the heat goes on...

It continues to be very hot and very dry here at the creek... we haven't had another day of 42C... but the late 30's have made an appearance everyday for a week now... the garden and all creatures are suffering... and there appears no let up in sight.

look at poor Benny, Cinta and Maddy




they are hot little chooks!

I move them constantly over the course of the day – to ensure that they are under shade at all times.. and I need to fill up their water dish more than 4 times a day (poor little dears). I've been searching everywhere for an automatic water dispenser (they know how to use one... or at least they did...) but there are none around.



I planted out a row of celery last week – only to return the next day to a dust bowl... not a trace remained of the seedlings – they had been baked to a crisp. So I decided to take a proactive approach


This morning we created a shade tunnel.




Its a very quick and simple construction – using 5metres of 3m wide 50% shade cloth, 4 star pickets, 2 lengths of 2 inch poly pipe and a couple of long boards to secure the sides.

After banging in the star pickets, the poly pipe is thread over the posts to create an arch (it's important not to get overly ambitious as to the width of the arch... if you don't exceed around 2m you will create a strong beautiful arch – the tunnel can be any length however)

we simply threw the shade cloth over our 2 arches and secured the long sides with a long heavy slab of timber....



and there you have it – a simple (portable) shade structure!



This evening I'll transplant all the little seedlings that are groaning in their tiny seedtrays and hopefully the shade cloth will give them some protection from the unrelenting sun....