Gardening in Australia can be a daunting project, depending on where you live and what kind of soil conditions you have in your location. While in the eastern state's the soil tends to be a clay based loam, in Western Australia on the coastal plain we are stuck with a sandy type soil which does not hold water readily. We have lived at this location now for 30 years and it has taken up until now to build up the soil with compost, green waste, food scraps, manures etc, to a level which is suitable for most needs. In a place like WA where the annual rainfall is very low, daily watering by reticulation systems is necessary, usually we get little or no rain from October through to April/May which is our spring/summer seasons. Regular additions of compost and fertilizers must be administered to replace the nutrients that are leached away. The main benefit of having a sandy type soil is the ease at which it can be worked. Below is a picture of the front garden of our home....

As can be seen, the tree's and flower garden are vigorous and thriving well. This is my wife's domain and she is to be congratulated for her efforts to keep it looking good all year around. My main area is the vegie patch at the rear and generally keeping the reticulation up to scratch and servicing the main area of 1/4 of an acre. The garden is watered via an underground bore with an 1.5hp electric pump with which we can water the whole area. The pump controller can select and time individual areas of the garden. Seen here growing quite well, are broccoli, cos and normal type lettuce, silverbeet, onions, potato's, also grown in the summer are climbing beans, cucumber, spring onions, radishes and tomato's. We also keep a few strawberry plants and rhubarb. In addition to this we have a few fruit trees such as a lemon tree, a mango, a paw- paw, a fig, a mandarin and Brazilian cherry tree.

My wife Vera enjoys growing orchids in her shade-house and has flowers that open around June each year and last through until November. There are many different kinds of orchids but she prefers the type pictured right and below.

These are Zymbidium Orchids, this plant has 10 flower spikes with almost too many flowers to count. These plants come in a range of colours and with varying flower sizes, the colours range from yellow and lime green through to dark brown. The plants can be split up into several plants when the plant outgrows its original pot. They grow in woodchips and bark, not sand or soil.

A smaller orange variety.

What a brilliant display of colour, it gives great satisfaction to us all.