage"
>
> Amazing. Truly amazing.
>
> David
>
>

David......do you get a herby aroma when you walk up your steps??? LOL

David Hare-Scott wrote:

> According to Better Gnomes and Fardels "The greatest challenge facing
> Australia's gardeners today is the dreaded side passage"
>
> Amazing. Truly amazing.
>
> David
>
>

In article <o3qrg.962$tE5.309 [at] news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
"David Hare-Scott" <compost [at] rotting.com> wrote:

> According to Better Gnomes and Fardels "The greatest challenge facing
> Australia's gardeners today is the dreaded side passage"

Well, that *is* challenging... but I don't watch BGF. I'd take Gardening
Australia any day. But let's make this a survey!

What IS our greatest challenge as Aussie gardeners?

Making our gardens more suited to our environment -- ie, reducing water,
energy and fertiliser consumption, reducing CO2... all that stuff, which I
think we garden fiends tend to do anyway.

What is the most challenging spot in your garden?

A particular spot in the bed at the front of my house. The house faces south,
so is in shade for most of the year. There is a spot which has a more
westerly aspect, and in late summer, the sun comes around and fries anything I
have planted there.

I have just removed a sickle wattle from there -- poor thing had fallen over
trying to get some sun -- and have planted Plectranthus argentatus and
Wintersweet. Hoping the light hedge of Grevillea 'Moonlight' to the west
might lower the death rate.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Climate change. In my area it means more drought. Even large established
shrubs and trees suffered in the last lot.

jules

Chookie <ehrebeniuk [at] fowlspambegone.com.au> wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-7F9B45.09555509072006 [at] news-vip.optusnet.com.au...
> In article <o3qrg.962$tE5.309 [at] news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
> "David Hare-Scott" <compost [at] rotting.com> wrote:
>
> > According to Better Gnomes and Fardels "The greatest challenge facing
> > Australia's gardeners today is the dreaded side passage"
>
> Well, that *is* challenging... but I don't watch BGF. I'd take Gardening
> Australia any day. But let's make this a survey!
>
> What IS our greatest challenge as Aussie gardeners?
>
> Making our gardens more suited to our environment -- ie, reducing water,
> energy and fertiliser consumption, reducing CO2... all that stuff, which I
> think we garden fiends tend to do anyway.
>
> What is the most challenging spot in your garden?
>
> A particular spot in the bed at the front of my house. The house faces
south,
> so is in shade for most of the year. There is a spot which has a more
> westerly aspect, and in late summer, the sun comes around and fries
anything I
> have planted there.
>
> I have just removed a sickle wattle from there -- poor thing had fallen
over
> trying to get some sun -- and have planted Plectranthus argentatus and
> Wintersweet. Hoping the light hedge of Grevillea 'Moonlight' to the west
> might lower the death rate.
>
> --
> Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
> (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
>
> "Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You
may
> start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
> Kerry Cue

"HC" <IHateSpam [at] home.com> wrote in message
news:44ae3356$1 [at] dnews.tpgi.com.au...
> David......do you get a herby aroma when you walk up your steps??? LOL
>

Only when I step on an escapee or brush against an aromatic herb. Was that
what you had in mind?

David

"Chookie" <ehrebeniuk [at] fowlspambegone.com.au> wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-7F9B45.09555509072006 [at] news-vip.optusnet.com.au...
> In article <o3qrg.962$tE5.309 [at] news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
> "David Hare-Scott" <compost [at] rotting.com> wrote:
>
> > According to Better Gnomes and Fardels "The greatest challenge facing
> > Australia's gardeners today is the dreaded side passage"
>
> Well, that *is* challenging... but I don't watch BGF. I'd take Gardening
> Australia any day. But let's make this a survey!
>

I agree, BGF is so commercial and supeficial, it's just a glossy (women's)
magazine translated to the screen. I hope that I am still sparking when I
am as old as Peter Cundle.

> What IS our greatest challenge as Aussie gardeners?
>
> Making our gardens more suited to our environment -- ie, reducing water,
> energy and fertiliser consumption, reducing CO2... all that stuff, which I
> think we garden fiends tend to do anyway.
>

Yes water is the big issue.


