January 2012 Garden News

January started off very dry then came one of the worst heat waves I can remember. It really affected the garden and all plants and lawns were stressed out from the heat.

I started to wonder if we were going to have a January without rain.

Then behold the clouds came and well and truly opened and dumped over 400mm (16 inches) of wonderful rain.

All our tanks are now completely full (107,000 litres) and because the rain had been constant without any real heavy downpours the sub soil was able to receive the moisture.

It’s all good news.

I attended an ‘Open Gardens Australia’ meeting at Kenmore and offered to have the next meeting at our house where there’s plenty of room.

Next month starts to get very busy with three bus tours coming here.

The beehive gingers are quite spectacular this month; they one of my favourite plants.

The black lily grub is a pest at the moment; they love Hippeastrums, Cliveas and Crinums. I have to spray all of these plants with a systemic insecticide otherwise nothing would be left.

We were very lucky to see John and Genny Catlans Amorphophallus titanium prior, flowering and after. This was probably the only time we will get to see this wonderful plant in flower.

I also finished the retaining wall, what a shocking job, the worst part was removing the old vertical sleepers with a crowbar.

At the end of the month Channel 10s ‘Totally Wild’ came here to film and it was all about the garden and our grand children. We are looking forward to seeing the segment in the next couple of months.