Africanaussie

Tommorrow we go away for a long awaited holiday! I spent most of last weekend putting things right in the garden - making sure everything gets a good long drink before I go. The neighbour has been asked to water if we don't get any rain. Surely we will start to get rain soon.... The tomatoes are really almost at the end, but I cant bear to finally pull them up until we get home. Then I will put them onto the makeshift compost pile where I will grow tomatoes next year. . Maybe try some green tomato chutney, with the few remaining tomatoes that never quite ripen. Slowly we will transition to plants that like the hot humid summer, but right now it is just hot and dry! Transition time is always a little untidy in the garden. Yesterday evening I went out and discovered that the sunbirds were happily flitting about the passionfruit - oh gosh, I am so glad they like passionfruit flowers. That means we will have lots of these cheery little birds. Of course as soon as I got the camer...

I love to share a bunch of flowers out of my garden with friends - I took this bunch to our friends who live in the rainforest! I know it is late in the month to do this, but here are a few photos from my garden in September. I was working in the garden yesterday afternoon and heard masses of birds overhead. Looking up I saw hundreds (yes literally hundreds) of lorikeets in the tree above me. This tree has huge arching red flowers stems, and there must be something there attracting the lorikeets . They have been hanging around all weekend - what a joy to look up and see that! They are so beautiful! I imagine they might come into the garden when our lychees are ripe, and then I might not be quite so happy about them. in the meantime I will leave you with some photos.... http://picasaweb.google.com.au/vemvaan/InFlowerSept #

In December I transplanted a little volunteer passion fruit vine that I brought over from the last place we stayed in. It is right alongside the fence and surrounded by stones, as there is a 2 foot edging of stone all along the side of the property. I worried that it might be forgotten, but it does get watered occasionally. Well, I didn't have to worry as the other side of the fence is the neighbours chicken coop....called a chook pen here in Australia! Obviously those roots go deeply and mine up all the good stuff, because the vine has now travelled about 15feet along the fence in each direction and at least that far up the neighbour's happy plant! The plant only really survives about 3 years here, so it is recommended to plant another plant to take over after about two years. I guess I have found the right spot to plant it, and I think I am going to plant a row of comfrey right in front of it - going to get all that chook manure into my garden without having to deal with the ...