Tell Us About…Gardens

Gardening and me

I like gardens but I’m not a huge fan of gardening! I have confessed before that I leave most of the garden work to my husband, the Mathematician, but I do like to watch him work, offer him support, encouragement and admire his efforts 🙂 He is one of those men who likes to ‘potter about’, he’s patient and diligent, rational and calm – so not like me at all!

I prefer to photograph the garden – a very important role in my opinion 🙂

If there’s a job to do, and I’m feeling so inclined, I’ll get stuck in and work hard, like in this post where I was taken with the need to weed a section of the front garden. I worked up a sweat let me tell you and had that frisson of a job well done afterwards, it just doesn’t happen all that often I’m sorry to say. The Mathematician has been married to me for 43 years so he knows what I’m like and knows when to push me to help and when to leave well enough alone.

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

Audrey Hepburn

My Garden

I like the way I say ‘my garden’ after having just written the first few paragraphs of this post – I know I’m a sham!

Our garden then – We live in Tumbarumba in rural NSW close to the snowfields, the Victorian border, 100kms from Wagga Wagga (the nearest big place) and did I mention it’s small and rural? It’s all about forestry, grapes, horticulture and timber. We are approximately 5kms from the town of Tumbarumba and have no close neighbours, and we have a forest at the back of our property where we can walk, ride or run as the whim takes us.

We have a large garden area which we’ve extended and filled over the 30 years we’ve lived here. We have 18 acres (7.2 hectares) of paddocks that sometimes have agisted cattle on them. We have a lovely rural aspect and we are so glad we took the plunge when we bought it all those years ago. The girls have all grown up and left but it’s still their home and they love bringing their children home to enjoy it all now.

The trees we planted in the beginning have all grown and are now beautiful specimens, especially in autumn. Spring and autumn are my favourite seasons in the garden – for obvious reasons – see photos below!

We live at quite a high altitude, about 710 metres above sea level, so we have a lot of glorious colour in the trees from March through to June, before winter sets in. We also get our fair share of frosts and even snow from time to time (like last weekend), only flurries but it was snow!

Fun Fact: it’s a great area for growing cool climate wines- we live next door to a 100 acres of vineyards and get to watch all the hard work that goes into running a vineyard!

We have carved out our garden (note the use of the royal ‘we’) from paddocks, putting in a rustic tennis court when the girls were teenagers, a rotunda/gazebo (when we thought our daughter might get married in the garden), my amazing and versatile sunroom, a fire pit and lots of trees for hammocks in summer, and swings for the grandkids. We have some fruit tress, raspberry and blackberry vines and a mish-mash of plants that include natives.

Our front yard faces Mt Tumbarumba and we have the most wonderful view of rainbows from the verandah. Here’s a small selection from my archives.

Lats week we had a few days of steady rain and then in the afternoon the sun came out. I rushed out and took this collection of photos (below) in the gorgeous light – they are some of my favourite shots of my backyard garden.

What is ‘Tell Us About…’ about?

Tell Us About…is a monthly opportunity for bloggers to showcase their creativity. Each month one of the co-hosts will choose the word to focus on. It started in January 2023 with Gail’s prompt of Time, February was my choice of Play, March was Jill’s prompt about Scent, April was Whimsy courtesy of MK and this month Penny has chosen Gardens/Gardening.

On the third Thursday of every month we’ll respond to the prompt “Tell Us About xxx” which could be absolutely anything. And how we respond is also wide open.  It could be a blog post with our opinions or reminiscences; a poem,  photos, a short story or whatever takes your fancy – it could even be a mix of all these!

We encourage you to write your own post around this prompt. Interpret it any way you please, with a reminiscence, an opinion, photos, a poem, a story or whatever inspires you.

We are:

• Deb from Deb’s World (Australia) – you’re reading my post 🙂
• Gail from Is this Mutton (UK) shares her spring and summer planting and tips. Read Gail’s post here.
• Jill from Grownup Glamour (Australia) – no post this month
• Leslie from Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After (USA) Happily joining the Tell Us About link up and sharing a look at my oasis in the far west Texas Chihuahuan Desert. Read Leslie’s post here.
• Marsha from Marsha in the Middle (USA) This winter garden now exists in my memory and in a few photos.  But, it will always be home. Read Marsha’s post here.
• Michelle from Following My Muse (USA) – Gardening is like quilting? Absolutely! I was amazed when I realized that I plan my gardens the same way I plan my quilts. Read Michelle’s post here.
• Mary Katherine from MK’s Adventures in Style (USA) tells us about The Hobby That Got Out of Hand…Read MK’s post here.
• Penny from Frugal Fashion Shopper (UK) loves both gardens and the physical act of gardening which she has returned to in her new abode. She takes you through a journey of how her love of gardening developed. You can read penny’s post here.
• Sue from Women living Well After 50 (Aus) shares the health benefits of spending time in the garden and enjoys exploring the public gardens in Brisbane and near her home. Read Sue’s post here.
• Suzy from The Grey Brunette (Portugal) isn’t keen on gardening but she misses having her own since her house was sold last year. She and her husband are currently building their dream home and are excited about planning their new garden. You can read Suzy’s post here.

Our posts go live on the third Thursday of each month at 7am UK time (that’s 4pm on the same day in Australia). There is a linky at the end of my post, which you can join, and you’re encouraged to spend some time exploring what others have written and leave a comment if you feel like it.

Final thoughts

Thanks for visiting and hopefully you’ll be inspired to join in to share your garden with us.

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Are you a gardener? It’s weird because since writing this post, I’m now on holiday in the UK and instead of autumn colours I’ve got spring green everywhere! What a lovely world we live in.

Smiles 🙂

Deb xx

Coming Up Soon:

• What’s on Your Bookshelf #WOYBS – Friday 19 May 2023
• What’s Been on Your Calendar #WBOYC – Friday 26 May 2023

Recent posts from Deb’s World

• Do you keep a book journal? #WOYBS
• Tell Us About…Musical Influences
• A puzzle in cobalt blue #SundayStills
• Bonjour Noumea, it’s been a while!
• Autumn Colours in Tumbarumba

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