Tanks for nothin'

Swimming pools demand bigger water tanks, especially in our long dry springs.  Unless of course you want to be single-handedly responsible for the emptying of Lake Wivenhoe.  Fortunately squandering Brisbane's safe drinking water didn't make it to my parent's bucket list so they installed three large water tanks to top up their pool over the dry spell each year.  This more or less made their little tanks superfluous so when they had their outside paving done they were set aside for someone else's rainy day.

The garage at our new place stands alone from the rest of the house meaning no water or power nearby so I've been making the trek from the house to the shed with buckets of tap water to keep the seedlings from turning into crispy flakes.  Thankfully I won't have to do this much longer - those spare tanks from mum and dad's wound their way here soon after we moved and have been sitting patiently next to the shed waiting for the plumber to install them and for some of that wet stuff to fall from the sky (and no I don't mean lorikeet poo, although it is in greater abundance than raindrops at the moment).

By some stroke of luck and good timing both the plumber and the rain came yesterday and even better they came in that same order.  The pipe was still dripping this morning and there's about an inch or two of water in the bottom judging by the knuckle test - possibly even enough to reach the taps.

Give me a home among the gumtrees

June was an incredibly busy month.  Long hours at work coupled with moving one weekend then  helping my sister move the next as well as no internet connection for well over a week has meant no access to the Blog and last ditch efforts at an internet connection at the local library and visiting our old place.  At the end of all the kerfuffle, we are happy to announce Colliwat Farm is now semi-rural on a 2.5 acre block about 30 mins south of Brisbane.  The chooks and cat survived the move intact and were surprisingly not too stressed.  The new chook pen is not all that secure; however, and I'm greeted each day at the front door by a cheeky Hopscotch looking at me endearingly.  It seems she's now taught the others her escape route too as I found three of them out and about scratching around in the garden on several occasions. Luckily there's nothing too precious in the gardens at this stage that I'm worried about losing to beak or claw.

It's been continuously raining for the last 4 or 5 days (the washing is still on the line!) which has meant not much can be done outside.  We've been disappointed to find the downpipes are not delivering the rainwater to the water tanks with only a very marginal increase in the level despite half an inch of rain in the last 24 hours.  We've devised a new route which will involve some replumbing of downpipes but will hopefully mean more rain in the tank so we don't have to rely on trickle feed.

Another water issue has been the pump in one of the grey water tanks.  It trips the power for the entire house when we attempt to switch it on.  Hubby persevered and managed to get it working intermittently and long enough to eventually drain most of the tank.  The pump it still not working properly and looks like we'll need a new one.

On the bright side the dam is full and we were able to check out the overflow pipe in action one afternoon.  It was nice to listen to the chuckle of running water under and over rocks not far from our front door.  We were excited before moving in at the prospect of swamp hens living in the dam.  After the move we've found we got much more than we were expecting: not only are there swamp hens but ducks that ski across the surface daily and a resident turtle!

I've been itching to get out in the garden and have been thinking and making plans with all the wet weather forcing restraint and a patient approach.  The garden is currently a sparse higgeldy-piggeldy mess of vaguely matching plants.  Fortunately the garden beds themselves are laid out well without much need for redesigning.  I've been mulling over which plants to keep, which to dig up and feed to the compost and pondering over the overall theme for the garden.  In the meantime we have to be content with our left produce from our old place - carrots, pumpkins and soon some peas.

The neighbours have dedicated the rear of their block (next to our house) to land for wildlife so a more native approach to the garden seems appropriate.  It's also something I've been wanting to experiment with for a while in terms of aesthetics and edibles.  Some edging for the dam is certainly in order to keep the toads out and the frogs in.

Next on the list is to choose a site for the orchard and vegie patch.  It's likely the current chicken pen will become the vegie patch once it's been turned over by their little feet; that's if we can get them to stay put!  It's a gently sloping, cleared section of soil near the dam that gets a decent amount of sunlight during the day.  The soil here is a sticky clay and is fairly water repellent.  Before I groaned, I reassured myself that at least it's something I'm familiar with and it can be worked into a beautiful loam with patience and the right materials.  Time to get out there and start the compost heap!  

I'll try to post some photos as soon as we have an internet connection again.

Welly Weather and Oswald the Uninvited

The rains have finally come and while cyclone Oswald hasn't been a pleasant experience for many people it has brought sweet relief to the parched lawn and increasingly spartan vegie patch.  I can sleep soundly now to the sound of water trickling slowly but steadily into the empty tank, echoing as it splashes into the shallow dregs two metres below.

On hearing the rain would continue for a few days I raced out one morning last week to plant a row of carrot seeds.  I tried this the last time we had a couple of showers but the minimal spatterings of rain preceded the horrid hot and dry spell that was the whole of December and most of January.  Needless to say the little seedlings tried their best and came up in a streak of green only to wither and fade away as the sun baked the soil.  Here's hoping this latest row will revel in the rain.

