Garden notes

I swear at this time of year if one closes ones eyes for more than a minute, the veges double in size. After spending the summer months just surviving the daily wilt, plants at this time of year take on a vigour suggesting some sort of performance enhancing drug. Sure I've dug the beds over a bit, added some manure and blood and bone and the rain has been falling steadily and frequently for a couple of weeks. It's such a joy to behold lettuce growing in such abundance, squash flowering and fruiting, and the snow peas making their way up the climbing frame. It's gratifying to see that the lemon tree has transplanted well, an unplanned for necessity after the old tank bed it is in has now rusted beyond repair and needs removal.

The water tank stand, part two, has not been a success.
After appearing to stay in place for 3 weeks, the stand has begun to buckle, has knocked the fence down again, but the 3/4 full tank is still upright but on a dangerous lean. Part three will need to be either buckets of concrete, or a newly engineered solution altogether. The joys of trying to make do with recycled objects I guess.

The main water tank has started to spring a few leaks, and since that's plumbed in to the house, I'm going to have to get that changed this summer, hence I'll need another tank again to take the excess water for my summer needs. It's a pity all our rain happens over such a small period of time, so one needs to harvest as much as possible to get through the other 8 months when there's no rain at all. Sure I can use scheme water if I have to, but in the interests of being organic and sustainable, and also responsible for keeping my stormwater on my property, I'd rather use rain water. And the veges prefer it too!!

So what's in the garden at present? In the picture above there's capsicum, basil, tomato, banana, dragonfruit, lettuce, lemongrass and coriander, plus a self seeded ?zucchini. That's a surprise. The next bed has tomato, snow peas, asparagus, squash and strawberries. Over past the lime is more squash, red cabbage, beetroot, lettuce and broccoli. Next is the bay tree bed, where seedlings are being eaten by something, though the chives thrive under the frangipani and lettuce has self seeded. Past the now rusting bed, is more beetroot, the replanted lemon, more chives and more broccoli. I expect lots of self seeded parsley in here as well. The final bed (the top picture) has lemongrass, a few different chilli plants, tomato and a kaffir lime, plus land cress. The fig has lost its leaves for the winter, the passionfruit is growing wildly, the lemon is flowering, and the lime and bay are putting out lots of new stems.

All's well in my garden, just a little issue pending on water harvesting.......