Growing Challenge Update

Phew! It was a stinker of a week here, weather wise. Tuesday's maximum was 42'C and yesterday topped out at 41'C in the shade of our back verandah (that's 106'F for those still working in Imperial). I can barely keep the water up to my fruit and veg. We've not had any substantial rain for over a month until last night, when the stifling heat finally brewed into a storm complete with hail and strong winds. We got 20mm out of it in the gauge (a bit less than an inch) but probably had a bit more than that, since most of it blew in sideways and wouldn't have registered in the rain gauge.

It's a bit cooler today thankfully, but the heat is forecast to return as of tomorrow (although only the mid-30's). I have to laugh reading about bloggers in North America participating in Crunchy Chicken's "Freeze Your Buns" Challenge. I think I might have to start my own for those of us Down Under - the "Boil Your @ss" Challenge perhaps?


Not surprisingly, I've lost a few things in the garden to the heat and nearly everything else is refusing to flower, so it's a very quiet time in the garden at the moment. Too hot to plant anything either, and too hot to spend much time doing anything other than the bare minimum of maintenance work (and watering).

Still, some plants are hanging in there. The Rainbow Chard (silverbeet) is almost big enough to start harvesting:


The Cos Freckles lettuce are growing nicely:

And as I was watering out the front this morning I wondered if the biggest of the rockmelons (cantaloupes) was ready to pick yet. As I went to inspect it, it fell off the vine in my hand! It was promptly taken inside, dissected and devoured :-) It wasn't very big, but it made up for it by being sweet and juicy - no comparison to shop-bought melons.

Elsewhere, the lemons are starting blush yellow (although I have only one mandarin and one orange on those trees - they are much younger trees and suffering from water stress I think):

The cherry guavas are developing fruits:

And what's this? Is it?... Yes! Another flower bud is forming on my Dragon Fruit (yay!):

The mint and oregano are flowering (the oregano is the pink flower in the background) and are attracting a halo of bees, both honey bees and native blue-banded bees:


And the Fiddlewood tree is flowering. Many times I have looked at the Fiddlewood and seriously contemplated digging it out in favour of an edible tree, but every time it seems to sense it's impending doom and decides to send forth a profusion of delicious, honey-scented flowers. Of course I am forced to grant it a stay of execution then :-) At the moment it is attracting not only bees, but Black Flower Wasps, large black hairy things with iridescent blue wings, which regularly buzz past my ear and give me a fright. Fortunately, they are beneficial in the garden, parasitising the curl grub larvae which like to eat the roots of my plants.


I haven't been able to get a photo of one yet to show you, but a couple of other beneficial bugs in my garden at the moment include this fungus-eating ladybird, dealing with some of the mildew on my cucumbers:

And this little fellow on one of my cucumbers, I believe is the hatchling (nymph) of an Assassin Bug, which preys on many plant-sucking pests (and honey bees unfortunately, I guess you can't have everything):

Next week I hope to have report on a a big seed-planting frenzy LOL, more in keeping with the Challenge requirements. I'll also go through my autumn and winter-planting list.

Happy gardening!