> What is the most challenging spot in your garden?
>

About 4 acres of grass that I would like to be covered with trees and shrubs
.... its going to take years.

David

Chookie wrote:
> A particular spot in the bed at the front of my house. The house
> faces south, so is in shade for most of the year.

The southern side of my house is cold, too, and so far we've not done
anything to the area out there. I don't think it'll be too hard, as it's
above teh level of the house (I'm on a hill), but it's interesting how its
being left in the too hard basket while we've been doing the east, north and
west.

> There is a spot
> which has a more westerly aspect, and in late summer, the sun comes
> around and fries anything I have planted there.

My western side gets battered by the winds (like today) which, when strong,
shake the house, make the indoor palms wave their arms and move the water in
the loo. We planted a large cypress windbreak, which has done a wonderful
job, so we can make some little terraced lawns and feature trees within. The
soil is hard shale with hydrophobic dirt/ground shale in between. It's a
challenge.


> I have just removed a sickle wattle from there -- poor thing had
> fallen over trying to get some sun -- and have planted Plectranthus
> argentatus and Wintersweet. Hoping the light hedge of Grevillea
> 'Moonlight' to the west might lower the death rate.

I'd have thought natives would handle the position better, although if it's
dark mostly, with a blast of westerly sun, maybe a bit challenging.

I have a bit under my deck, to the east, which was shady and dry, so I
planted it with natives which liked shady dry areas. later, my mother made a
fernery down there, and put in irrigation. Oddly, the shady-dry lovers are
still doing fine. Not better, or worse, but the same. There was a grey
wooly grevillia, a kunzea, an eristemon, and just out from under the deck a
bright red tea tree. And they are all quite happy with their changed
situation.

And she planted an old-fashioned geranium (pelargonium) in a pipe, and it is
going ape!

--
ant

David Hare-Scott wrote:
> I hope that I am still
> sparking when I am as old as Peter Cundle.

Eat more compost! Breakfast of champions.


> About 4 acres of grass that I would like to be covered with trees and
> shrubs ... its going to take years.

Try 16 acres of stony windswept ex sheep farm. 4 is a fair bit too... we've
kind of pulled back to just the acres up top, around the house. More
manageable. Just keep planting trees, and you'll see the change.


--
ant

My biggest personal challenge is reconciling myself to the idea that I may
never be able to grow the plants I love in the places I have room for them!
;-)
For example, I would love to have a camellia hedge of lovely full double old
fashioned camellias but the spot I want to have them gets full sun and, here
in Perth, that can be pretty harrowing - even in winter.
Limited time, money and energy is another biggie!
Apart from that, I do have a problem with both side passges at my house so
maybe BHG isn't so far off.

"Chookie" <ehrebeniuk [at] fowlspambegone.com.au> wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-7F9B45.09555509072006 [at] news-vip.optusnet.com.au...
> In article <o3qrg.962$tE5.309 [at] news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
> "David Hare-Scott" <compost [at] rotting.com> wrote:
>
>> According to Better Gnomes and Fardels "The greatest challenge facing
>> Australia's gardeners today is the dreaded side passage"
>
> Well, that *is* challenging... but I don't watch BGF. I'd take Gardening
> Australia any day. But let's make this a survey!
>
> What IS our greatest challenge as Aussie gardeners?
>
> Making our gardens more suited to our environment -- ie, reducing water,
> energy and fertiliser consumption, reducing CO2... all that stuff, which I
> think we garden fiends tend to do anyway.
>
> What is the most challenging spot in your garden?
>
> A particular spot in the bed at the front of my house. The house faces
> south,
> so is in shade for most of the year. There is a spot which has a more
> westerly aspect, and in late summer, the sun comes around and fries
> anything I
> have planted there.
>
> I have just removed a sickle wattle from there -- poor thing had fallen
> over
> trying to get some sun -- and have planted Plectranthus argentatus and
> Wintersweet. Hoping the light hedge of Grevillea 'Moonlight' to the west
> might lower the death rate.
>
> --
> Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
> (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
>
> "Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You
> may
> start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
> Kerry Cue

In article <4hba02F1qf292U1 [at] individual.net>, "ant" <dmjfisher [at] terrapins.com>
wrote:

> David Hare-Scott wrote:
> > I hope that I am still
> > sparking when I am as old as Peter Cundle.
>
> Eat more compost! Breakfast of champions.

