We started February with some good rain, which was great as January was completely dry and hot.

The ‘Tropical Affair’ plant sale was on at the Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens and I wanted to be there early to hopefully get some good plants, I was fortunate to get four Orthotrica Heliconias and some Beehive gingers that I did not have, so I came away a happy man.

We had a bus trip from the Beenleigh Garden Club It ended up being disappointing as it was a very hot day and most visitors just wanted to stay under the shade of the patio, plant sales were very poor. I sometimes wonder whether garden clubs are just a social outing for most members.

We have started to build a car port as an extension to our house, this will be a great area to sell plants during our ‘Open Garden’, all the runoff water will go into our seventh tank which will be the largest at 24,500 litres giving us a total of 107,000 storage capacity, perhaps this will finally make us drought proof. I had to take out one of our Jaboticaba trees but it was for a good cause. The tank is four metres diameter and has to sit 800mm in the ground to catch the run off so there was a lot of shifting the top soil then when I struck clay I had to get a a digger in to remove five trucks of clay. It’s amazing how much dirt can come out of a hole.

The ‘Golden Trowel’ is a treasured possession and I took it to the Wynnum ‘Bayside Garden Club’ to show off.

The local newspaper ( http://www.baysidebulletin.com.au/news/local/news/general/wintles-runnersup-in-gardeners-of-year-competition/1757825.aspx ) did a great two page feature on our garden.

I gave a garden talk to a small gathering at the Stafford Garden Club and double booked a speaking engagement for March which I was fortunately able to fix, not without a bit of embarrassment.

I also attended a Smart gardening meeting and a Cordyline Society meeting; of course the golden trowel went with me.

I biodynamiced the garden which was easy, the hard part is stirring the mix for one hour, I hate that boring part.

I also put 20 litres of kelp soil conditioner in the garden, this was mixed in a 200 litre drum which made 2000 litres which was then put into watering cans and spread around the garden, it felt like I had been doing weights after I finished.

So, all in all a very busy month and dare I say it plenty of rain, in fact it is pouring as I write this.

For once I am writing this blog and not whinging about the weather.