Black Sapote

Day  360  December 28th
Apparently the fruit tastes a little like chocolate. Can't wait.

Wampee

Day 359   27th December
The Wampee is native to China and the fruit apparently a little like grapes.

Jaboticaba

Day 358   December 26th
We traveled to Kyogle to buy three fruit trees.  This is a small leaf jaboticaba. (myrciana cauliflora)  The fruit grows directly onto the trunk of the tree. Unfortunately it doesn't start to fruit untill it is 5 -7 years old but apparently this one is already 5.


358   December 26th

Lillipilly

Day 357   Christmas Day
 They're not quite Christmas colours, nor will they be. As they ripen they will turn an even deeper pink.  last year they were so heavy they were pulling the tree over.  I had to anchor it to the fence with string. I wish I had kept more careful record or what I planted.(Actually any at all would be better.)  Apparently some lillipillies have edible berries but I don't recall what type of tree this is and I'm not game to try any on the chance that these are..

Day 356   December 24th This isn't exactly part of the garden, but I'm pretty sure whatever nibbled these applea originally came from outside. I did glimpse a chocolate brown mouse in the laundry last week so I'm holding it responsible. I suppose i also have to take some responsibility for not putting everything away in containers or the fridge.

Lunch

Day 355   December 23rd
I try to include something from the garden in every meal.  It doesn't always work out, but today cucumber and tomato are a good start.

Trace of a Leaf

Day 354   December 22nd
I picked up a leaf that had been lying on this garden bed for a few days.  This is what remained when I removed it. It looks quite substantial in the photo, but in real life it was only a stain.

Spot the Funghi

Day 353   December 19th
It's the time of year (damp) when toadstools pop up all over the place.  These caught my eye as I walked by but you can hardly make them out in the photo.  They are the dull brown shapes on stalks. The red patches are tree blossoms.

Pineapple

Day 352  December 20th This is one of the four pineapple plants I have grown from pineapple tops. The others are still in pots. I'm planning to put them all out into the garden where I hope I can ignore them save for some help during dry spells. This one is in the newly cleared bed with the new fruit trees. Of course just because it survives and even prospers there doesn't mean it will fruit. I have to wait at least another year to find out if I did the right things!

Nap Time

Day 351   December 19th The non butternut pumpkin has been removed; Now this bed can have a little break.

Almost There

Day 350   December 18th
The new kitchen garden is almost half ready. It's called the Kitchen Garden because it is the one we can see from the kitchen, not because it will contain all our vegies.  I do plan to put some herbs in it though.

Pass the Plant

Day 349    December 17th At our end of year ROGI meeting we had a pass the parcel gift exchange.  The gifts had to be hand/home made or home grown.  I took a jade plant that came from a shoot in the garden last year. This isn't the actually plant.  That one  had an undecorated pot, but it lives with someone else now so I can't photograph it.

Straightl Cucumbers

Day 348  December 16th The cucumbers I plant in the garden have to be encouraged to climb. Their natural tendency seems to be to curl around on the ground.  However, those that I leave in pots reach for the sky. Perhaps the roots send up a message that there is not much room down below so the best bet is to head north.

Freckled Leaves

Day 346   December 15th It's not only the aubergines that are infested or infected.  I'm not sure which, but whatever it is the sweet potato leaves have it too.

Pumpkin Seeks Home

Day 346    December 14th Once again a free lance pumpkin has chosen to settle in my garden.  This one had chosen well.  The bed is empty and not really allocated for anything for a while.  I thought I'd give it a rest.
  But this year I want to grow butternut pumpkins and if this one were allowed to grow the supply of pumpkins would far outstrip the demand. So I have left it just long enough for a tiny pumpkin to form so I can check what kind it is.  It's clearly not a butternut so it will have to go.
This goes very much against my instincts.  Anything edible or pretty that can survive, usually gets a chance.  This time I am being ruthless. Who's in charge of this garden anyway.  (Who am I kidding?)  But I refuse to be dictated to by a pumpkin.

Oops!

Day 345     December13th There was movement in the road this morning. A neighbour called to tell us that there was an emergency outside our gate. The recyclying truck had misjudged where to drive under the tree and had clipped an overhanging branch. The branch snapped and fell on the truck taking with it a powerline and next door's fence. Luckily no one was injured.  Some Telstra workers working down the road rushed over to dispower? the line, followed shortly by the official emergency crew who tidied wires up and repowered the one house affected.
The council tree munching machine appeared so swiftly you get the feeling they have men sleeping on site ready to slide down a shute and dash to the rescue, rather like firemen. They probably need to.  Several people had phoned to express concern about the branch so they had sent men to chop a few light branches to lighten the load in the hope that the dangerous branch would spring up out of harms way. If it did move it was only minutely.  It was quite a hefty branch. Now it is mulch, but much less of a hazard.

Up and Away

Day 344    December 12th
Cucumbus Rampant

Yellow is the The New Purple

Day 343    Decenber 11th
My aubergines are no longer aubergine. Are they still edible? I'm not sure if this is a stage of immaturity that I missed before being so dazzled by the perfectly formed purple ones, or a stage of decay.

The Lurgy

Day 342  December 10th
Something, either a disease or an insect is attacking the aubergine leaves. I have no idea what it is.  Fortunately we don't eat the leaves.

Day 341   December 9th This is a less cluged together shade system.  Mike made it for me last summer.  I havn't put it up properly yet, partly because as soon as I put up the other one to protect the beetroot leaves the weather changed and the sun became much less harsh.

