What's going on in your garden (2018-2022)?

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SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
My Grannie used to grow these ever year without fail. I can distinctly remember them. We used to buy one for her to grow every Christmas from M&S in the days when it was St Michael. They would come as a kit with a matching china pot.


I gather from wiki that they are only distantly related to lilies. They are Amaryllis. I had no idea that they could grow straight in the ground here in Australia. I've not seen any leaves on them as to date ,which obviously they need. The bulbs are a mass on top of each other growing well above the soil (and hence moisture) level . Some are more than 15 or 20cm above the ground because of the old bulbs underneath. When winter comes, I'll replant all of them into soil and ensure they get some water! Next year I might just have a better display. I've got above 10 flower spikes at the moment from hundreds of bulbs .
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaryllis


Thank you.
They are and whilst pink is not my colour they are a great splash of colour when everything else had finished . The also remind me of my Grannie who would have been fascinated to see them growing in the ground here in Australia.
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Look like lilies, we have a new lily here as well. The wife planted last year and the flower was beautiful. Should get more this year?

Russ
 
rascal said:
Look like lilies, we have a new lily here as well. The wife planted last year and the flower was beautiful. Should get more this year?

Russ
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We are new to this house so we still have another season to run through before we'vebeen here a year. It's the normal totally neglected garden approach to rentals. That's great for us because it means we can do what we want with it like restoring the veg plot and borders and finding surprises like these Amaryllis. Plus there are some lovely orange lilies with darker leaves (tending to purple). I'm trying hard to get the fushia to live .the landlady gave it a severe pruning last year beyond what it should have had (the type of pruning that involved a chain saw at the base. Thankfully we arrived just in time to stop the last large trunk from being cut which has been the only thing that kept it alive . It's really old and all the other ones have been killed and in this drought only established plants are surviving without too much watering . Yes we're having to water established plants it's that bad. And this fushia is an important source of nectar at the end of the season for the honey eaters .something we saw last winter .
 
Our restrictions are what is in the water tank. And that's also the entire supply for the household for everything . When the tank is dry, you buy water in at over $200 for only 14,000L. And that price was our old place where we knew a water tanker would come to. Here we have no idea because there is no local firm supplying water so we'd have to get it in from the closest city which is an hours drive away and that will cost considerably more that the 15 min drive the guy from the last place charged for . And 14,000l is not a lot . It would need 3 tanker loads to fill our tank! It's a good thing that you only need 1mm of rain per square meter of roof to collect 1L of rain water! Our collection area is roughly 25m by 15m so 375m square. If I'm over generous ,let's call that 350square meters. A typical rainfall here is usually 2-3cm so 1cm is 3,500L and 2-3 cm of rain is 7-10,500L. It soon adds up. Now that 2 or 3 days in a row and the tank is full again! Thankfully condensation also dribbles into the tank and most mornings are meeting that criteria here, so there is a continual top up each day of only a few hundred litres but it all counts !

The average person uses 340L per day and 900L per household with another 150L used at work per person . I guess people like myself and my husband use much less because we are aware and used to living on private water supplies though this is our first experience of living somewhere dry . We've always had water from a local spring before and it only ever ran dry the once, for a couple of days. Work allowed us to fill containers (large ones ) up to take home and we were able to shower and wash our clothes at work (something not normally available to staff). We've only had to deal with a water leak on the main tank and one in the laundry room (which given the severity explained why there was no water !) at our last place plus the tank had to be left full when tenants left ,the previous tenants didn't do that at our last place so we paid for it to be filled and then billed the rental place hence knowing the cost of the water. We've never needed to get the tank filled and it is usually full. I know of people online who have received a water bill for the equivalent of 55 tanks full of water (water tanks are 22,000L unless they are the much newer design) for a family of 4. That is a full water tank every 6 days and that's a considerable amount of water!

How much water is used, on average, in general household activities?

