Adelaide's smoking!

The weather in Adelaide is just superb at the moment so we are making the most of it. March is a busy month with festivals, music events, the Clipsal 500. There is plenty for people to enjoy. We weren't planning on the second hand blanket of smoke from the Victorian burn off yesterday, though. I could see it all over the hills and my friend who visited from Clarendon said it was creating low visibility on the road. They could have told us! I was on the net early and there was no sign of us being the recipients of the Victorian back burning. No warning at all. Just wheezing and breathing difficulties, sore eyes and then the constant smell of smoke. We doubted it was us because, as you can see, Adelaide is very green and lush for this time of year. Doesn't mean we can't have bush fires, though. So we were wondering. I think we just thought someone might have let us know in advance. We worked it out for ourselves and carried on regardless. My street has been very relaxed this long weekend. Some have taken the opportunity to have a garage sale, some have fixed fences or gardened, some have been off playing water sports and the feel of my street has been very neighbourly and friendly. The warm weather has got us out into our gardens and it has made for a nice, safe atmosphere.People make a difference. I , too , have used the time to clear clutter and liven my home and garden up a bit. It's amazing what some pleasant weather does to lift the spirits - Victorian smoke or not.

AdelaideNow... Forget flowers

"Geoff Prettejohn, of Living Colour Nurseries, said the business used to once "sell 70 to 80 per cent flowers. Now we'd be moving around 70 per cent vegies and herbs"."

I noticed in Adelaide last week that a lot of the front gardens did have vegetables and not the usual cottage flowers. I mean in the city in the older houses. Balconies still had the usual pot plants. The suburbs are a different story though and I think people are growing vegies in pots because the water situation is so depressing. Shop vegies have been of concern because we are not always sure where they are coming from and what they are covered with. They are not quality. So growing our own has been good and you just cannot beat the taste of fresh herbs, so even a modest outlay will get fresh tastes into your meals.

AdelaideNow... Forget flowers, say I love you with vegetables

Water Worries

Well, we are depressed. This weekend is is beautiful and we should be out in our gardens like we normally are. No. We are not. The last two weekends were hot and dry and we have had no rain. So we are fed up already. We spent months watching our gardens go dry last summer. We watched trees die and animals suffer. We breathed in lungs full of dust which made us so sick this winter. Then we spent all of autumn repairing the damage and were overjoyed to see our gardens come back to life and look so good. So we organised all the drought proofing and in two weekdns it is shot to pieces and the land is dry and things have browned off. We have restrictions and we have rain water tanks but Adelaide is despondant. We don't care. Our gardens are full of weeds and grass gone to see and we are not getting outour lawnmowers, we are not breaking our backs weeding and so Adelaide, which is normally a very pretty , tidy, well kept place is going to look like no one cares. We don't. We want water. We are not water wasters. We wnat enough water to make it worthwhle to garden and make things pretty. We can't keep carting buckets around when it  is hot and we are working. It is a 19th century approach and we live in 2008. We want to be able to have enough water so we can continue to work. The dry grass will be a fire hazard as will be the unraked leaves . When Adelaide gets like this there is no knowing which way we shall turn...but the worm will turn.