Limits

Now that we have been living here for getting on to our seventh year (well in September), I thought I'd reflect on the kinds of ecological limits that influence the growth of the plants here at Larnook.  One of the most critical is the frost that we experience during June and July. Last year's frost was the harshest we've experienced here, although still not as bad as the 'black frost' that hit the area in 2007, the year before we moved up here, which bit so savagely even into the well established mango trees which sit on the highest part of the property.  But they were still pretty harsh, though, remarkably, we didn't actually lose many plants, but many suffered from burn. I really hadn't expected that we would experience frost living in the sub-tropics, but of course, we do get cold temperatures for a couple of months just before dawn, due to our position 50 or 60 kms from the coast. (Note to self: work out exactly the straight line distance from our place to the coast).
The second limit is rainfall, believe it or not. Once again, a bit of a surprise, but we seem to have quite dry winters and springs.  The period between June and October can be very dry, and if we don't keep the water up to many of the shrubs and fruit trees we have planted, they become very stressed. Indeed, as Liam would not-so-happily confirm, most of our fruit trees are doing below-par because we really don't water them anywhere near as often as they need to be. So, as I see things, frost and rainfall deficits leading to very dry soils, are the two most important environmental factors limiting what we plant and what thrives here at Larnook.