Toilet flush (single flush cistern) 12 litres
Bath 100 litres
Shower (10 minutes) 200 litres
Dishwasher load 50 litres
Washing machine load 150 litres
Brushing teeth with tap running 5 litres
Drinking, cooking, cleaning per person per day 10 litres
Hand basin per use 5 litres
Garden sprinkler per hour 1000 litres
Garden dripper per hour 4 litres
Car Washing with hose 200 litres
Hosing driveway 100 litres
Total daily consumption per household 900 litres
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https://www.rwcc.nsw.gov.au/save-water/average-water-use
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Our restrictions are what is in the water tank. And that's also the entire supply for the household for everything . When the tank is dry, you buy water in at over $200 for only 14,000L. And that price was our old place where we knew a water tanker would come to. Here we have no idea because there is no local firm supplying water so we'd have to get it in from the closest city which is an hours drive away and that will cost considerably more that the 15 min drive the guy from the last place charged for . And 14,000l is not a lot . It would need 3 tanker loads to fill our tank! It's a good thing that you only need 1mm of rain per square meter of roof to collect 1L of rain water! Our collection area is roughly 25m by 15m so 375m square. If I'm over generous ,let's call that 350square meters. A typical rainfall here is usually 2-3cm so 1cm is 3,500L and 2-3 cm of rain is 7-10,500L. It soon adds up. Now that 2 or 3 days in a row and the tank is full again! Thankfully condensation also dribbles into the tank and most mornings are meeting that criteria here, so there is a continual top up each day of only a few hundred litres but it all counts !

The average person uses 340L per day and 900L per household with another 150L used at work per person . I guess people like myself and my husband use much less because we are aware and used to living on private water supplies though this is our first experience of living somewhere dry . We've always had water from a local spring before and it only ever ran dry the once, for a couple of days. Work allowed us to fill containers (large ones ) up to take home and we were able to shower and wash our clothes at work (something not normally available to staff). We've only had to deal with a water leak on the main tank and one in the laundry room (which given the severity explained why there was no water !) at our last place plus the tank had to be left full when tenants left ,the previous tenants didn't do that at our last place so we paid for it to be filled and then billed the rental place hence knowing the cost of the water. We've never needed to get the tank filled and it is usually full. I know of people online who have received a water bill for the equivalent of 55 tanks full of water (water tanks are 22,000L unless they are the much newer design) for a family of 4. That is a full water tank every 6 days and that's a considerable amount of water!


https://www.rwcc.nsw.gov.au/save-water/average-water-use
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I don't use much water in the shower, I'm like 3 mins in there and that includes a shave. We have a half flush on both toilets.

Russ
 
Talking of eggs, just made scrambled eggs n bacon. I was in a butchers last week and the smell of bacon in the shop was amazing, so I bought a packet. Nice crispy old fashioned bacon. I'll be going back.

Russ
 
Carnations are my fave flower, don't know why but they are, I grew ours from seed again and we are picking a few bunches to take to the cemeteries, my mum and the wife's parents. Also my grandparents. We will head away later.
My wife's mum was a top lady, we took her away on our hols with us. She didn't drive. So she loved coming away with us. I'll put a pic up later, the pink ones are so nice.

Russ
 
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epicuric said:
Me too. @SatNavSaysStraightOn these look like Asiatic lillies. I can't remember whether it's Asiatic or Oriental that give off the lovely scent. Are yours scented? The ones we get in the UK (no idea where they come from) are big and white, and fill the whole house with an amazing scent.
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We too have asiatic, nothing in flower ATM though for a pic. I love the smell. We normally have a bunch on the kitchen table.

Russ
 
epicuric said:
Me too. @SatNavSaysStraightOn these look like Asiatic lillies. I can't remember whether it's Asiatic or Oriental that give off the lovely scent. Are yours scented? The ones we get in the UK (no idea where they come from) are big and white, and fill the whole house with an amazing scent.
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they're not lilies but amaryllis and they are not scented to the best of my knowledge. I certainly didn't notice anything when they were in flower. They are dying back now so it is hard to tell. I should get leaves on the bulbs soon and then once they have died back I can replant the bulbs. they are all on top of each other at the moment and completely devoid of water and soil. I should get a much better show next year.
 
epicuric said:
Saturday saw the mower coming out of the shed for the first cut of grass this year. On the way to the lawn this little fella almost got squished. Something made me look round and spot him just in time.View attachment 23278
It really was his lucky day! He was promptly relocated to the woods before the dogs spotted him.
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Great photo! What is he? The furry ears are not typical of rats or house mice (or are they?)
 
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