First harvest from the potager

Over the weekend we had our first harvest from the new vegie patch.  The tiny seedlings planted out a few weeks ago are thriving despite the dry and hot weather.  We've been watering nearly every day to keep everything going in anticipation of some rain.

We had a single day of light rain and a flash storm last week but barely enough rain to put any water in the tanks.  Showers are forecast for the rest of the week but the hope of rain and any sign of a puff off cloud seems to dissipate on a daily basis.

We hadn't had much success with asian greens at our old place - ending up with bitter leaves that were inedible.  I'm not sure what was causing it - lack of water, harvesting to late or some nutrient deficiency or imbalance.  A lovely friend raised some seedlings in a tray for us and these are from her plants.  The leaves were lovely and crunchy with a beautiful green flavour.  We added them in right at the end to our stirfry on Sunday night along with some mustard leaves which also came from the garden.  It's so good to have homegrown vegies again.

A special thank you to Erin for raising the pak choy seedlings for us (and the pumpkin too)

We have rainbow chard, tomatoes, yacon, corn, rocket and pumpkin all on the way too so we're looking forward to some yummy dinners in the next month or so.

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.