Africanaussie

I have been noticing for the last couple of weeks that crusher dust (which is what was put inside the middle of the herb spiral as it was built up) has been flowing out of the gaps between the rocks. I thought maybe I had been watering too hard as the connection to the soaker hose is right above my mint on the side of the spiral. After moving that there was no change and an even bigger pile of dust around the basil the following morning. So I began a little detective work and moved a few rocks to find............. a toad hole. Now most people say toads are wonderful for getting rid of bugs etc, but here we have cane toads which are a big pest, and poisonous, so they had to go. As I poked a stick into the holes, and jiggled it around the toads were jumping out left right and center. My, what a sight... they are truly horrible ugly creatures. There must have been a huge extended family - I counted about 10! I hope they got the message they are not welcome. That must be why some of the h...

After scrubbing the door screens and cleaning the windows we realised that the dust is getting too bad. You can tell it is the dry season - our soil is basically just sand and so when there is no rain the grass just dies - especially the parts in the shade under the gazebo where we want to eventually lay pavers. The area outside the back door gets walked on so much, and it is in continual shade so that the grass is thinning out, also exposing dust. I decided to put some paving stones in a path leading out toward the vegetables and also to the gazebo, and then plant mondo grass between them and in that whole area. I realise it is going to have to be watered, which I havnt been doing with the grass, because all we end up with is a mud bath. I think that is a more sustainable choice than grass as once the mondo is established it doesnt require watering. So hopefully we will be picking up the paving stones and mondo grass this weekend. We got the paving stones home only to discover that ...