Well, what a month my vegetable garden has had.
We returned to civilisation (Perth) for a brief holiday. And came home to a vegetable garden in disrepair. Windswept and totally dried out. In fact completely and utterly sun kissed. The plants had obviously missed my twice daily watering by hand. And red back spiders had created lots of little webs in and underneath a lot of our outdoor belongings. A complete and total manic working bee was required. To tidy the garden and rid the yard of red backs. Insects like these, that can potentially be very dangerous, always make me worry with our two daughters running around.
And then we welcomed in the New Year with a cyclone. The cyclone changed course before reaching our small town, but we still received a lot of rain and heavy winds. Which again played complete havoc with my garden. Whiplashing my already struggling sweetcorn and sunflowers. And my tomatoes too. And the heavy rains, washing away the new seeds I'd planted the week before.
Between the excessive heat, overbearing sun, and all that rain and wind, well my garden is looking a little worse for wear. In need of some TLC. The corn is looking a little unhealthy, the sunflowers died, and the tomatoes and cucumbers all had to be tended too, tidied and broken stems removed.
But there are some positives. We've had an abundance of tomatoes, some chillies and our purple runner beans are close to ready. Spring onion, pumpkin, zucchini and sunflower seeds have been replanted. And no more red back spiders have been sighted.
And I received a new gardening set from Mum for Christmas. Which I love. Thanks Mum!
All's well again with the vegetable garden. Aside from my corn. Any ideas what is wrong with it? Is it just sun bleached? Entirely possible with our weather at the moment.
Love that trowel! you have had some extreme weather to contend with, your garden looks wonderful despite this! It's difficult getting away for a break when the garden is in full swing isn't it?
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Hi Alex, yes it definitely is. I almost wish I hadn't gone anywhere!!!
Deletei agree with above, gardens have no patience for travellers. especially those in the red sands! funky trowel. xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Ashley, I feel happier gardening with it lol! x
DeleteShadecloth?? Straw mulch? Might help
ReplyDeleteI was advised against a shade cloth, and would love some straw mulch. Alas, none is for sale up this way!!
DeleteThat redback spider is HUGE. I haven't seen one that big in ages. The corn doesn't look to happy at all competing with those beans. I usually get the corn established more first before planting it with climbers. Beans put a lot of nitrogen in to the soil and maybe the corn just can't take it.
ReplyDeleteHope the weather for the rest of the month is kind to you.
Thank you for the tip Liz. What a shame, I would have preferred the sweet corn over the beans. I might have to pull out the corn I'm thinking?
DeleteDrooling over that trowel - is it an Orla Kiely set? xo
ReplyDeleteIt is! You can tell by the pattern!!
DeleteThanks Zara, ill pop by your blog and check it out! x
ReplyDeleteOh my word, those spiders!! How do you deal with them? Thank you for the image of the beautiful Orla Kiely trowel, I needed it to get over the spider shot! x
ReplyDeleteHa yes!!! Honestly, I find the spiders very frightening. We regularly do a tidy of all of the outdoor toys and bits and pieces, and also we do a surface spray every couple of weeks. But even with all of that, my youngest daughter was bitten on her thumb by something today. Very scary. And of course, I didn't see what it was that bit her. Despite a red swollen thumb, she had no other symptoms. A lucky escape!
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