Pines and Petals

The rain has caused the garden to instantly spring back into life.  It's quite magical to sit with a cup of Earl Grey or Rose and Vanilla tea of an afternoon post-commute and survey the sheer splendour of succulent shoots stretching out their tendrils and new leaves glowing a brilliant green in the setting sunlight.  The garden seems to have taken a big breath in and a long refreshed sigh out, letting its hair out in the process.  Speaking of luscious locks, the grass has also shot up again and returned to its former glory, quickly crowding out the bare patches that were coalescing to form one large brown mat in the January heat.  The drone of lawn mowers can now be heard echoing from backyards in the afternoon and on weekends.

Another two surprises greeted me this week.  I had given up hope of any pineapples producing this year despite their age (two years for most of them) and having had one last year, however, upon checking the plants that had nearly grown half their size again since the rain, I spied the reddish tinge and tiny spines signalling the formation of fruit.  The top that this has grown from is a twin.  While the other hasn't produced as yet, I'm hopeful that it will soon begin to flower also.  Even better if they manage to stagger themselves so that we aren't overwhelmed with too much tangy pineapple at once.

One of my favourite flowers has gone beserk after the rain - living up to its names 'Storm Crocus' and 'Rain Lily.'  The blooms nod gently in the breeze under the lemon tree.  One day I hope to divide them sufficiently that the delightful display features under all my citrus in the more formal part of the garden (the front orchard).  They complement the Murraya (paniculata) which has also sprung into glorious white bloom and wafts its scent through the house at night.

Please excuse the rampant lawn - it has since been tamed by the roaring mower beast.

A tankless task

It seems our turn to suffer the heat has arrived a week after the southern states endured their's.  To make matters worse we've hardly had any rain at all and the rainwater tank is now very near empty for the first time since we purchased it three years ago.  It's hard to imagine that we've gone through 11 500 litres of water plus a little extra here and there with a couple of light showers.  The washing machine has been changed back over town water and although water restrictions have been completely lifted as of the New Year, I can't help but feel guilty pouring potable water onto my plants.  I console myself by bucketing the shower and dish water onto the garden each day and only resorted to tap water for the first time today.  To be honest, I'm quite surprised how well the vegie patch has coped with the heat so far.  So long as they have enough water they perk up as soon as the sun starts to slip westwards.

I'm afraid I'm not as resilient to the sun's heat as my plants so the garden has been quite neglected of late.  Knowing that the tank water would soon run out, I've also been loathe to plant anything new besides corn.  Despite the heat and neglect there have still been a few things here and there to delight the eye, however, so I've captured a few of them for you.  

Storm crocus/Rain lily Zephyranthes candida

The Qld arrowroot (canna edulis) has matured nicely and is the tallest it's ever been .  I've divided it up to go most of the way around the tank to screen it from the heat and make it look a little more appealing.  The tubers make for nice eating roasted.  We haven't tried making flour from them yet.

The verbena are still going strong.  I'll definitely be planting these again. 

Dianthus
I'm not a huge pink fan but a hardy plant that should flower well and not mind a bit of rough treatment from the weather or naughty bantam claws.

This came as a surprise as we've had very little rain and the plants are suffering a bit.  Perhaps it was the dishwater that did it.  It's one of my favourite flowers so I don't mind at all.

The zucchini is having twins!  I've never had much luck with them in the past so perhaps it's making up for it although we haven't had any female flowers out yet.  It seems to be enjoying the new bed in with the corn.

Sweet corn "Golden Bantem"
They are planted in a block but for some reason this one has decided to outdo the rest.  Hopefully we'll still get a good cob out of it.

Alyssum 'Carpet of Snow'
Growing up I used to plant this in my parent's garden and adored the delicate white flowers and the honey scent.  It would spill out over the edge of the garden only to be mowed over by my brother.  Thank goodness I can look back and laugh at the ensuing tantrums.

Asian cabbage of some description - pak or bok choy

Oriental radish - we haven't tried these yet but I can feel a soup or stir fry coming just looking at them.

A winter melon (aka immaculate melon) that sprouted in the macadamia pot - I never put any seeds in and managed to kill both plants that a friend gave me.  Surprisingly the macadamia seems to be enjoying the company.

This was salvaged basil (stalks and roots) from work that has already given us a good crop, died back and is going for round two.  It's planted in our hydroponic system that was given to us by a friend who couldn't take it to her new apartment.  Eventually we plant to turn it into an aquaponic system using the bathtub on top of which it's sitting.