Shade

Day 340  December 8th
The solution to burnt leaves: rig a shade. It also guarantees that it will rain.

Burnt Beetroot.

Day 339   December 7th
The hot sun is finally with us and these beetroot leaves have been burned.  The actually root is still fine, but the shrivelled leaves are not good to eat.

One Day Too Late

Day 338    December 16th
I've been watching these tomatoes ripen, waiting for the optimum moment to pick when they were as ripe as possible before an insect decided to use them as a nursery. Well, it seems I waited one day to many, but it wasn't an insect that chose to share this tomato with us.  It was something much bigger, but obviously not big enough to eat the whole fruit. Or maybe it was being generous and leaving the rest for us. How kind!

Tendrils

Day 337  December 5th
The cucumber plant sends out tendrils to find something to hang on to. These delicate looking sprouts hold the weight of the plant even when the cucumbers have grown.

Palm Fronds

Day 336   December 4th
Never plant palm trees unless you have a huge garden where you can see the whole tree in the distance. In a normal size garden, unless you crane your neck, all you see are rows of poles, or the ground as you bend to pick up yet another frond.

Aubergines and garlic

Day 335   December 3rd
Apart from sticking them in a casserole I don't really know what to do with aubergines; but baking them with garlic and oil seems to work. The result is pretty tasty but not very beautiful to look at, so the photo is of before their sojourn in the oven. 

Clouds

Day 334   December 2nd
Clouds, like sunsets are never as spectacular in photos as up there in the sky.

More Rain

Day 333   December 1st
These Agaves don't need a lot of water but they do hang on to every little bit they can get. Water puddles in the leaves and flows towards the centre of the plant.

After the Rain

Day 332   November 30th
I wanted to catch the soggy, saturated feel of the garden after the rain, but a photo of the wet grass doesn't really capture it. If I could have pulled in the smell of the wet soil and the feel of the warm muggy air I might have come closer.

Still Life #1

Day 331   November 29th
Tomatoes and a pumpkin. This was the first of the trio and although I liked the composition when I set it up on the dining table I'm not so pleased with it on canvas.  It's a bit too de-dum de-dum de-dum.

Still Life #2

Day 330   November 28th
More painted vegies from my garden. (beetroot leaves)

Still Life #3

Day 329   November 27th I somewhat lost my painting mojo this year, so when in doubt do still life until some sort of inspiration comes back. Naturally the vegetable part of the composition had to come from my garden.

Last Fruits

Day 329   November 27th They look plumper than they really were.  The last tomato fruits before I pulled up the plants were quite wizened but perfectly ok to eat.

Tomato Blight

Day 327    November 25th All the seedlings from the last lot of seeds have started to wither once I repotted them.  I have no idea why.

Feral vegies.

Day 326   November 24th By the time I came to clear the tomatoes from bed #3, a pumpkin plant and some sweet potatoes were well established. I could just leave the garden to chance and eat whatever pops up. My diet would be heavy in sweet potatoes, pumpkin and tomatoes. Add some corn and I'd have a Puritan Thanksgiving feast. I'm not going to do that as I already have loads of sweet potato and I'm not ready for another pumpkin glut. I still have some left over from last year in the freezer.

Ladybird

Day 325   November 23rd
Tiny little  ladybird landed briefly on a cucumber.  There must be a second line to that.

Tomatoes

Day 323   November 22nd
Very robust tomatoes growing on a very sickly plant.

Coriander

Day 323   November 21st
Gone to seed! What else would you expect?

More Food Now!

Day 322    February 20th I hope this young bird soon learns to find his own food. He must be sending his parents crazy. The energy he spends sqawking to be fed would be better spent picking up tidbits himself.

Jade

Day 321  November 19th The jade sprout from the garden now has a sprout of its own.

Bouganvillia

Day 320   November 18th
It's pretty for a few days after the rain, so it keeps getting a reprieve.  Most of the year it is pale and prickly.

Baby Bird

Day 319    November 17th He's quite well hidden and he doesn't seem too worried, but this baby bird seems to have been temporarily left behind by his  mum. I don't blame her, he follows her around and squawks constantly.

More Aubergines

Day 318   November 16th
Why do they remind me of cows?

Aubergines

Day 317   November 15th

Still Coolum

Day 316   November 14th
 They have gone to great expense and effort to create very natural looking environments.  Except of course for the greens which look as if they were manicures with nail scissors every morning.

Coolum

Day 315  November
Skippie (female spelling)  obviously thought just outside our room was a good spot to spend happy our.  We did have a view of the final hole (18?) but actually saw more kangaroos than golfers

Coolum

Day 314   November 12th
Did  Monet visit Coolum?

Coolum

Day 313     November 11th At Coolum for Thanksgiving. This is a view from our room.

Plus ca change

Day 312   November 10th Again unplanned and uninvited a pumpkin plant has esconced itself in one of the garden beds. This time though it wil be removed. I'll just wait long enough to be sure it's not a butternut before I pull it out.  I'm pretty sure it won't be.  I can't remember the last time I bought a pumpkin and only a couple of last year's pumpkin crop were butternut. I'll show that pumpkin who's in charge!  Not really.  I'm know I'm not.  What grows is in the lap of the garden fairies.

More Seeds

Day 312   November 9th Seedlings have to share a room with my paints.