At last! It's been a very dry summer. We don't get much summer rain here - there'll be the odd thunderstorm if we're lucky but most are thunder and lightning and not much else so dry is not unexpected. This means we don't get much in the way of humidity - there's an old joke where when asked about how we handle heatwaves - and w have some beauties - a Western Australian will say: "I don't mind the heat as long as iy's dry heat." It's true enough. When the odd tropical storm shakes things up and it gets a bit humid we start to wilt. Even then we don't often get much in the way of real water coming out of the sky so so it's something of a pleasant change when we have a few wet days like we've just experienced. The garden perks up in a way no amount of hand or sprinkler watering can make it do and everything gets a much needed wash so the whole garden looks fresh and bright. Plants survive and even thrive her with hand d or sprinkler watering but there's nothing rain to give it a renewed burst of life.
Well, that's the way it's been but our climate is changing. The south west of Australia is getting dryer thanks to climate change and the dams which once supplied Perth and it surroundings with more than enough water are now at sucj low levels that Perth now depends on two desalinisation plants for around half of its water needs and there are plans to build a third. Garden sprinkler watering is restricted to two days a week from September to the end of May with a total ban on use in our wettest months of June, July and August.
Along with this our ur gardens and gardening practices are changing. Water hungry plants are being replaced with hardy natives and those from other dry climates. While there is still a place for planting that needs watering such as fruit and vegetable crops we're learning new techniques which will keep us fed. It's an interesting exercise to look at gardens and see how they are changing because Perth sits on the edge of a dry continent and for too long we've tried to emulate a European style of gardens - and it no longer works here.
While I've always been very careful and strategic in how I water I'm always looking to find ever newer and better ways to cut back on my water usage. This is where my raised beds are coming into their own. Because they're wicking beds I only need to make sure that the water level is maintained to ensure my plants stay healthy and productive. While they're not the answer for everything - plants like beans and peas still need a frame of some sort - they are certainly working for smaller plants. At the moment I have capsicums, eggplant, chard and basil but they will soon be replaced with brassica like kale and pak choi and maybe some smaller broccoli. These beds have covers which keep out pests like cabbage white butterflies so the brassica should do well in them.
There has been one setback, though. When the beds were set up for me the potting mix supplied turned out to be less than optimal. It should have been sterilised to get rid of any pathogens and this was obviously not the case. Within a few weeks a host tiny moths hatched and I'm still months later dealing with their off spring. I hate to use chemicals at any time and in beds like this they would be even more problematic so I've been spraying with a naturally occurring bacteria. I hope that will be enough to rid me of the little beasties sooner rather than later.
So my garden is changing and evolving as the climate changes but there will always be a garden here because if there's one defining thing about gardeners it's that we never stop wanting to surround ourselves with plants and I don't believe we ever will.
