winter’s depths

Ice on the car windows, ice in the dog bowl, even a layer of ice on the shallow puddle that passes for a dam. If the days have been intermittently bright, and mild, the nights have dropped decisively below zero (-4 in Bendigo last night).

 It’s time, belatedly, to dig out the extra doonas, replace the broadbrimmed hats at the back door with beanies and balaclavas, stock up on superthick socks, and get the heavy coats out of storage.

And through it all, broccoli heads are forming, parsley and rocket are making a profusion of green from the skerricks of summer’s survivors, and bulbs are pushing up in places expected and unexpected.

sprouting bulbs and rhizomes: amaryllis (above) and iris (left) in leaf mould around olives in grove; jonquils (below) around clothes line.

There’s even a couple of gums ‒ decorative plantings by an owner long gone ‒ blossoming, one a dusky, and one a vibrant, pink. When this city-slicker’s thoughts turn to the shock of winter’s extremes, so far from temperate Melbourne and its softening bayside conditions, it’s good to be reminded of the lovely things that come into their own at this time of year.

In the garden – 8 more tree guards put up to protect some of the newer plantings against winter cold – recent rains meant some of the stakes could even go in without hammering holes first; stones and sticks cleared up around the olives, to make it easier to keep up periodic raking into mulch; and new veg area marked out.