After two days of heavy rain and unforgiving wind, the weather has settled back down to what it was before as though the rain aberration didn’t even happen at all. It’s gone all hot and muggy which is making any extended activity under the midday sun a bit of a chore. I feel really lazy, but I think it’s the heat that is zapping my energy. I just can’t allow myself to succumb to it as I have loads of cool things to do.
The land doesn’t seem to have noticed the rain at all as there are deep chasms breaking through the earth and cracks that seem to run for miles. This land is thirsty and it will take more than a couple of days so quench it. Having said that, in a few short months I imagine we will be back to soggy and boggy and this drought will be all but a memory.
I had been priding myself on my weed free beds, but this was more due to the constant heat and lack of rain. It is now blatantly obvious that is wasn’t at all down to my incredible gardening prowess, as with only two days of rain, they are away again. So I have to brave the heat and whip them out before they get a hold and take over.
Not everything that popped up due to the rain was a thug of the garden world. I got a pleasant surprise. A kind of hurry up. I had been meaning to sow new pea seeds to replace the ones that died over the Christmas break, but hadn’t got around to it. So I was a little shocked to see peppered all over the old pea bed – tiny seedlings from the escapee peas from when I cleared the bed. They sat in that soil for over a month waiting for water. So I dug them all up and repositioned them in an orderly row. The funny thing is, when I sow seeds I go to so much fuss and bother to ensure things grow, and here they are doing it all by themselves.
Shame and guilt have prevented me from venturing down to the orchard, with its long and weed infested grass and all the plums and pears naked after having their leaves ravished by the disgusting pear slug. However curiosity was enough to push aside any thoughts of the dreadful neglect. There are peaches and nectarines down there and they must be ready soon. So in the cool of the evening I wandered to the orchard without high expectations and was pleasantly surprized. The denuded trees are slowly regaining their modesty as fresh green leaves are spring forth and there isn’t a single pear slug in sight. Horrid bug. I shudder at the thought.
The peaches weren’t ready yet, and as expected the apples and pears still have a way to go, but I was able to bring back three rosy red juicy nectarines. There were four, but I ate one there and then – but don’t tell anyone, because when I got back I made the kids go halves and Hubby the Un-Gardener and I had one each. Shhhh!
Come again soon – I’m going to reach for seed packets again and I’m so excited.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Ugh, you are battling the same drought we had last summer. Ick. We started joking about losing animals and vehicles in the huge cracks that developed in my land…some of them were big enough I could fit my foot in them and couldn’t see the bottom.
I’m hoping my orchard does more than it did last year..which was not a damn thing!
Hi Jenn. At this point our cracking doesn’t seem as wide as yours, but there is rain in the weather forcast for the coming week so hopefully things will turn a corner soon. Although I will miss the sunny days.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Very jealous of the nectarines….oh to have summer…. 😉
Hi There. The nectarines were so sweet and juicy. But there were only four. But it is a young tree so maybe next year we’ll have loads.
Cheers Sarah : o )
That is what happened for our peaches, nectarines and cherries- a little fruit one year, then a (welcome) explosion the next. Hope it works out that way for you…
There has to be SOME benefit to all of that gardening! I have been known to eat the odd strawberry before offering to someone else ;). We didn’t get ANY of our peaches, nectarines etc. this year as the possums ate the lot when they were just starting to blush :(. We have autumn plans for a fully enclosed orchard this year…by next spring I will be waiting with a deckchair, a camera and a good book (along with a flashlight, they are nocturnal raiders…) to gloat over just how impenitrable our new veggie and orchard actually are! I am such a vindictive gardener that I am thinking about setting up little viewing platforms for the hairy little sods to sit on and lust after my fruit and vege! Glad we aren’t the only ones in the throes of drought (misery LOVES company 😉 ). As much as I HATE okra, I am thinking about growing it along with the eggplants, silverbeet and tomatoes that all seem to love this heat. Even to get something still standing proud and tall after everything else is wilting to the ground would be a wonderful moral boost ;). There is something that makes you feel better about reading kindred gardening blogs… all of your own efforts reflected in someone else makes you feel that you aren’t the only mad one and that somewhere out there, there are millions of other mad people all trying to scrimmage something from the earth, we are positively beavering away folks! We rule! 🙂
Hi Fran. Gosh it wouldn’t be all that interesting to read blog after blog of “Here is my perfect garden, and the plants are growing perfectly and there are no pests or bugs, and I don’t get dirty while I garden, and everything is just how I planned it…”
Well to be honest this is how it is in my head, but the reality is very different. I take comfort from that fact that I’m not the only one whose vision is somewhat different in reality!
But gardening is so cool, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, in fact more people should garden. Everyone should garden!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Yes, I have the same funny experience. It can ran for days but when you dig in the soil its dry and inch or so down. Mulch and compost is so important.
Hi Arthur. It is so important to know your soil. My beds are nice and moist, but the ground has been wholeheartedly neglected, so it is an interesting contrast and a bit of an eye opener to what is actually happening in the world outside my garden.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Sustaining a family on a garden year after year is so much harder than we give credit. Rain (to much), rain (not enough), bugs, etc. It is challenging. I am hoping that the drought will begin to end.
Hi Charlie.
Thank you for your support. Gardening can be rewarding one moment and heartbreaking the next. But the taste of those fresh veggies and all is forgotten. I know our climate well enough to know the drought will be over soon enough and will be just a memory from a soggy wet autumn day!
Cheers Sarah : o)