And more rain

After the driest year on record the drought has finally broken - if we call them droughts in places that wander in and out of drought on a constant basis.

Most of the shubs in the surrounding hills had defoliated before the rain. In the raised humidiy before the rain the termites were busy  gathering up the last vestiges of dried grass.

 Perhaps they needed to stock their larder before the rain?

The rain was slow but constant followed by drissle or waves of heavier rain. over the days the showers gradually got heaver. The swale in our fron yard filled up 3 times over which has never happened before. it's only ever filled up once durng each rain period. Having lived in Darwin, i likened this rain to the monsoon - rain that came in waves - no thunder or lightening. all in all we had about 150mm in 4 days.

The hills around the town are saturated and are slowly leaking water into streams now that the rain has stopped. Already bird calls not heard for over a year are adding to our surrounds. Funghi are everywhere.

On the garden front.... the heavy raindrops demolished the leaves of the leafy greens, slaters decied to become mountaineers and climb the beanpoles - and eat anything that they could. The chickens moped, the rabbits stayed under their shelters and thr ground is still saturated.

The snake beans are going mad and the pigeon pea ditto. Tagasaste however doesn't like dampness as well as heat and many have died due to collar rot. I have one tall one which grew p over the winter and seems to be doing well.

The cape gooseberries i fear are succumbing to nematodes despite fairly ideal preparation

Planted seeds

Jujube

curry plant

Syzigium cumini (Jambolan) we have one around the side of the house fruiting now and the seeds must be planted fresh, which is common for many rainforest trees.

chinese greens.

Jambolan above

Planted bush tobacco in any spare spaces - i have an idea that i might make a nicotine spray out of it and see how it works on grass hoppers - which are the next wave of pests to expect after this rain - oh and the caterpillars in many and varied variety.

i shall keep a close eye on the grape vines as they can easily be defoliated in a matter of days by big caterpillars.