Garden Journal Early May: Chicken Wars, Banksia, Capsicum, Curry Plant and More
Oh, Autumn, you splendid thing you. Everywhere you look is orange - splendid sunrises, moody sunsets, and falling leaves of gold and yellow. Blink, and you miss it - you have to spend time admiring the beauty of the changing season, sitting on the verandah with a glass of wine or walk out into the garden with the absolute intent of just admiring how gorgeous the dying off of leaves can be.
I missed most of it, well, with my camera that is. I did spent a lot of time in awe of the leaves - and still am. From my bathroom is a stunning maple that's turning a beautiful red, like the tree in Game of Thrones. It's just that the light is not conducive to good photos. That's not a bad thing - it forces you to appreciate it with the eye, instead of reaching for some kind of screen.
In the greenhouse, the eggplant, jalapeno and chillis are still ripening. The capsicum is taking longer, but I'm pulling it off green (underripe) for tomatoey lentil stews with potato, as is befitting of the weather.
The turmeric, I'm not sure of. I can't find a single person around here to give me advice on it, to be honest. When do I pull it? Do I leave it for another year? Do I leave it in the soil, but not water it? I don't live in the right climate for turmeric, but it CAN be grown in a greenhouse or protected area. Damn, I'm envious of those of you in Indonesia, the Phillipines, or Venuzuela! Mangoes and pawpaw! Oh man... if only.
However, saying that, the polytunnel IS giving me opportunity to grow some things, like a curry plant! A curry plant gives such a distinctive taste to Sri Lankan dishes - even my usual dal recipe tastes amazing with it. And nothing beats fresh, right?
Ah, if only I could just take you around my garden right now. Pluck lavender buds and white sage, put gotu kola on your tongue, show you the silvery leaves of the wormwood or make you tea from the yarrow or tulsi. Whilst the shorter days here make it harder to take photos, it doesn't mean my garden isn't alive.
I'm annoyed with the chickens for eating my brassica seedlings, and have been working hard on tea tree fencing on top of the existing fence to keep them in. However, the gold laced wyandotte seem to love finding a spot to jump, so it's an ongoing war. I'm trying not to be mad at them for doing waht chickens do.
As I live in Australian, the natives here are very beautiful even in Autumn - the banksia are beginning to show their candle like flowers, strange alien things. They are great for inviting bird and insect life into the garden, and colour. When everything else is losing leaves or taking stock over the cooler months, the banksia and grevillea are living life large. Unusual things, aren't they? But man, when you see birds sucking from them.... wow.
Speaking of animals in the garden, we've been fighting rabbits. There's been a lot of food for them given the rain we've had over the last year. WE've never had such a problem with them and it seems the only thing we can do is cut up their burrows, pee around where they are living, and make sure there is nothing they can hide under. They might be cute, but damn it, if they don't make me really MAD! At least we have chicken wire around the veggie patch. That's not stopping rats and mice though - there's a bit of a plague here! The cats in the area are USELESS - I thought they were meant to be good for pesky rodents?
What else - kohl rabi, three sorts of cabbage, chard (silverbeet here), swedes (yum), beetroot, garlic, leeks, red onion, parsley, lemons. limes, rosemary and tons of herbs - we get cold here, but not cold enough to totally ruin a vegetable garden experience!!