Rain 09??? and 08!

From the Elder's Weather site...Here is a snapshot of our area's 'possible' predicted rainfall for 2009...looks like we could be in for a wet March but winter looks like remaining dry for yet another year.

This chart lists Jan's rainfall as 'above normal'.
Our average for Jan is 22mm...

The same site had this chart showing the next 28 days' 'possible' predicted rainfall.
Looks to me like the last few days of January could be quite soggy!

2008

I've already totalled up the rainfall for this year...I really don't think it's going to rain tonight...
Our total was 226.2mm
Our average is 364.6mm

My month by month rain chart...the dark columns show our average...the lighter ones what we got.
3 months above average and 3 months below 5mm...

New Year Wishes For You

Garden Log 28 Dec 08:

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 11.6C
Lowest Max 26.7C
Highest Max 33C
Rain 1.4 mm

The last Garden Log for 2008.
I wish all readers a Happy New Year.
May you all have great harvests
and just the right amount of sun and rain
to make your gardens grow!

With Christmas and the Summer Solstice behind us now the next couple of months are set to be scorchers. We have had a very mild start to summer here and as a result have had some great harvests already...mainly in the Zucchini family.

The Costata Romanesco Zucchinis have been wonderful they are almost creamy in texture. The Black Zucchinis are in full production now and I have a couple of the Trombocino Zucchinis setting and growing bigger each day...I'm looking forward to tasting these.

In preparation for the coming heat I've covered Bed 4 with white 50% shadecloth...I've not enclosed it yet as planned.

It was to be an enclosed shaded bed to keep the grasshoppers at bay but so far this year the grasshoppers haven't been a major problem.
In this video clip (a snippet from the Establishing A Food Forest DVD) Geoff Lawton says that:

"if you have a plague of grasshoppers,
you have a deficiency of ground birds"

He speaks of using Turkeys as grasshopper control. I have found young chickens useful and comical to watch attacking grasshoppers...

...but I believe this year it's the gangs of Apostlebirds (left photo) that are doing the work. They are often to be seen scratching around the front garden just next to the Main Veg Garden. And I've seen the Wattlebirds (right photo) catching grasshoppers in the evenings. So thank you, my garden friends.

The Sunflowers are towering over the beds

Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Zucchini Costata Romanesco^^^^^1705g
Zucchini Black^^^^^1238g
Lebanese Mini Cucumber^^^^^288g
Lemon Cucumber^^^^^65g
Atomic Red Carrots^^^^^141g
Ida Gold Tomato^^^^^17g (first tomatoes for the season)
Beans^^^^^16g
Apricots^^^^^3500g (these were dried)
Strawberries^^^^^242g
Peaches^^^^^275g (plus grazing)
Plus a yummy mix of greens for salads...young Kale, Lettuce, Watercress, Lebanese Watercress, Chives, Parsley, Gotu Kola.

Aliens To The Rescue

We have left a couple of giant Coriander plant to go to seed. Doc wants to keep the seeds to grind up to use in his curries...yum!

Unfortunately they have become infested with Aphids...it seems to be a good year for them this year!

The great news is that not only have the Ladybirds (Coccinella transversalis) come to the rescue (again)...but they've been breeding these alien creatures to help eat the aphids.

These strange looking fellows are the 'baby' larvae and can eat up to 100 aphids each day so it shouldn't take this lot long to clear up those aphids on the coriander!

If I had chosen to spray the aphids I would have destroyed all the Ladybirds (Ladybugs) as well and would never had seen this next generation of these wonderful creatures.

More on My Garden Photo Blog:

Christmas in Australia's Hot...

CHRISTMAS WHERE THE GUM TREES GROW
(Val Donlon / Lesley Sabogal)

Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia's hot
Cold and frosty is what its not
When the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near

Read the rest here on this link:
This was one of my favourites at the kids' end of year school (Christmas) concerts
(...nearly every year )

I even borrowed my neighbour's
Jacaranda Tree to photograph...
it's in full bloom right now!

Merry Christmas everyone
from Scarecrow's Summer Garden...
hope you enjoy your winter and snow
all you North World Dwellers!

