New Year in the Garden
The Christmas weather forecast was for upwards of 100 mls of rain over a three day period. At last the sort of drought breaking rain that has been elusive since we came here to live and to garden. Christmas day dawned grey and drizzly, despite having our house packed with visitors we were all ecstatic. However once again the big rainfall has proved elusive, we had a grand total of 27 ml over the Christmas -New Year period. If it had not been for those weather forecasts and the fact that most of the state did receive very heavy rain we would no doubt have been satisfied with that.
27 ml has replenished the rain water tanks and given everything in the garden a real boost. The roses are blooming again and the rose garden made for Jemima almost looked like a garden while she was here.
We had a great crop of apricots this year. All ripe, picked and preserved within 10 days. Not a sign of fruit fly this year which is very gratifying. Most of the apricots are in the freezer for future use as it became too hot to make jam with a a baby (Jemima) and a Great Grandma in the house. I did get two batches of Jam made.
I decided before Christmas to let things go a bit in the vegetable garden as we could not keep watering them. Some things have proved quite resilient though and yesterday I picked enough cucumbers to preserve some.
My one Zucchini bush is going great guns and I picked sufficient flowers to make stuffed zucchini flowers for all the family one night. I planted four Trombocino bushes this year and they have been very prolific since the rain. I am going to try and grate them and freeze them for later use. They are a little firmer than zucchini.
I was tidying up my pot plants in preparation for being away next week and cut an armful of beautiful Hydrangeas.
The storm clouds are building up again this afternoon. Maybe it will be our turn for a downpour that will fill up the dam!!
27 ml has replenished the rain water tanks and given everything in the garden a real boost. The roses are blooming again and the rose garden made for Jemima almost looked like a garden while she was here.
We had a great crop of apricots this year. All ripe, picked and preserved within 10 days. Not a sign of fruit fly this year which is very gratifying. Most of the apricots are in the freezer for future use as it became too hot to make jam with a a baby (Jemima) and a Great Grandma in the house. I did get two batches of Jam made.
I decided before Christmas to let things go a bit in the vegetable garden as we could not keep watering them. Some things have proved quite resilient though and yesterday I picked enough cucumbers to preserve some.
My one Zucchini bush is going great guns and I picked sufficient flowers to make stuffed zucchini flowers for all the family one night. I planted four Trombocino bushes this year and they have been very prolific since the rain. I am going to try and grate them and freeze them for later use. They are a little firmer than zucchini.
I was tidying up my pot plants in preparation for being away next week and cut an armful of beautiful Hydrangeas.
The storm clouds are building up again this afternoon. Maybe it will be our turn for a downpour that will fill up the dam!!
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