Fran Higham wrote:

I'll be away for
January anf February, as I'm running off to sea again.

Sea???? To do with the job or the research? Either way, have a lovely time
and pray for rain while you are gone.

Research for the job. First I'm off to a conference in NZ, then I'm off
to sea for 6 weeks to collect some data over the Campbell Plateau, to
the south east of the SOuth Island of NZ. As I have a spare few days
before the conference and between the conference and the trip, DH is
coming with me and we're going to get in a day's scuba diving off White
Island, and a day's kayaking in the Marborough Sounds, as well as a few
other pleasant side trips such as visiting wineries and hiking out to a
gannet colony. I've been working so hard (with another 4 very long days
to go and a lot to get done) that I'm *really* looking forward to it.

I'm pea green with envy. I can't keep the water up to my garden at all (not
because of lack of water but due to the winds and the intensity of the sun).
Shadecloth has done wonders for the toms though so next year I will cover
more of the veg garden with it.

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a bad season, Fran. In reality, mine
hasn't been much better. I'll admit that most of my stuff was harvested
in the late spring before it got really hot (such as the broad beans and
artichoke), and th rest of it has come up with the little bit of rain
we've had in the last week or two. In between I moved all of the young
trees that I planted in winter into one garden bed and was only watering
it. I let the rest of the garden dry out completely, not least because I
was never home to look after it.

Of course, now that I'm about to leave, everything is springing into
life. The strawberries are suddenly doing their best triffid imiiation
and I have all sorts of interesting seedlings coming up in the pine bark
paths, such as pak choi, chillies and okra.

Now I'm trying not to be cynical, but failing utterly. Whoever said that
must have lived in a much nicer climate (like the UK). Stability of the
garden in the wilds of Oz is a bit of a myth, methinks (at least in the
summer and anywhere outside the Southern Highlands and their 50 inch
rainfall a year)

I'll have to agree with you there. The only reason my garden survived
the summer at all (and quite a bit still didn't) was because we have the
recycled water and mulched a lot. Even then it was all I could do to
keep stuff alive, forget about having it grow. For that matter, I was
putting 100-200 litres of water each week into my 1000 litre pond,
because that was what I was losing to evaporation.

DH has said that there is talk of an early end to the drought (Jan
rather than March), so I'm keeping my fiungers crossed about that.


Have a great time Tara and see you when you get back.

Thanks, and thanks to you as well, Len. I'll check back in in March.

Tara