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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