A not too hot forecast of 33C (91.4F) for Christmas Day!!! ...

Kangaroo Apples

Judy asked for more information about
the Kangaroo Apples solanum aviculare.

I'm not sure why they have gained the name Kangaroo Apple as they neither look nor taste like apples and Kangaroos don't eat them at all.

According to Tim Low's Wild Food Plants of Australia book the fruits aren't very tasty at all...in fact unless they are very ripe the solanine in the fruit is mildly poisonous. He describes the fruit as having a sickly sweet pulp that leaves a bitter after taste. The fruit quality can vary from year to year even on the same plant.

So why do I grow it?

It grows into a very attractive shrub, although it doesn't live for more than about five years. It is a source of food for the chickens that grows very quickly to provide them with shade. It is listed in Alanna Moore's Backyard Poultry - Naturally book on her Poultry Plant Profiles.

The plant is not fussy about soil type and is said to be tolerant of torrential rain, drought, frost and heat.

I've heard that some people make chutneys from the fruit but I never seem to get enough to try. This is due to the other reason I grow it...the native birds here love the fruit and so I let them have it all as long as they leave my fruit trees alone.
The birds tend to drop a few and the seeds of these sprout up after a good rain, then I can dig these up to get new plants...and weed out the rest.

Tim Low's book also mentions that these plants are "farmed in the (former) Soviet Union and Hungary is farmed for the alkaloid (solanine), which is extracted from the leaves to make contraceptive pills".

So apart from those countries mentioned in Tim Low's book I don't know if it is grown overseas. It is also native to parts of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Considering it's lack of cultural requirements it could become quite an environmental weed when grown out of it's natural home...in fact many farmers here don't like it and remove it because the sheep will graze the leaves resulting in poisoning from the solanine.

Seen here as the centre pieces of my double herb spiral they grew rapidly to provide shade for the herbs below but after reaching a certain height were blown over during a wind storm.

Summer Solstice Greetings

Garden Log 21 Dec 08:

Today is the Southern Hemisphere's Summer Solstice

...Greetings...

Temperatures this week:
Lowest Min 8.4C
Lowest Max 22.5C
Highest Max 31.8C
Rain 3 mm

With Christmas fast approaching it's great that the garden can take care of itself and all I need to do is harvest the food!

We managed to pick all the Cherries last week
...many were dried and frozen for later use
...our son took a bag full to eat on his way home after his Christmas visit
...others were shared at our local Permaculture group breakup picnic.
The rest...we are still enjoying here.

Strange things are happening with the Golden Nugget Bush Pumpkins...I have lovely golden ones, others with green pumpkins and one of the green ones definitely is not a bush pumpkin...I'm sure the fruit will still taste great.
Just makes gardening more interesting.

Those Giant Pink Banana Pumpkins
are growing as I watch them.
Both the pumpkins and the vine!!!

It's quite a contest around here that we strive to have ripe Tomatoes by Christmas Day...this year the weather has really been far to cool for tomatoes to be ripening...except for these tiny little Ida Gold Cherry Tomatoes I found in the Kitchen Garden...looks like we'll have a couple for Christmas after all.

Remember the Jalapeno Hot Pepper
plant that survived winter...well it's flowering!

So too are the Kangaroo Apples (Solanum aviculare)...actually a member of the same family as peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. These guys are Aussie natives (the fruit is edible only when completely ripe) and are planted in the Bush Food Bed in the main Veg Garden.

Harvest Tally:
Doesn't include Greens fed to the chooks or herbs picked for use in the kitchen for cooking or tea making.
Zucchini Costata Romanesco^^^^^250g
Zucchini Black^^^^^600g
Dwarf Beans^^^^^20g
Pontiac Potatoes^^^^^356g
Lebanese Mini Cucumber^^^^^114g
Garlic^^^^^850g
Apricots^^^^^3000g (these were dried)
Boysenberries 8g (the first ones)
Strawberries^^^^^145g
plus 2 Black Mulberries off the tree for testing.

The first little Lebanese Mini Cucumbers are ready.