Starting a Garden

Last week Amanda, our younger daughter-in-law asked if I'd help her start a garden for Louis and Wendy, friends of ours from church who have just moved into a new house.  No problem to me;  gardening is one of my passions. I've also been thinning out and cutting back in my garden, so we had lots and LOTS of shrubs, trees, perenials and succulants to plant in Wendy's garden.

Some of the plants we took from my garden: setaria (an indigenous grass which attracts the seed eating birds in the late summer/early autumn), plumbago, bulbines, cotelydon obicalator (which the sunbirds love) and tulbaghia. We also had four white stinkwood saplings. This indigenous tree grows to ten meters tall and makes a lovely shade tree. I always have saplings in my garden from the many mature trees already giving us pleasure in my garden,  so wherever I can, I dig them out and give them to other gardeners

On Tuesday (one of the days my gardeners don't work for me) John and David arrived and we loaded the plants and garden tools into the back of my little pickup and tootled off down the street. (Wendy and Louis live around the corner from us), met Amanda and our little grandson (who was very good all day) and set to work.

Not ten minutes into the digging and clearing, Amanda and I asked Louis if we could fetch Simon who sits on the corner at the bottom of town (with many other jobless men just waiting for a day job) to help us. Louis agreed, we fetched Simon who was thrilled to know he would receive pay that day, and with the three men working, Amanda and I were soon able to place the plants in strategic places for John to plant.

This garden was dead - no-one had lived here for two years and before that I don't think the garden was tended either

Digging, clearing and removing grass roots and stones

Amanda moved our little boy from the push chair into a camp cot and placed him outside under the tree

The three men make short work of the unkempt grass and weeds in this garden

Grandson and I share a funny moment! (BTW, he loves a camera and strikes a pose when he sees me with mine)

John starts to plant the plants we'd brought from my garden. I always tell a person who is trying to establish a garden to plant as much as possible (always trying to stick to indigenous and water-wise) just to establish the garden. Later on they can eradicate whatevery they don't like, or move plants around in their garden - I won't mind at all!

By midday we had the first bed planted up with hardy shrubs, perenials and succulants

Shrubs and perennials planted along the fence

When the gardeners were finished with the first section of the garden, they worked their way around one edge to the front garden. The driver of the grader stopped to talk to my gardeners and I jokingly asked him to bring his machine into the garden and help us!

Our little boy was still cheerful and sweet-tempered by the end of the day

Not only is Wendy's garden showing some form and order, (John and  I will take more plants to her tomorrow) but Wendy has agreed to have Simon to work for her on a Friday. I 'm thrilled that he has another day (he works for me on Wednesday) that he can earn a little money and I'm sure Simon is pleased as well!

Sharing My Garden

David and John pose in the garden with wheelbarrows fully laden with plants

we took over to my friend, Betty

David and John pose out on my pavement/sidewalk.

They love being photographed!

David and John wheel the barrows down the street; Betty lives just one house down the [dirt] road to the left

David, John and Petrus in Betty's beautiful cottage-style garden

My friend Betty with the three gardening friends

Last week my friend, Betty, who initially motivated me to make a garden in the empty plot next door to me (you can read about this here) called and asked if I had extra plants in my garden. Their church minister is changing his exotic garden into one with water wise plants and asked for plants from his congregation. Betty knows that I have a primarily indigenous garden filled with plants and that I’m busy with thinning out many of my perennials and shrubs at the moment.

John and I systematically worked through the garden. First, he dug out five white stinkwood (Celtis Africana) These have been prolifically shooting up since September last year and I’ve supplied many other people with this wonderful shade tree. We went onto dig out five false olives (Buddleja saligna) which although it’s specified as a large shrub in my gardening books, grow into trees in my garden. Next we dug the shrubs out: three Giant Honey Flower (Melianthus major), three Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis) and five Cape Leadwort (Plumbago auriculata). After this we moved onto the perennials: ten stalked bulbines (Bulbine frutecens) were added to the pile as well as five aloe spp and last but not least, as many succulents (Lampranthus spp) as I could spare.

David and John then loaded our cache into two wheelbarrows and after posing for a photograph, they pushed the plants out into the street. We walked around the corner to Betty’s house and while she and I were waiting for Petrus to pack the plants on her patio from where the padre will collect them, my two gardeners wandered around Betty’s beautiful garden taking in ideas and enjoying the sights and smells. I could see Petrus performing this task as fast as possible so that he could accompany my gardeners through his domain! David, John and Petrus know each other pretty well. I’m not too sure whether they socialise in the Township, but these men have definitely become friends through the activity and sharing between the two gardens.

Before we left for home, Betty and Petrus had loaded various plants into our barrows to plant back in my garden.

A very pleasant morning’s work indeed.