Vahland and Nectarines Fri 29 Jan - Sunday 31 Jan 2021

Haven't been to Inglewood for a little while....it's Summer, so I've been going to the beach a bit

Anyway, it was decidedly unsummery weather on Friday - basically raining all day

Justin and I drove up in the afternoon and it rained pretty much all the way there

Had a quick inspection of the garden, only a few weeds had poked through the mulch, but - the kiwi plants leaves were all brown and dry - looked somewhat dead

I trimmed off the leaves, and luckily the stems are still green

Got Justin to investigate - and seems as though the watering system tap was turned off - grrr

Given that the stems were still green, I crossed my fingers and also snipped off a few and planted them (where other kiwi plants had actually died)

Anyway, had a nice leftover dinner with Justin  - and a quiet night

Saturday, and a leisurely start, as we were by ourselves.  Justin brought me breakfast in bed, and then joined me also.

Did the crosswords and sudoku, read The Age - very pleasant

Given that it was such a dull and miserable day yesterday, it was surprising that today was so lovely and sunny and blue - but not too hot - just nice

Got up eventually, and put on my overalls - and got rid of those weeds coming through the mulch

Also transplanted some 4 o clock plants - which had self seeded in the path

This is what they look like when in flower -photo from the internet.

And they're called 4 o clock plants because of the way they bloom.  The flowers open in the late afternoon, typically around 4pm or so, and then remain open til the next morning.  Then they wilt, and won't reopen 

Some of the cuttings that Clare gave me at New Year have also survived - yay

And the naked ladies were also in bloom

Given my lack of success with tomatoes this season (they all fried), I was surprised to find a self seeded tomato plant near the grape vines.  I carefully moved it to the vegie bed - and also got Justin to make sure that the water timer was on.  With luck this one will survive (although it might be a bit late in the season)

And the grape vines were looking very good, had grown quite a bit (must love being mulched, and also the rain), and all of the citrus trees are looking happy.

The orange tree that Cheryl and Andrew had given us years ago already has about 6 little green oranges on it, and most of the other ones have blossoms

Had a visit from a Bendigo author who is writing a book on William Vahland - a famous 19th century Bendigo architect.  Showed him around, and he was very nice.  Told us that the veranda columns are concrete with tin wrapped around them 

After this I went back out into the garden and pulled the tall weeds out of the "lawn".  Having had so much rain in the last 24 hours or so - the ground was nice and wet  - and the weeds were relatively easy to pull out by the roots

Made piles of these all around the garden - had planned to pick them up and put them in the trailer, but didn't get around to it 

 I made a nice dinner for the 2 of us tonight - eye fillet, caramelised onions, cream mushroom sauce, salad. Yum     

Sunday, and I made Justin breakfast in bed (and then I joined him). Had bought 2 dozen eggs from David yesterday - so did some scrambled eggs on toast

After breakfast I persuaded Justin to measure up the kitchen and bathroom for me - with the new laser measurer that I'd bought in Bunnings a while back

Worked pretty well 

Terry dropped in while we were doing it - and we had a cup of coffee and a chat.  He came to tell us about the upcoming Music night in March, and to also see if I'd like any nectarines.  And of course I would, so I said I'd drop by with a bucket after lunch

Terry's nectarine trees were incredibly laden, I filled about 1/2 a bucket - and could have taken 10 times that amount without making much of a dent

Once I got back to our place, I also pickled some of my yellow peaches from my so called nectarine tree (these were the first ones to get ripe).   

Left for Melbourne late afternoon, and Madeleine, Hughie and Fraser made us a delicious roast chicken dinner - which we ate out the back - lovely!