This has been quite a dry "wet season" compared to the previous one. There has been very little rain in January and for the last week or so plants and trees have begun to look stressed. Some, such as those on the swale area, are dying (jackfruit, pommelo, avocado). It is obvious that in this place in such dry years fruit trees cannot cope with natural rainfall, even with a swale. In fact, I had been giving them some supplemental water, but they just can't cope with these very dry, hot, and windy conditions. Days are constantly around 33, 34 degrees. At least the experiment has proven that fruit trees need to be in the "oasis zone" where they can receive lots of care and attention.
I've begun watering the veggie patch every second day, rather than every day. They aren't happy, and the amount and quality is decreasing. Generally, though, veggies have been quite successful, with heaps of okra and bitter melon. Eggplant also has produced well. Kang kong is amazing, and seems more drought tolerant than other veggies, which is a surprise. The fact that the leaves shade the soil may be part of the reason.
The tanks are running low. The shed tanks are just shy of empty, and the house tanks are at 20%. It will be touch and go whether we need to order in some water, which will be costly and poor quality chlorinated stuff. We are starting to ration the water - watering the garden less, trying to be more efficient with clothes washing etc.
The damn is looking very dry too, even though we have not taken any water from it.
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