Breathing easy..

Obviously somewhere time zones have changed. A few months ago, Australia finished with summer daylight saving and I had to remember to publish my post an hour earlier (when I was not at my other job). Now I find that my post, from yesterday (Thursday here) actually got published officially on Wednesday. I am sure I did not hit that publish button too early. Maybe I did? I was very tired yesterday. I think I am fighting something. But that is not what I wanted to post about today....

Today is the 7th of June (here). It is finally winter! I have suffered through our summer and managed successfully not to melt too much. I struggled through breathing, with the low (almost non-existent) humidity and frequent dust storms (which I am allergic to)... eeek dust! I absolutely adored autumn which is possibly my favourite time of year. Here now is the winter of my content! (oh that was bad, I know.) 

I have already mentioned the glorious rain! We are lucky to remember what rain is, over the summer here. It reminded us last week. (I should point out I am an ex-Queenslander and lived through the 1974 floods, 2 cyclones etc... so it was only a little bit of rain as far as I am concerned) Our water tank overflowed, the ground got a good soaking and the pots got a good wash out to remove the salts they accumulate from tap water. Everything, in the garden, is crisp, clean and deciding to shoot up like mad. The garlic has decided it wants to be out in the fun too! The broccoli, in the front yard, is also loving this weather.

A lot of the dust outside has been washed away. It is a pity that it could not be removed so easily from inside the house. My poor husband has to put up with me opening the front and back doors, even on a 13 deg (C) day, to let the cross breeze through. This will help reduce the dust settling and provide fresh air. I am not a big fan of air conditioning and closed up rooms. In summer there is little choice. Now I get one! He is now used to me telling him to put another jumper on.

Winter is also a great time to do major garden work or landscaping. It is just way too hot to attempt it in summer, here.  I have about five self-seeded french lavenders that have been growing for a few months now. They are earmarked for plugging up holes in my lavender hedge that marks our front land boundry. This hedge has been there for almost 20 years and has had one part replanted two years ago. 

I am hoping to put these smaller plants in now, as the older ones did not cope well in summer and are going spindly. The plan is that they will have a few years to grow before the older lavenders definately have to be removed. I am hoping that the ground will be dry enough to dig their holes adding manure and compos, so the plants can be added in the next few days.