RAIN !!! RAIN !!! RAIN !!!

Well I had to tell you all as who knows when it will come back.
We had around 11mm or I think 40points in real measurement. Some people had over 1" a bit further away, but the garden is happily slurping it's little bit.
Thank you Sue and chrissy for pushing that bit down here.
My little brugs were out in it and enjoyed it very much. As it has been so hot overnight , I have been leaving them out. I had to repot them today as the roots were coming out of their little pots. Isn't it marvellous how even a little rain can refresh the garden ?
I read that it is the Hydrogen Peroxide in the rain that does the job.
I have started mixing a bit in water when I spray the plants . It is also said to be very good mixed with some white sugar and water to spray for bugs. I haven't tried that yet but I will.
. Teatime .
Happy gardening. Jean.

Excellent Jean! That little dance I did in the rain worked then? I'll have to do it again as it is still hanging around here in showers and it has become impossible to mow anywhere.
We're getting about 20mm a day, or there abouts, and the ground is super saturated, so everytime it does rain, it becomes little rivers and streams. I still haven't started work on repairing the garden edges and remulching. I thought I'd wait until winter when it all slows down a bit. That way i can weed and revamp things all at once. I'll head out now and do the happy dance under the light of the full moon, and hopefully a little more rain will head your way.
Sue

Whoo hoo! 77 great news well we had a dry day and a bit of sunshine ...in fact it was the hottest day since before Christmas ...a bit of blue sky went down a treat!
Look finally something interesting to show ...my magnolia Exmouth is about to flower! ...Stop the rain dancing Sue :) let 77 do it ...can't do much of anything because the ground is so sloppy.
chrissy

Good morning ladies. I have visions of 2 bodies frolicking in birthday suits in the rain.
If the rain saw me doing that it would leave forever. All those wrinkles. ugh !
Sue is that gallipoli heath in your pic ? Is that the one they call obedient plant ? If so, I just pulled all mine out from where it was as it was taking over the whole area. I had to use a bit of Roundup on new bits coming from bits of root left behind. It is lovely but not in with other plants. It was growing where I do put some water and the other lot without much water just died off.
Love magnolias chrissy but again can't grow one here as there is nowhere out of the wind for it.
Yesterday was fine after the rain and today looks like getting warmer. I may have to do that rain dance regardless. Not at night though. it may frighten all the orbies. We have had a real spate of orb weavers around the place over the past month. they do like to string them selves across the archways and between trees and the house. I thought the rain may disturb them but they are still there every night. Hubby watches each one and tells me if it is the same one or a new one moving in. From our observations , it seems they may only live for a short time then the space is soon taken by another one.
Here's "Tartan" dahlia for you to look at.
Must get ready to go out, shopping day today, Have a great day , Jean.

You people make me sick, all this talk about rain, and here in Perth we have had very little, and none on my farm in Koorda. So please do lots of rain dances for the poor old West Aussies. By the way Koorda is 250 ks North East of Perth and has little rain now for 3 years, we pray that we get some this year.
Cheers
Terry

Hi Terry I know you are having a really tough time over your way, and I hope it won't be long before you get your share of all this water ...if it makes you feel any better we have had years of drought prior to this (and in fact we almost lost our home in bushfire in 2001) so there is hope that your drought will come to an end soon.The weather people say it will be a wet Autumn for all of us ...I hope it won't be too long for you until you get your Big Wet.:)
chrissy

Hello Terri and chrissy. I used to live over your way Terri. I spent about 20 or so years around Geraldton and Morowa and out in the station country. It is a dry place but here is too lately. We have had no significant rain for many years. The water table is low and the beautiful old red gums are starting to die in places.
We have had no definite seasonal pattern here for a few years. The weather does get colder in winter and warmer in summer but really just moves along in an Autumn pattern of cool to cold mornings and fine warm to cold days. Our warm weather now , consists of a very hot few days in amongst the rest .
It has happened before and will change again. The only thing different now is humans are here. We are very susceptible to climate change and will just have to get used to it.
At least the Ice Age hasn't arrived yet. Brrrrrrr.
Terri if we go out and plant lots of dry loving plants that don't need much water , we might get some of chrissy's flood. Happy gardening Jean

I don't know ...somehow I think the green and lush helps to get the rain going.It worries me a little that if we only plant stuff for dry times won't everything turn into desert.We read about rainforests being ripped out and then there are the droughts and famines ...if you have ever planted out one of those terrariums and seen the condensation that plants cause ...just imagine if there were cactus planted in them ...I wonder?
While ever I can grow green and lush I will, because green and lush saved us in the bushfires it held the flames off the house long enough to allow our fire Angels to come and save us ...while ever I can save every drop of water to use on the garden ...I will ...if you live in an area that burns in the dry times you have to ...it might save you one day and it is my belief that green growth brings the rain.
happy gardening everyone :)

Last year we planted 5000 York Gums (Eucalyptus Loxophleba subspecies lissophloia) and 3000 assorted other trees, but because of lack of rain I have been hand watering by carting 19 loads of 2000 ltr of water on the truck every second day and are doing the same again this year. I intend to double this amount next year (2009) if I can find out [1.] Where to get seed. [2.] How to raise seedlings.

