Our new rural life in Noosa means we are the proud growers and gatherers from our new adventure - The Vegetable Patch. Moving from Sydney, this was our picturesque, country lifestyle dream!
In this dream life we imagined growing sunflowers to shine over what would be our Garden of Eden. Yes! We had grand plans and those giant sunflowers would be the crowning glory of our vegetable garden dream! We couldn't wait for them to grow and when they did, well, that big, beaming face of yellow sunshine was just too gorgeous to be true.
There is just something about sunflowers. They create such a stunning, happy view. We grew them from seeds and felt a motherly love for our new friends..It was all just so perfect on the hill...
Then today...tragedy...
Our morning walk to the vege patch gave us a nasty surprise...That beautiful face of sunshine & joy had been hacked off and eaten. Its mane of yellow flowers munched on..It’s happy face pecked into..Two of our Giant Sunflowers had been attacked!
The harmony was broken, my idealism shot! This could happen to a sunflower after waiting so long to see its big happy sun shine, something could just damage its beauty only a few days old and take our joy away? It's wild out here and in the land of Sunflowers and idealistic farming dreams- we are a little unprepared and always in for a shock...
Today I ran into a friend who commiserated with our Sunflower massacre event and explained they had to cover their stunning sunflower faces in plastic bags!??? What!?? Not quite the picturesque dream I was hoping for! So now in our garden their lopsided sunbeams greet us with the message that anything can and will happen in the garden, reminding us it's just not meant to be perfect and to really enjoy the beauty of what is in front of you now - It might just be stolen or eaten tomorrow!
It's not all bad news though here from the patch. Our gorgeous Zinnia is in flower - a riot of purple magic in our sea of green.
These flowers may be too dreamy perfect but the rest of the patch? Well it's all gone kind of wild. I would love to tell you it was some kind of experiment to see what would happen if we let it run free? How much would flower and what would thrive?
But...I admit, the real reason was a trip to Sydney for a too fabulous party and a catch up with the girls. It seems you can't do that if you're a farmer and now my manicured vege beds are overgrown, bolted and out of control. I do plan to take charge soon, but it is really such a lovely mess...
Cherry Tomatoes tendrils have latched lovingly onto towers of rocket and sunflower stems..No trellis needed in this wild garden..
The corn didn't make it but what is thriving grows over it - it's an ever-changing picture of life we love to wander through each day...
I realised today a garden is a piece of art you can create that is a constant moving canvas. Never ceasing to inspire and amaze..
Just like this little village of beans - a miniature world of food..
Our cucumber vine climbs steadily up over the trellis. I never knew cucumbers had spikes when they grew? The cucumbers enormous...
The Zucchini’s are monsters...
The lettuce unpicked has become a triffid like tower with a flower like crest - I love what happens when you let it all go...
It’s a living salad with a random Ginger plant that has broken through
Pulling Bok Choy leaves to use in our stir fries was a golden moment but now..Anyone seen a Bok Choy Flower? Well here you go...Our Bok Choy hearts grew skyward and it all looks like something new...
So our sea of a vege patch is abundant and chaotic and we ramble through it finding cherry tomatoes in the undergrowth and maybe under that pumpkin vine a pumpkin...
Today may have been the scene of a sunflower crime but it was also the day we found our first Ginger Flowers of the summer...
Tropical passionfruit growing on the vine..
This garden is always moving and changing and yet somehow magically reassuring.
It's so beautiful and alive. It's said if you want to fall in love forever, start a garden....although I might add, don't get too attached to those sunflowers...
So now I know what happens when a vegetable patch goes wild and now on our minds is a much bigger defence plan. It's time we started thinking we need a Scarecrow for this garden!
Except they all look kind of scary..Which I guess is kind of the point. Ours would have to be female and beautiful. A kind of rustic farmer life size doll. Just a small new challenge in our rural adventure here on the hill!
Does anyone out there have any tips for making a beautiful scarecrow? The joy in life is finding yourself doing things you never imagined you would do...
No comments:
Post a Comment