Replanting the backyard after big renovations

in Natural Medicine3 years ago (edited)

The break

Those who followed my blog must have noticed my long period of break in regards to gardening posts. For the whole of 2020, I had some health issues, for some reasons my liver had high level of enzymes and I always felt tried and drowsy. The doctors still don't know what's going on and are still doing regular tests.

In addition to that, my place got some water damages due to flood and we had to deal with multiple attempts to get things fixed and prevent water ingress into our basement. As a results of all that, I had to stop my worm farming and black soldier fly farming activities and our backyard has been scraped out.

We had to go from this backyard full of plants:
The old backyard

The old backyard

To this backyard covered with concrete:
The new backyard

The change

Living on a hill, we had stormwater issue had to rebuild the backyard in an attempt to redirect the water away. So we removed the BBQ roof, removed a pergola covered with some crawling star jasmine. As a result, we have now a much larger entertaining area with more light and breeze coming through. My boy is now going out in the backyard much more than before and it's a very fresh atmosphere.

Some friends were wondering what would happen to all of our plants. We didn't throw them away, they were just going to be transplanted elsewhere. In one of corner of the backyard, we had our unused aviary removed to make more space for planting.

Before the renovation work, we sold a lot of the plants but kept multiple cuttings and seedlings to restart the garden once the work is completed.

The main garden bed

We now have three garden beds. The main one is on the left side of the house. The entrance has been planted with some succulents (Black roses and Portulacaria afra) and a lavender plant.

Succulents

Succulents and lavender

Along the brick fence we planted some medium size trees. As they grow up they will become some green privacy screen.

First we have some Katuk which leaves and fruits are edible.
Katuk plant

Next to it is the popular Moringa tree.
Moringa gree

Followed by a Pseuderanthemum palatiferum (a Vietnamese super food and precious medicinal plant called Hoàn Ngọc).
Hoàn Ngọc

And lastly, a curry tree.
Curry tree

In between the trees, I've planted some False Ginseng or also called Jewels of Opar. Like the actual Ginseng, this plants is full of nutrient and trace minerals. It can be cooked just like the Malabar spinach.
Jewels of Opar

Our family love Mulberries so we kept this little one.
Mulberry tree

The middle garden bed

Right behind the house is a little section I kept for my wife. I've planted some Aloe vera at the back and she added some of her succulents on the edges.
Succulent and aloe vera

The secondary garden bed

On the right side of the house, we have a narrow but long section of soil, where we have planted edible plants and veggies were will be harvesting frequently. We used to plant a lot in containers but we are now getting rid of pots and have started transplanting the plants directly into the ground. First are the chili plants.

Here is the Sunshine chilli in the foreground. Behind it is the Peruvian chilli Aji Amarillo. They grow into long and thin yellow pods.
Sunshine chilli

The Aji Amarillo is a very tasty chilli. It's mild if you eat the whole chilli but almost not hot if you only eat the skin and discard the core and seeds. When ripe, the pods are in bright beautiful orange.
Aji Amarillo

Here, on the left we have the Ramie. It's a cousin of the Nettle and my wife uses it to make some Vietnamese cakes called. On its right is a Thai chilli that are very long and red.
Ramie or cây lá gai

Here is the uncooked (left) vs cooked Ramie cake my wife made:
![Uncooked Ramie cake()

Bánh ít lá gai - Cooked Ramie cake

Apart from making cake, apparently you can also make a tea out of the leaves to help with stomach pain / acid reflux.

Vietnamese people love their mint! We've saved a little bunch and it will grow in no time.
Common mint

This is the Common Purslane, it grows everywhere in NSW. You go by the beach or in a park and you can spot then among the grass. It has a sour taste and we eat it in a soup. It's also a plant full or nutrients.
Common Purslane

The Magenta Plant has small and lovely Magenta/Pink flowers. You take the green leaves, cook them and the liquid will look blue but when you add it to other ingredients such as sticky rice, the rice will turn Magenta. We are using this plant as a natural food dye.
Magenta plant

Sticky rice colored by the Magenta plant

The bottom section of this garden bed was left untouched by the backyard renovations. It's still full of Piper Lolot which we use for Vietnamese cooking. You can eat it raw with summer rolls or cooked wrapped around beef and cooked on a BBQ. Hmmmm yum!
Piper Lolot

The lolot has spread so much that it has covered the area of the Vietnamese mint. We will have to prune it a little bit.
Vietnamese mint

The fish mint was also overtaken by the lolot so we transplanted one in another area.
Fish mint

More work to be done

It's been several weeks we've been slowly working on replanting the backyard. There are still more to be done. Hopefully, the plants will settle during this Autumn and next Spring they will start to thrive.

