Weekend fun

It's been a funny weekend. Lots of rain with a few brief moments where I could get out and do a bit in the garden.  I have great plans but as I get wet enough while working I don't feel as if I have to do the same when it is for me. But I finally got around to doing a bit of a pot up which I am sure will make a lot of plants happy.

I finally re-potted my Epiphyllum or Moonflower cactus that I have been waiting an absolute age to catch and grab a photo. I mostly forget to go out and take a picture and it seems to want to bloom on the nights it is raining! But tonight I braved the wet and snapped a couple of photos.

The bud is tiny and swells over a week or two

I think it looks a bit alien

Finally the Epiphyllum opens

A pretty flower that is quite fragrant and opens for just one night

Then while I was potting up and planting a few things something unusual caught my eye.  I expect it is because of all the rain...

It is not the weeds (they are always about)

I expect there is a lot of fungal spores all over the garden

I was luckily given a boysenberry plant from my dad's cousin. However she would like the pot back.  So we drove it the 3 or so hrs up the coast in the car and left it on the drive to swap into another pot. After much pushing and poking it finally came out. Look what we found in the bottom of the pot (thanks Alison).

I did have a small freak out. Mr R and V bravely put the funnel web into a container and took it to the hospital (where they can milk them to make anti-venom). It was quite a bumpy trip where V did mention that if the spider came out of the box then there would be no one driving the car as he would no longer be in it.

Anyhow the chap behind the desk then started to shake the box about and declared it was actually a trapdoor spider rather than a funnel web. I believe the pokey bits out of it's tail are not long enough but it is indeed a female.

Finally I have added these last 2 photos of an apple pie I made with cheddar cheese in the crust as I know my mum would like to see how it turned out.  And to wish my Uncle Bob a happy birthday. Hope your weekend was adventure filled.

Summer

It's the first of March today so in Sydney it is finally autumn. But I don't think I can talk about the new season without mentioning summer. This one was hot and came with natural disasters all over the country. While we escaped fire threats, devastating winds and flooding waters that many people up and down the coast suffered  from we got our share of hot days, wet days and recently soul sapping humid weeks.

But before I carry on complaining about the hot temperatures I think I have to remember what is great about summer.

Long days, I love daylight saving we get an extra 3 hours of light at night in summer compared to winter. It always feels like you can get so much more done. Mind you the dog still seems to know that walk and food time should take place around 4-5pm regardless of light conditions.

Jumping out of bed without the need of extra clothing to keep you warm. You don't have to do the shiver while getting dressed. In fact you rather wish you could carry out the work day in bare feet and shorts.

Bare feet, swimming in cool waters, picnics without jumpers, early morning walks in the cool, cicadas, Christmas and New Year holidays, stone fruit, zucchini, chilli and basil.

Here are a few photos that made me smile and cry this summer....

Calodendron capense I am hoping the one planted comes into flower next year

Chilli flowers are pretty

Kalanchoe 

Love Sedum 

Echinacea 

New eggplants that aren't being eaten by ladybirds

Second round of cucumbers after 3 months without 

Corymbia 'Summer Beauty'

:o)

:o(

Sydney's hottest day on record

I lost the one on the right

Yes the fence fell down in the wind :0(. Firewood for winter :o)

Friends calling in

Tell me how was your summer?

zucchini zucchini zucchini

I have a lot of zucchini love this week. I missed last weeks post on zucchini love so I have a few dishes this week which make the zucchini the hero of the dish.

But first I am finally down to just one zucchini plant.  The first one I broke which was very sad as I had a brilliant supply from that plant. This week I had to pull another plant out as it was rotting away because it was being smothered by 3 pumpkins and another zucchini (yes they were planted far to close together). So I am down to 1 which I hope will still provide the family.

Come on little babies

 So I have been a bit busy trying out new zucchini recipes and they are pretty nice such as:

Zucchini and Basil soup (at least the basil is from the garden had to buy green zuchs in as my crop was doing quite so well). Check out the recipe and sexier photos of the soup at www.gourmettraveller.com.au/zucchini-and-basil-soup

Next up were some roasted courgettes. I sprinkled cayenne pepper, seasoned and topped off with mozzarella.  Threw them in the oven for about 20min @ 180 C. They were a nice accompaniment to dinner.

And finally Italian agrodolce zucchini with mint and chilli by Belinda Jefferies. These were really nice but I do find raw garlic a little overpowering so I think next time I will use less.

* Slice 1kg zucchini into thin lengths. Bbq them or chargrill them to get some colour on them.
* In a bowl add:
 3 garlic cloves finely chopped, 
A big handful of shredded mint, 
1 Tbs juice of a lemon
2-3 Tbs cider vinegar
Half a lemons zest
1-2 chilli
Salt and pepper
* Stir the zucchini through the vinegar mix and leave to soak in for 5 mins.

Pretty tasty and a great addition with the mint.

Rats, aphids and ants

Hooray I found a new cord and even managed to get other fancy bits and pieces that can upload onto the I-pad. And am now trying to manage this through the blogger app. I expect all you very clever people out there might be clever enough to have sorted this all out. But I figure I spend time working in the garden and a lot less time on computers.... Let me know if you use the app and if you find it easier or a hinderance.

Anyhow despite a range of blogs I had hope to talk about last week I thought I would discuss my corn instead.

Doesn't it look lovely? Well the rats, aphids and ants thought so. So in a bed 1700 x 2000 mm I managed to get 7, yes 7 cobs to take inside. The rats ate about 60% of the crop while the aphids attacked the rest. I have stripped the corn the rats started with and plan on giving them to the neighbours chickens who I am happy to let eat. I can only hope the rats starve now (wishful thinking).

I do hope your corn is doing a thousand times better than my patch at the moment. A least I now have a new patch to plant up in which is greatly exciting as I have much to add that might be pest unfriendly.

camera cord fail

Eek I can't find my camera cord to connect to the computer. And I have so much to show and tell. Soon I hope to be back to delight you

Zucchini Tuesday

Well I have a sad confession to make this week. I killed my best zucchini supplier. I didn't mean to it just happened to be hoovering over the lawn and didn't cope very well when I gently moved it aside. Now I really don't think I was that rough despite my mothers words 'you are a like a bull in a china shop'.  In fact I thought at first it was those rats. But then I remembered that in my haste to get the lawn mowed I picked up the offending overhanging branches up off the grass and it would seem I snapped it.

There was not much left to save once the growing and fruit part had no roots left. So I now have a gap. Not a very big one especially once the pumpkin takes hold.

At least there is another zucchini behind 

Thankfully I did many a small harvest or two yesterday.

Chilli glut saved from the rats

Oven dried (perhaps a bit too long as I forgot about them overnight)

Hope you have been enjoying your zucchini glut. Pop over to Louise's place and see what she is up to this week with her zucchini

Rain

Gosh isn't rain a gorgeous thing after such a long dry? Rain helps re-charge the garden and the gardener. It clears out the cobwebs. You can almost hear the garden sigh with appreciation. Hope the weather is kind to you wherever you are.