2011 and summer's finally here.

With Christmas and New Year's Day behind us and another week on leave it's time to get serious about the garden. The rain has stopped and the heat arrived in time to see in the New Year in Victoria as Queensland deals with one of the worst floods that state has ever seen. Australia really does swing between the extremes of drought and flooding rains as in the Dorothea Mackellar poem 'My Country'.

Getting out of town for a couple of days over Christmas took me to the north country town of Benalla for a raucous family get together that saw your's truly stripping down to his jocks for a midnight splash in the pool. Then it was off to visit the parents at Lake Tyers Beach in the far east of Victoria. And what a drive it was taking the Great Alpine Road through the old tobacco growing district of Myrtleford, then on to the picturesque towns of Bright and Harrietville and up into the high country over Mt Hotham, Dinner Plain, down to Omeo and along the Tambo River to Lakes Entrance and Lake Tyers Beach.

Some magnificent views from Mt Hotham. A bit chilly up there though!

My father took me and the wife to visit a community garden near by at Lake Tyers Beach on the 12 acre property 'Oneonta' (75 Bream Road, Lake Tyers Beach, Victoria) bequeathed to the local shire council as a public reserve. Along with his home garden, Dad tends to a 4 by 1.5 metre plot at Oneonta planted with capsicum and 'Truss' tomatoes, a variety that will climb more than 3 metres up a stake and produce a hefty load of fruit. It was good to see what other people were growing with all kinds of summer veggies. The garden also has communal crops such as raspberries and black currants, to which my wife happily helped herself to.

                                                             Oneonta Place of Peace.

Oneonta community garden.

  Tall stakes in Dad's garden plot in readiness for the 'Truss' tomatoes.

Here at home in the veggie patch it's been a little weeding, tying up the tomatoes and adding organic fertiliser. Everything's growing nicely and has allowed me to get stuck into my other great backyard landscaping project which you'll get a glimpse of in the long promised photos of the veggie patch below.

 Can U Dig It? veggie patch (part thereof).

                            

  Alternate view (tomatoes at top right).

Summer is a great time to be in the garden, watching things grow and then there's the anticipation of tasting the fruits of one's labour.

Cheers.