hot summers
16 NOVEMBER, 2012
Over the past year, it has become increasingly clear that our garden needs constant attention to cope with the searing hot summers. This coupled with the poor soil quality has meant that to create a garden like Alys Fowler's requires some modification due to the climatic differences between the two environment - the UK vs Australia.I installed drip irrigation throughout the garden to help it through the summer but dug through it by mistake, deeming it useless.
It also didn't seem to be helping to conserve that much more water, and so I began thinking more deeply about how to incorporate permaculture principles to create a more sustainable garden. I continued to mulch and sow seedlings and the structure of the garden continued to morph according to what was growing. The garden contains a mix of perennials and annuals, but at times I think I should aim for higher numbers of perennials, due to the size of the space and the area that needs to be covered. The summer took a lot of life out of the garden and the soil now looks dry and sandy again.
Before the summer hit we planted out the hedge with a native Lilly Pilly called Acmena. We also planted out the verge with two olive trees and two Grevillea's that flower with pink and white flowers to attract native birds. The bamboo that I had growing in pots could finally go into the ground near the front steps to create a privacy screen. And a few plants surprise me when they spring up and seem to thrive in the poor soil, like iron rich nettles.All my efforts need to go into enriching the soil now. Living so close to the ocean comes with a price - super sandy soil. The plus side of that is that it drains well, but nutrients in the soil seem to wash away easily, or get blown away by the wind. I was once told that bare soil without a layer of mulch on it or a plant to shade it and create a humus underneath it was like leaving our skin out in the sun without sunscreen or any type of protection. I like this metaphor and every time I see bare dirt I am reminded of the need to either plant something in the space or mulch it. It's easy to see here what an Aussie summer does to a garden that hasn't been adequately protected.
