I'm adding Landscaping to my CV

I'm so proud and impressed I have to share.
I don't have much in the way of a garden. It's mostly just tamed field and/or bush.
Well 2 weeks ago I happened on a wonderful man named Abraham and we're fixing things up.

Last week he cleaned up the sand and weed triangle I have in front of the house.
Yesterday we built a garden; and bloody hard work it was too. I am sunburned, sore, stiff and feel like I've been weightlifting for hours on end.

Stage 1:
7:30 yesterday morning we started with this.



Stage 2:
Everything grows in the field around the house. We just moved them. It's very hot and dry so I thought it would be better to use local flora instead of wasting money at the nursery and watching the poor plants die slowly.
I do want to add some lavender and maybe a rosemary bush.
The big Aloe in the middle was a lucky find. The farmer had started bulldozing to clear land for planting a few days before. I rescued a plant for a change!



Stage 3:
The hard!!! part. We started wheelbarrowing in rocks from the field around my house. F'ing hard work! I had blisters from handling rough, boiling hot rocks.





Slowly getting there.





And finally the 80% finished product:





We still need to cart in more rocks but at 14:30 I called a halt. We were both parboiled, I was at the limit of my abilities and had probably only done a 1/4 of the work.

The change is astounding! The whole look of the house has changed. I've never had anything to look at out of my bedroom window and now I have a lovely little garden  

The judges:
The girls kept an eye on our doings the whole day. I also learned why the bells on my gate keep moving. The are fascinated by them and keep pecking at them and ringing them  

Our next project it to start sorting out the grass and turning it into a lawn.

Your new garden looks lovely, I wouldn't bother with the grass though - not with seven dogs - mines a mess and I've only got two!

That looks brilliant! Great job!!!

Grass only grows here in winter & spring, bar that it hurts when you walk out without shoes... just splinters really. But that looks lovely!

Makes a big difference to the look and feel of the property.
I have a natural occurring scraggly but hardy type of grass. We're just going to pull out the other stuff and give the grass a chance to take over. It's very low growing. In almost 2 years I've never had to mow.
I do want to plant a tree or 2 though. I'm researching fast growing trees for very hot, dry, windy climes.
Typing these sentences has made me realise I'm old. I'm doing ****ing gardening and discussing it online!!

Well done Shisa and Abraham! What a classy garden.

Lavender and rosemary (in particular) should do well in your new garden.

I wish you luck with your lawn though, and would caution against heartbreak! Your land is sloping and in a (presumably) hot, dry climate. Even in England, where legend has it that we have non-stop rain, that little patch of greensward requires intensive care year-round to attain the title of a "lawn" (as opposed to a patch of grass!). Which is why I don't bother! tbh if I had sloping ground that grass happily grows on I'd be happy with that, and just knock the top off occasionally if it got too lank.

Or use astro-turf!!!!

Thank you.
We'll just modify what is here a bit.
I love Lavender. I can just imagine the smell wafting into the house

Well I discussed my garden so.... exactly what are you trying to say?

Lavender is great. Doesn't need much water when established,  but does need a good prune or to be replaced every few yrs. Chop off the flowers ever so often. Great for the shrub. Hang them upside down & let air dry for a few weeks. Makes great pot pourri for the house & also... sprinkle it in a chook hen... the mites will not come near your chooks! Boil it in water, let it cool, chuck it in a spray bottle... it's a lovely air freshener. Spray the dogs beds. They smell pretty & fleas don't like the smell. I always have a doz dried flowers under the dogs blanket.

If you just cut off a limb, (on a nice sharp angel) chuck it in a small pot, water it for a month or so, you will have new plants to replace the others when needed.

Well, that's what I do with mine.
Lavender is brilliant for so many things.

& I'm not old!

I read something last week about aging; how all new music starts sounding like crap, you find strange hobbies - like gardening, and comfort becomes more important than being fashionable etc...

Shisa wrote:I read something last week about aging; how all new music starts sounding like crap, you find strange hobbies - like gardening, and comfort becomes more important than being fashionable etc...

Truer words have never been written!

Very impressive! That looks really good.

Thank you.
I still have a stiff left thigh