15 inches and counting

Yes, thats 15 inches of rain, since Christmas. Not counting the 3 or so inches I can see in the rain guage, and other uncounted rain over the last few days. So as you can imagine I am pretty over it. My yard is a swamp, my seepage trench for the septic is waterlogged and I can't get any washing dry. Not to mention, my poor vege gardens don't actually like that much water. Sad news is, we have a monsoonal low up the coast, and its pouring, and will do for days. Oh yay. :|

Anyways, my poor waterlogged vege gardens. I would have liked to get a closer photo, but I don't feel like getting wet, so here's a long distance shot.


This is plot 1. The oldest garden. Its not that big, and probably overcrowded, but its still nice to have a bit of everything in there. Most of it is still babies. We only just put new lettuce seedlings in 2 weeks ago, the tomatoes are only a foot high, my cucks are only just getting there little curlies onto the trellis and the beetroot have only just popped out there first shoots last week. However, the pumpkin vines have been growing for a while, and they are all over the place. We have them out past the fence so they don't take up all the room, and we are both happy with that arrangement.

Other things in that plot are a few parsley plants, a rosemary plant and radishes. The beans are a dwarf variety, and they have produced really well. The first cop I have picked and eaten most of, and yesterday while out grabbing a handful for dinner I saw all new flowers comeing up, so the next round will be out soon. There are carrots in a cardboard box, its an experiment I'm trying this time, because my beds aren't that deep.

What I shouldn't have done was re-plant lettuce in the same spot as the previous batch I think, but I was stuck for space. Basically I'm waiting for plot 2 to be ready for planting and then I will plant a green manure crop there and let that half of the garden rest for a bit, its had a hard time over the last year.

Behind the garden I have 2 compost piles, one is about 2 weeks off ready to use the other one is just newly started this weekend. And the big mound is a pile of tree chip mulch which we were lucky enough to snavel up when they built the new road running beside our house for free (if you can call listening to house trembling heavy machinery day in day out for 16 weeks straight free!).

Here is plot 2.

Not even fenced yet!

This one was started by laying cardboard and then a layer hay using old bails that had started to decompose. We bought a small load of soil just to get things started and then I have planted it with a green manure crop using a few packets of pea seeds and a few handfuls of guinea pig grain. This is about 3 - 4 weeks on (I'm hopeless with time lines and dates). I will let the peas produce a small crop and then it will all get chopped off and I will then be adding a layer of compost that I have 'cooking' now.

I really should get the fence done. We have the odd night where cows come though our yard and they have mowed my green manure crop once before, and all they left me was one lousy poop!

I'm hoping plot 2 will be ready to plant my winter veges. Broccoli and caulis especially. And I would also like to do some corn. As well a more lettuce, I always want a constant supply of lettuce and salad greens to pick. And I'm also going to attempt the slow growing crop of onions.

This weekend I need to find a posey for garlic. Its time to get that in the ground while its still warm. I'm also going to get Grumbles to do his fav past time, burning stuff! Well, its wood I want. I think my poor old citrus trees need some potash on them. So lets hope this rain will bugger off so we can get a fire happening.