Storm schorm

We had another storm… I think I’m getting used to them.  They are quite unavoidable here on the wild west coast.  There was about four days when the wind howled a hooley and freezing cold rain came in sideways.  You could watch the squalls form out at sea and come in across the waves and pound at our window.  The strongest gust was 100 km, which is nothing compared to the worst we’ve faced in the past.  I did attempt to head out into the garden once, but it was just too strong, and I was worried I’d get blown away.

Fennel the Cat looking out over the stormy seas

When I say I think I’m getting used to them, I think it is more I’m numb to the effects on the garden.  In storms gone by I’ve shed a tear.  But maybe it is the time of year.  Maybe I’m less concerned about a garden on the edge of settling down for the winter and the peppers that had their leaves all blown off were on borrowed time anyway, due to the falling temperatures.   The sandblasted Kumara should have been harvested weeks ago, but their leaves were still a vibrant and lively green rather than the poorly yellow the signals the moment to dig them up and I was giving them a little extra time to fatten up.

I can’t complain about a healthy rainfall. The tanks are nice and full for a change.

If there was one crop I grieved a little for, it would be the peas – they really got the bash, even though they are tucked up inside the windbreak.  They were looking so good I wished I had taken a before photo.  But they are just peas and I have a million photos of a healthy looking pea row.  I also have more than my fair share of wind bashed pea photos, so I know they will bounce back, but not without a few losses.

The peas certainly look like they have been involved in some kind of struggle, but they’ll bounce back.

I am also distracted.  I have been up in Room Two of The Palace Garden putting the final touches to the hard landscaping in time for the next article deadline.   It had been hard work, but not in the sense of it being complicated, but as in hard graft with heavy lifting and a bit of digging.  This has left me feeling a bit stuffed, but with one foot after the other and a lot of help from Hubby the Un-Gardener the work will be easily done on time and then I can move on to the next phase of the project.

I guess now I need to do something with the windswept peppers, now that they have no leaves.

My lovely Handy Helper has been back, and I got her to just go back over everything she has already done.  Not because she had done it badly, because she had done a wonderful job.  It is just the weather has been so warm – prior to the storm, and with all the rain the weeds have flourished.  So while I’m up in The Palace, the garden would have raged out of control again, had I not had a willing hand keeping it in control for me.

My large sieve makes a handy box to gather up some of my supplies after a long day in The Palace Garden,

So, all in all, there hasn’t been anything significant to report from last week, except a whole lot of wind and rain, a whole lot of hard graft and a handy helping of maintenance.

Come again soon – I still get out into the garden every day, weather permitting.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)