What's going on in your garden (2018-2022)?

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We have a heatwave... it hit 37.2°C again today. It didn't drop below 20°C all night. Tomorrow, it is due to be 23°C come dawn and peak at 35°C. Wednesday sees more sensible temperatures and apparently a week of rain! What that actually means is an odd squall here and there with a chance of a heavy thunderstorm. Days that say 80% 1-5mm of rain stand little to no chance of happening. I only generally expect to get wet if it says 5-10mm or 10-20mm (or even occasionally it will say 20-40mm).

Someone at the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology) has a sense of humour though...

90% chance of 5-10mm of rain is a 'possible shower' 🤣

55764


Sunday with 90% chance of 1-5mm of rain won't happen... it will evaporate before we get there.
 
PabloLerntKochen said:
Good luck with the plants, we had 55 liter per m² in Dezember.
Stay healthy
Click to expand...
We live off grid (except for electricity). everything including broadband is on-site so we rely on rain for our water. We are very strict about water consumption and even stricter about grey water being reused. My internet is via satellite, as is tv. We don't even have a hard telephone wire to the house and only limited mobile signal, if you stand on a certain corner of the house, on tip toes, mobile on charge, with the wind blowing in the right direction etc.
There are many water tanks (22,000 Liters each) around the farm and many large dams (earth dams to catch water) around the 800 hectares. The farm is a merino sheep farm so if the dams run dry (like last year) the sheep have to be sold because it is simply not possible to feed or water them. Feed can easily be brought in. Water is much more difficult because water tankers typically can only being in 10-14,000 litres at a time and that is only half of 1 tank. Not much at all.
At least 1 tank is always reserved for the fire service to use.
 
I would like to live like that for maybe a year or so, just for the experience. Here we thread water like we have enough for ever, some are watching their water consumption, but not truly like when their live is depending on it. You're awesome
Stay healthy
 
Around 200 kgs of cloves. Decided to dry them and store instead of selling it fresh. Fresh clove is currently bought at only about 300 LKR per kilo (less than 2 USD). Price will go much higher later in the year. Dried clove might go up to 20 USD a kilo. Patience is the key.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
We live off grid (except for electricity). everything including broadband is on-site so we rely on rain for our water. We are very strict about water consumption and even stricter about grey water being reused. My internet is via satellite, as is tv. We don't even have a hard telephone wire to the house and only limited mobile signal, if you stand on a certain corner of the house, on tip toes, mobile on charge, with the wind blowing in the right direction etc.
There are many water tanks (22,000 Liters each) around the farm and many large dams (earth dams to catch water) around the 800 hectares. The farm is a merino sheep farm so if the dams run dry (like last year) the sheep have to be sold because it is simply not possible to feed or water them. Feed can easily be brought in. Water is much more difficult because water tankers typically can only being in 10-14,000 litres at a time and that is only half of 1 tank. Not much at all.
At least 1 tank is always reserved for the fire service to use.
Click to expand...
Text below is off-topic but couldn't help but mentioning (or lamenting rather).
A few decades ago, when I was schooling, this area was totally off grid in every aspect. No electricity, no proper roads, no telephones, nothing at all. I wished to see them all here. And gradually the area got electricity, telephones, and all other stuff. And you know what happened? A few people bought hifi sound set ups. And that ended others enjoying the bird song, a moment of quiet and peace. At all ungodly hours you could hear the thud thud thud noise which they call music.
And somehow we lived. Just a few months ago some people got together and built a temple. Then another group of people built another temple less than 3 kms away. Now... every morning at 5am they broadcast their prayers through loudspeakers in the loudest noise available, for 1 hour. And again at 5 pm.
HOW I WISH WE WERE OFF GRID!!!
 
So most of you guys are in winter, whereas im in summer, so this thread has gone quiet. We are still eating new potatoes peas beans cabbages caulis from our garden. Freezing fruit for jam/jelly. Flowers are all flowering. We're in the last month of summer now, Spring/fall in a few weeks. Still picking/freezing tomatoes for making sauce later. Gerkins/pickles to be preserved in the weekend. I ned to bottle Beetroot if I can buy in the weekend?

Russ
 
Took enough courgettes to make 5L of double concentrated courgette soup (so same volume of veg sock will need adding to the mix to make soup after it has been defrosted).
Also made up another double batch of sorrel and almond pesto (dairy free). Each pot I make is roughly 6 generous servings with enough for a round of sandwiches the following day. I've made 6 pots and could easily make more. My sorrel and courgettes are growing very quick at the moment.
Also growing really well are my squashes (many varieties including Queensland blue & butternut squash). They'll harvest later inn the year. So fast I have also managed to save a good number of apples and comice pears groin the local birds, so we should have a reasonable harvest of fruit. The grape vine is doing well as well.
I'm hoping that the sweet potatoes, new Zealand yams and Jerusalem artichokes are growing well in addition to my heavily laden fig trees!
 
I've been feeding the birds regularly for the last couple of months and it's showing. Both MrsT and I noticed today that several of the cardinals are downright fat. I don't know how the little lard-asses manage to fly, they're so fat. :laugh:
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Took enough courgettes to make 5L of double concentrated courgette soup (so same volume of veg sock will need adding to the mix to make soup after it has been defrosted).
Also made up another double batch of sorrel and almond pesto (dairy free). Each pot I make is roughly 6 generous servings with enough for a round of sandwiches the following day. I've made 6 pots and could easily make more. My sorrel and courgettes are growing very quick at the moment.
Also growing really well are my squashes (many varieties including Queensland blue & butternut squash). They'll harvest later inn the year. So fast I have also managed to save a good number of apples and comice pears groin the local birds, so we should have a reasonable harvest of fruit. The grape vine is doing well as well.
I'm hoping that the sweet potatoes, new Zealand yams and Jerusalem artichokes are growing well in addition to my heavily laden fig trees!
Click to expand...

I've been feeding the birds regularly for the last couple of months and it's showing. Both MrsT and I noticed today that several of the cardinals are downright fat. I don't know how the little lard-asses manage to fly, they're so fat. :laugh:

I wet left over bread in water and throw out. I've seen up to 30 birds . No fan tails lately though!!
They are called piwakawaka. Pea-wok-a- wok-a.
There are you can talk Maori now.

Russ
 
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