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.Sunday, April 12, 2009
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.
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
