The Changing Seasons : February…

February 2018 was the month of plumbing problems. A leak developed in the water pipes under the front border. The plants had to be removed and then the soil dug out (by Jack) to find the leaking culprit.

But worse was the leak in the back yard. Under concrete and also under the back steps. Very hard to get at.We took the steps out, a difficult and awkward job, but from there it was a job for a plumber, and a major job too. Eventually all was fixed and now I had some gardening to do.

This month was also a month of extreme weather conditions. The beginning of the month we sweltered, day after day, under a relentless sun. The temperature rising into the mid to high 30’sC. The plants wilted in the heat and humidity. So did I…I was watering the garden every day, fortunately we have a spear pump using the underground water, so no horrendous water bills to come in later. Also the pots required twice a day watering and the hanging baskets sometimes 3 times a day.

It was now that I suddenly realised, as I spent hours watering, that I had a total of  SIXTYNINE pots. So this is the month I made a momentous decision.

“Enough is enough. They have to go”.

Since I made that decision I have been diligently moving the plants into the garden and the fact I had a newly cleared area, where the plumbing repairs had been, was a heaven-sent opportunity to re-design the bed and relocate the plants.

Remember I showed you my pots here. Well I have made quite a dent in the relocating.

These photos are of the pots in the back yard at the beginning of February

And below after the purge, the area does look quite bare. I have to admit I do like the look of all those beautiful flowering pots in the above photos, but oh so much work…

 

So here is where some of them have gone. Into the garden beds. This will greatly minimalise my workload…

I mentioned we had extremes of weather this month, well it was a couple of days after I started moving the plants that the weather forecaster warned of an extreme “wet weather event” of huge proportions heading our way. Then 5 days ago it arrived.

I was woken in the middle of the night by the sound of torrential rain pounding on the roof. It poured down. Abruptly it stopped and in the sudden silence I could hear the distant crashing of the cyclonic waves onto the beach. Then it started to rain again accompanied by thunder and lightning, and it hasn’t stopped until today.

MORE than 125,000 thousands homes and businesses have lost power right across southeast Queensland, including 3,400 properties on the Gold Coast, after a cluster of severe storms ripped through the region.Frequent, dangerous lightning continues to lash the Coast as the storms march northeast through Brisbane, Redland City and Moreton Bay.

The Coast missed the worst of the weather, however, with the cell slamming into the hinterland before swinging north towards the capital.

At 7.20pm, more than 127,000 homes and business were without power across the southeast, of those, 3,416 were on the northern Gold Coast. ( more here)

As I write this post the sun is intermittently peeping from behind the clouds. During that period of “the wet weather event”  there has been more than an average months supply of rain fallen in 24 hours, then some more kept coming. Some areas have had hail and floods. Power outages have affected many parts of Queensland.

But I have a huge smile on my face and so do my plants. For the first time this month I have rolled the hose up and tucked it away for the time being.I’m also happy as on March 5th we are going away for a week to Maroochydore to celebrate our joint birthday. I can now happily leave the garden to its own devises for that time.

I’m also putting in a request for the rain to stop now, “enough is enough”….

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Su Leslie “Zimmerbitch” is hosting a monthly challenge to show the “changing seasons” in our lives each month. So here is what went on in my part of the universe in February 2018.