Just Joined from North Queensland, Australia

Hello everyone. I'm Bernie from north-east Australia. I live in a dry tropics area of northern tropical Australia and that means we really only have two seasons here.

We have a very short, sometimes very intense 'wet' season that may last for around two months during our Summer and early Autumn. That's the time when we receive almost all our year's rainfall. We can get torrential monsoonal rain for weeks and weeks. We may even experience cyclones ... usually more than one ... and thunderstorms.

Then we have a 'dry' season which can last for around nine months of the year. We receive very little rainfall during that time. It's the time when we have mostly continuous clear blue skies and loads of sunshine.

Gardening here is quite challenging, not just because of the climate and weather conditions, but also because of the poor quality of the soil.

 

Thanks Eileen

Thanks very much for your welcome Eileen. Yes, the Shadehouse Garden tends to get out of control after a 'wet' season and we had a particularly bad wet season earlier this year. It was high time to get stuck into the clean-up out there. I'm so pleased I can now walk around in there and not feel like I'm struggling through jungle undergrowth.

It's a pleasure to be here and I'm looking forward to visiting many gardens from all different spots around the world. I'll be dropping by to visit your West Lothinn garden soon. I hope your summer has been kind to you.

 

Welcome to the forum! Our climate here in central Texas sounds a lot like yours--periods when we get rain, and then lo-o-o-o-o-ng periods when we don't.
Makes gardening fun, if challenging. We love our rainwater collectors!

 

Welcome. Sounds like a tough place for a gardener! although I've always wanted to visit! Hope you enjoy the site, there's a bunch of good people here

 

Welcome to GardenStew Bernie, from Chelmsford MA, USA. As a worldwide community of friendly gardeners the 'stew' is a fun place to enjoy members gardens, blogs and its interesting forums. Welcome aboard.

Jerry

 

Thanks Marlingardener and ChubbyPopTart

Thanks to both of you for your welcome.

Marlingardener, yes I think we live in similar zones. We learn to be very waterwise and plant drought tolerant plants.

Chubbypoptart (love the name!) Australia is such a vast place and is a land of great contrasts and beauty. I know you would enjoy your time here if you ever made it over the water!

 

Thanks, Jerry. I only joined this afternoon and I've already spent way too much time here! It's already been a lot of fun popping in to visit the various forums and viewing the photos.

 

Bernieh: Glad you found GS and welcome from Wisconsin. It is a great site and so fun to see gardens and share with other from around the world. My Hubby taught school in Australia way back in the 1970's. I believe it was either in South Australia or New South Wales area. He was only there about a year and a half but loved it. He also traveled to Tasmania and worked on an apple farm there. He has always wanted to come back there with me and show me all the beautiful places he had seen. Looking forward to seeing your garden. :-D

 

Thanks Tooty2shoes ... another great name! I have seen a little bit of South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania but I've spent most of my life here in Queensland. There's huge differences in climate and conditions in these spots at this time of the year. It's a lot colder in those other states right now.

 

Hi Bernie and welcome from SE Texas. I remember when I first joined up here. I started looking around and before I knew it, a couple of hours had passed. Not really a big deal... but I was at work! :-D
Looking forward seeing your gardening. Think I'll go check out your blog now.

 

Your welcomes are very much appreciated Cherylad and Frank. Cheryl, luckily it's Friday night over here because I've now been here for quite some time. There's a lot to see.

Frank, I think there's challenges no matter where you are in the world. Any gardener will have things to deal with, but it's so worth it in the end.

 

Hi Bernie, welcome from Wyoming, USA. Sounds like a great challenge for gardening where you're at. We have our challenges here, as well. It all makes life interesting. We have brutally cold winters with wind and snow and then hot dry summers that suck moisture out of everything. Of course as soon as I say that I have to add an *asterisk* to my statement. This year's "hot dry summer" has been punctuated by 8 straight days of monsoonal moisture that's made its way all the up from Mexico.

What can you do but smile at the challenge and encourage your flowers and veggies along the best you can? :-D

Glad to have you here. You'll love this website.

 

Bernie,
I forgot to mention that we keep hens--black Australorps. Great little layers, beautiful and docile. They are a cross between Orpingtons and an Australian chicken. Maybe that's why they're so friendly!