Saturday, June 23, 2007

June Garden News 2007




Started off the month with a very welcome 27mm of rain and its forecast for good rain next week. How crazy is it that Caloundra, which is only a one-hour drive away can get 10 inches of rain in a week and we get so little.
We really enjoyed our trip to Townsville it was magnificent to see such skill combined with strength and courage. These young people put a lot of our high profile sports people to shame.
The garden is starting to look like winter is here as all the gingers; costus are now dormant and need cutting back.
Our good friends Ian and Helen Wicks have left the Nursery Industry, that is a big loss as Ian was a very wise plant man and had the foresight to stock water wise plants prior to them becoming fashionable. The Chandler Markets are not the same without them.
Ian had a big sell out sale and we bought two trailer/car loads of plants off him.
We plant to turn the front garden into a water wise area with a range of agaves, ect. That is this coming long weekend’s job, will take about five metres of soil, fertilizer and seaweed, might as well do it properly.
We look like finally having some good rain ‘at last’, we had 45mm overnight and more coming, good soaking rain, something we have not seen for a long time.
The big job for this month has been completed, the refurbishment of the front garden has been completed, we must admit this garden has been neglected and left to on it’s own these past few years.
All that has now changed, all the old much has been pulled out, fertilizers applied and then a good soaking with liquid seaweed, and then finally a good top-dress with a top quality premium garden mix, which has 80% soil content. We will re-mulch, plant the new plants then keep watering from the rainwater tanks. Should look good for this years ‘Open Garden’.
Due to Public Service re-structure I am on a two week training course at the moment and the only thing keeping me going is the thought of retirement, probably in the next nine months.
The big news, bigger than anything in the garden is that we have our first new car in 24 years, we have bought a Subaru Forester, two tone silver with all the extras, nice car.