After the big rains!

Amazingly, we have had about 6 inches of rain spread over the past 5 or 6 days - heavenly! There were a few big downpours but lots of gentle drippy rain too, soaking right into the soil - and the rocks- and kick starting lots of Autumn growth. On the one 'dry' day between the rain, I planted out a hedge of 28 double white Oleanders with 10 white Plumbago as well - and each one has a weed/mulch mat, its very own dripper and most have tree guards to protect them a bit from the cold wind. Hopefully, within a couple of years they will help promote a sheltered micro climate for our large, sloping very hot dry front garden.

There are some established trees in there already - a huge sugar gum right at the front on the street, a smaller Mallet gum, a vry old rice bush, loads of orange flowering Cape Honeysuckle that I plan to trim right up to a sort of canopy for the moment, a few sapling ash trees and some Prunus plums. I am keen to try Jackie French's idea of planting in 'groves'. I would love to include a Magnolia or two, a couple of crab apples, and a few more Japanese Maples. I have grown loads of cuttings of Hydrangea, Ajuga and ferns for the shady corners, and my spring flowering bulbs are waiting to be planted out in the large sunny expanses... Now all I need is a bit of time, the bags of old horse manure I have been saving up, and I will be as happy as a pig in muck - literally I reckon.

Getting ready for Sweet Peas

Even though it is still hot and very dry in Bendigo, I decided to imagine that we might be lucky enough to get some rain in the next few weeks, so I've built my Sweet Pea tripods.

I used last year's bamboo and bound them up with long wands of golden willow...

They are pretty rustic but as I have sunk the poles well into the ground, they are surprisingly sturdy, just ready for sowing time. I am trying some Diggers Sweet Peas from Heronswood this year - hope they are successful!

Lovely Rains at Last!

Finally, we had 17mm of glorious soaking rain here in Bendigo. The poor Abelias and even the Cotoneasters were starting to droop and the tips of the Agapanthus plants were just starting to brown off - such tough garden plants just have to be able to survive without supplementary water in this huge plot of mine. So, the plants and I are breathing a collective sigh of relief!

Today it is a mere 19 degrees - glorious weather for gardening. I am planting a whole bunch of herbs up in my new kitchen garden, as I am running out of space for pots since I have started my autumn cuttings. The new garden is starting to look a bit like a garden at last, instead of just a huge mound of mulch and straw and manure. Spotted a few big juicy worms while digging up there this morning, so that's all good.

The lavender hedge around the sundial is settling in nicely - each little plant has easily doubled in size since being planted 2 weeks ago. Likewise the 2 Artemisias that will grow up to disguise the ugly side fence...

I also potted out 2 smoke bushes Cotinus in the shrubbery - one is the gorgeous Velvet Cloak; the other is a fluffy headed evergreen -  a smaller growing var of up to 2m.called Bystropogon Canariensis. Whew!!

Now all I need to do is work out where to buy some double white flowering Oleanders for the new front hedge/fence. I can get small ones online from Queensland - might have to end up doing this, but will troll around the local nurseries first just in case. I plan to plant a row of white Plumbago in front of the Oleanders for a cool white on white look. This double hedge will eventually produce a lovely sheltered microclimate for more tender plantings like Magnolias and Lilacs - well, I hope so anyway!

Back to work - still loads of salvias, lavenders, cushion bushes, Tuhlbagias etc to plant out before dinner!

Autumn is coming this way!

Despite the continued heat wave, I know that Autumn is just around the corner so I have started planning ahead. I have taken dozens of cuttings of summer flowering perennials, planted the last lot of bush beans, decided on the plantings for a hedge that I will be planting out in March, right at the front of the block where it is hottest and driest. I am planning a 'double hedge' of pretty fluffy double white oleanders with Plumbago in front of this.I can't decide whether to use just white Plumbago or weaken and add a few lovely sky blue Cape ones... hmm. It's a dilemma.

I also need to get rid of lots of the suckers of the Cape Honeysuckle that has literally taken over the bed. There are also lots of seedling cherry plums, a couple of seedling white cedars, one more huge Cotoneaster, a few drought affected Loquats, a desert ash that is too close to a blue stone retaining wall etc etc. However I want to leave enough protection to get new, more desirable plants started and I will also probably have to move the Forest Pansy I planted last winter - this hot summer has been a real struggle for it as it gets sun nearly all day as well as reflected heat from the brick drive. I make sure it is well watered, but its leaves are so delicate they have been taking a real pounding.

I am thinking of  including some Viburnum Dawn and some more Mock Orange (Philadelphus Mexicanus) as well as loads of Ajuga ground cover in shady spots, good old freesias, jonquils etc as underplantings, plus hopefully rampant forget-me-nots and Johnny Jump Up violas. Lots of back breaking work ahead - will attack the watering system - everything will need a dripper, a weed mat and maybe a tree guard to start with and get through the first cold winter.

So, lots to do!

Keeping up with the watering...

Wowsers - a really hot 8 or 10 days up here with temps above 30 each day for the foreseeable future. Not sure I signed on for such extremes - I lived in Swan Hill for 17 years and thought I know what to expect, but it is soo windy here, so drying...

But most plants are thriving as long as I keep the water up to them.  I am  delighted with a clump of very pretty and dainty Agapanthus that are flowering right now - they have deeper blue flowers and are more pendant than the rows and rows of blue ones that flank the drive. Still very hardy and never seem to require any supplementary water either!!

Otherwise, I am waiting with much anticipation to sample the first ears of sweetcorn. The plants tower over me now and there are at least 3 cobs sticking out from each plant. Naturally, we are still picking tomatoes, beans and delish cucumbers, as well as a few too many zucchinis - help!

The pots of herbs are thriving too - it is lovely not to have to run right up to the herb garden each time I want mint, basil, parsley, thyme etc. Here is a  pic of one mixed planter - it sits out in full sun all day long and is loving it. Crazy!!

The new kitchen garden

The brick paths are finished and the beds have been lightly turned and covered with chook and horse manure and watered. I have mulched 2 beds and will get around to the other two later today, once India has gone out and the Test is over. Might plant out my lavender hedge around the sundial too - they will stand up to the hot weather ahead, but the rest of the plantings will wait till early Autumn I think... I will add a couple of pix if I can remember how, but they are before the soil works!

Hotter and even hotter!!

Today we are going for a scorching 39 degrees, followed by 40 tomorrow, so I have given up having any pots out in the yard and have rounded them up to the shade in the carport. That's one thing I have done to help with reducing stress, both on me and on the plants!! I have also constructed a mini shade house for my poor Forest Pansy tree - even though I keep it well watered and deeply mulched, its leaves are so tender and fine that they tend to collapse in the heat and get badly fried. Let's hope this will help!

Meantime the corn is loving the heat and is now about 7 feet high with 3 cobs on each plant that I can see. The capsicums are likewise developing fast and so are the chilies. The lettuces are doing well in the shade of an old apple tree and the icebergs are setting nice tight little hearts, but the radishes have bolted, again... Just picked a good feed of climbing beans - this year I am trying out the Lazy Housewife beans from Diggers - they are very tender even when you let them get a bit bigger than usual, so they seem to be a real success. The bush beans have set a heavy crop and will be picking in a few days.. yum!

So far only my Roma tomatoes are ripening, even though the Apollo and Grosse Lisse have loads of trusses. I don't particularly like Romas as a salad tomato but they are great, plonked on the BBQ with the chops - turn them once when the skin starts to really char, and they are sweet and juicy!

Wish me luck with the rest of this long hot spell...