Summer heats here

Today was another smouldering hot summer day. This has been the third day in a row, with the temperatures in the high 30’s. The new wicker bed is holding up well, and now that we’ve put shade cloth over the top it should lose even less moisture and give the plants additional protection. I’ve planted the bed with peanuts that I’ve grown from last seasons harvest, some bell peppers that I’d struck from seeds when the original plants had started to die back, some climbing beans, a mixture of Blue Lake, Scarlet Runner, and a new type who’s name now eludes me. In addition to this we’ve added a couple of advanced zucchini and mini cucumbers yesterday that I’d bought as seedlings.

The potted flowers have suffered with the heat. I’ve been deadheading the cornflowers and the petunias are coming to the end. But today they played host to what seemed like hundreds of butterflies that chose today to take to the skies. Years ago we saw a swarm (I don’t think that’s the right term, but the only way I can explain the sheer numbers) of butterflies while bushwalking on Hamilton Island. Someone at the time told me they often hatch on the islands and fly across to the mainland. I wondered today when I saw these ones everywhere whether they had hatched on one of the local bay islands and made their way here.


Butterfly on the crucifix orchid.

The petunias taken two weeks ago before the heat really hit.

Finally got one sitting still on the Brunsfelia (commonly known as Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow)

The chooks have now been on the second wicker bed for approximately a week. They’ve already flattened most of the green manure crop that was planted in it, much faster than they dug over the first bed. Hubby has done some modifications today to the pen, adding some additional piping into the door frame to help block the gaps around the door further, making it harder now for any snakes to get in.

With the heat of summer comes the inevitable bush fires and the smoke from these provided a spectacular backdrop to tonights sunset.


Others watched the sunset too.