Cutting a path through my field of weeds

Rescuing rhubarb and strawberries from
 the old vegetable beds

Growing a rust gallery

The weed whacking of one half acre field is now complete.

We discovered a big patch of potatoes, Red Pontiacs and lots of creamy coloured new potatoes, as well as onions and the two large clumps of green (but ripe) rhubarb. My alpacas had eaten my Ruby Red Rhubarb which was sitting in  a pot near the back door.
 I collected the last of the green Granny Smith style apples from the old orchard and while I was there I discovered another apple tree with small pink and sweet apples. I made an apple and rhubarb pie, French onion soup, and a pile of new potatoes steamed for salad, and the larger ones went into mash. I threw in some of the herbs from around the garden and felt very content to be eating our own produce once again...even if it's what the last owner, Marlene, left behind. I can't help wondering if the people who bought Mansefield harvested the big patch of garlic I planted.

Years ago I bought this piece of iron sculpture at a garage sale.
 I was told it was made from the bars of the old Bathurst Jail.
It's back home now after living in my Mountains gardens

So now with the weeds whacked the field looks larger and beautiful tracts of black soil have been exposed. I can see where the conifer garden should go, backing onto some old conifers in the adjacent school field. I can't plant them until the end of July, so in between time, I need to get a sturdy rustic fence erected and some edgings.

I can also see where a shrubbery can go. But before I begin to buy the shrubs and plant them out, that area needs a touch of roundup to eradicate the perennial weeds, and edgings. I did not have the time/money to create good bones in my last garden. This time I have time to refresh the earth, banish the unwanted weeds, clear and water, edge and bed.

I have the whole of the winter to put things in place and I expect to have a lot of it bedded down and mulched before the field weeds come flying in next summer.

In the meantime, my Rust Gallery is growing beautifully. All the strange pieces of iron that we dig up from the ground or find woven into the old fences, are now lined up along the alley that will become the garden loop walk. The old iron bath has become host to water lilies. The iron scraps edge the agapanthus. There is a lot of less desirable metal which needs to be excavated. I have found slabs of lead, entire roofs of corrugated iron, and all the chicken wire a woman could ever desire.

The fences had been built with lovely old iron beds - this is just a bed head,
but we did pull out a complete single bed with folding legs.
Weighs a ton.