Another hot day and night in Bendigo...

I must admit that I am spending all of my spare change on paying the water bills at the moment, as there are lots of plants in this big hot garden of mine that will need water til they are better established. But that's OK - it's my choice, and Lake Eppalock is so full they have to open the spillway each time it looks as though it might rain, in case it causes flooding! Bonus. The big tank is still about one third full, but I am saving that....

I am concentrating on drought hardy plantings apart from the three new shade trees, the fruit and the vegetables. I am very keen on  all sorts of Salvia, Lavenders, Curry Plants, Cushion Bushes, herbs of all persuasions, Buddleias, Geraldton Wax, even roses. I have red hot pokers and literally hundreds of Agapanthus that line the long driveway, as well as edging many of the raised beds; I have some Clivea, too many nasty Cape Honeysuckle plants, metres of ice pink mesembryanthemum, and some really old Cordylines.

It is a mixed bag with lots of work waiting to be done in the autumn, when it is all a little cooler.... but that didn't stop us from getting the site of the new kitchen garden organised just a couple of days ago:

My big hot garden in Bendigo

It is soooo hot up here today, January 1st 2012. At 12.00 noon it is already over 32 degrees and will climb to about 40 by this evening. The rhubarb is wilting madly and the zucchini are lying quite flat, poor things!

Bendigo's climate is pretty challenging -  extremes of heat and wind in the summer and freezing (literally) nights all winter. I have to think so carefully about what to what to plant where, that's for sure.

Still, it is so pretty up here where we live - high on a hill overlooking Bendigo itself. At night it is a proverbial fairyland of lights. By day, we are right next to a great big Parks Victoria remnant Ironbark forest, so the birds abound, the winds are sweetly scented and we have space!!! What a difference this is from our double-storey townhouse in the heart of Brunswick!!!

I was longing to get back to the dirt and since we have been here we have planted out a decent sized orchard, a very productive vegie garden, one herb plot with a second potager already under construction. Maybe I can plant things once this hot spell is over.....

More to follow, with photos, once I work out how to attach them.