The palm "terrace" takes shape

The new fern has prompted me to remove the remaining bamboo (a hard task by the way) and start the basis for the palms end of my cretaceous garden. I know "Palm Terrace" is a lofty title but it is a fraction elavated. I plan to leave the center hollow so I can rotate potted palms from indoors. The soil is hopeless clay but in the process of digging out the babmoob runns it has had a good digging over. I plan just to add about 30cm of leaf litter rather than a top soil to gove it a rainforest floor feel. The fern looks quiet happy after its transplant, despite the continued warm (and dry weather)

something new

This is the first time I have noticed a spiders web in my cretaceous garden. It might indicate that the garden is drying out, normally I associate spider webs with dry, very low humidity, places. Whilst i have seen plenty of spiders around, red backs, white tails, and huntsman, but i suspect this is an orb spider web (the nicely circular section on the center is very characteristic). You never know it may well be a close relative of the spiders in space that perished when the columbia came apart on renetry. Those golden orb spider came from around this way.

Looking around the web, internet that is, I still can't find any evidence to support my suspicion that spiders webs mean the garden is drying out, but here is great page a spider myths

saving a tree fern

The tree ferns of melbourne are having a hard time, even my own ones. They seem to have been dropping their outer fronds, dry and brown at a great rate. I suspect it is just a sign of drought stress, a lot consider that they are dying. Anyway to cut a long story short I have me offered a couple if i think I can save them.


Well I may as well have a go, my first patient is a very thin fern and I can not figure out exactly which species it is, my best guess is Dicksonia fibrosa. So rather that just do the old saw it off and stick it back in the ground, whichwork well enough for Dicksonia antarctica, I decided to get a significant part of the root mat, which were only growing across the surface.

I also trimmed off all the fronds other that the new sprouts. With a little close supervision to make sure the roots don't dry out I expect it will thrive in my little bit of gwondanaland.

The final problem remains where to plant it?

Something for April Fool's Day

Its official Melbourne's water storages are currently 32.1% full (as at 1/4/2007). Despite the rain the overall storage is still falling. Some dams are rising by other failing a lot. Should this be a problem? The common explanation seems to be that the soil is taking up all the moisture and keeping run-off into the dams minimum. Another explaination is water may to be being shunted around.

The aprils fool day message bit is that this should have triggered level4 restrictions. However the Victorian government, or more specifically those politicians based in Melbourne,has gone a bot weak at the knees and changed the rules. So now we are have a claytons change to the rules when a real change to the rules could have had a bit of a voter backlash. So now we have water restriction level 3a.