Beginning of Autumn

One thing we can say is that we have a very definite seasons pattern  in Yungaburra.

Autumn has now started with a cooling of the weather.

The sky had amazing cloud formations, changing from a  clear blue to a dark grey in the space of half an hour.

A couple of weeks ago it was a constant shade of grey.We've finally had some decent rain falls. The lake is filling up attracting the birds for a feast . Quite amazing to see them working as a team to round up all the fish.

Wild flowers and berries are still all over the place. I love them, large or small, cultivated or wild, even flowers from weeds!

As fungi which has also popped up everywhere. I find them captivating…

Now the sun is shining again the sky is blue with no clouds and it is time to get on with serious business, like building, weeding, cleaning, weeding... planting and did I mention weeding?

Wet season in Autumn?

Well we wanted rain... We had rain... 
For the last 13 days it rained on and off every day.
But by large the heaviest downpour we've ever seen, since we've been up here, has been last Sunday. It started at 4.00 pm and went on the whole night.
Water bucketed down and was gushing everywhere. 
We ended up with a flowing river at the bottom of the block. Our poor neighbours must have been  swamped...

Water gushing down

River flowing down

That night, the rain didn't stop and even for the frogs it was too much, they all started coming for a dry spot on the verandah, they were everywhere! On window sills, in the sink, on the chairs, on the floor...

They say that if you can keep green frogs in your garden it must be a healthy garden. Ours must be super healthy!
It was a cacophony of deafening croaking songs though, and it echoed so loud that at one stage, Svenne threatened to throw them back in the garden, as he couldn't hear the television...
Here's a little clip of what it sounded like, and it went on for hours... (You can hear the rain coming down at the beginning of the clip.)

Lucky we managed to mow the lawn that afternoon, before the rain came. It has already grown back. (Very healthy garden...)
But the next day, Svenne had to go and empty the boat, (which is waiting on the edge of the lake). It was full of water, barely floating!

The lake is now full again.

Before the rain

Filling up

Full...

And the sun is back.
We had this amazing sunset last night. which makes it all worthwhile to live in the country! 

However, our thoughts are still with the people who got flooded in Cairns, (400mm of rain in 3 days, the heaviest in 3 years). We heard that many houses in Parramatta Park (where we used to live) had extensive damage. 
I was also concerned for my family in Townsville, after they had a mini tornado going through the town on Tuesday, with extensive damages. Luckily they were spared. 
We wish them all the best.

End of Summer... Mosaic garden update

February was the last month of summer…

It's been hot and mainly dry.tthe wet season should have started but it just didn't happen yet, apart for the odd storms and torrential showers that lasts only an hour.

And even though they help the lake to fill up slowly, we definitely need more rain. The height of the water is nowhere near was it was when we moved almost a year ago. Even the cows went for a swim to cool down!

Our "Little Evodia" (Melicope Rubra), which flowered in December, is now covered with fruits. I searched the internet to see if they are edible and although a few sites say yes, they don't give very much information. So I tasted one, but wasn't very impressed… smells like lemony… tastes very bitter… Whereas they're not ripe yet or need to be cooked? If anybody knows about these fruits, please help and leave a comment. But I will definitely try to propagate more of these with seeds as they attract the Ulysses butterfly…  and the flowers are quite  stunning!

Melicope Rubra

Everything has grown quite quickly in the last month: the marigolds are about a metre high with bright yellow and orange "jumbo" pompoms but are leaning down now due to the weight of the flowers and Freja rummaging into it!

Marigolds

My desert rose is still hanging on and flowering and now has 2 seed pods. I call her the "mother" as it is the one that gave me all the other plants. The pod resembles a helicopter rotor blades... 

Desert rose

The cassavas are  very bushy and healthy, except for a couple that have been broken by our "bulldozer Freja" when she goes for a run…and the fern which I thought was dead and moved next to the veggie garden, was at its best this month. The succulents are doing well and the pawpaw seeds I planted have finally started to  grow.

Green mosaic

The bromeliads are starting to bloom everywhere. So beautiful!

Bromeliads

Native figs, wild guavas, custard apples, black sapote, oranges, mandarins are getting bigger, and we're waiting with anticipation for them to ripen.

Green fruits

 The veggies didn't do too good during summer, except for the snake beans. Too hot and dry. So the garden needs to be pulled out and prepared for the winter crop (with lots of free manure from the next door pasture!) I'm waiting for the last eggplants to mature. But I have collected 7 avocados yesterday from the tree next to our letter box and our last strawberry.

Garden harvest

 Over the last 2 months the chillies (birds eyes)  have exploded everywhere, and I pick about a thousand every 4 days. (I'm stocking up on them and might never have to buy chillies any more). and we're back on our chokoe diet as the vines, growing amongst the trees bear plump fruits all over. And of course lemons, lemons, lemons… which reminds me I'll have to make some lemon cordial. 

Chilli madness

Another thing we're amazed is the Hachiya persimmon tree, which is covered with fruits. We have to beat the birds and fruit bats, so we pick the fruits when still hard and let them ripen inside. Freja loves them too. When they fall on the ground she gobbles them up and then try to steal more from the basket while we pick them…They are sweet and juicy and I use them in salads, cooking, persimmon chilli chutney and we have one every night as a dessert,  by just scooping the flesh out, cold from the fridge (very refreshing on a hot summer night), quite delish… My next experience will be persimmon jelly!

Persimmons

Well this was summer in our garden!


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