Okay PLEASE forgive my dirty feet. I've just been for a surf and came home to an already wilting garden. It's been really hot here in Victoria and as we've been away, the garden hasn't been watered as much as I would have liked, nor has anything been tended as much as I'd like. And of course, no house sitter in the history of me getting people to sit my house has ever managed to follow the instructions to check the zucchinis EVERY day so they don't turn into marrows. I guess I can't hold that against them. But looks like I'll be having zucchini slice, zucchini cake, zucchini pasta ribbons, zucchini stiry fry, zucchini fritters and everything else zucchini for the rest of my life.
Then there are the beautiful yellow butter beans. I'm already planning tonights dinner - a salad of steamed beans with a raspberry, basil and jalapeno oxymel dressing, with some of the tiny cherry tomatoes coming out of the hothouse. With zucchini, of course. I'm thinking zucchini parmigiana. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.
The tomato garden is a mess. Yet another year has gone by when I haven't managed to fulfil my promise of pinching out laterals and tying up the tomato plants to have a neat tomato garden. And hidden amongst that lot are eggplants, cucumber and capsicum. Sigh. And it's literally too hot to get outside - I'm feeling dizzy with the heat and a little sick from it. I'll have to wait til it's nearly dark I think to get out and give it another good soaking.
As for the greenhouse, the chillis and capsicums are doing great in teh wicking beds but most of the other things are wilting and looking very sad. The basil is surviving okay, but my potted horseradish didnt get enough water - lucky I have some in two other places in my garden. Again, house sitters (as awesome as these ones were - my house was IMMACULATE when I got back - she'd even cleaned my oven and I hadn't cleaned my oven in six years) just couldn't keep up with what needed doing in the way I could. She did make me some lemon cordial though.
A few other things to mention (I simply can't go and take photos right now! I'll wilt!)
- The strawberries didn't pollinate this year. Someone said I should do it myself with a brush. Like I have time.
- The fruit trees are in their 'off' year but I am getting some nice japanese plums and some lovely apples.
- The pink yarrow is just gorgeous.
- Sooo much basil
- Lots of chamomile and mullein in the drying racks
- Calendula everywhere, spring onions everywhere - as they haven't been picked in three weeks I'm going to have to get out there and do that tonight when it cools down.
- Only one spaghetti squash survived, which is disappointing, as I got the recipe for cooking them with a lentil sauce just right last winter. I think there are six.
- Pumpkins doing okay, I think. A little wilted in the heat - hard to tell.
- Chickens got into my mugwort but half of it is still alive- fenced it off and scolded the chickens.
- Half of this year's baby chicken crop are roosters. Scolded them again.
- Nectarines are also doing well - thank goodness I netted half before Tassie.
Well, that's it for me for another week! It's going to be a hot and humid one, so I can only do what I can do. The new #gardenjournal challenge starts on February 1st with over 50 HIVE in prizes, thanks to 
Hope your gardens are growing well and not too hot or too cold, too dry or too wet!
With Love,
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