One high to the low pressure system is that I can wear in my Wellies in the wet.  I'm loathe to make purchases of any kind without due consideration and then some, so it took me until the end of last year's rainy season to decide that I really would have a use for a decent pair of gumboots.  Of course, by then I only had the opportunity (or rather excuse) to use them a couple of times before wet season was over.  Alas, they've since sat for many months waiting for a break in the sunshine.  Now their time has come and I can finally trudge around in them while the tell-tale tan line from my second-hand summer sandals fades away.

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I started this post when the rain had just begun.  Since then we've had over 250mm of rain on the weekend alone and the tank is now overflowing with Oswald.  We also lost internet for few days, hence my absence.  Now that I've returned from the dark and lonely world wide webless, I can recount the events of the last few days for you.

Sunday night was my sister's engagement party.  Somehow most of the guests still arrived but unfortunately so did an uninvited guest - ex-cyclone Oswald.  He must have found out he wasn't invited to this party and in true jealous ex style threw a massive tantrum outside the house, thrashing about, howling and hurling things at the windows, doing his best to ruin the fun.  Thankfully he did not succeed and it was only on the drive home that we felt his fury.

Later Sunday night through to the early hours of Monday morning was the worst of the wild weather - the winds were whirling and whipping around the house for the whole night, leaving us lacking in sleep.  Somehow in the midst of it all the cat decided he would catch a pigeon and bring it into the bedroom alive and flapping.  While this was the worst of our worries, the neighbours did not fare quite so well.  A large gum tree came crashing down onto their roof at 2.30am.  Fortunately no-one was hurt but three fences, a couple of water tanks, a washing line, fruit tree, vegie patch and parts of a roof were taken out by the tumbling tree.  Thankfully Monday was a public holiday so hubby was able to give them a hand to cut some branches off the tree and spread a tarp over the roof.

Our overflowing tank has already earnt its keep - one of the water processing plants for the south of Brisbane was damaged in the storm so we are on tight restrictions while it undergoes repairs.  Meanwhile I can still get on with the washing backlog using rainwater courtesy of Oswald himself.

A tankless task

It seems our turn to suffer the heat has arrived a week after the southern states endured their's.  To make matters worse we've hardly had any rain at all and the rainwater tank is now very near empty for the first time since we purchased it three years ago.  It's hard to imagine that we've gone through 11 500 litres of water plus a little extra here and there with a couple of light showers.  The washing machine has been changed back over town water and although water restrictions have been completely lifted as of the New Year, I can't help but feel guilty pouring potable water onto my plants.  I console myself by bucketing the shower and dish water onto the garden each day and only resorted to tap water for the first time today.  To be honest, I'm quite surprised how well the vegie patch has coped with the heat so far.  So long as they have enough water they perk up as soon as the sun starts to slip westwards.

I'm afraid I'm not as resilient to the sun's heat as my plants so the garden has been quite neglected of late.  Knowing that the tank water would soon run out, I've also been loathe to plant anything new besides corn.  Despite the heat and neglect there have still been a few things here and there to delight the eye, however, so I've captured a few of them for you.  

Storm crocus/Rain lily Zephyranthes candida

The Qld arrowroot (canna edulis) has matured nicely and is the tallest it's ever been .  I've divided it up to go most of the way around the tank to screen it from the heat and make it look a little more appealing.  The tubers make for nice eating roasted.  We haven't tried making flour from them yet.

The verbena are still going strong.  I'll definitely be planting these again. 

Dianthus
I'm not a huge pink fan but a hardy plant that should flower well and not mind a bit of rough treatment from the weather or naughty bantam claws.

This came as a surprise as we've had very little rain and the plants are suffering a bit.  Perhaps it was the dishwater that did it.  It's one of my favourite flowers so I don't mind at all.

The zucchini is having twins!  I've never had much luck with them in the past so perhaps it's making up for it although we haven't had any female flowers out yet.  It seems to be enjoying the new bed in with the corn.

Sweet corn "Golden Bantem"
They are planted in a block but for some reason this one has decided to outdo the rest.  Hopefully we'll still get a good cob out of it.

Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow'
Growing up I used to plant this in my parent's garden and adored the delicate white flowers and the honey scent.  It would spill out over the edge of the garden only to be mowed over by my brother.  Thank goodness I can look back and laugh at the ensuing tantrums.

Asian cabbage of some description - pak or bok choy

Oriental radish - we haven't tried these yet but I can feel a soup or stir fry coming just looking at them.

A winter melon (aka immaculate melon) that sprouted in the macadamia pot - I never put any seeds in and managed to kill both plants that a friend gave me.  Surprisingly the macadamia seems to be enjoying the company.

This was salvaged basil (stalks and roots) from work that has already given us a good crop, died back and is going for round two.  It's planted in our hydroponic system that was given to us by a friend who couldn't take it to her new apartment.  Eventually we plant to turn it into an aquaponic system using the bathtub on top of which it's sitting.