The assets

We have an old house and there is the garden. It's a big block and chunk of land where previous owners used to grow fruit and veggies after the war. Still the ground is mostly sand, "gutless, impoverished soil" that needs building up: tips on how to do that are aplenty, eg http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1397755.htm

A huge ficus provides shade and makes oxygen, enough room for garden beds right away, without major work. There are two old olive trees and a rainwater tank of 3000 litres. Ivy has grown wild over the past eight years, towards the back fence it's a bit of a jungle, in need of clearing. A green verge collection by the local council is scheduled for next week. So I better start moving and chopping instead of blogging!

I have had earlier attempts into gardening. A few years ago I borrowed  a big green plastic tumbler for composting that works well. I just checked with the owner, she still does not want it back, although they are planning similar sustainable gardening ventures in Duncraig, a few kilometres further north. My worm farm has been up and running for a few years and is producing plenty of worms and casting. I have got a few seedlings, mainly tomatoes and a very friendly neighbour with some chooks. The odd gardening attempt in the past years saw minor success but not very much learning from my side. Time for a new start.

The house was build in 1939, bricks and a sleepout towards the north, where the former owners used to spent their winters soaking up the sun. We use the room as a guest and playroom and partitioned off the far end as a storage space.

The house being buit during the war they must have run out of decent mortar or had to change the mortar mixture to mostly sand. The west and weather facing wall outside the kitchen window is sujhect to erosion with four bricks being loose and other about to come loose. this needs fixing to keep bees and rodents out of the house.

The other issue that needed fixing was a water hammer. When turning off the cold tap, the pipes were banging pretty loudly and it was getting worse in the past weeks. A friendly tap doctor quickly fixed the problem by suggesting the wahers in the washing machine tap (only cold water is connected) to be changed. Even simply turning off the tap did work. I could have saved the money but it was worth the lesson. Will spread the word. I should have done more research to save the $120 for the service.

All part of the learning curve.

We have great assets to start the journey.