Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Post-hailstorm blues


Pot of nasturtiums -shredded


No, this is not a new laceleaf zucchini cultivar


Garlic completed flattened where the hail ponded

Some despondency today, after looking more closely at the damage done by Sunday's hailstorms. I've been at work since then, so haven't really had time (or the inclination) to do a proper inventory of the garden. Much shredded leafage, and some pitting of fruit, but since I'm not growing for export, this last won't bother me. All across the city, you can hear the lamentations and gnashing of teeth as gardeners discover their vegetables and fruits damaged. Hopefully they will stage a resurgence, (gardeners and plants) so best leave the stuff and hope for a better more clement summer from now on.


Thomas likes to sit on my kneeling pad, and gets on it every time I move off. The new non-black spot replanted.

On the bright side,this afternoon has been sunny, so I've got out and completed the redevelopment of the "black spot" I talked about in my last post. I decided to remove the lambs' ears after all, and have replanted with a row of Lebanese cucumbers (they will have a support), an odd cucurbit that self-seeded in the strawberry bed (might be a pumpkin?) and a row of chives at the front for decoration. I'll also scatter some coriander seed in the middle section of the plot, and hope for the best.
I'm also thinking about making some fruit wine this year. There's only so much jam a person can eat, and with the price of wine what it is, this would be an interesting exercise. (Although New Zealand wines get good press overseas, most of the cheap wine available here is not that good.) My dad used to make fruit wines from the garden and very nice they were too. Apricot and peach were particularly good, I remember. It's a good way of using the surplus, and even if I get only vinegar at the end, at least it will be my own vinegar!

2 comments:

  1. My parents made fruit wine at one stage. I remember it had quite a kick to it.
    Sigh on the hail damage. We had hail this afternoon, but it was small hail and I don't think did much damage.
    Sydney had winds of over 200 kilometeres in the same storm - which did do damage. Lots of it.

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  2. Fruit wine does have a kick! My dad's friend made sake once too, and they both became a lot more than tipsy on it. They never lived it down.
    Yes, I was looking at the pictures of the clouds over Sydney on our newsfeed a few minutes ago.

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