Pluvium, Ploughing and Paw Paws

I couldn't resist the alliteration.  Pluvium is (I'm pretty sure) the Latin for rain, and rain of course has filled the Lake.

The Lake is full of water after the terrific rain we've had this year, particularly in the last few weeks.  See for yourself how lovely it is.  This was practically the first good day we've had in about two weeks.

You can just see the office in the background.

Beautiful!

With a break in the rain (no complaints though, the rain was very welcome) John was able to plough in the green manure crop we sowed a couple of months ago.

This will enrich the soil and make the next crop (watermelons I think) just LEAP out of the ground.

And finally, my all time favourite fruit - paw paws.  They're not in the ground yet, but we've been nurturing them along in pots for months and months.

Recently a big patch was cleared outside the main vege garden.  There'd been lantana before - which in a way was fortunate as lantana seems to condition the soil. 

Rudi finished levelling and clearing debris from the site this week, so hopefully next week we'll get to plant paw paws.

You can see how lovely it's going to be.  Stay tuned.  We should get some spectacular photos of paw paws - not to mention eating them!

...of ducks, spuds & friendly bugs

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Wild Spring

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Son of the Thousand Dollar Zucchini

This is the story of how a zucchini is made by Mother Nature.  There will be many such in the Garden but this is the first offspring of spring of the Grand Thousand Dollar Zucchini which gives its name to this blog.

This is junior when he's just a twinkle in his Mother's eye.

A slightly different view of the beginnings of junior.

This is Mum.  You can see junior on the right.

A little friend comes to play.

And finally, junior is ready to fulfill his role in the world.

This is not the whole story of course.  But where does it all really begin.  When the lovely compost was made?  When the beds were first dug?  When the mounds in which to grow the zucchinis were made?  When the seeds were planted?  Or the first rain fell to swell the seed?  Or the first ray of sunshine coaxed the seed to sprout?  Or the busy bee carried pollen on its legs and belly and brushed it all over the flower/fruit?

Such a lot of activity in the garden at the moment - and most of it doesn't come from the humans.  You can almost watch things grow, you can almost hear them grow.  You can certainly hear the bees humming around the plants we've let go to flower so we can harvest the seed.

By the time this bee had finished with this flower it was so heavy it could hardly take off.

cheers for now
Norid.