PERENNIAL FAVOURITE

For Alan and Marilyn Wilson, the garden is not just a focal point for family and friends but also a buffer from the harsh realities on the rest of the farm.

By KIRSTY MCKENZIE

When the paddocks are brown and the lake is dry, there will always be a green patch around the homestead on Alan and Marilyn Wilson’s Oakwood farm near Minlaton on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula. That’s thanks to the couple’s combined efforts across two decades since they extended the garden they inherited when they took over the family farm in 1969. “Alan’s mother was a keen gardener,” Marilyn explains. “So we started with a good foundation. Although we did the major work in 1999, it looks like it’s been there a lot longer because it’s surrounded by eucalypts. It’s actually hard to grow trees to any size in this area due to a combination of factors: wind, low rainfall of about 14 inches [355mm] annually and shallow soil depth.” An avenue…

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Australian Country Homes (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 24

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