Thursday, December 9, 2010

Frantic preparations, lucky escape.

A couple of days ago I started making preparations for the 100mm of rain and and wild weather that was predicted to pass through South Western NSW by BOM. Last night the worst of that event passed us by with only a couple of millimeters of rain falling on us. I had spent time clearing  and strengthening my guttering to cope with all the rain expected, redirecting storm-water systems and arranging a syphon set-up to drain the swales if required. Luckily for us none of this was needed this time but I will for future such events be making these improvements permanent.


Last week I was given a good example of what to expect from a heavy rainfall event with my drive being turned into a mud hole when we received about 27mm in a couple of hours.


Over the last couple of weeks with the completion of the shed I have been working on realigning and weather proofing my drive. This involved grading down about 75mm for road base and building guttering to deal with the run-off. This year was probably not the best time to pick for such a project being one of the wettest years for a long, long time. Still when done the new drive will be a great improvement. No more mud tracked onto the deck or into the the shed or carport, my fearless leader will be pleased with that.


On the bright side the garden is looking great, the best production we have had in years. Spuds, corn, beans and tomato are heading for a bumper crop. 

Garlic has been harvested and stored, along with the first crop of beetroot. The grape vines are looking like they will give us a good crop this year and I may even have enough for a couple of bottles of wine.




4 comments:

nevyn December 9, 2010 at 10:34 AM  

The weather has been weird this year. I never thought I'd be getting to the point where I'd be complaining about too many overcast days and too much rain. But I'm getting there.

I'm glad all of you preparations weren't necessary. Fingers crossed you'll be spared any massive downpours until your drive is ready

jonesy December 10, 2010 at 6:30 AM  

Hi Nevyn, I'm glad they weren't necessary to, we were lucky, but lot's of places in the path of the storms weren't so.
I see you had your own bit of excitement with an overdose of rain. It's certainly been a major turnaround from the last few years. We have a few days of fine in store so I should get most of thee drive done before we get hit again.

The Duck Herder December 10, 2010 at 12:07 PM  

wow. Those tomatoes look amazing! have you had your first marty yet Jonesy? I am loving all this rain and moisture. It is such a novelty. We spend all this time and effort trying to stop water running off and away.......and then........oops.

jonesy December 11, 2010 at 7:32 AM  

None off those bushes yet Duckie but they are not far off. We have had a few from some plants that I carried through the winter but they are finished now so we are waiting for the new crop which is only about a week away. The growth we are getting from everything in the garden this year is spectacular, you can almost see it heading for the sky. The corn is about 2 meters high and I have had to prune the beans twice after they outgrew the support frame.

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