A Week Late but Back in the Garden – Beneficial Bugs, Brown Snakes, and Backyard Chaos
Hi folks!
First up — apologies for not posting for a bit, here in Hive Garden and also for already being a whole week into my Hive daily posting challenge before a garden update appeared.
But I promise, there are reasons for that! 😅
I’ve been pushing myself to get back into the swing of blogging again by writing proper, full posts every day — not just the quick “here’s a photo” kind. (not that i do that anyway)
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know I like to make my posts a proper read.
🌿 Our Garden Setup
For those who don’t know, we live in outer Brisbane, Australia — subtropical, humid, and not exactly the easiest climate for veggies. I have to pick and choose and some years we loose the entire crop of something and next year cant eat enough of it.
Our yard started as a suburban concrete jungle, so we’ve had to build up rather than dig down.
Raised garden beds, pots, vertical planters — whatever works, really.
It’s a bit of chaos, but it’s ours. 🌱
🐞 Releasing the Beneficial Bugs
This season I decided to bring in beneficial bugs to help manage pests before they got out of control. I did a bit of this last year too...
Here in Australia we have an amazing company called Bugs for Bugs, where you can actually buy good bugs that eat bad bugs — ladybugs, lacewings, parasitic wasps, and the like.
Knowing we get aphids early in the season, I ordered lacewings and ladybugs to keep things balanced.
They arrived in the nymph stage — so not yet looking like their adorable adult selves — and we set them free right where the aphids were thickest.
My daughter helped with bug release day, and she was fascinated by how tiny and weird they looked.
Within a couple of weeks, the difference was incredible — aphids gone, and we even started seeing our own ladybugs returning naturally. 🐞
🌸 Around the Grounds
Here’s a quick look around the garden at the moment:
- The flowers are going beautifully this year — a riot of colour despite the storms.
- We’ve got volunteer tomatoes popping up everywhere!
I didn’t plant a single one — all compost survivors, cheeky things. 🍅 - The fruit trees are holding up well, which is a pleasant surprise considering I’ve done next to nothing for them lately.
I’m really hoping we don’t get another flush of citrus leafminer, which tore through the trees the past two years. Fingers crossed.
🐍 Deadly Friends
Now, I’ll admit I haven’t been as hands-on in the garden lately — partly because of a certain uninvited guest.
here you can see the snake in question and a couple of the reason she arrived in our haven.
We’ve had a deadly brown snake hanging around the yard. 😬
They’re everywhere in Ipswich at the moment — long seasons, habitat clearing, and plenty of frogs and lizards to tempt them in. They have not found Lizzy Lizzard, who lives behind our BBQ, so that is at least good. She is adorable.
here you can see lizzy lizzard who hide behind the BBQ
For those outside Australia, the Eastern Brown Snake is the second most venomous snake in the world, right behind our other lovely local, the Inland Taipan.
You do not want to mess with one — a serious bite can be fatal in minutes.
Now, they’re not out there hunting humans, but if you accidentally step on one while it’s trying to hide… well, that’s how most bites happen.
So yes — gardening has taken a bit of a cautious pause lately.
Stormy Days Ahead
The storms have been rolling in every afternoon lately, and between that, work, and the dance school disco chaos —
let’s just say the garden’s been on “autopilot” mode.
Still, it’s holding up well considering the weather and my neglect.
I’ll be back out there properly once the ground dries a bit and the snake hopefully moves on!
Thanks for stopping by, Hive Garden friends.
Wishing you all a week of gentle rain, healthy plants, and no snakes in sight. 🐸🌱
Until next time —
Happy Gardening!
– BLINGIT
Below is the garden when we moved in - green - but nothing to eat
CONCLUDING MESSAGES
Just another very busy week all in all. I will now sign off and start the next video.. lol... as its already late as well
talk later
happy gardening
Sarah
Anyway thanks so much for stopping along and reading my posts I am just loving my HIVE experience so far. Such a fun platform for sure.
For those that don't know my i'm currently focusing on Daily painting and somewhat amusing my self and my family with Acrylic pouring.. lol.. i wish i had a separate studio for that as it is so messy.
My other HIVE interests are:
- cooking
sunset photography (i take photos of the sky every night)
Art
Graphic Design
Gardening (just a smidgion)
Ballet
Here are a couple of snaps of some of the stuff i do outside what you see up in the posts above.
