May 2022

The last month of Autumn was a stunner. Crisp but full of golden sunshine.

In a dream world it is the time to sit, bask in the light and have a cup of tea (or mulled wine).

Reality is very different.  The weeds keep growing, there is always something to clean up, trim, prune, wood needs to be cut in the bushland and all needs to be done by at least 4pm because it gets too cold and too dark to be out beyond then. The shining light within all these ‘chores’ is that magical word ‘propagation’. 

Autumn is the perfect time to take hardwood cuttings and sow seeds.  Jenny is a propagating machine.  She does not mess about.  She doesn’t make any special potting mixes.  She does not coddle plants.  And yet plants grow for her.  The gardeners on TV who sterilise their garden tools, make cuts into the plant with trembling hands and tell you it is a race against time would horrified to watch her tear into plants, use old secateurs that still cut but only just, shove them unceremoniously into pots and pop them into a water tray.  She does sometimes cover them with freezer bags to help them along but generally they are left to their own devices to live or die as they choose.  It’s amazing to bear witness to it.

This has always been a bit of an adhoc operation, until now.

May was the month we completed the Greenhouse.  A relic from when we first moved to Crofton and in a fit of productivity built it, our Greenhouse had fallen into disrepair over the years, a frame sitting forlornly in the paddock.  No more.  We have previously mentioned the joy of living on acreage where things are never thrown away but merely ‘stored’ somewhere until you need it.  We pieced the frame together from old star pickets and irrigation hose.  To stabilise it, we ran timber supports down the length of it, these received additional support from old reinforced steel arches.  We tried to recycle the shade cloth as there is heaps of it lying around but if you have ever tried to get grass that has grown through shade cloth over a number of years out, you will know that it is a thank less task and why in the world would you punish yourself in this way.  We did try and there are resistant clumps of grass hanging from the roof but half way through we cracked and bought the rest.  Worth every penny.

It’s a beautiful thing.  We just go and hang out in it, you can’t beat a greenhouse atmosphere.  As soon as you enter, you feel calm, and warmer.  It makes us very happy…