Africanaussie

I entered a recipe into the Grains and Lentils competition and am now in the top picks. So exciting! Check it out  http://www.glnc.org.au/recipecomp/tag/top-picks/ I just love cooking with chickpeas and found that these patties and the rice mix freeze very well so have been awesome for lunches.  I hope you like this recipe. There is still time to enter if you are quick.

Here we are already halfway through the month and still no veggie garden catchup.  Hubby sent me a photo of the veggie garden to show that he was watering as requested, so I thought since I have one photo I will be able to give you a run down of how things are going in my veggie patch. It is most unusual for us not to have any rain, and I must admit that the garden has been struggling. I just never seem to find the time to water. Luckily the fact that I now have quite a bit of shade from the Barbados cherry the soil is not sitting in the hot sun and those shady areas seem to be doing just fine.   The long green beans are going crazy and have gone right over the top of the Barbados cherry.  There are lots of beans that I miss and then only notice once they are dry and wrinkly.  Oh well I now have plenty of seeds to share around!  They are pollinated by green ants which can cause a nasty bite, and so it is not always pleasant picking them and avoiding the ant...

For multiple reasons, I have not spent much time out in the garden lately.  Life sometimes takes over, but I am so lucky to live in a climate where the garden merrily keeps on growing, all by itself....The old gazebo trellis is where I tied up a bunch of Tilladsia (airplants)  and placed a bunch of orchids in pots on the shelf below it - they are all badly in need of re-potting.  I have been noticing a bit of colour in the area lately, and the Tillandsia are really putting on a  show.  the tibouchina also love this time of year, and are continually covered in these lovely purple blooms.  These angel wing begonia struggle through the heat and humidity of the summer, and then show all their glory as the weather cools down a bit.  Even the cordeline leaves seems more brilliant.  I keep threatening to pull out all these tissue paper costus, until they flower that is......  There are always lots of birds in my garden, but a ...

It is garden share collective time again!  I hope everyone had a very happy Easter, I had lots of fun with friends and family and even managed to fit some gardening into my four day weekend!  Link up here  for this months gardens. April is a busy time in our gardens up here in the tropics.  Of course we never know if we will get a late cyclone, or if the hot weather is going to hang on and fry everything before it gets established.  I had taken down the shaecloths, but then a dear friend gave me a vanilla plant, and I realized that my little perrenial bed really does need shade full time.  The pepper plant was also showing signs of distress from the hot sun.  The perfect spot for the little vanilla plant was chosen, with a nice trellis to climb.  The small shade cloth was put back up again, and lots of lovely leaf mold and compost spread around. The long green beans are suddenly taking off, but climbing right over the canopy of the bar...

Hubby heard someone knocking on the door so he went to have a look and this is what he found.....

Once again the ulysses butterfly visits my garden - I hope she lays some eggs and we will have some baby ulysses on the way. Once again my hubby is the one who took these awesome photos.  He has infinite patience - I suppose he has to - he puts up with me. The same silly cyclone that bothered us last week has turned around and is heading back our way again!  I had a lovely dinner planned with friends, I am just hoping it is all a scam and the dinner will go ahead. 

The extreme heat forced all my desert roses to send out lots of seed pods.  I have never seen so many seed pods! Look at these little babies!  Arent they cute with their fat bellies?  I kept the white ones separate as they are prime and very hard to get, we will see what happens when they flower.  Here is an empty pod - they explode with seeds and feathery wings which scatter with the wind. This is the pink one, I also have red and white.  They flower for most of the year, and dont need much care at all.   One of my favourites.