Term Four

October started with lovely warm calm weather, great for early morning jogging and a dip in the icy waters of the Indian Ocean.  It ended with a burst of cold weather which sent me diving under the blankets!

With my garden in bloom and with new shoots on deciduous trees, I’m praying I have a productive season in the garden this year.  Just at the end of September I stopped to chat with one of my neighbours on my way to the shops.  I had exchanged plants with him in the past and commented on his stunning dark red/maroon succulent which I had admired every time I passed. He offered to dig up some for me.  When I returned from my shopping he had given me enough to divide into three plants!  I was extremely grateful.

During the term holidays, I invited my friend Sarah over for a coffee and chat. Sarah teaches so it’s a once-a-holiday catch up.  She loves looking around my garden to see what’s been happening, I’m very happy to show her around.

My last term at TAFE studying Certificate III in Horticulture covers the subject Weed Identification. It’s quite interesting how many different kinds of weeds there are, that is, how many plants have been introduced into Australia from other countries, especially South Africa as we have very similar climates and soils.  A weed of course is a plant that is not welcome, which could mean in our gardens or in our native habitat.  I’m not going to the afternoon class which is on the use of chemicals in industry, as I won’t be needing it as most of the weeds I pull out by hand or use hot water to scald them if they are growing in the paving.

I have put my propagating skills to good use with my new little green house, which is full of all sorts of seeds and cuttings.  The latest are cuttings I’m hoping to propagate from my Magnolia White Caviar.  All winter I had to keep its base/roots under a raincoat to stop it from getting waterlogged! I lost three Teddy Bear Magnolias from over-watering and my Port Wine Magnolia which I just love the scent from is looking very unwell. I suspect that although it’s under the eaves, where no rain falls, I over-compensated with the watering.

Unfortunately the fig grafts onto my Black Genoa did not take but I expected that, as it was so difficult to line up the cambium layers. Next year I shall try a different grafting method as well as try to graft onto a Brown Turkey Fig I’ve grown from a cutting.  All the cuttings from the other fig (which remains unnamed and unidentified), the seedless white table grapes and the lemongrass have sprouted and are growing well.  My little greenhouse seems to be doing it’s thing in keeping the cuttings snug and warm, encouraging good root growth.  Roots are appearing on many of the cuttings and appearing through the bottom of the pots since repotted.  I have removed most of them from the greenhouse to toughen them up in semi-shade.  I have also cut back one of my Magnolias and my favourite tea tree, Leptospermum Sericeum, saving some of the cuttings for propagation.  Not all the seeds I planted germinated which is disappointing.  The ones that did are growing slowly and will soon need to be transferred into tube-stock pots or straight into a larger pot.  My little greenhouse is definitely getting full use keeping my babies warm as they develop.  During the day I bring out the trays of seedlings for a bit more sun under the shade cloth which I have draped across the clothesline.

I have also sown some old seeds into my raised garden bed, hoping that some will still be viable and that the slugs and slaters will not eat too many. Of course Mum’s self-seeding lettuce has sprung up.

The Oyster mushrooms finally matured and were delicious I followed the instructions from the workshop, cutting off all the mushrooms before closing off the original opening. I then made a new opening at the back of the bag to encourage another batch.  Within days a new batch of mushrooms were growing and then to my surprise some more were growing from where I thought I had closed off the original hole!  Another crop has been harvested and yet another is on the way. Wow! Thank you Lord for the abundance and overflow of Oyster Mushrooms!

There always seems to be something to be done in the garden!  More pruning, fertilising, repotting, planting, weeding. I’ve also been helping friends with their gardens, putting my knowledge to good use.  One day after my morning TAFE class I visited Monica, a friend from TAFE who is now working part time at Dawson’s Nursery. I had been given a warming pad for propagation, which was too big for what I needed, so had offered it to Monica.  She accepted gleefully, stating she wanted it for her bobtails which roamed freely around her garden.  There were 16 of them and breeding yearly!  After showing me around, I made her a coffee on her machine as she wanted to take me up on my barista training.  I left her place with more than I had brought:   a beautiful Copper Spoon succulent growing from a leaf, two buckets of fish – 6 Rosie Barb and more than 20 colourful Guppies for my new pond and a male and female bobtail who needed a good home. They have all since settled into their new home exploring their surroundings.  Another week after TAFE I called into my editor’s home.  Elaine and I haven’t been able to catch up for months!  She is busy with grandchildren and me well you can see what I’ve been up to.  It was lovely to finally catch up face-to-face and have a stroll around her garden.  I enjoy exploring other people’s gardens to see what ideas I can get for mine or just to share ideas and tips.

