Plumb good

The drainage works we did months ago under Ed’s expert tutelage are finally getting a good workout — and are performing beautifully. (Photo from Howard)

Climbing into Jasmine

Mostly cleared a big patch of Jasmine. Ed found a lot of garden escapees down in the creek bed.

Giving the Susans a black eye

The flowering of black-eyed susans has helped us see the extent to which they’ve infested part of the gully. We started clearing them today, around one of the stormwater drains, ready to build another retention basin and stop the plume of weeds.

Reeds against weeds

We’ve had several goes at stopping stormwater from carrying weed seeds into the bush. Someone from Council came once, with machinery, and created some beautiful stone lined retention basins, only to have someone else from Council come along a few months later and tear them up with a digger.

We built sandbags a little while back, placing them at the back of this basin. The bags have perished, though, so this time we built stone dams and planted reeds in front of them as a filter.

A few days later, Howard has photographed pooled runoff water in our main retention basin. So far so good.

Eriostemon in flower with Nathan harvesting reeds

Nathan harvesting reeds with eriostemon in foreground

A close-up of the eriostemon

Bushcare Officer Nathan talking with volunteer Howard by sedimentation pond

Nathan and Howard consulting

Rock dam at back of sedimentation hollow planted with reeds

Close-up of sedimentation pond with reeds planted with reeds

Freshly planted reeds in sedimentation ponds with rock dams freshly built

Howard took this ‘before’ shot of the work on Saturday

After some rain, water pooled in basin

This is Mulch Gulch, pardners!

We’ve managed to hail down a few passing tree lopping crews and corral their loads of mulch.

The mulch serves double purpose: to suppress roadside weeds, and to signal to Council mowers that the lomandras are plantings, not to be scythed down.