weeds a hoy

So after 5 weeks away i wasn't quite sure what to expect from the gerden - and i often purposely lower my expectations in preparation for disaster. However this time it was not so bad - just a lot of weeds. Such was my fervour to put it all back the right way again i didn't even stop and think to take a photo. Amaranth and love grass featured prominantly and while some things like the brocolli seedlings put up a small fight, other things growing from seed were swamped - like my coriander and fennel. The main reason for such a proliferation of weeds was the rabbit poo top dressing that i use which is not composted and so potentially full of weeds that get fed to them.

my other effort at the garden plot was much less weedy as we had used compost and everything looked quite decent.
At home the snake beans had gone to seed. Cape gooseberry had still not formed any fruit despite the flowers i saw before i left. however i did tast some cape goseberries on the beach near Lakes entrance where they grow wild.

mozambique maize

The weather as you might know continued to stay warm which means we still have grasshoppers and also means that my citrus trees are under the biggest fruit fly attack i have known. I've never seen them this bad and i think it may be due to a higher mean temperature this year and possibly made worse by the the warm autum and mild winter last year.  The ground is littered with fruit - quite heartbreaking really. Still not as heartbreaking for those who no longer have citrus trees - because of the grasshoppers they have citrus twigs and branches.

The shame about fruit fly in Alice is that we could easily get rid of them if the government was perpared to put in the resources. This involves releaseing sterile male flies. when these males mate with other females they also make them sterile. the whole process was trialled quite successfullly in eastside a couple of years ago to see if it would work - and it did of course. genetic studies also show that the fruit fly in alice was introduced from a single introduction with no other indication of subsequent reintroductions. What this means is that if they were got rid of - it is very unlikely we would get another reinvasion anytime soon.

the maize had patchy pollination but there are some half decent cobs which are still drying out.
The pigeon pea is up high and flowering, with some struggling to support some huge african horned cucumbers that were hiding in the Asparagus waiting to make their move when in was away.
Chines egreens , shallots and others grew well and probably need a top dressing of bunny poo.

pigeon pea

No baby bunnies are evident yet although i still live in hope that they are hiding out in their burrow waiting to suprise me one day . it wouldn't be the first time. Bunnies are back togeter now so i should expect another litter in a months time.

Bantam has been laying while we were away and no doubt will go broody any minute - then slowly waste away for the next 2 months or more. maybe we should get some fertile eggs this time?? That'll be a job for my clone i think.

Had some of our turkey lasy night marinated in rosemary and lemon and it was tasty but a little tough - maybe some longer stewing required? although the one we roasted whole was quite decent.

Great to be back home with our own food again!

cabbages -( the reason for the little cabbage on the right is gue to a pumpkin germinating and growing over it while i was away. i think you can just nice the pumpkin seedling in the previous blog post.)