It seems even that the backyard can be a site of anxiety these days.

I'm reading stories of the drought in the northern hemisphere and freaking out a little about my own garden in what will be, they say, a dry summer. It'd be fine if I was around to tend it but when we go away I have to accept it all might die.

I'm already thinking ahead though and considering putting in some drip irrigation for the beds and along the fence where the fruit trees are. I feel like Australian gardeners, or those who have been doing it for a while and have lived through various droughts, understand what do to a bit better. I've sorted through my sheets and shade clothes so they can be attached when the heat is the worst - we can get a few days of hot and dry wind here which can half kill the garden. In anticipation we throw sheets over the fruit trees and spray them with water a few times a day. If we go to water restrictions that would be a worry. We are a tourist town whose numbers swell from 3 K to 15 K in the summer so it peeves me that tourists will use the water without a thought whilst our gardens suffer.

The rest is all compost, layers of straw and seaweed and hope. Considering the garden was only put together last winter I'm sure I can just work on fixing it when I get back.

I've had lots of golden and red beetroot come out so I've been pickling. Plus using the leaves in dinner, including a yummy savoury rice loaf I make (a few eggs, cheese, a cup of brown rice, some leaves, onion etc all in a loaf tin) and winter soups, plus the chooks and compost are fed by them.

I've decided radish are a waste of time as we don't eat them much and even the pickled radish don't get eaten enough. That's the thing with gardening, you have to work out what works.

I'm planting some seeds under these triangle wire frames in the chook pen so they will forage as they grow. It's good for nutrition and social behaviour.

I've also planted some bee flower seeds under the stairs which get a surprising amount of sunlight in the north facing aspect. We also got an insect hotel for free. You gotta feed the insects and birds as well!

Speaking of birds, the avian flu is pushing through and our state has recommended locking up flocks of 50 or more. Some smaller chook owners are taking precautions as well. I can't lock up the girls - it seems cruel - so hope that they'll be okay. The birds can't get into the main coop as it's covered so fingers crossed. I do let them out in the garden for an hour whilst I work so long as they don't get into the beds and they love that.

This is a new 'weed' for me that's popped up here, and I realise it's a kind of cress, which you can eat in salads

The parrots are as curious as ever - they are so sweet. I thought there were coming down for treats because it used to be an air bnb but I think they're naturally curious birds.

I've planted some more brassica, bean and pea seeds in hope of a last crop before summer. Been pulling lots of fennel. Alliums doing well. New leaves on the citrus that weren't doing well. Fingers crossed.

Still dedicated to making lots of compost. I cycle down twice a week to see if there's any coffee grounds at a local coffee shop - the bag sits on a basket on the back of my bike. I need to collect more seaweed soon too. Feeding the soil is everything. Everything.

I need to just do what I know to do to keep my garden happy and healthy and stop reading the news. There's not much more you can do than that.

With Love,