Some places received over 80 mm of rain during three days and the plants in our gardens were very happy.
Some people who do not know our weather thought this rain was the start of the rainy season and started digging holes and putting in new plants. After three days of rain we were soon back to our normal weather of hot, cloudless skies from dawn to dusk and any new planting then had to be looked after and watered regularly to survive.  Wise gardeners know that the first three months of the year is the time for maintaining the garden, doing work on structures and paths, watering well if necessary, and maybe once a week a heavy mulching everywhere to conserve moisture.
The time for new planting, or new borders, or new lawns comes when the rains have started, which can be any time from 15th March to early in April. If we are lucky, once the rains have set in we should have two months of wet weather until early June in which to enjoy fresh growth in all our gardens. Apart from the new plantings, this is the time to keep the weeds at bay as they also grow like mad!
June, July and August are the cold months and another period for garden maintenance and re-building those depleted compost heaps. September sees the return of warm weather and is the nearest that we get to having “spring” on the equator, particularly for those of us with gardens at the higher altitudes. October can be another hot and dry month before the build up to the less reliable “short rains” that can start towards the end of the month and run through November and the first half of December. Usually sometime during December the hot dry months start setting in and then we are back to where we started this article!
With the rains now not too far away, why not drop by the garden centre to look at our selection of plants that will give you new ideas with which you can embellish your garden.