A beginning

7-years ago we moved to Pardalote Holt.  A house that we had built on a saddle between two foothills of Mount Tamborine on the Gold Coast hinterland.  Having lived most of my life in the UK I have been used to smaller gardens, gardens in which you could squeeze a small vegetable plot, a couple of flower beds and if I was really lucky a garden pond. Now I have acreage, 19 acres to be precise, and mostly covered with gum trees. My reason for writing this blog is to make a record of my attempts to manage the acreage and in particular the smaller area around the house where I am busy developing a wildlife garden.  My aim is to create an areas that birds and animals will be drawn to so that they can feed in peace and my family, friends and I can watch the secret nature that would otherwise remain hidden in the bush.

Early days

The Back Dam

This is a picture of how things looked two years ago.  The photo was taken from the back deck and looks over the dam we had built.  At this stage most of the plants are simply wild plants that had grown by themselves, but the form of the garden, with paths and focal points (bird feeding stations) was beginning to take place.

The driveway looking back towards the mountain.

Behind is the driveway, wending its way down to the old dam (aka the Lap Swamp) toward the road. Most of the area is covered with a variety of gums and wattles, that grow happily on the poor soils.  Getting anything else to grow will always be a challenge. A Geologist friend of mine has suggested that the predominant ground is composed of volcanic shale.  It's acidic (around 5.5) and has minimal top soil.  In essence, if you want to plant much you have to carve a hole in the rock, filled it with soil that you've imported from elsehwere and go from there.  It's not gardening for the faint hearted!