November 2014 Garden News

Well, October was the driest month on record and we thought November could not get any worse.

We were wrong, November turned out to be the hottest on record, at least we had 19 mills of rain which was more than we had in October.

The little bit of rain did manage to green up the lawn a little bit, just in time for our 12^th Open Garden.

This year I made an all round effort to engage social media regarding our ‘Open Garden’, it seemed to work as we had lots of visitors from ‘Tropical Backyards’ and other Facebook groups.

I even started my own Facebook page called ‘The Giving Garden’, in just two short weeks it has received over 400 likes. I am trying to make it an informative page full of helpful hints and advise.

We had a good ‘Open Garden’ with 600 visitors, all who upon leaving said they enjoyed it and asked us to open again next year.

I often wonder if people realise just how much work it takes to open, Judy and I work for at least two months prior to opening just to get ready, then there’s a week cleaning up and getting back to normal.

On the Friday prior to opening Judy and I look at each other and say “we are not doing this again”, then on the Sunday after everyone has gone we say “yes we will do it again next year”.

We are ‘Suckers for punishment’.

We support a local Lions Club for them to raise money at our ‘Open Garden’for disabled children.

In the last two ‘Open Gardens’ we have raised $8292 all of which has all gone to buy equipment for disabled children.

We usually go for a bit of a holiday after our ‘Open Garden’ but this year we are looking after our son’s two Jack Russell dogs and the older one has some health issues so this year it’s stay at home and of course work in the garden and plan new projects for next year.

We are hoping for some December rain as all our seven tanks are empty and the lawns are brown and the trees stressed, just so dry.