Self care by growing a garden

I have a large Banksia, several Grevilleas - the honeyeaters & wattlebirds absolutely love them.

They also love my Hibiscus flowers (I have several large bushes), which was quite a surprise, because those are not natives.

I planted all my shrubs & trees myself, about 16 years ago. The yard was bare empty sand, when I arrived...

Adge

lol. @Adge I am sure it was not @Former-Member intention ...

but I was just triggered into a little defensiveness.

It sounds like you have a beautiful garden. @Adge And you have birds and a cat ... I looked at our bird shop and the woman said I could introduce birds with a young cat but it is a bit hard on old cat. So I am just going to enjoy my one pet and he is firmly an out of doors boy, while his brother hogged inside and mamma.

Now I think about it, both cats (litter bros) probably suffered from my episode last year and then my son's episode. By the end of the year I was only able to just do the basics and then Mo died at Chirstmas. I did not bring him into the vet as I did not know he had kidney disease. He had had an old cat profile done 2 years earlier and they just said keep an eye on things but that nothing was really wrong. Then my outdoor cat had a viral infection which they could not treat with antibiotics so I was focussed on him, and the other one died. Very quietly and quickly. Now I have had the remaining cat diagnised with thyroid and so I have been pilling him etc ... and needing to fatten him up. At the moment he is looking good, certainly put on a bit and his fur is thick and fluffy and he is getting his regal lionish presence again. They were long-hairs. So all the extra attention pays off. He is 16 but with good health they can enjoy a lot more years. Working on that thyroid ...

Yes the cats shred the chairs and lounges despite having a cat post and a lovely outdoors area to roam. I often have catfur on when I go out. I cannot get stressed out picking each little hair ... Ce la vie

I planted a lot too when I moved here. It was all builders clay, a new development and I just had to get some green into the ground.

Thanks for letting me have that rant.

We've planted some native trees along our back boundary, but I've also seen local birds happily foraging non-natives.

We've got magpie families that have grown up sharing their "territory" with us, and they're not too bothered about us being nearby. Particularly if I toss grubs I've dug up in their general direction. Once we even had one wander in through the back door into our dining room. We've also sprung a bluetongue inside, and have had possums get in a few times. Oh, and a cute little bat. I think that one came down a chimney.

Have been out trying to get my garlic planted. Previous years it's been rotting in the soil before the heads have developed, so I think we've got a fungal problem. This year I'm trying assorted pots and "temporary raised beds". (AKA cardboard boxes... they last about 6 months, so that's long enough to get a crop.) I'm filling the bottom half with twiggy mulch, then a 15-20 cm layer of potting mix, topped off with washed sandy gravel. The garlic sits with its roots in the potting mix and its shoots in the gravel. Hoping it works, it's a lot more work than planting into beds, so it had better be worth it!

Pic is a previous year's cardboard box bed with peas in it

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Love the garden 🌴

No no offence @Former-Member I relate to those concerns re cats and birds in general.

I have tried belling this tom but he always manages to wriggle out of it or use a fence to scrape it off. The other cat was more accepting.

I went into a defensiveness mode re the topic, more to do with things past. My cats have been great therapy cats for me, very social, but I have had a few people (sister and ex) endlessly put responsibility/blame on me for things outside of my control. I am just discovering and laying down some of my boundaries. I cannot take the blame for every death that happened within a 50 mile radius, animal or human. I felt guilty for the death of my cat in Dec I was overwhelmed and too busy trying to manage and normalise my overwhelm.

A friend did say that it sounded like a lovely death and that sometimes taking pets to vets can be more traumatic than a death at home.

I accept the web of life which includes the odd food chain.