Hello all. Well it looks like Queensland got all the rain and we didn't! January delivered 28ml (compared to 138 last year) and so far this month, only 2.5ml has been recorded. And the trend looks set to continue.

Needless to say, we've been watering as much as we can lately. The azaleas, penstemons and hydrangeas are our most needy plants and it shows when they miss out. Once again, the roses are probably our best value for money plants with wonderful blooms despite not being watered once. There aer, however, many tough plants about the place now days between the natives and the drought tolerant exotics such as rosemary, diosma and the Viburnums among others.

Other than watering, we've been busy catching up with mulching about the place. Its great stuff; making an area look good, keeping moisture in and hiding a multitude of sins. We use the attractive (but expensive) stuff from the garden centre for the most public areas such as the hospital entrance etc, while relying on the cheap stuff from the tip to cover those not so public beds. A good idea if you have a large area to do is to use the cheap stuff for the bulk of the area then only use the attractive stuff on the very top where it's seen.

There's a bit of tree trimming to do too. A lot of the trees about the place are hanging low so we need to cut them up as well as knocking out the dead branches that we can get with the pole saw. By the time that's done, we'll need to cut off all the spent agapanthus flowers and stalks. By the time we get around them there'd be a ute load if not 2. Thay are a particularly hardy plant that is an extremely reliable and attractive flowerer, though I do believe they come with responsibilities. One must stop the seeds from spreading, so off with their heads. They're green for a little while after the blooms drop off so its not hard to get them.

Vegie wise, I'm currently eating zucchinis till I look like them, tomatoes, capsicum, basil, potatoes, carrots and parsnips. Its been a good year!