Summer rain storms and damage 2016

Summer for me, is not about much actual gardening, it`s all about the watering - trying to keep all my treasured plants and shrubs alive in our scorching heat. No-where near the coast, and at the foot of the Blue Mountains, means we live in a hot dry dustbowl sometimes. So summer is all about time consuming watering - mostly by hand. We have lots of irrigation and rain water tanks, but it`s never enough in this heat, you need a strong jet of water at the base of each plant, drippers and sprays are just not enough. However.....

We are forecast to have a very rainy (and thundery and lightening) week, which the dogs will hate. I just wish I`d already gotten all the fertilisers sitting in my garage thrown about before the rain :[  It`s mid summer here and was 41 degrees today, it`s been hot and dry, but a big storm blew in mid afternoon, offering a cooler wet week with some gardening respite.

In fact, a rainy week is the perfect time to pack away the Christmas tree and all the decorations and tuck into some indoor chores and healthy cooking - and do a bit more blogging! I`m sitting on my verandah enjoying the temperature as it cools and the rain begins....

The very next day, a really nasty storm hit our suburb leaving loads of damage and power outages. Sadly, a man was even killed when a tree fell on his car.

The mini tornado came in sideways with gale force winds and driving rain and hail, wreaking havoc and destruction all over the place . Here is our contribution....

                            All along the back pathway is smashed of all places! You can`t even get through up there. We are still getting periods of high winds so more damage is likely. It will be out with the chain saw when the weather clears up, then time to sharpen the hedgers.....

A good deep soaking is just what all the large trees and shrubs need though, and Iv`e put in a request to my husband, for a trailer load or two of stable manure to top up the veggie gardens after the rains are done and the soils are saturated. I`m glad I got all the boundary and garden edges weed-sprayed before the rain, otherwise the weeds would have taken over with the rain and humidity. It doesn`t take long for nature to grow out of control if you don't keep on top of it at this time of the year.

The 48m camellia hedge along the driveway, is the next to get the big prune - it`s over the fence in parts and with all this rain it will shoot up quickly. After a quick inspection of the camellia hedge today, I was horrified to see it budding up already! it`s very early, still mid summer, and not even pruned yet! If I want a good floral display this Autumn I need to get cracking.

So Iv`e got my work cut out for me with fertilizing, manuring, hedging and chain-sawing!

and thanks for visiting Bloomfield Cottage