TODAY'S GARDEN

My garden is my Happy Place.  When I go down to get the newspapers first thing in the morning I love checking the garden to see what has come up and what needs cutting back, removing or weeding.

I like the way it changes day by day.  Here are some plants from today's garden:

Cucumbers - Lebanese and apple

Tomatoes from a neighbour - she wasn't sure what variety.  one of two that she grows.

I also have two plants of a small bush tomatoe that I got at the Market.

Sugar snap peas doing well

Rhodohypoxis - I can remember buying this in Thames - would be about 30 - 40 years ago.  

The garden alongside the drive - more yellow at present

 

I do like this Echium Cottage Charm which has self-sown through the garden this year.

One of several Alstroemerias

This lavendar got a hammering and split in the last storm but we have staked it and have our fingers crossed that it will survive

I like these little poppies

I don't know the name of this - it came from a neighbour who got it from another neighbour

The lovely red rose that we have several of throughout the garden

I love this little old fashioned alstroemeria.  I call it the Christmas one.

Potatoes flowering.

HALLOWEEN

Well, yesterday (31st) the rain finally stopped and the wind eased  in the early afternoon.  About 4.30p.m. I had just put my feet up to read when the doorbell rang and it was a young lad, the grandson of our neighbour across the road, Trick and Treating.  He went away with his haul.  I was just going back to read when the bell went again and it was his sister and a friend Trick and Treating once again.  Brother had, obviously, been sent over first to check on our reaction.  

All went quiet then for a couple of hours and we were just watching the News when the doorbell rang again.  This time Doug went and it was a young lady with her two young children with special bags for their haul.  That was it as far as Trick and Treating went.

A couple of years ago we had a lot of teenagers coming around and ran out of supplies so last year we stocked up and no-one came so we gave the treats to a young boy a couple of houses down the road.  He and his grandfather live with a friend so they would all have shared.

As far as the weather is concerned it has stayed dry today and the lawn is drying out.  Amazingly, all my vegetables have fared well in spite of the wind and rain.  First thing this morning I staked a lot of the foxgloves and cut some that had snapped off in the wind.  Apart from that we have been in town all day so that is all I have done  apart from getting 3 loads of washing done and out drying.

I collected these foxgloves and borage this morning as they had broken off. The foxglove has a distorted stem which gives it a lot of extra flowers.  I must remember to move my finger out of the way with this new phone.

nothing much has happened here.

The forecast has improved and apart from a few showers on Friday and Saturday it is now forecast to be fine until Tuesday.  

FARED QUITE WELL.

The rainfall gauge a couple of kilometers from here recorded 132.5 mm of rain yesterday.  Our lawn is very boggy and underwater in places but we have fared pretty well.  As I expected the foxgloves have been battered but will, hopefully, recover.   Some smaller plants have been broken off and the bananas look the worse for wear but, once things clear and I can get out and do some pruning things will not be too bad.

A French citizen was rescued off a yacht which got into difficulties yesterday off Cape Reinga in winds of 120 km/h.  Because of the high winds and, mainly, trees down there are a lot of power outages across the region.  Luckily, living in town we do not, usually get these.  

I see below that the rain warning has finished but there is a new rain watch in place for heavy rain until 8 a.m. tomorrow.  At least it looks better later in the week.  It is also more than twice as hot as it was yesterday.

UPDATE: It is 2.45 p.m. and is hosing down. We will need Noah and his arc if it goes on like this.

NOT WHAT WE NEED

Ex tropical cyclone Lola is beginning to make itself felt. We have both strong wind and heavy rain warnings for today until 6 a.m. tomorrow.  

This photo was taken just prior to the strong wind warning starting.  We went out and staked the centre foxglove.  A few days ago it was 24 degrees C. and today's forecast is 14 degrees and at 11 a.m. it is "13 feels like 11" although it actually feels a lot less and we have the last of the firewood on the fire.  

I picked a few foxgloves that had been battered.

Looks like rain or showers all week.  I just hope all the young plants survive.  Happy days.

LETTUCE

At the Market on Saturday I bought a punnet of red and green Buttercrunch lettuce (only 5) and a fortnight before a punnet of Red Sails lettuce.  I have planted them out and they are sitting on the potting table Doug made for me out of an old door.  

They are doing really well and we have already had 3 feeds from the Red Sails.  I was worried about the hot afternoon sun on them so, at the weekend, Doug made a shade cover for them.  Hopefully, we will have a constant lettuce supply over summer.

TWO NEW FLOWERS

We have just noticed a new flower on the banana.  That makes it four bunches ripening very slowly plus this new flower on the clump of plants at the moment.

We have also just noticed the first waterlily flower in our pond.  It doesn't take much to make me happy.

Our Garden

 After having such shocking weather all year we are finally getting some fine days and have been busy clearing, weeding and preparing for spring planting.

Last summer I sowed some marigolds amongst the tomatoes and they have self seeded and, once I removed the last of the Italian Precoce broccoli we ended up with beds of marigolds.  I have transplanted a lot into the flower gardens and will leave some around the new tomatoes I am about to plant.

the garden alongside the raised vegetable beds.

The narrow garden alongside the cat run Doug built for Kim when we moved here.

Doug planted Cliff's Kidney and Agria potatoes a month ago.  Hopefully new potatoes for Christmas.

The front garden (other side of the fence to the potatoes). Looking a bit bare.  The pale alstroemerias were taking over so Doug has removed them.  Now to get rid of them completely as they are already shooting up again. I have just planted several new plants in the front part of this garden and Doug transplanted a row of foxgloves that had self-sown under the peach tree.

The garden between the drive and the new fence Doug built before Christmas last year.

The foxgloves are self-seeding nicely.  The banana behind the fence has four bunches.

This echium has self seeded.

It was April when Doug built this pond and moved the poor waterlilies from the tubs they had been in since he moved here.  We also bought 5 goldfish and they vanished over winter.  We were sure they were still alive but no sign of them.  Luckily, they have reappeared (we have seen 3 together anyway).

Reading this it looks as though Doug does all the work in the garden - not so, he does the heavier work.

All photos should enlarge.