It’s that time of year when we contemplate what sort of spring we are expecting.
While the weather is cool we don’t have to worry too much about the dry conditions but once it heats up the young plants can get stressed without water.
Last year the BOM was anticipating a dry summer and so we cut back on the number of plants we put in the ground following our bumper 1000 plants in 2022.
As it turned out it was dry until November and we were having to water regularly. Dry springs are tiring.
We purchased a cheap portable pump that we could put into a creek or, more often, in the water cubes that the Council helped keep full for us.
Last year our volunteers had a network of hoses, being fed by our pump, to do the watering.
This came to an end in November when the rain started and we were right for the rest of summer and autumn with regular rainfall.
Once the weather cools down again our need for water reduces dramatically.
This year the BOM is predicting neutral conditions.
Rainfall in August has been much higher than average which gives us confidence that the ground will be moist enough to accommodate our plants.
In the next month or so we will start planting this season’s seedlings.
Nature is fickle and we can never know for sure what will happen but for the time being spring is looking pretty good for planting.
