"I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains."

How true it is

You will find the BOM link on previous posts and can certainly confirm the sentiments behind this classic Dorothea Mackellars poem, less than 48hrs ago sections of the south coast saw water spouts come ashore and reek havoc on coastal suburbs and with that change came plenty of the wet stuff. 

You couldn't pick it 24hrs later and the temps are back into the 30s and the sydney basin feels more like a Borneo rainforest.

can you find steve

Monster squash

So how does this affect the garden, well its all good, for those larger gardens i guess if you couldn't see the weeds last week you can now, for the greenkeepers, its not a matter of keeping them green anymore its keeping them cut before it rains again.

Sweet Potatoes at A/B Mens Shed

Camden Community Garden has been no different, while the rain tended to drive people in doors the serious and/or committed (maybe should be committed) are still out there, weeds not more than a few inches high had now reached dizzying heights, so with a coming together of half a dozen or so souls on the weekend an assault was made on some of the bigger ones. (see image right, Steve is 6ft plus and not standing in a hole). I might add the rain allowed easy removal of many of the larger weeds. The past month has seen considerable rainfall in the southwestern part of the Sydney basin and this has delivered some great results in the gardens, it had been hoped we would have pumpkins in time for the local show, unfortunately we didn't get enough early rain however those pumpkins have now gone crazy and thrown on several metres of growth in a matter of weeks, sweet potatoes are running like crazy and will no doubt produce a prolific crop come the cooler months. If you love zucchinis and squash, look no further than Camden Community Garden, i overheard someone the other night talking about how they grow even more on a full moon and how they would harvest night and morning, it looks like we had a full moon every night from the pic attached, numerous local gardeners have benefited from the harvest as well as some community members. This will continue as well.

Summer Gardening

Well finally it seems summer has arrived, albeit probably a month late.

Here is the latest Summer Gardening Blog addition from "The Veggie Lady" Toni Salter.

Summer is a really busy time of the year in the productive garden for temperate regions. Not only are you harvesting your first fruits of the season, but you’re also looking ahead to sowing some cool season crops (yes already!).  This is the time of year that pests and disease are at their worst, so keeping on top of this as well as maintaining consistent watering during hot weather can all get a bit heavy going.  This is the time to be most alert but in reality, the opposite generally happens for most of us especially when we decide to take some holidays.  Here’s a few tips to keep it all together.

What to sow

Start sowing your winter crops this month in temperate and cold regions. This includes all of your cabbage family plants like cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and Chinese vegetables. By the time they’re a reasonable size for planting out, the weather should be starting to cool down. Carrots, beetroot, parsley, celery, leek and silverbeet are all winter crops so they can be sown now too. Special care of seedlings needs to happen over the next few months to make sure they survive the heat. Be vigilant with daily watering in really hot weather. I plant my seedlings out with cardboard milk cartons around them. This gives them a bit more protection from critters and gives a bit of extra shade.