Greetings Beloved Souls around Planet Earth! What a joy it has been to witness the (small) fruits of my labour of love. We are now in November, and I am certainly gearing up for the Summer (hopefully not scorching) here in the Southern hemisphere of the planet.
The several months that I have been here, Mother Nature has brought myself and Venus some freakish weather. I don't ever recall such a wet lead up to the Summer Season, as well as freezing temps that would be usual in the heart of Winter!
El Noor has been flooded out these last 3 weeks- with one night bringing in over 61mls of rain, with sheds flooded, and Venus coming to sleep inside, and as of this week, approximately 51 mls of rain over a 3 day period. This was followed by harrowing winds, freezing temperatures, having to pull out the thick pants and sweaters again (after storing them away for another year!) This weather is an absolute blessing to me. I have planted hundreds of seeds within these wet periods, and now, seedlings are popping up all over the place.
I've planted out seedlings directly into the soil, as opposed to starting them in germination trays. Needless to say, direct sowing has proven to be a great success, so less time consuming and a higher germination rate, and I will continue to do this method, even for the tiniest of seeds. Alyssum has sprouted in abundance via this method.
The smell of Alyssum is so wonderfully beautiful. I get wafts of this sweet, honey smelling aroma when I am out creating new garden beds, and the hovering flies absolutely love it, not to mention other little critters and insects. Its heart warming to see so much life being attracted to El Noor gardens, when in the beginning, I was lucky to even find an insect beside ants!
I've even tried my hand at growing some of my late grandmother's seeds, some as old as 1962!! Who knows? They may grow!
For so long I had been waiting to see bees throughout my gardens. When first arriving to my new property, I remember feeling sad not seeing hardly any insect life, especially bees, knowing how much they are an integral part of the cycle of life, but also knowing, bees won't come unless there is something to come to...so now, I am so pleased to walk out everyday, and hear the beautiful buzzing of bees...
It was a real eye opener to me having the thought of not seeing bees anymore in our world, a thought that I don't enjoy having, but could very much be a potential timeline in our future if we don't start cleaning up our act and taking care of our planet. Even a small garden is appreciated by the bees and insects!
We can all play a small part in this effort by creating gardens, planting trees, and then all of our collective efforts make up for the whole. Nothing to me is of higher importance. I know there is talk about 'humans going off world' but why? All we would do is replicate what we've done here. We need to solve the problems we have created, and reverse the effects they have had on our Earth.
Also planting akin to your own environment is important. I would love nothing more than to grow 20 durian trees here, but for my environment, they would never survive (unless I created the optimal growing conditions!) So instead, I grow drought & frost tolerant shrubs and plants for my environment, and so far they are not only growing but thriving. Above is some statice and some amaranth which is only just blooming.
Im totally blown away by the size of my first year white nectarines. For a small tree, I am warmly surprised by not only having fruit of my tree that I planted a few months ago, but to also have HUGE fruit! It seems to be very happy in its new home, and each of the grafts all have fruit on them (white nectarine, yellow peach, yellow plum, white peach) but white nectarine is the fruit thats almost ready (probably in a week max!).
Above is single-petal stock flower and the smell is hedonistic. Has anyone had stock in their garden? It's fantastic for attracting ladybugs that are great for handling aphids if you have them. It is extremely easy to grow, and I have plenty of seed if you are interested in purchasing them.
Some white sweet Pea is also perfuming my gardens, this is an annual so the smell is amazing! Everlasting sweet pea, which is a perennial, does not smell like annual sweet pea. Also very easy to grow.
My roses are starting to blush out and flower also! This is Soeur Emannuelle which has a very musky, floral scent. It is a climber but can be cut back as a shrub. This was one of my first bloomers here at El Noor.
This rose is a hybrid tea taken from my mother's garden as a cutting! It has a really strong root system, and also a beautiful floral/peach scent. A very strong rose that has grown very well here.
The amount of water in one of our local dams is staggering now. I've had some friends visiting from England and with them, they brought the rain! They were adamant about staying at this dam last Sunday night, despite whipping winds and a very heavy thunderstorm coming in from the North, so I left them to it and got in my car before I got hit by lightning.
I managed to take a couple of pics of the impending storm before I got washed out. My friends who have never been to the Outback were making a risky decision! They were only staying in a camper van…and I said to them whatever they do, to stay on the ballast road and to not veer off. I had to push their van out earlier that night as they drove into clay. 2 wheel drive + clay + spinning wheels = disaster!
The lighting was extraordinary. I had seen the storm coming on the map and it was going to be a cracker.
Once the storm hit, it was ferocious... with gale winds and heavy downpours of rain and lots of thunder & lightning. I had visions of this tiny camper van swaying on its axles in the wind and getting totally flooded out.
Before I left, I mentioned to them “If they hadn’t come back to my place by 10am, I would come out and look for them” …they couldnt call because there’s no phone network.
Needless to say, I was relieved when they arrived at my house at 8.30am, telling me after I left, they were getting thrown around so much by the storm that they drove back to the local caravan park and stayed there the night….
Venus was relieved too...
Lots of colour and life is springing up all over the garden now. I hope this encourages anyone that is thinking of planting a garden to start now. You don’t have to be a gardener ‘know how’ or even have tried it before. Learn your own environment and plant accordingly. All you need to do is provide the soil and water, and the love and let Mother Earth do the rest.
I promise you this—its a wonderfully rewarding feeling, to garden. It feels good to be working with the Earth and allowing her to live to her fullest potential. The reward is worth more than any money in the bank, I assure you. When all else disappears in the world, the one thing that will still sustain us, is a garden.
I think the human population is slowly recognising another currency of the world —far more valuable and worthy, and that is seed. Seed can change our future, reverse our environmental damage and yes, create a Golden Age on Planet Earth.
Nothing feels better than creating life, and reaping what one sows. A flawless symbiosis. It's the most intimate, soul enriching experience one could experience. I hope this inspires you to grow a garden, or in the very least, plant a tree.
Until next time,
Blessings & Radiance,
Andulariah
~*~