Exciting project

I have recently started working as a gardener for a private client. It's quite a beautiful garden, with seven acres comprising of a more formal style garden around the house, an amphitheatre and lawn area, a large wetland area that joins on to the Yarra River, a fenced in veggie garden, and a grass paddock out the back, surrounded by native bushland. Walking around the property it's hard not to feel a bit at peace, and it's easy to forget you're only seven kilometres from the CBD.
My job consists of two days a week and involves a fair bit of garden maintenance, but the exciting part for me is that it also it also involves the managing of the "re-veg" project my client is currently undergoing in the wetlands part of her property. It's a project that she has put a lot of work into for several years, and the vast improvement is clearly visible. What was once a hot bed of weeds is slowly being transformed back into an indigenous landscape. It has of coarse been a slow process, removing as many weed species as possible, and encouraging the native species to take back its hold on the land.

One of the banks that needs a bit of work.

It may be a bit naive to think we can get it back in the exact shape that it was over hundred and fifty years ago, but getting it to a point where the vegetation is almost entirely native and requires minimal effort to keep it that way, is perhaps a realistic goal. However, being so close to the Yarra (and it's floodwaters - the banks have gone under three times in the last eighteen months), weeds are going to be a constant issue. Even with a dense coverage of native vegetation, some form of weed management is always going to be a reality.  

In any case, I'm looking forward to the challenge of it over the next few months.

The view across the billabong back at the house.