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 3 years ago  

Does seem like an awful lot of work but good to see the garden is still going. I'm so envious of your NSW climate to grow those more medicinal Asian plants and can just SMELL your garden in my imagination. I put a curry plant in my greenhouse, fingers crossed it survives the winter. amazing you have a moringa tree!!!!! Do you still have garlic growing?


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Indeed there were a lot going on. Hopefully the next set of work will give us a long break fro the worries of water ingress.

I still have your garlic growing, well their grand children should I say 😂. I will also transplant the bulbs into the ground and give them more care

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It's sad to lose gardens to construction. I lost a lot in 2019. But then you get to make new gardens which can be fun. I've spent a lot of time this spring making new gardens.

Loved reading about the different plants you grow for cooking.

Making a new garden is indeed a lot of fun. It’s good to reset and build anew with knowledge you acquired previously

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Did notice a distinct lack of non-condenser-update posts from you but figured you'd be busy with something. Looks like you were quite busy with a lot of unexpected things O_O

Hope you're able to get on top of the liver issues D:

Aaargh I hate concrete yards XD that cobblestone paving is really nice though, and in fairness I can see why the child prefers the new backyard, the old one was kind of crowded with plants and looks like it would have been a bit tricky to play ^_^;

Yay for replanting, those beds are looking good already :)

Yea, we weren’t sure about a concrete yard but it ended up being not bad: more space, more light, more air, no more leeches, relocated the spider webs and the boy is out more often without us telling him to. But I think we kept a good balance between concrete and plants.

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Yay for all the upsides :D

...how does one relocate a spider web? o_O

What I meant with "relocated" is more that they are not building their webs between the plants and the house since the plants are now further away from the house. So no more faces traps in webs anymore :-D

Ahh that makes more sense and sounds much more pleasant for everyone XD

Long time buddy! Even your latest blog was in hurry! LOL
You did arrange it properly. hahaha. But wait, Iike your plantings especially your chilis! ^_^


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Hopefully with the new garden I will have more new posts coming.

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Thanks for the nice and inspiring post. Working on your land in your home is always wonderful. I wish you success and all the best.

Garden looks lovely!
Slight understatement...

Vietnamese people love their mint! We've saved a little bunch and it will grow in no time
Mint is like the colonial invaders of the herb world, it will take over your entire garden in a matter of weeks, take care!
Have a wonderful weekend and please be a good parent and buy your lad a football :-)

Hehehe, yea. That's why we didn't plant it in the main bed. I will also dig around it and make wall out of fibro-cement boards.

You had renovated an amazing backyard ❤️..
It was looking so beautiful 😍
Every picture was giving it's seperate aura..
Too impressive garden.i love it ❤️❤️❤️

I am sorry to read your news, no one would like such a calamity to happen to him and even less a flood, I see that you motivate yourself more despite your health problems you do not leave aside your plants and that is worthy of applause friend, I hope you get better and continue to see your publications I also have a garden but not as beautiful as yours.

Hi anh, sorry to hear about your health issue.
So lovely garden anh, love all Vietnamese plants you grow, yeah we love our mints.
Betel leaves (lalot) do you use to make grilled beef wrapped in betel leaf? It's really yummy 😋
Have a wonderful week ahead 💘

Yea we love the grilled beef in betel leaves.

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Hi bro. Thanks for your sharing. I love these pictures and your garden.
Hope you Enjoy your life 😉!!

oww. nhìn thích quá. 😍

Nhiều cây / rau VN :-)

Gosh what a change to your garden! Looks great and more in order.

You guys back in the office yet? Haven't seen you around the food places :)

Yes, much tidier :-)
It will be difficult for us to meet again at the food places, the company is allowing us to work from home for longer term now. Although, I might occasionally go back there for a single day, if lucky I'll see you again in Chatswood. If you ever come up around Gosford area, give me a shout.

Yah i expect more companies allow WFH long term from now on. I drive past your work quite often and see less people at the cafe onsite so I guess less people are now in the office. I probably come up your way after winter for camping cos it will be warmer by then. Take care of your health, most important thing!

Thanks :-)

It does make sense. It benefits not just the employees but also the company. Since we save more time and money, but we are also more productive and it's easier to give more over time when it's needed. The company also have extra desks for employees who need to be in the office and they can hire more people now.

Get $195 per h from Google!. Indeed this can be best since I basically got my underlying finance check of $24413 and this was simply of one week...I am also purchased Range Rover Velar right after this payment...it is really best job I have even had and you will not for give yourself if you not check it.

↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭↭ https://zilo.app/Y13vQ

Nice Broe @quochuy i like this pic. Sorry, if I may ask, one of my posts after 8 days the payment should have been in the wallet, but in fact there is no what do you think? What should I do, thank you

Which post?

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Very nice planning

And lastly, a curry tree.

Congratuations!

Impressive garden full of edible leaves and fruits!

Pasando a darle amor a tu post #malomilove 💙

Hope you will be fine soon 🤞
Good gardening job 😍