Unfortunately my physical health has been deteriorating slowly as I’ve been struggling to keep on top of the gut issues. Kathy, my neighbour who also had gut issues mentioned her naturopath had helped her.  Unfortunately he was not taking any more new clients.  I asked if she could please ask if he would consider taking me on.  During her next visit she ask him and was delighted to inform me that he said “yes”, telling him I had been praying he would. I was on the phone as soon as she told me, and was also pleasantly surprised to be given an appointment as early as two weeks‘ away, especially as there is usually a six week wait!  Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus!  It was an interesting visit; I had prepared a dietary chart and taken in my most recent blood results. I was quite surprised that he was able to read me like a book, saying I followed a particular characteristic.  I later looked it up and thought ‘Nah’ I don’t think so, although some of it was spot on!  After reading my eyes, he selected another personality type, which was a little more accurate.  I was really interested as he went through some of the things he saw from the iridology. Let’s see if the bitter herbs he gave me will help my gut; that’s my major concern.

I also visited my GP to see if I could do anything about my stiffening back and hips and asked for a referral to a physio who was recommended to me.  Again I obtained an appointment within a week and was pleasantly surprised when the physio said it wasn’t my hips, it was my lower back.  I had always believed my hips were healed while in Cairns but with continual back pain I was beginning to doubt.  It seems all my exercises and stretches were concentrating on forward stretching and core strength, neglecting the backward stretches, which are not helped by standing or walking for long periods of time.  So now I’ve started back-bending stretches to help balance things out.  Praise God for our medical practitioners.  It certainly is a time of learning in regards to my health.

One Saturday Stirling Council put on an information display at Mettam’s Pool for the community to give comments and suggestions on what we would like to see done along the coast to help retain the waterfront which has been wearing away over time.  There were five suggestions: a. Sandbags to help stop the erosion.  b. Groins to help slow down the waves and the currents which wear away the foreshore.  c. Rock-barriers built slightly out from the shore to stop the waves from pounding on the shore.  d. Build up the reef so that the waves will break further out reducing the impact on the shore and e. Replace the sand, which is of course only a temporary measure and will continually need doing.  My thoughts were that they need to take into consideration the surfers and those who use the rock pools for swimming.  There needs to be a long-term strategy that will last and not cause a negative impact on the ocean ecology.  I thought that building up the reef might achieve this as well as strategically placed groins or rock barriers. It will be interesting to see what and WHEN these ideas will be implemented.

And finally, on the last day of October, I had another pleasant surprise an amazing answer to prayer with my sullen neighbour.  But let’s back track a little to explain the lead up to this amazing event.  Since last month’s first conversation across the driveway, over the water issues, we have since crossed paths on a couple of occasions.  One of these encounters, just two days earlier to this remarkable answer to prayer, was initiated by my neighbour, shocking me with a comment on how nice my garden was.  Although stunned, I was able to come up with a friendly “Thank you, I also like the flowers in your garden, it looks like a wildflower meadow”.  To which he replied, “Oh I don’t look after this garden; I have a vegetable garden out the back.”  Once indoors, I thanked the Lord for this opportunity to exchange niceties and how the barriers seemed to be breaking down.  I also prayed for another opportunity for me to ask if he would like some cuttings from my plants.  A few days later the Lord provided this opportunity bringing us to the day of reckoning.  While I was trimming my bottle brush, an opening came as my neighbour came up to the rubbish bins.  I asked if there was anything in my garden he would like he was most welcome to take a cutting. He asked if I had anything with roots.  Although in the past he had already been in my garden I was happy to show him around again saying I could dig up some oregano – which he wanted.  He then said I was welcome to do anything I liked in his front garden (the one I had previously been told NOT to weed) and then asked if I wanted to see his back garden.  What an amazing God we serve!  What a total turn-around!  Kath had seen me talking to him and had decided not to come out so that I could have the chance to continue my conversation.  (He really doesn’t like her either) Then the neighbours beside him had heard my voice in their neighbours back garden and were also surprised, later coming over to confirm it was really me!  That afternoon you can guess it…. I was back weeding his garden and planning what I could plant next.  What a shame it’s the start of summer, otherwise I’d have a heap of things to plant, starting with a ground-cover to stop the erosion down the side of the driveway.

All day I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face and the joy in my heart.  May this be the beginning of peace between us.  It’s amazing how simple gestures of showing acceptance, love, the sharing of a love of gardens and the power of prayer can break down barriers.  God is truly gracious.

Photos: 1. One of Mum’s roses which always gives abundant blooms     2. Sarah and I in my garden     3. Oyster mushrooms galore!     4. New pond complex     5. Little Greenhouse     6. Maroon succulent     7. Try these stretches

Prayer & Praise Points:

Praise God for our beautiful Spring weather, my last term at TAFE and the breaking down of barriers and friction with my neighbour.

Praise the Lord for new garden projects.

Please continue to pray with me for peace in Taiwan, our Australasia region and Europe.  Pray for the refugees and all those caught up in the suffering this war has caused, both in Ukraine and Russia.

Please continue to pray for my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat to come to know Christ’s love for them.