On 14th September it will be about 60 days without rain – we had a wonderful 24ml on 14th July.

So here am I, looking my usual glamorous self, as I head off to hand water another lot of plants. The trolley and plastic carton system works really well. For instance I can pour out half a carton on each new Lacebark /Brachychiton discolor that we planted along the drive (Ian propogated them from last year’s seed pods), without lugging buckets of water back and forth. It was inspiring to visit the Sherwood Arboretum on the weekend and see the magnificent Kauri pines planted in an avenue. We have planted Kauris together with Lacebarks along our own driveway. We just need to stick around another 100 years to see our Kauris get to be that height !

So after all those months of above-average rainfall, the weather may be returning to dry patterns. Just as well we planted in autumn and early winter as the ground is now very hard and we won’t be planting even though it’s springtime until we get rain again.               Even some of the tiny plants that self-generated are shrivelling up and grassy emerald areas are crisping up.

Really there is nothing more we can do except water the latest plantings. We are using town water for the plants around the house and for filling up the cartons. Thankfully the dam makes it possible to keep watering the larger areas of new plants e.g. the northern  slope. And the drier weather brings a certain kind of respite from all the weed-pulling and grass-cutting. Andrew also reassures me that the dry weather forces the plants to push down their roots.