We are incredulous that we still have tomatoes being produced. All of our tomato plants grew from the compost (emerging about April last year in a patch where we had been hoping to grow some flowers), fruiting for the first time at the start of October. Some plants are still going, though the season is drawing to a close (it's mid April - so these plants have been going for about 12 months!!!). We'll miss the steady stream of tomatoes so exploring options for winter tomato plants.

Rosella bird

What a delight it has been to be privvy to the raising of the baby rosella which we have named 'Charlie' (it's a boy - males have the colourful markings, females are green). The young bird doesn't have developed tail feathers, and Charlie must first master scrambling up and down the tree. The mother comes to feed Charlie and he has to reach the mother, and then the mother moves so Charlie needs to scramble once again to find its way to his mother. Every so often Charlie flutters down to the ground and finds another tree to climb. We 'chat' to Charlie when we're out in the garden. He spends most of the day in the tree by himself. Do birds get lonely....?

curry leaf tree

The curry leaf tree has colourful berries on the canopy. I'm potting some of the seeds - apparently they tree is easy to grow from seed, though the seed has to be fresh. The curry leaf tree is grown for foliage, particularly for Indian cooking. I used to use dried curry leaves from the shop, but having them fresh makes a huge difference.

We put in three large water tanks (4,500 L each) in the front yard and put a trellis in front as a screen. We grew butternut pumpkins up in summer - planted two, but others grew (from the compost) including jap pumpkin. We also grew four bush pumpkins. All up, we harvested about 20 butternut pumpkins (the vines are still going strong and it's April !), about 30 bush pumpkins and several jap pumpkins. Enough to last through winter. We also had tomatoes, basil, parsley, spinach, rockmelon (wild), dwarf snow peas, sweet potatoes and potatoes in the front yard. A constant source of interest for neighbours!!!! We're in the process of re-doing the pathway, creating a new planting area. Photos soon when the paving and planting is done.

Adelaide had a heatwave in summer with temperature in the mid 40's. Many gardens got frizzled. We used the central structure to attach calico sheets we prepared, and tarps, to cover most of the garden plants. Everything survived the heat. From this view you can see the planter box Geoff made with the dwarf citrus trees, and the twin trellis' (and herb boxes) which provide an 'entrance' into the central garden area - the left one with tomatoes, and the right one with rockmelon and lebanese cucumbers.

Our fish pond suddenly got some interesting additions on the side. Turns out it's the water snails creating safe 'hatching' places for baby snails above the water line (and so they don't get eaten by the goldfish). The water snails keep a low profile most of the time, but occasionally you can see them doing their business above the water line.

Lina and Lena








Lina and Lena, couchsurfing visitors from Germany, in our back garden. They enjoyed the fresh veggies - welcome change from the usual backpackers fare.

In amongst the Basil Thai we found a moth with a cluster of eggs. Obviously has exotic taste! We're working on the basis that as long as there's enough for us, and there's plenty to share, then 'live and let live'.

We planted a eucaplypt tree, 'Summer Red', with glorious flowers to attract the birds. It will grow about 5m and will make a great display. It's at the back of the garden and will merge beautifully with the line of trees in the park over the fence. We have been really enjoying the bird life in our area and want to encourage more native birds to our yard. The pigeons, magpies and sparrows already make themselves at home!

Ladybird and Aphids

April 09: The aphids are having a glorious time on the rockmelon leaves. It's great to see ladybirds around munching on the aphids to keep the aphid population under control.

The rockmelons are persevering on with late season fruit despite the aphids!

Belenois java teutonia (Fabricius) (Caper White)

This morning we spotted a 'caper white' butterfly in our garden hovering around our citrus trees, no doubt leaving behind eggs. No doubt we'll have to keep an eye on a deluge of caterpillars gnawing our plants.

The caper white butterfly is migratory, flying south in late spring from their breeding grounds in the northern Flinders Ranges and other inland areas. They get their name from their food preference of the caper plant, even though there's no caper plants in our back yard!

The photo isn't brilliant - it was a bit 'flighty' and wouldn't rest long enough for a decent photo (you can google for a better photo!)

lotus flowers

We have a fish bowl in the central part of the garden and we have been delighted to have regular flowering of the lotus plants in the last couple of months. A yellow delight suddenly appears, but only for a day or so. We have ordered pink and white lotus seeds so that will be the next challenge - growing lotus from seed.

Wanderer butterfly finds a home

We found a couple of caterpillars in our backyard this morning and further investigation revealed they are the caterpillars for the Monarch or wanderer butterflies. We'll watch the process of transformation with great interest. They're not attractive to birds (the stripes scare them away, suggesting they're toxic) so they'll be safe in our back yard. Makes a change from those pesky caterpillar moths!