Autumn has arrived

Autumn is most definitely here, with rain and chilly wind, interspersed with fine days when the weather is actually warm, at least in the afternoon.

Mornings are damp, sometimes misty, and always chilly.

The tomato and zucchini plants had basically run their race for the year. Last year, we had a decent quantity of fine large green tomatoes that went to make chutney. This year, while there were still tomatoes on the vine, I didn't bother.

There were quite a few tomatoes left, but most were small, no bigger in diameter than a 10c coin (or a British 10p or US quarter), a legacy of the stupidly hot dry summer that we've had - it wasn't really until after the heavy rain at the start of March that they started to crop properly, and by then it wasn't warm enough for them to grow and develop. Their small size would have meant a hell of a lot of skin for a small amount of chutney, and given that I still have some one kilogram jars left over from last year, it didn't seem worth the effort.

So, in the bin they went.

And, after the possums decimated my seedling Asian greens I've started off another batch, along with some bought seedlings, for planting out in my newly cleared and manured garden beds.

Originally we had planned to leave for an eco tourism trip to South Africa this weekend. Clearly, due to both the Australian and South African Covid-19 travel restrictions, we're at home, where the nearest wildlife is the possums having raucous night time parties on the roof.

We are still planning on going to South Africa but when - who knows?