In the garden

And gone is the cold spell! Yesterday was 37 degrees, today 38 and for tomorrow a prediction of 41 degrees.  For our area, everything above 35 gets tricky. You don’t want to be outside more then absolutely necessary and bush fire risk increases with every hot day. So far so good.

The veggie garden is still faring quite well thanks to a sprinkler on a timer. The fruit- and nut trees get watered with a wheelbarrow and a bucket, with some snack stops along the way...

After a couple of very hot and dry summers, the weaker trees and scrubs have all been weeded out. The ones that remain are real survivors, the ones I’ll be planting more of.
The toughest fruit tree, without doubt, is the mulberry. It thrives under all circumstances handling my neglect. Fruiting twice a year (!), the birds don’t show much interest, where the kids love the fruit and they grow from cuttings.

The first lime tree has provided us with a harvest this year. If the blossom is anything to go by we’ll have another good crop coming along. Other then the limes, the citrus trees are a bit hit and miss. They survive, but not really thrive, the roots are very delicate and the wildlife loves digging just there.

 Surprisingly, this Packham Pear is still trooping along. It will need a couple more years to grow into a real tree, but it’s coping with our soil, growing slow and steady.