Dog+Summer=

Top left is my drawing from back in June. Remaining three as at March 2013

It is a long time since I have been blogging!
It doesn't mean I have given up on the things in the story of the blog, just running low on energy for blogging. I think the main reason would be the heat! Such a hot January we have had. 5C hotter average temperature for January.
It turns out that watering a new garden - through a summer like that - is almost as difficult as planting it in the first place! February wasn't as hot, but by then everything was dry and stressed.

The suburb's water tower is hardly any height above us so the water pressure is not enough to have two spinklers running. In Pollyanna-form, I say I am glad that I have only a small yard. Nonetheless my trees have really struggled. Especially the Japanese Maples.

Top left in the photo above I have the drawing-over-photo I did back in June illustrating the path I thought I would lay. And then three shots of the real thing. It's now almost done. It's laid, though I have yet to push the soil and bark back to the edges.

 It looks exactly as I imagined

 Now I wait for the plants to mature and then I think it will look rather nice. And a lot cooler and soothing. The fish pot has a little solar powered fountain in it....until the dog discovers the cord connecting the solar panel to the pump. Then I would guess the pump will become wire/plastic/ex-dog food for me to collect in my rubber gloves in my weekly dog poop round...ewwww.....

The dog (seen blurring the shot in bottom left of the collage) has run through the garden as well as all the photos I tried to take tonight. His tracks are in the bark chips and lawn. His impact, bodily and toothily, have been felt by all the plants. His mouth has a curiosity that means that new, woody plants will be chewed down to stumps.

Above (bottom right, though a bit hard to see) is the Lilac tree he ate in October. After he mauled it, it sat stump-like for months until I did what mum suggested; cut off the chewed bits. Hardly anytime after its operation, it sprouted! It had been sending all its energy into trying to repair. Mothers sure know stuff!
And above that in the same photo is a Magnolia I am growing as an espalier. Originally I had it tied with strips of stocking. The dog stood on his hind legs and undid the stockings leaving plant intact. How is that possible? And why the restraint after so much carnage? Having perfected the technique, he then untied all the other tethered trees around the yard. I have had to replace all with nylon cable ties.

Since laying the pebbles between the pavers, a crop of chewed pebbles have appeared on the back veranda. Not good for his teeth. But better for my hoses. (Think 30 m of hose reduced to 50 cm or less pieces)

Someone remind me why I wanted another dog?