D IS FOR DROUGHT - PROOFING

We live in a land of extremes. Dorothea Mackellar got it right. Droughts that last for years and years, followed by floods, fires and plagues of insects. Despite these really devastating deterrents we persist in gardening with plants that are not inclined to grow in adverse conditions – eg: vegetables.

With the recent drought in mind, we set about drought proofing our veggie patch and the citrus grove.

First and foremost was a water tank, we have a huge roof and watching the water rush out of the downpipes and into the storm water out on the street is heartbreaking and wasteful. We obtained 5 x 1000 litre olive barrels from an importer who sells off old barrels cheaply and joined them together with plumbing pipe, then hooked them up to the guttering of the garden shed, put in a tap and hooked up the irrigation system. We had a heavy shower of rain 2 days later and all our tanks filled within an hour. Amazing!!

3 months later and it hasn't stopped raining. The water in the tanks is the original water from that first shower and we haven't had to water anything since. The back yard and veggie patch are so waterlogged that we cannot go out without standing ankle deep in mud & all the worms are leaving for higher ground. I'm seriously considering building a small dam, I wonder if I need council approval for that?