JANUARY 2011 – SEEMS LIKE SUMMER - AT LAST.

Bad backs don't allow for much gardening
Just as well the garden didn’t really need a lot of attention because, with my back still somewhat delicate, the early part of January meant very little hard gardening work. However, as time progressed, it got stronger and stronger and with another long handled tool added to the arsenal of gardening equipment, lots more jobs got done.

A $2 hand tool from the Cheap Shop plus a mop handle made a fabulous tool
for hoeing out weeds, cultivating, and getting under bushes, etc.

Deaths in the family.
That last day of December, with its 40 degrees and searing winds, was too much for some of my quite well-established plants. Two Eutaxias, which had been in for about five years, decided that being flooded out for months and then suddenly baked in an oven was quite beyond a joke and quickly turned up their toes.
The Mint Bush which had died off on one side, finally gave up the struggle; and my Clematis, which had covered my garden shed so beautifully, is looking decidedly sick. I know it loses all its leaves and looks very dead for most of the winter, but I have grave doubts about whether it’s going to recover this time.


One dead Mint Bush ...



... and a dead Eutaxia ...



... and I'm pretty sure the Clematis has gone as well.

 Still many flowers …
Even though things died around me, plenty of others flowered happily. The Creeping Boobialla (Myoporum parvifolum) has been covered all month and is still going strong. There are two sorts and I can’t find any different names for them, so I call them ‘the fine-leafed one’ and ‘the other one’.

This is 'the fine leafed one' ...



... and this is 'the other one'.
they both have plenty of flowers, though and make a very
attractive and thick ground cover.

Every flower in the garden is still covered with heaps of butterflies and moths as well as bees, hover-flies and flying bugs of all sorts. I think (but am not sure) we even have some native bees. I’m still trying to identify them.

Vegetables
As soon as we got some regular warm weather, the tomatoes took off and are now producing great quantities of great big (green) tomatoes. We’ve picked two ripe ones so far but there are more on the way.
I planted some seedlings of multi-coloured Swiss Chard to take the place of the silver beet that had gone to seed last month. It’s growing apace and looking extremely edible. I’ll be picking some leaves of that very soon.
Some self-sown cucumbers, carefully transplanted by my small grandson, are doing well – lots of flowers and I’m hoping to see baby cucumbers in the next week.
That’s about the end of my vegetable endeavours this year. With my bad back and such a weird season, I haven’t bothered with anything else.

The Sunflower Circle
After some early worries with too much rain (again!) all the sunflowers are flourishing and growing apace. I’ve cut a circle of black plastic to cover the centre and after a couple of 38-40 degree days, the grass underneath is being nicely baked and killed. I’ve used the black plastic treatment before and find it works a treat. It’s cheap, effective and very good for the environment – no chemicals! It really works well for anything – thistles, oxalis, cape weed, in fact it kills anything that grows, including roots and bulbs.


With the excessive heat at the end of January the black plastic
is doing a fine job of 'cooking' the grass and weeds.

Once the grass is totally dead, I’ll get some carpet from the Op Shop to cover the ground, then we’ll have a little 'Sunflower House’ for the small grandchildren to play in; to read a book, have a tea-party, tell stories – surrounded by green walls and a yellow roof. I hope it works! There’s a family gathering here planned for 19th February which includes five small grandchildren, and I’d love it to be tall enough by then. I’m not sure though – they might have to visit again about a month later to see it in full flower.
P.S.  I'm writing this on 1st February and I’ve just measured the biggest ones again – 90 mm growth in two days! Maybe it will make a decent ‘house’ by the 19th Feb.

The pictures tell the story so much better
I’ve just finished doing all the captions to my Picasa album for this month. That really provides a lot more detail about what’s happening in the garden, so click here and have a look at it.