November 2006 News Pre 'Open Garden'

I am starting off part one this month’s news with a very dry Garden. It has been about two months since we last had any decent rain. There is rain forecast for this coming weekend so I will be keeping my fingers crossed. Everything now is focused on the ‘Open Garden’; Judy is getting her plants ready for sale. I came up with a novel idea for cleaning her Bromeliads by using my compressor with air gun attachment then blowing all the leaves and dirt from the plant. Worked very well and best of all the skin on our arms was free from scratches from the leaves. Never have I seen or personally anticipated rain so much as today, there is supposedly a rain front heading towards us with thunder and good rain forecast, what a bonus this would be for our ‘Open Garden’ in just two weeks time. I will stick my neck out and forecast that with good weather we will get 1200 visitors to our garden, usually 700 to 900. The 1000 is the magical figure. Well I got up on Saturday morning and checked the rain gauge to find to my extreme disappointment that we only had 3mm of rain, looked like I would have to water by hand again. Then the rain started to fall and out I went and fertilized the lawns, absolutely drenched but worth it. By the end of the day we had received 51mm of wonderful rain. Two days later and the garden has changed, it looks healthy and green, an amazing transformation in such a short period. Open garden is now looking good.
Day Lilys are looking terrific.

The ‘Lions Club’ usually run a raffle as well as providing the ‘Open Garden’ catering, I supply the prizes and have managed to get the two Tub-O-Worms, two Compost Mates, a Water Fork, five litres of Natrakelp, 10 bales of Sugar Cane Mulch, Magnum of local wine and a Bromeliad as prizes. Well it's the Wednesday prior to opening and we are having a severe storm with high winds and hail. We can hear and see the hailstones landing, I am tempted to go out and catch them before they damage the plants, but with an acre of ground it's too silly for words.

Inspected the garden debris and leaf litter every where but no real damage. Thursday and gale winds all day really rocking and rolling the garden. Friday, winds have eased and the weekend is looking fine. I will be honest and say I will be glad when it's all over, it's just so much work especially when the weather is against you. Still it could be worse and rain all wekend as does happen sometimes. That would be tragic. Lets see what Saturday brings.