"0tterbot" wrote in message

BUT, the garden is going extremely well, i had no losses from heat or
drought over summer, and my dream of turning a poor sad neglected & dry
property into a fertile and self-sufficient garden for food, birds &
animals is all panning out pretty well so far. i've got loads of worms
now, the soil's improving, it's getting more beautiful every day, and is
definitely worth the hard work! so if i can do that during a drought with
my greywater, all power to me, but honestly, anyone _can_ do it & more &
more of them are.

I always feel a sense of real wonder when I contemplate how much can be
achieved over time and with effort and water.

I went to visit some Open Gardens in the Nimmatabel region of NSW some
months ago. I well remember one farm. It was like a moonscape.

Typical Monaro sheep country - naturally treeless and rock stewn but good
basalt country and all it needed was water. It was a 3 km drive into where
the house sat under the lee of an east facing hill but subject to Southerly
winds.

The before pictures were amazing. A disgustingly sad weatherboard cottage,
missing many boards, peeling paint, broken windows with a ratty old garage
set in a desertlike landscape of no grass or trees or anything - the only
thing missing was the pic of sheep wandering through this old house. It sat
in the middle of a big paddock.

To see how much the owner had achieved over a 25 yr period, and the life
they had brought tot his moonscape was astounding. First plant trees and
lug water to them - this went on for years till they built up surrounding
wind breaks. And the garden! It was now a to die for garden. Lush grass
on that rich basalt soil, a thriving veg garden and chook runs and a superb
flower garden with the most glorious Peonies I've ever seen. I can still
see it in my mind's eye. More power to the lady of the house who did, and
continues to do, a brilliant job.