Hot and Hotter

It is hitting the warmer part of summer again, although we are not tippoing the 40s which is a releif. It was nearly a year ago that black Saturday happened, where fires ravaged parts of Victoria and so many lives were lost. I do wonder how far the safety measures have come since. At least today is not set be 46 degrees like it was on black Saturday, but it is still 37 degrees with winds of over 50kms an hour. Finger crossed all goes well for those in fire prone areas.

The balcony is getting a lashing from the wind and the sun makes it difficult for some of the softer plants (tomatoes not included!!!) I even chatted with me lovely neighbour about ti this morning and informed her that is was the wind, as much as the sun that was drying her pots out (she has a few herbs, some succulents and a chilli, love it!) I also love the fact we were both still in our pyjamas at 11 o clock on a Sunday morning (I suspect she has since changed, I am still donning the pink gingham, bedtime number) But the sun, nor my pyjamas bottoms are the hottest things on the balcony, this is:

A habanero. One fruit, fully formed and just waiting to ripen to a golden orange. There is another on the way, and hopefully a few more form over the weeks. The ants are wreaking havoc with pollination but it seems a few chillies have managed to escape. Not sure if this is one 'hot' I will embrace, at least not without donning the cooking gloves first!

Harvest Monday and it is 42.3 degrees outside!

It is hot, hot, hot, hot out there and yours truly was a little slow off the mark in moving the pots inside and into the shade covered section today. I waited until it was 43 degrees outside before performing this duty to protect all and sundry from the ridiculously hot Australian sun. Some pots, like the cucmber pot are too big to be moved, ever, not even if we get another 46.6 degree day. I did discover that an old sarong makes a great makeshift shade cloth when draped and tied between two tomato stakes. Here is a picture of my handy work. The ties used??? Old stockings cut up into useful sizes!

and here is a picture of the now barren part of the balcony, sweltering in the heat! At least it gives me a good excuse to sweep and mop it later this evening when it cools down.

Oh and note to self, next time you decide to run out onto the white-tiled balcony in this weather remember to put your shoes on!!! I don't think the soles of my feet could have burned any more if I was walking on hot coals (or in any event I don't think I'd made a very good firewalker)

Anyway enough about hot Melbourne days and onto much more sunnier (pun not really intended) horizons - harvests. Would anyone care for a martini? A martini of ripe tomatoes that is! My favourite flashing light martini glass that usually comes with me on picnics to swill champagne from was lying around the kitchen and I thought it would make the perfect vessel to contain a few of the ripened tomatoes. Apparently I even took it outside for a spin according to this photography!

Green Zebras, Black Russians and cherry tomatoes have been ripening indoors instead of on the vines due to the wilt. Here is the master collection of ripening tomatoes!

I also ate the L shaped cucumber! It was still pretty tiny but oh so very tasty.

I have had lettuce most nights, but this hot spell has killed off any chance of more. I will plant some once the weather cools slightly.

And now for the star of the show - the first ever balcony garden eggplant! I did pick him this week and he was just little bigger than my fist. I know that is small and he probably had a lot of growth left in him but with today's very very very hot and sunny weather I thought better to eat him now than when he is bigger but fried to a crisp.

I diced up the eggplant, along with a few baby zucchinis that never pollinated, and put them in a tuna pasta bake! Soooooooooooooo tasty.

If you want to see other harvests pop on over to Daphne's Dandelions! I am going to put my feet in an ice bucket and sit in front of the air conditioner thinking about snow.

Weather Patterns

Picture the scene. Warm, 29 degrees, glass of champagne in hand, lounging in a beer garden with three of my closest friends. Sounds like a lovely Summer thing to do? Maybe a Sunday afternoon? Well for starters it is not yet Summer here, it is spring, barely past middle Spring at that, and the champagne drinking in the beer garden was not on some random Sunday after noon but last night at just before midnight!!! It is definitely unseasonably warm here in Melbourne, days in the mid 30s and evenings that barely dip below the mid 20s. Ok so it is not as bad at the 46 degree weather we had last Summer, but it is definitely wierd for this time in Spring. Lovely weather for socialising, but less good for a newly-starting Spring garden. Indeed even worse for a garden that needs a. ferstiliser and b. thrip spray!


Maybe it was the champagne from last night but I succinctly remember hearing the barman say that today was only going to reach 27. Trusting his word over any online bureau of meterology (come on that would involve turning the computer on and I was far keener to believe the onset of a slightly cooler snap fed to me by the man with the drinks than bother to turn on my lovely new machine that early in the morning.) On this knowledge I popped out into the garden early in the morning (half seven is early enough for me thanks) and happily fertilised the tomatoes that were turning a hideous shade of yellow, added some seasol to the mix for extra luck and then pyrethrumed pretty much the whole balcony until the spray bottle ran out. This is acceptable to do in weather under 30 degrees. It was only when I wandered into uni and turned the computer on that I realised the barman had either fed me a line about the cooler change or was a little mistaken. Today is going to get to 31, at least, and probably more. The weatherman in The Age says its a tad too difficult to get it exactly right but it is more likely to hit the higher than the lower figure.

Hopefully the garden survives. The roots might burn, the leaves too. Who knows. Fingers crossed and toes crossed at present. In happier news the sunflower opened, pictures coming soon, and I found within it two ladybugs (I made sure the pyrethrum went nowhere near them.) On a second happy note while I was drinking my tea on the balcony I noticed a little native bee hovering on and ducking into the strawberry flowers. Luckily I didn't have enough spray left to get to those otherwise Mr Bee would be a dead bee. Loving that even in this hot weather the bugs are having fun and drinking their version of midnight champagne.