All the seedlings up till now have been purchased, it is a very expensive operation for a pensioner. I have dropped a couple of pics showing last years seedlings.

I'm with you chrissy, I was really being tongue in cheek when I said we should plant dry things. I plant anything and love 'em all. I know I do plant things that don't like all the dry but they manage to survive from rain to rain.
I do think more trees etc bring moisture but with all the clearing there is not enough of the thicker belts of trees needed. The poor solitary trees that people leave in the mistaken belief that they are being saved, usually don't live as long as they would have in a grove and won;t help much to bring any moisture. .
We will just go on planting what we love regardless of the weather. It will rain soon . It will rain soon. It will rain soon. Everybody say it 100 times a day, Happy day , Jean.

Go for it Terry. The more you plant, the more chance of a lot surviving. We did that once out back of Mullewa. WA We carted water during their first year and they had to make it after that on their own as there was no more water for them. After about 5 years at least half were growing really well and more were struggling but alive. . If you are able , have a look on eBay as there are listings for native seeds on there quite often.
Jean.

Hi Terry, it sounds like you must be on a large property. Are you trying to regenerate or do you have another reason for all those little darlings? And is that your daughter/grandaughter? Shes very cute and I love her slippers!
Sue

Hi Terry :D

Great to see another sand groper! i was starting to think i was the only one. You are dedicated, carting all that water every second day! Are you on town water? It doesn't sound like you get enough rain to rely on tanks. Do you have to buy your water in by the tanker full?

I'll do an extra rain dance for you. I was hoping we'd get some down here from Cyclone Nicholas, but no such luck.

Cheers

Kerri

Wishing lots of rain your way WA ...poor B*ggers ...gut wrenching stuff. What sweet little girl ...who loves her nanna? :) Our one and a half acre dam went from almost empty to almost full this Summer and it is 21ft deep ...it has been very very low for years so here is hoping that the rain moves over where everyone needs it.
chrissy

Hi every one

Firstly Weed Woman no it is not a large farm but we love it. I was very very ill 2 years ago and it made me rethink my way of life. I decided rather than leave a farm to my two grand daughters I would leave a forest, so last year when I was first able to walk again I started. To Kerri we have town water on the farm but it would take abot 2 hours to fill a 1000 ltr tank so I cart from a standpipe 8ks away. I estimate the property will take about 2 million trees so there are lots of years planting ahead. One of my dreams is that other farmers in the area will follow suit and plant large areas as well as the whole area is affected by salt, that is why i chose the york gums as they are salt tollerant. Here is the other image I was going to put up this morning but found you could only put one :- the driver of the tractor is me, the guy in the tree planter is John my son in law and the two girls are the Grandies Cassie and Skye. Their mum my daughter is driving the truck and taking photos.

2 million trees wow that should green Australia up a bit ...fantastic!
Good on you ...yes we take our health for granted until something goes wrong and yes it sure changes perspective on the way we live our lives ...watching things grow keeps us young and full of joy!
makes us grateful to see what each day brings.

Good on you Terry. What a great ambition! You said you hope other farmers would follow your lead because of the area being affected by salt. Would more trees rectify that problem somehow? Is the salt problem because of dropping underground aquifers or whatever they're called? (This all interests me, cos i eventually want to specialise in native plants) Where does the water from the standpipe come from? is it like a big bore or something? Are you finding you have many more birds around with all the trees you're planting?

Kerri

(curiosity killed the cat, but finding out brought it back) :P

Huge dump of rain again last night! so heavy it sounded like hail!
wishing some your way
chrissy

Almost 10 in the morning sky is black and the storms are here again ...signing off for now as the rumbling is getting loud so off with my thingy for now :)
chrissy

Hi Kerry
Salt is caused by all the trees and vegitation being cleared to allow cereal crops on a large scale. This over a period of time allows the water table to rise thus bringing salt closer to the surface. There are a few methods of counteracting this one being to dig trenches down to water table level to drain excess water away. To my mind this is not getting rid of the problem but transfering it to somewhere else. Another is to plant salt tollerant plants including the new salt tollerant wheat but this does not remove the salt. My favourite is to act before the salt hits the surface by planting trees to drink the water as nature intended. You might say this will stop the farming of things like wheat and sheep but this is not the case. If you want to crop and or graze all you do is plant rows of trees say 4 or 6 wide through the paddocks following the land contours but leaving large ares for grazing/cropping between them. In my case this is how I am starting as I would like to produce some income whilst I am growing trees, but eventually the whole property will be covered and just graised by sheep.

storming rain here now. Won't stay on for long.

enjoy your rain, we had a cool 42.5deg c today

The storm closed The Northern Rd and Mulgoa Rd for a while ...it went on for about 3/4 of an hour ...then tonight it has rained steadily since around 5 ... eased in the last 15 mins to sprinkling.

*melts*

So sorry you poor things ...I would much rather cool and wet than hot and dry. Hope it changes for you soon.

I don't mind so much hot and dry. It's the hot and humid that gets me. I'm sure the tropics are moving south. It never used to get this humid when i lived here 12 odd years ago. And the bugger of it is, the humidity never develops into rain. *sigh* Still, today is the last day of summer, so it should start to cool down shortly, and hopefully we'll get some good winter rain.