Granted we do have to wait a couple of years in between planting a fruit tree and picking fruit but that fruit tree is more than just a fruit producing tree. It provides: Shelter for smaller birds who visit our garden. Shade for us and our animals when we or they sit underneath it. A […]

The contract to buy Fairy Wren Cottage was signed in Spring but I had to wait until Winter to purchase bare rooted fruit trees. *Check with your local nursery when they expect their  bare fruit tree order to arrive so you can be one of the first to see it and have a good selection […]

The garden at Fairy Wren Cottage when we shifted in was unusual to say the least. The bird bath had bird netting over it so the birds couldn’t access it, the previous owner thought the birds splashed too much water. There were some small rectangle shaped garden beds made from a concrete border, laid with […]

  Do you watch BBC Gardener’s World? There was a segment in an episode late 2017 about scientific studies proving that growing plants close to buildings helps insulate a building, there is the micro climate they create plus so many other benefits. I think we may have all realised that to some extent but a […]

Illness, injury, life changing circumstances, ageing. It can be difficult to still do things after something in your life changes can’t it ?! For me at times since my accident it has been heartbreaking and especially in those early days I became very depressed trying to hold on to being able to do everything like […]

There is a lot of talk about foraging isn’t there?!  It can feel like the new black! And foraging is free but it can come with a whole lot of complications. I keep away from anything that: 1. I can’t easily identify. If I have doubts I leave it. 2. Is in a park, pathway, paddock […]

Do you remember the children’s shows where they feature animals and part of the segment is a fact sheet about the animal? We make one of those fact sheets for every animal before they come to live at Fairy Wren Cottage. With so much parental guidance it has been a good way for our daughter […]

If buying bare rooted heritage fruit trees was a priority the first winter we were establishing the garden at Fairy Wren Cottage then planting roses was the priority for the second year. I saved up for a bulk order just like I did for the fruit trees. It is cheaper to buy roses bare rooted […]

  We’ve been lucky here at Fairy Wren Cottage, now  into the first weeks of Summer and our water tank is still full. We are yet to experience  long hot days that roll into weeks, scorching the grass, truely reminding us that we live in a sunburnt country. While some gardeners in the warmer climates […]