This is going to become a familiar sight over the next couple of months as summer takes hold and we experience more weeks like the past one. It gives a new meaning to fried greens and kale chips!
The January Notes are now posted, mostly conventional, but with some ideas for managing the month ahead (including hibernation).
We have temporary shade and more permanent shade plantings on the way – and planned – but probably not soon enough. Thanks to the red gums and pepper trees, all parts of the garden get at least some shade over the course of the day, but the morning and late afternoon sun is still a challenge for the garden, and gardeners. Developing more summer-specific microclimates, improving the moisture holding and insulating properties of the soil, plus growing hardier and locally adapted plants can also help and will be less expensive (and perhaps more aesthetic) than erecting permanent infrastructure. But we may need that too, in a way that won’t hinder pollination nor plant growth.
January is perhaps a good opportunity to take time out from working in the garden and some work on it: to reflect and plan for next summer and the one after that ….
Hope you and your garden survive the heat ahead, enjoy the ending of this year and the beginning of the next. Happy New Year.
in the garden 
Clodagh got in touch to remind me that where you have resident or potential snakes, beware when netting your fruit trees as snakes can get fatally caught up in the netting. Best way is to tie the net around the trunk, leaving a good distance between the bottom of the net and the ground. Or use an alternative bird/possum dissuader. Thanks Clodagh!