I turn my back for five minutes...

I focus about as well as Imogen's cardboard tube that she uses as a telescope. With final exams over the last couple of weeks, plus an assignment due I had to really push myself to concentrate on study. Now it's all over bar the shouting and in a few weeks I should have my results.

When Imogen was born, an income took on a whole new meaning. Manufacturing was rapidly dwindling in Australia as imports from Asia were just too cheap to compete with and with another mouth to feed I decided to expand my horizons and spent the next three and a half years finishing work in the afternoon and heading off to class, finishing between 9 and 9.30 before heading home.

It has been really hard, but ultimately really worth the effort. And now, with the longer summer nights upon us I get to come home and see my family and potter in my garden once again.

And boy does it need it. It's been longer than five minutes, but still the degradation is amazing. These are but a few examples.

 

 Half the veggie bed has succumbed to the heat.

And the rest has gone to seed.

 But then an amazing thing happened. Super-girl arrived to help save the day.

 We used her gardening muscle and soon had things in order.

Super-girl and I removed some failures and some onion weed and planted some Escallonia Iveyi, ( the one with the white flowers), and some Berberis, (the red foliage). When it grows it should fill the area and prop up the purple fountain grass. I also put in a Japanese maple. Never had one before, so I hope I've done it right.

I put the "door" on the veggie patch to stop the long hot afternoon sun from doing damage, and tidied it up, keeping what could be kept and planting new where the old had been removed. It's not generally planing season, but the weird weather has made it far more amenable to plant new plants that should be able to take root well in all the rain.

My buxus japonica, now around 10 months old, has reached a stage where I can begin to shape it. I think it will be next season before it is a proper hedge though.

 And finally, the lawn which was a barren desert when we moved in has started to look better.I keep lawn to a minimum, but what I have I like to look good.