Today, I'm linking up with Claire's One Weekend Wonder post - a weekly link-up where bloggers share a special moment or experience captured during the weekend... one they want to cherish...
Our weekend was a VERY productive one. It was non-stop for us all but we accomplished a lot, especially seeing as we did all we did with two little girls to look after and keep happy at the same time. The majority of our weekend was spent in the garden. Paul worked especially hard (with Grace and I lending a hand) and between us, we managed to prune, weed and mulch the back garden and most of the front. It's so rewarding to look out the window now or pull into our driveway seeing everything looking so neat.
Grace especially loved being Daddy's helper. While I alternated between pruning bushes, doing chores inside the house and keeping Sophie entertained, she and Paul scooped bucket after bucket of mulch, carpeting the garden in pine bark chips. She loved gallivanting about in her gumboots, climbing up onto the trailer and getting absolutely filthy in the process.
Now we just need to wait for all our frangipanis to come out in foliage again as things are looking a little bit bare and we need to buy some more ground covers and low growing shrubs to fill in all the 'empty spots'. We're also thinking of planting some tall hedge / screening type plants along the other side of our fence in the top photo, to create a bit more privacy and to hide the view of nearby rooftops and palm trees. It will be nice to look out the back and see greenery above the fence line rather than roof tiles.
In other 'garden news', our little baby dove took its first flight yesterday and left the nest (that's her on the beam in the photo above). I've found I'm still glancing out the window all the time out of habit though, expecting to see our little friend amongst the branches of the jasmine bush.
How was your weekend?
Gosh, your garden just looks so neat and lovely amanda! yesterday was just a fantastic day for gardening!!! hope you have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeletelaura x
Yes, the sunshine was beautiful, quite warm too. I actually managed to catch up on washing too :)
DeleteWe did lots of gardening too - mainly pulling out weeds in the rain...but we had some holes to fill too (lavender and peonies should do the trick)
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a beautiful frangipani in Perth...they look so funny when not in bloom though that I could never decide whether I loved or loathed it.
x
That's why I'm desperate for the leaves to return on ours -they look so lovely when they're green and covered in flowers. I was thinking of getting a few lavender bushes for 'fillers' here too :)
DeleteGorgeous garden Amanda!
ReplyDeleteMy weekend was quite nice, we celebrated my birthday! I think the best part about it was realising how many beautiful, loving people I have in my life, and how lucky I am. I think I take them for granted too often.
x
Your garden is as neat as a pin, a beautiful result for all that labour! I love the pics of your doves too.
ReplyDeleteIt is so good to see Grace enjoying the gardening. Our little neighbour (about 2yrs old?bit less maybe) is rarely outside. It makes me sad. My neice really enjoys gardening and even has her own patch.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is looking fab by the way!
x
Grace was seriously out doors all day long. If she wasn't scooping mulch, she was riding up and down her the driveway on her bike running over snails Paul had found - barbaric I know - blame Paul! :) Little ones so need to run around outdoors, to explore and to potter. Grace is happiest in the garden.
DeleteThanks for the garden compliment, coming from you whose garden I always admire, it means a lot x
Your garden looks amazing Amanda, what a great weekend spent! It will make being outdoors even more loely now. And I can't believe how quickly the little birdie has grown up! Wow!
ReplyDeleteWeather wise it was the perfect weekend for being outdoors.
ReplyDeleteYour gardens looks immaculate Amanda :)
Xx
Your garden is looking lovely Amanda and Grace is such a good helper. xx
ReplyDeleteYour garden is so lovely Amanda. Such a wonderful place for the girls to play {and you to potter around in}. How sweet is that baby bird!!! First flight....eeeks....I wonder if the Mumma bird is as anxious as we are when our 'babies' prepare to leave the nest {aka: go to school} :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up.
xx
What a fabulous effort, Amanda - the results must be worth it. I pine for frangipanis now after all our years in Sydney. That sad, I have spotted one growing in Hobart so am crossing my fingers we might be able to have one, too! J x
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! What a lovely spot you have there. The boys were helping us in the garden on the weekend too; they enjoy it so much. Plus it has the added benefit of completely tiring them out! xxx
ReplyDeleteSo neat and tidy. Fresh mulch always looks so good. Sounds like a fun and productive weekend.
ReplyDeleteI can smell the feshness! I love a nicly manicured garden! Mine is a mess at the momment! Might get onto that in the holidays :) Im making your raspberry and white choc muffins today! Im feeling a baking expedition comin on so thought Id start with these :) Enjoy your week,
ReplyDeleteCassie
Hi Cassie! Let me know how the muffins go - hope you find my recipe okay to follow... make sure you don't add the raspberries until the last minute and only a few strokes to mix them through...otherwise you'll have purple muffins! x
DeleteThey turned out great! I doubled the batch and did half raspberry half blueberry - both with white Choc of course! We all loved them except Miss4 - but she's never been a fan of fruit cooked into cakes. Did you end up choosing a new cookbook? Nigella or Jamie? I've gone and caught the cooking bug! Cassie
DeleteI'm so glad you liked them, I'm always nervous sharing recipes in case I rave about it and then someone else tries it and it doesn't work :)
DeleteI ended up getting Jamie's 30 Minute Meals - my best friend reads my blog and saw my post and kindly bought it for me as a thank you gift. I'm really happy with it.
I love cooking too, although I must admit I've been rather uninspired lately come dinner time as it's always the chaotic time of night :) I need to get back into the swing of things with my Cooking Club as that gets me enthused about cooking :)
Your garden is looking beautiful Amanda. I love that feeling of looking over all the hard work and seeing how great things look, so worth all of the hours. Grace is such a sweet little helper, what a fun time she sounds like she had with Paul, I love my girls doing things like that with their Dad mostly these days it's the little one:) I hope you are having a wonderful week. xx
ReplyDeleteAnother wonderful spring project that you have inspired me to consider.
ReplyDeleteI am hosting an awesome Give Away to help with more spring projects if you have time to pop over.
xK
funny when i was a child i couldn't stand helping mum in the garden {mind you she didn't make it fun} but zekky loves it, we play and make it an adventure and hes a wee bit obsessed with the lawn mower hehehe
ReplyDeleteyour cute girls helping {precious moments} have a wonderful day amanda lisa
Oh look at her! She has such a sweet soul, you can just tell....your garden is so beautifully kept x
ReplyDeleteps. do you know I just love the dove updates. cutest blog storyline ever!
Oh good, I was worried readers would be bored by my feathered friend tales :) Do you know, since our mother dove and her baby 'moved out' a new Mama bird has made her way to the nest and laid an egg... I'm so glad because I felt sad looking out at the empty nest from our kitchen window :) Grace thinks it's all very exciting and Sophie is especially fascinated by our doves :)
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