April 2007 garden news

Well we have gone right through March with no rain whatsoever and everything is just so dry, if fact the last rain we had fell on the 13 February 2007.
The fruit trees Black Sapote, Carambola and Pomelo have all shed their fruit as a result of stress. It is heartbreaking to see all the trees limp and stressed and knowing we do not have enough water to look after them.
There will not be much news as I have to take it easy as I have tendonitis in my right shoulder.
I am just working away refurbishing, topping up and mulching existing gardens.
In the past I have used a lot of organic soil and over the years this has shrunk, now a lot of the gardens need topping up with a good premium soil mix. So far eight one metre trailer loads and more to come.
Just spent five days over the Easter break in the garden and what a relief to get back to work, just shows that I am not ready to retire yet. I am 62 this week and except for my shoulder and arthritis I am in fairly good health, just too busy.
One of my jobs over the break was to start re-potting my Cattleya Orchids, they have been neglected in the past few years as I always seem to have just too much else to do, hopefully once re-potted and fertilized they will come on and give us some nice blooms.
Bought a new Husqvarna chain saw this week as my old one was just too hard to start especially with my shoulder problem, I also bought a new Honda self propelled mower, time to take things just a bit easier, this should be the last mower I will ever buy. The way things are going with the lack of rain and my lawns nearly dead I may never get to use it
Just took delivery of another load of sugar cane mulch, this makes 65 bales so far this year, it’s still not going to be enough to even finish the back yard. Well the sugar cane has disappeared very quickly and I now have to order another truckload. I have not even finished the back garden yet.
It is now the 23 April and there have been quite a few storms around but all have missed us, it’s frustrating when the Bay Islands (only a few kilometres as the crow flies) can get 30mm of rain nearly every week and we get none.
Had to order another 20 bales of sugar cane mulch, as the previous load just disappeared into the garden, putting it on much thicker this year due to the drought and the need to preserve what little moisture there is.
I was invited to the 'Eagleby Garden Club' as guest speaker, it seemed to go down well.
Well Saturday was forecast for rain all day and night; guess what, that’s right not a bloody drop fell, as is the case these days.
Let’s hope that rain will fall in May.

March 2007 Garden News

Started off the month by renewing the back garden under the’ Nam Doc Mi’ Mango, virtually no soil left only a lot of fibrous roots. A metre of good soil did the trick and has cleaned up a part of our garden that looked a bit neglected.
Another two metres of soil carted in by trailer which we used to top up other gardens where the original soil has shrunk.
Autumn and it is just so hot and dry. It’s like midsummer with temps in the high 30s with absolutely no rain forecast.
It is now the end of March and the heat has just not let up. Absolutely no rain whatsoever, the plants are just keeping alive, the trees are stressed, fruit trees have shed their fruit in order to cope with the dry and the lawns are brown and dying. What a picture. I have finished planting the new garden and it should look good for next November’s opening. I have entered the ‘water wise’ garden competition run by our Brisbane paper ‘The Courier Mail’. Do not think we can win, but believe we have done enough to warrant an entry.
Still have a lot of shoulder pain and Doctor Say’s it’s ‘tendonitis’ of the shoulder and that I should take it easy. The best I can do is no more new gardens.