Saving the garden

We live on an acre of land on the outskirts of a regional city, on the Western side of town. Rain clouds don't like it here. They visit, check us out, and move on. The Eastern side of town can sometimes get up to 10 mm of rain and we get but a sprinkle. We had a little rain a couple of weeks ago, but not enough to fully resuscitate our rather extensive garden. We are not mad gardeners, but the previous owners (an elderly English couple) were rabid gardeners. What were they thinking? How did they think they could possibly replicate an English cottage garden on an acre of black, clay soil in a drought-stricken area where rain is very, very occasional? When we first moved in, we got rid of a lot of the ornamental plants which inevitably require pruning, and are water guzzlers, but there is still a lot left, including many roses which also need a fair bit of attention. We prefer native trees and plants and have planted some, but as we slowly get rid of the ornamentals, we will plant more and more natives. They attract the native birds, and of course, are more drought tolerant.





The good news is, that my clever hubby has installed a pump now on the tank down the back. (He is an electrician). The tank has a very meagre amount of water in it from one storm we had about a week ago. Yesterday he christened the "flowing of the water" with a stubby of beer (or two). How good it was to see that H2O flowing out of a hose! We quickly watered our poor drooping tomato plants and a few flowering plants around the house. Eureka!!!!!!!!!!