The sky as it looks right now 11:23 am 29th. January. I was taught in my childhood, a long, long time ago, that this cloud formation meant that rain is coming in 2 days. The old farmers in the north of Sth Australia said this was the sheperd bringing the lambs because the weather was going to change. Any change will be better than the heat wave we are experiencing at the moment. FINGERS CROSSED !!

This poor shrivelled specimen is a Stellata Magnolia, planted in my garden early spring. The heavy mulch and water it has received sofar has not done any good. Maybe I'll have to invest in some shade sails.

cooked veggies!!

Fried lettuce, its soooo depressing, cooked in the garden.












Sweetcorn shrivelled up by the sun


















Beetroot, shaded by the zucchini , but it still badly affected by the scorching heat













Strawberries any one?


Maybe there is still something edible I can salvage. The tomatoes are cooking on the bush a possiblity for green tomato chutney perhaps (LOL) Its so sad I could cry.
Forecast for today...44+c !!!!!!!!!

Pineapple Lilly

The beautiful Eucomis Oakwood is flowering. This one has pink flowers, the older, more common eucomis has green flowers. Although they are both beautiful, I think I like this one most. The common name, Pineapple Lilly, because it looks just like a little pineapple before the buds begin to swell and burst into bloom.

Rita, Rosie, Rambo and Rocky, the new Rhode island reds

Here are some new additions to our chicken run, Rita and Rosie, two seven week old Rhode Island red pullets.
Then there is Rambo the rooster and his team mate, Rocky, both young Rhode Island red roosters, which we will introduce to the Isa brown hens later today.

Puff the Purple Dragon and Sex without strings

Some small purple dragon carrots for dinner tonight. how do you enrich the soil so the carrots grow to a larger size, without them becoming "leggy" ? It could be that I planted them late in the season and its the heat they're struggling with.

Beans are called Sex without Strings, aptly named because they have NO strings. (who ever dreams up these names?) They bear prolificly, I've been picking from 5 plants for around 6 weeks now and there is still heaps more to come. Every other day I pick enough for Popeye and myself for a meal.

More gherkins and apricots

Two jars of gherkins, one from yesterday's lot and one from today, showing the way they change colour, very quickly. It never fails to amaze me. It seems Popeye is not growing so much spinach this year but concentrating on the Pumpkin family. we will soon be looking like zucchini, there is a glut of them, yellow ones white ones and green, both dark and light.


Some of my apricots that I preserved yesterday, the one on the left looks a little cloudy, thats because I gave it a little shake. I got thirteen size 31 jars from 10 kg of fruit, would have made 14 if we hadn't eaten so many.

Gherkins

Popeye has been busy growing gherkins, Olive has been busy pickling. This picture was taken one day after adding the vinegar and spices, showing the early stages of colour change. They will be ready to eat in about three weeeks.