Rain and Summer growth

The wonderful thing about living in the tropics despite the sometimes unbearable humidity, is this time of year, it rains like crazy and then the sun pops out and everything grows. Hooray for that. Tonight as I drove my son to work we could see rain being made in the hills at the back of our place, as the temperature rises after rain , the water in the rainforest evaporates and forms clouds over the trees. This is our next lot of rain being made, if we chop those trees down - it wont happen. Nature is very cool but we need to respect it and nurture it.

Our garden is taking shape slowly but surely some of our newly planted trees have actually developed into trees! and others are quietly getting there in their own time. The grass is green again now, for a long time everything was brown, as we didn't have rain for a while, but things are back to their beautiful tropical green again.As the thunder rolls around the hills.

I've made myself a new pot stand out of the old BBQ i got online for 15.00; turned out you had to pull it apart to light it so i figured it would make a pretty good pot stand if I removed the workings of it and just used the frame. I will probably paint it to brighten things up and give it a layer of protection.  and will  also be using recycled dog food cans to plant some veggies in . Its quite strong and is an excellent height for potting so is ideal.

not very glamorous at this stage but I will get to that, now's not a great time to paint things.

Looking forward to Spring and Summer

I've been reading about the goings on in gardens across the US and must admit I'm getting a little bored with winter and am looking forward to the warmer weather.

While I have been pretty busy in the garden and have planted several new fruit trees and planted quite a few veggies etc, now I am impatient to see them grow and flourish. So I can reap the benefits. I have grown cauliflowers and broccolli over winter but have been sadly disappointed I did all the right things i think, i watered and fed them, weeded and tended them and have a huge crop of .......leaves. But alas no caulis, or broccollis'. My Bok choi was great .

Any thoughts or advise would be greatly appreciated.

The Ranuncullis' have stared flowering which is a definite sign that spring is on its way and the days are getting sunnier and very windy too. Our French friends have been painting away and now the house is a sunny yellow with a green trim it looks a lot cheerier than before. Its amazing the difference a fresh coat of paint makes.

Roll on spring. As usual comments and feed back are greatly appreciated.

Introduction to Permaculture

Tomorrow I am going to attend the first part of this Permaculture course with http://www.veryediblegardens.com. If you're living in Melbourne and have an interest in Permaculture, growing your own veggies and want to get in touch with like minded people their website is well worth a visit. They run courses on no dig garden beds, keeping chooks, how to make worm farms and all sorts of other things.
An Introduction to Urban Permaculture
Duration: Two days


Permaculture is a broad design system for building sustainable human habitats, drawing inspiration from patterns in natural systems. Topics covered in this course include context and an introduction to permaculture ethics and design principles, illustrated with topics relevant to home food production and frugal resource use, such as garden design, water catchment and use, urban animals, companion planting, caring for soil. Includes case studies and design examples. Hands-on activities include marking out contours on slopes and making a good compost pile. The course material is broken up with illustrative games and group work. Participants receive a handout covering all the topics on the course and a certificate of completion. The course caters to backyard permaculture but also encourages people to look outside the home for opportunities and resources in the community, to visualise how we can create a healthier and happier urban environment. Also information about how to get involved in the Permablitz network.