January 2013 Garden News

What a month January has been.

                                         Pavetta

                                         Costus subsessilus

                                          Costus chartaceus

                                                             White Curcuma

The first three weeks were a continuous heatwave with the temperature not falling below 30 c, and of course no rain.

All our rainwater tanks were bone dry so we had to water our plants with town water (hate to think what our water bill will be) but we have invested too much in our garden to lets the plants die.

We did lose a few plants and shrubs, the ones that just could not take the excessive heat and dry.

Then at the end of the month Cyclone Oswald came all the way down the coast and hit Brisbane with lots of rain and more wind that I have seen since Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in 1974.

We ended up with 234 mills of rain, all our tanks full to the brim, and the grass finally turning from brown to green.

On the down side we lost a few more trees and shrubs and debris covered the whole garden, it took a few days and trailer loads to clean up.

Our temporary car port was blown away and I will not replace it, just build a structure to take its place. 

We were very lucky as many people lost everything when they were flooded, thankful that I put great drainage all around our house and that we are well above and flood levels.

I did my first garden presentation for 2013 at the Tweed Heads Garden Club.

I have been very busy since Christmas building and extension to a shade house, filling up a large garden with five metres of soil, cleaning up the debris from the wild weather, putting in a paver surround on the edge of driveway and finally putting in posts to attach shade cloth to, the rest of the time was spend mowing, cleaning ect.

                                                      After

                                         Before

I thought that retirement meant that you could take it easy, how wrong I was.

I am busier than I have ever been.

                                                       Zingiber 'Coral Blush'

                                                      Zingiber 'Coffee'

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