Pink Nerine

The pink nerine is looking good.  This is the only colour in my garden.  Perhaps I need to look for a variety of colours to fill in the gaps in the flower beds.

some vegetables

The chillies are ripening, and I shall be harvesting them as I consider the chilli as a vegetable.  I slice chillies to add to a stir-fry.  This chilli has a sweetish flavour, making it a good addition to a salad.

This white squash hanging over my garden box can grow to the size of a dinner plate, when the skin would be tough like that of a pumpkin.  I pick it at this size when it is still tender and good for steaming or adding to a stir-fry or a soup.

This is what the squash looks like when left to mature.

The white squash growing habit is more like a zucchini, spreading along the ground.  I suppose the male flowers could be used as a vegetable but I have not had the time to do anything with them.

unexpected harvest

This is what is left of the six plums I picked from my damson tree this morning.  It was an unexpected find.  I was checking out my outside garden after my morning walk.  The area beneath the damson tree was quite untidy and as I pulled out a few weeds I saw a bunch of the plums.  I used to pick bags of the fruit from my old neighbour's garden in Alphington.  Before she sold her house a few years ago she dug up a couple of young damson trees that had grown from suckers and these trees I planted in my outside garden.  I saw some blossoms in spring and then nothing.  Imagine my sheer delight when I saw the fruits.  The fruit is tart but refreshing.  Below is a picture of the tree.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me when I made my discovery.

Red and white

Growing close together the red hibiscus and white crepe myrtle glow in the sunshine.  The hibiscus plant has been blooming very well this summer even though the stick like plant with hardly any leaves does not look strong.  I see the flowers through the window and they are pleasing.

A brilliant red hibiscus to brighten up any garden.

Crinkly white myrtle flowers to attract the bees.

Queensland Blue pumpkin

The only successful one of the few pumpkin vines in my garden.  It is the Queensland Blue. 

The pumpkin is resting on a plastic dish as I worry that it would rot if left sitting on the leaf litter.  I have to remind myself to feed the vine and I do pick the shoots to cook as a vegetable.

Summer flowers

This sunflower is surrounded by sweetbite tomatoes, which could be the reason it has not been attacked by the marauding cockatoos.  Fingers crossed this flower will produce seeds for next season.

A neighbour gave me a few gladioli corms and this one in apricot hue is the first to flower. 

I am considering myself fortunate to have this one flower from the dahlia bush.  In the past I would get masses of dahlias right up till autumn.  I have to find another spot in the garden with enough sunshine and not too many invasive roots from the big trees.

Violas in a pot to bring some colours.

The soil in this west facing bit of garden is not the best but compost and cow manure are helping the plants to produce some cheerful sunflowers and hollyhocks.

harvest

This basket of eggplant, zucchinis, tomatoes, capsicum and basil was turned into a delicious ratatouille.  A pity that the eggplant is slow growing.  There are flowers and baby eggplants but at the rate they are growing I will not be harvesting more till autumn.  The tomatoes have been providing us with juicy, sweet fruits of five different varieties.  The capsicum too is slow in producing more.

This year the flat peach harvest is small.  They have the sweetness of nectar.  I am thinking of putting in another tree and may start by digging a big hole and filling it up with compost to prepare the site.

The flat peach tree is small and I intend to keep it that way.  The soil where it is growing is very poor and I have built up the area surrounding the tree with compost and mulch.

This sunflower did not get a chance to mature and produce seeds.  A cockatoo snapped it off the stem and trashed the flower just for the fun of it.  I arrived too late.