At home

We got up early one morning recently (5:30am!) and straight out to the garden (after a drink) to get a head start before the heat came. We stopped for breakfast around 7am, and then went back out until it was all finished around 10:30am. It's been pretty warm lately, so we either have to get up early to garden when we have more energy or get out at the end of the day when we are all pretty zapped. The girls love gardening (especially Ella) so I'm really lucky.

 

We put our first lot of home-made compost on the rose garden. It was just enough. We really need another composter to have a continuous supply making/ready all the time.

We added a misting system to the back patio, it's not quite finished yet, but Phil ran out of time before he had to go away again, so it will have to wait another week. It makes such a difference out there now.

 

 

I also got a new temperature/rain gauge for the garden. The girls have excitedly been checking the temperature at intervals, and hopefully we will get that rain we've been promised soon. The garden could do with some extra.

The middle-of-summer garden is still looking okay. If only we got some rain. The kids have been in the blow-up pool a bit, so the water when finished with gets bucketed on the garden. It takes awhile though.

 

Our lemon tree that we almost lost is still s-l-o-w-l-y recovering. It's getting stronger all the time, so glad I stuck with it.

 

Finally we woke to a massive storm today. Gosh I love a good storm during the day, not so fussed at night when the power goes out.

It was a great day to head to the library. I didn't get a photo of what the kids are reading as they were in the middle of looking at their books and had then spread out everywhere.

The rain didn't last long but it was good while it did last. The sun came out after lunch and it went from 23 deg to 36 deg in about four hours. We measured the rain in the new gauge and it measured 20mm! Yay!

 

I'm looking forward to the autumn when it gets a bit cooler and I can get outside a bit more. I love being out there, but my skin does not, neither does my head (the heat gives me headaches) We still have the hottest month to come yet, so will just have to pace myself through to the end.