New Growth

Well, study is done for the year, so now I can concentrate on the things I really enjoy - gardening, walking and music!

The instant I finished my last essay, off I went out into the garden to see what had been happening over the last few weeks while the books had taken over my life. Things have grown, snails and birds have been destroying, the weeds have been slowly advancing, the citrus trees are slowly recovering from the winter harshness, some flowers have burst into bloom, while others have made way for the beginnings of hopefully tasty fruits!

This is the first year that fruit has set on my pear tree! I am pretty excited as its not your average pear. It is a red variety that I can't wait to taste (can't remember what, but something like Sensation Red - I will endeavor to find the missing links). I will be working hard to keep the pear slugs off it and my other trees this year.

A couple who visit the local bowling club each year around this time with their sturdy seedlings have been and I have come home with my usual purchases - capsicum, tomato, silverbeet, and lettuce. I pretty much grow these things from seed myself, but I need to be better organised to get things planted much earlier than I have in past years, plus the sparrows don't seem to do much damage to their hardy seedlings as they do to mine!

The seeds and seedlings I planted earlier all seem to be doing well - with the exception of the capsicum (haven't had much luck in the past, but I will keep experimenting) and I have lost some of the cucumber and zuccini (which is fine as I only really need a couple of plants of each). The self-seeding stem lettuce are really benefiting from the shade trellis' I have provided for them! The two corn varieties are up and doing their thing.

Strawberries!! There is going to be a strawberry bonanza in my yard this year. I have never seen so many flowers on them. My son is going to absolutely love it. I am personally not a fan of the strawberry, but nothing compares to home grown strawberries for flavour - just ask the resident snails.

I am still not sure what the blueberries and raspberries are going to offer this year. The blueberry flowers are plentiful, but the plants are still relatively young. At least there is no dog this year to remove branches and whole plants from their lodgings... As for the raspberries, flower development has just begun. Hopefully the dust storms and severe winds will stay away and I will get fruit set. They are in a different position than they have been in past years, due to their "wandering" tendencies, and they were still settling in to their new bath last year - will have to wait on the outcome of this little experiment.

The natives in the garden all seem pretty happy and I am extremely excited to announce that I am going to get flowers on the waratahs for the first time! I have waited about 5 years for this. The Prostanthera have been out for a few weeks, and the Pelaleucas and Olearea have just started flowering. With the flowering of the fruit trees now finished the colour from these is welcome!

It has also been pretty amazing at the moment out in the bush for orchids. I have been up the hill a few times each week to collect images of the amazing orchids that grow up there. I have seen more this year already than past years combined (I am actually making a concerted effort to go and record what is there week to week!).

It's Raining!

Woohoo, its raining! This is a good thing. My 3 little "water tanks" (really 200L x-olive drums) are all empty. I asked for rain and down it came. It will also be a good thing for my recent plantings.

Also, in my shed, where I put the tomato seeds to hopefully grow, I have found tomato seedlings! I am loving this, as last year I couldn't manage to get any to germinate. Now I just have to look after them until they are ready to move into the garden (despite the nice weather, I am still scared of late frosts). My pear tree has its first flowers blooming, the Nashi is in full flower, and the apple has one fully open beautiful bloom. I love this time of the year in my garden. The only depressing thing is that the spectacular magnolia flowers are now turning brown and falling to the ground. My son told me today "broken" as he pointed to the fallen petals. That made me a little sad.

I have harvested some of the parsnips as I am too impatient to leave them any longer. They could be a little bigger, but they are sweet and tender. My first parsnips! I will definitely grow them again next year.