The good winter rains meant that there is a variety of grasses that sprung up to replace some of the weeds that also popped up in the labyrinth. These have now all seeded and the labyrinth has taken on an unkempt appearance.  A trial of sawdust as a pathway covering has mixed success. It feels lovely to walk on and the tannins in the wood have begun to leach out of the damp, underlayer, but a couple of hardy plants have poked their heads through and flowered.

The lawnmower will be packed for the next trip, but before it can be mowed, I will have to remove any rocks from the pathway.

The wildlife has taken a fancy to the garlic planted in the outer marking ring.  It took off really well and in the two weeks since the last visit,  has been munched, so my vision of having a nice summer crop of organic garlic to share has evaporated.  I guess there are a few garlic flavoured kangaroos and rabbits hopping about……as the chap over the back with the shotgun may well find out. I’m sure that’s why they all hang out at my place!!

Unfortunately the wildlife also took a fancy to the Oak tree seedling in the centre of the labyrinth. Fortunately there was a strong green stem with a tiny bud to one side remaining.

Having planned to plant out the other dozen Oak tree seedlings over the weekend,  I had brought up tomato stakes and tree guards to protect them, so one was immediately seconded for this little tree.

I’m hoping that this will give it a second chance.  It’s all a learning experience…..! There’s a possibility of returning to an original idea of building a fence around the labyrinth, but I do like the wide open spaces around it.  As yet the wildlife hasn’t got hungry enough to eat the sage or the lavender, so fingers crossed they won’t!!

I’ve found a flat, well flattish, area to build the next labyrinth. Out in the middle of the paddock…. but it will have to wait until the little thistle patch is under control.

I’m often asked what I’m growing on the block and I think people expect a response like “Wheat/barley/grapes or sheep/goats/cows”…  so far it’s weeds……. lots of weeds……

Biddy bush, Capeweed, onion weed, little thistles, mistletoe, dodder laurel, rabbits, roos and I’m sure there are more that I haven’t learnt the names of yet….

I needed to dig a dozen holes to put the city Oak tree seedlings in, so it was decided that they would form an outer ring to a Chartres style labyrinth in another spot. Firstly I had to find the spot and then mark out the compass points for the labyrinth. Using a compass, I marked out the cardinal points. It’s too early to decide whether to enter from the East or West, that will come later. The stakes were a little hard to hammer in as the soil is a heavy clay that has contracted and is starting to crack. Being a novice, I managed to hit my hand a few times!

Just measuring out the cardinal points was hot work! The temperature in the shade up near the cottage was in the low 30’s C, and I didn’t really want to know how warm it would be out in the open paddock.

Next, I needed to measure out where the Oaks would go….. so another circle was measured – allowing at least a  10 meter space for the Oaks to grow and not interfere with the labyrinth or each other. It was in marking this out, I realized that I wouldn’t have enough stakes to protect the Oak seedlings.

Sunday morning presented a different problem. The stakes that I had used for the outer ring (and were to be used for tree guards) were too flimsy and the travelling kangaroos had snapped some off near the base….so  the decision was made to take the Oak seedlings back to the city,  chance re-potting them into bigger pots until they became dormant again. The thinking behind this is to give them a better chance of surviving a hot, waterless summer and the roaming roos, whilst also giving me time to get the holes dug and the stakes in place (without the trees inside) to test how they will stand up to the traffic!