Succulents.. Lots of it!

Once upon a time I was obsessed with succulents. You can read about it here, here and here. It was quite an obsession actually. I wanted to buy every single succulent I came across, literally!
 
I still love succulents very much but the obsession has taken a more controlled turn now. Probably because I have lots of it and now I am very selective about what I want.

About 18 months ago, just before I found out I was pregnant, me and my hubby built a raised garden bed, a sort of a planter box for my succulents (I took lots of photos to blog about it but I can't seem to find them now).

I planted all the succulents in the planter box just last summer hoping it will fill the planter box and guess what! IT DID!

How good does this look?!!!!

I think I need re-arrange the succulents around the planter box to ensure the smaller succulents got enough room, but that will have to wait until Spring.

I'm falling for them all over again. I LOVE the colours!

If you look closely you will see burn marks on most of them. Some of the succulents were badly burnt and still recovering.

These are just breath taking..

My gorgeous flapjack. This is one of the first succulents I bought and it's doing so well.

Yes I may have gone crazy clicking a way photos of my succulent collection but they deserve the attention! However the harsh summer damaged most of my succulents. 

Aren't they gorgeous?!

Yeap they definitely deserve the attention. <3<3<3

My very first Vege Patch

I've always always always wanted to do a vege patch in my back yard. There is some sort of self satisfaction when you grow your own vegetables, well.. at least when you try :)

Finally we got around to building one. It was quite easy. We used three pine sleepers, cut them into the required lengths and screwed them together to make a rectangular raised bed.

Well.. after that it kinda sat there for couple of months growing weeds.

Getting the vege patch up and running was long over due, and with my mother-in-law visiting I had some help around the house so it gave me a free moment to get it done.

Firstly, I cleaned out the weeds and loosened the soil in the vege patch. Once that was done I filled it with potting mix. I needed about 6-7 bags of potting mix. I used the Coles brand and which was about $3 for 25kg bag of potting mix. I also mixed half a bag of cow maneuver and some washed sand.

After that all I had to do was make a trip to Bunnings to get some plants. I decided buy a collection of lettuce and a few herb plants. Salad leaves and herbs always wilt after couple of days of being in the fridge when we buy them in our grocery trip and they go to waste. I wanted to have them at hand so they are always fresh when we need them. 

Here's after I planted everything in.

After the planting I watered the patch with diluted seaweed solution. Then I applied sugarcane mulch around the plants so that the soil can retain moisture. I'm hoping it will keep the snails and the weeds away too.

Here's my collection..  we have Thyme..

Basil..

Rosemary..

A collection of lettuce leaves..

Bok Choy (I think)..

Last but not least.. Strawberry!!!

  

Here's a shot of my vege patch from my deck.

I'm so excited and so happy I managed to get it done. Very productive weekend!

Happy Monday peeps! :)

Flowering border

See the border of flowers on the right of the foot path? 

They were planted by my mom few months ago. I didn't think it was a good idea at first but now I admit, I was very wrong. They have such vibrant colours and they are so pleasing to the eye. They are just gorgeous!

Here are some close up shots of a few.

It's Autumn now and it's still giving lots of flowers. I can't wait for Spring to see full show.

Backyard Foot Path

This was a landscaping project I did during my maternity leave, while my 4 months old baby napped. 

It's been 2 years since we moved into our house and my back yard is far from complete. I have a three meter wide area on the side of the house and I always wanted to do a foot path from the deck to the front fence gate and lawn on either side, so I thought it's a good project for me to tackle.

Firstly, me and the hubby went for a drive and collected some scrap timber from a couple of construction sites so that I can do the border of the foot path. I marked where the foot path should be and dug little trenches and set the timbers to make the border.

 

It took me few days to lay the borders as I kept getting interrupted whenever baby woke up from her naps. And on some days she came to watch me work too! I had my own little adorable supervisor watching me work :)

   

After I got all the timber borders are in place, I laid out plastic sheets on the area where I was putting the pavers so that I never have to deal with weeds coming through the pavers.

I did my research and bought the pavers from Natural Stone Factory Direct Outlet. I chose rectangular, 600mm x 400mm, pavers with a bit of a texture and a design on it for the foot path. I manged to get them for cheap ($8 each) as it was a discontinued line. I chose mixed polished river pebbles to match the pavers. 

This is after I had the pavers and pebbles in place with newly laid lawn.

These pictures were taken a few months after the lawn settled in.

I absolutely love how everything came together. Pretty neat huh?