What Plants Are Withstanding The Heat?

I started this post last week and with all the news of the bushfires, kind of ran out of puff to finish writing it. Now, I'm finding the need to try and focus on day to day life a little more. It's not that I want to be callous or uncaring about what is happening in Victoria. It's just that I'm finding it so upsetting that I need to try and focus on life (rather than death). If you've been affected by the fires, please accept my deepest sympathies. It's a tragedy that no-one in this country will ever forget.

*****

I'm really putting my garden through the paces at the moment. Not only has it had quite a nasty heatwave to withstand, we also went and left it for 4 days. 40+C heat without water for 4 days would make even the toughest plant want to curl up and die.

So, what plants survived such difficult conditions the best?

Corn

The corn was already looking quite damaged from the heatwave so I went ahead and picked most of it before we went away. 4 days without water in the heatwave seemed to finish it off. Obviously not one of the hardier plants to grow.

Tomatoes

Those on the top side of the bushes have some sun damage and the plants themselves fell over a little more (we've learnt a new technique for staking them which we will employ next summer). They're still fruiting well and all in all, I'm quite proud of my tomatoes (and enjoying the harvest - yum!)

Squash

The plants pretty much all lay over but the actual crop survived well. I think we're nearing the end of these but I'm more than happy with the yield.

Cucumber

The one cucumber plant that I actually managed to get to maturity is looking a little sad and hasn't fruited at all over the hot weather. We may not get anymore from it.

Pumpkin

I have a couple of butternut pumpkins growing on the vine which aren't looking all that crash hot. Time will tell. No more flowers have appeared but the vine itself looks healthy enough. Whether we'll get more from it remains to be seen.

Strawberries

I don't think my strawberries would have survived another hot day. They were so dry and parched even with lots of water. They're hanging in there though we did lose all the fruit that was on them when the heat wave started.

Beans

I have tried so hard to get beans to grow and finally had one seed reach a decent seedling size. It didn't survive the heatwave. :(

Zucchini

My one zucchini plant that has survived pest attack is still alive. Not very large yet though.

Parsley

The parsley is no more. I'll have to start again with that.

Shallots and Garlic Chives

I'm not sure anything will kill these. LOL. They are looking a little browned off on the tips but other than that, they look as healthy as always.

All in all, we're hanging in there. My garden this summer isn't quite as successful as it was last summer. But still worth doing I feel.

September is Supposed to be Mild

I haven't been able to investigate how well my garden has survived beyond the precursory glance I gave it on Tuesday night when we arrived home. Yesterday morning when I woke up, I couldn't walk in a straight line and had trouble with dizziness. That morphed into nausea whenever I move my head very much. I think I have viral labyrinthitis again (had it once before). At least, I kind of hope that's what it is and that it'll pass in a few days. :(

Unfortunately the temperatures reached 36C while we were away. So much for Spring!!! :(

Anyway, my plants in pots were flagging it somewhat but in the actual garden beds looks okay. Not sure if the hot weather will affect the taste of the cabbages that are still in the beds. Time will tell.

I've watered what was in the pots and am hoping it will find a way to make a comeback from it's hot and dry treatment. I guess time will tell.

The good news from the garden is that the couple of strawberry plants that I've actually managed to keep alive in the front garden bed are flourishing and look like they'll produce a much more promising crop this summer. Fingers crossed because 1 or 2 strawberries at a time just didn't cut it for the family last summer.

Spring Has Sprung

Image via Wikipedia

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris’,
I wonder where the birdie is?

There he is up in the sky,
He dropped some whitewash in my eye!

I‘m alright, I won't cry,
I'm just glad that cows can't fly!

I LOVE that poem!!! :-)

And I LOVE Spring!!!

Just about every 1st of September I can remember has turned out to be a beautiful spring day. The sun is shining and my washing is swaying in the breeze.

It's a beautiful promise and hope of things to come. :-)

Just makes you want to get out in the garden.

So what am I doing here on the computer then????

Bye..... ;-)

Rain, Rain and More... Rain

If this keeps up, our August rainfall will match the total rainfall we've had for the rest of the year. Am I complaining??? NO WAY!!!!

Things have been looking incredibly bleak around here. The crops have been struggling. Our dams have been empty and the rainwater tanks scarily low.

The best part about this latest lot of rain is that none of it has been forecast.

Honestly, I think weather forecasters should all be sacked. What's the point in forecasting weather if you're really only making an "educated guess"? There is NOTHING more discouraging for a farmer coming off the back of drought after drought than to be told rain is coming and none eventuates.

So, here's the swimming pool in our backyard the other day.


And today it's raining again.

Apparently we need a quick inch now to run a decent amount of water into the dams. The faster the rain falls, the more the dams collect.

But slow or fast, we'll take it however it comes.

Let's hope it just keeps coming.

It would be sooooo nice to head into summer with water in our dams for a change.

Resilience

Do you remember how the heat wave we had about a month or so ago killed my parsley?

Well it turns out parsley is more resilient that I expected. I hadn't seen any of the plants go to seed so wasn't expecting any regeneration.

But look!!!!!

Somehow the parsley HAS resprouted in the pot with no intervention from me whatsoever. Hooray for the parsley!!! It lives to be eaten another day. :)

And in other "happy gardener" news. This is what it looked like here today:

Yes, we finally had some RAIN!!! About 5mm which is not enough (yet) for the farmers but will be wonderful for the garden. :)

So I'm doing a happy smiley dance today!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Last night it rained. Sometime during the night our power went out. Which meant the kids woke up. They don't like the dark. So we had no power but the garden got watered. Not sure how much rain we actually got but at least it's a little cooler now.

The corn is pretty much finished so I started pulling the stalks out. Need to start thinking about what I'll plant in that space next. I've been told broccoli grows well after a corn crop.

Heat Stroke

We have just had the most awful, hot, windy, feral two days here. My poor garden is suffering badly. I guess I can be thankful it's as late in the summer season as it is. I'm not sure what will come back and what will be finished.

I picked a cob of corn and the corn inside is rather shrivelled and sad looking. We've watered (but water is scarce as we haven't had much rain so I have to be careful) and I'll see if that makes any difference. At least we've harvested most of the corn but it is a little bit disappointing.

Some of my tomato plants look completely had it. I think it's the wind more than the heat. It's given them quite a bashing and is so drying.

Funnily enough the zucchini seems to have survived well. LOL. Although it is right against the fence and one lot has the corn in front of it so it's pretty well protected.

The pumpkin plant is looking rather droopy and some of the leaves look like they've died. I think it's still healthy enough that the plant itself will survive though. Time will tell.

I'll update in a few days on how things look. I *think* we're due for a bit of a cool change.

Would LOVE some rain though. It seems kind of crazy the way some places have had too much rain while we haven't had any.

We're completely on tanks and dams here (for the house, garden AND the sheep) so we're very conscious of water usage and long stints without rain. I think it's a good thing though. I'd like to see more people self-sufficient when it comes to water. I think it would greatly increase awareness of how much we use. I know my awareness has increased greatly since we moved here.