LOL -- did you see the skit he did on BackBerner a few years ago? Wonderful
stuff, including lines about politicians producing good manure, and my
personal fave, which I had as a sig: "Gardening's not just for the old; it's
for the old at heart"!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

"ant" <dmjfisher [at] terrapins.com> wrote in message
news:4hba02F1qf292U1 [at] individual.net...
> David Hare-Scott wrote:
> > I hope that I am still
> > sparking when I am as old as Peter Cundle.
>
> Eat more compost! Breakfast of champions.
>
>
> > About 4 acres of grass that I would like to be covered with trees and
> > shrubs ... its going to take years.
>
> Try 16 acres of stony windswept ex sheep farm. 4 is a fair bit too...
we've
> kind of pulled back to just the acres up top, around the house. More
> manageable. Just keep planting trees, and you'll see the change.
>
>
> --
> ant
>
>

Well the 4 acres is just the bit close to the house, there is 50 all up.
The Big Plan is to 'pull back' ah, um, deal with the 12 acres of the house
paddock and leave the rest agisted to a neighbour for 5 years at least. Of
the 12 we want to leave much of it as pasture for the horses but not as a
single open space. We will re-vegetate, provide shade and shelter for all
creatures great and small, not to mention a wind break (or is that break
wind?), vege garden, orchard, herb garden, aromatic (ie smell garden),
ornamentals. At least the orchard and veges are going, only 97 to go.

Just keep planting trees. A good suggestion. We planted 250 to start,
despite all research and advice from "experts" including the Forestry
Nursery regarding suitable species, about 100 died the first winter (having
established well) from frost. Grrrr don't you just love experts. We don't
buy 50 or 75 of anything now unless in a test planting 4 out of 5 have
survived a year. The wind break area where the testees get planted is going
to be diverse, hetrogenous and just plain random.

David

"Chookie" <ehrebeniuk [at] fowlspambegone.com.au> wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-9871BA.21041409072006 [at] news-vip.optusnet.com.au...
> In article <4hba02F1qf292U1 [at] individual.net>, "ant"
<dmjfisher [at] terrapins.com>
> wrote:
>
> > David Hare-Scott wrote:
> > > I hope that I am still
> > > sparking when I am as old as Peter Cundle.
> >
> > Eat more compost! Breakfast of champions.
>
> LOL -- did you see the skit he did on BackBerner a few years ago?
Wonderful
> stuff, including lines about politicians producing good manure, and my
> personal fave, which I had as a sig: "Gardening's not just for the old;
it's
> for the old at heart"!
>

Speaking of politicians. We had a Member of Parliament (ooh ah) in the
house paddock the other day with a bunch of people and she stepped in a
horse turd. One of the local shining wits said "this must remind you of
Canberra".

And of Cundle, did you get his interview on "Enough Rope", he was great, his
story of consorting with the enemy during WW2 had me rolling breathless.

David

In article <_Gnsg.2306$tE5.474 [at] news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
"David Hare-Scott" <compost [at] rotting.com> wrote:

> And of Cundle, did you get his interview on "Enough Rope", he was great, his
> story of consorting with the enemy during WW2 had me rolling breathless.

No! Do tell!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

Chookie wrote:
> In article <_Gnsg.2306$tE5.474 [at] news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
> "David Hare-Scott" <compost [at] rotting.com> wrote:
>
>
>>And of Cundle, did you get his interview on "Enough Rope", he was great, his
>>story of consorting with the enemy during WW2 had me rolling breathless.
>
>
> No! Do tell!
>
Peter cundall worked with me at a place called Northern Platers and
Brass founders in Tassie.
He got involved with a young local shiela who enticed him into the woods.
Only problem was he didnt get any. She had soldiers arrest him, he got
put into a cell,and when he went back, after they relaeased him he got
scolded and when he said he didnt do any good the commanding sergeant
let him off.
Peter always talked funny. Was into uniosn being a pom and was allright.
He always warned young fellers about young sheilas though...