As I put on my thermals to brave the southerly wind and a few isolated showers, I did wonder how those further south are faring.  Like many others, I am dreaming of the warmth returning, and some lazy days at the beach, or out on the boat. Actually, at the moment, I think I would settle for some sunshine and warmth in my own garden with a cuppa in hand. 

Even with the cold nights, we still had a few more seedlings pop up. The first of the sunflowers are starting to poke through, and I think I have spied a bit of movement with the cucumbers. Well one cucumber. The rest are being stubborn. Same with the chilies and capsicums. While looking for some carrots seeds for Connor to sow into his garden (which we appear to be out of) I did locate my asparagus seeds in the kids' gardening supplies. Now I have some crowns growing, I will sow the remainder of the seeds later (I kept a few in reserve just encase disaster struck).

One more day tomorrow, and one more job to do, and we are officially back on track. Keeping that in mind was certainly what kept me going today when the temptation was to curl up with a blanket and watch a movie with the boys. 

The gardens that I attacked this morning are immediately at our back door. As we are split level, it is also the view I get from the kitchen. I am keeping in mind that it is only going to get worse, before it gets better. To the left, is where the rotten post was, and  which is currently secured in an interesting way while we await the builder to return.

This garden is formed through a mismatch of cuttings, and a few other flowers that I randomly add. Many flowers are  from my mum's place, but others come from a friend who was moving. The only original plant in there is the little maple. During this part of the year, after the spring bulbs have finished, it can look really untidy. The mountain of leaves, is also a haven for snails and slugs. Conscious that the red lilies that my mum gave me years ago, are about to flower, I needed to sort things out before they started munching on them. Not wanting to cut the bulb foliage back, I have opted to tie them up. By doing this, it was easier to weed; move a few plants around (self seeded ones); and to put snail pellets down to protect the lilies. I had two helping hands for this job. One whose help was wanted (my youngest who helped tie them back), and a 4 pawed helper who thought it was great fun hiding behind the bundles and pouncing out at my hand. He often likes to join me in the garden. His hijinks are sometimes not welcomed though, especially if I am putting the cloches up, or have a ball of twine. 

I also tackled a smaller area beside it, which had our passionfruit on. We'd thought we had lost it last year, but then it bounced back and gave us a winter's crop. Unfortunately, I think that was it's demise. I was planning on removing the worst affected parts, as I suspected it was only one of the two passionfruit affected. But on closer inspection, I decided to play it safe and cut it right back. I am suspicious it had greasy spot last year. We do have another one in another area, so it was a relatively easy decision to make. Sweet peas will go in here instead for the time being. It will also give us a chance to sort the water runoff that has been going through there, as I know that they also don't like wet feet.