Where oh where have my vegetables gone?

I returned from helping my girl with her new bub a week ago today and am still getting back into routine again with my work in the garden. Before I left it was very dry and I was hoping that the zucchinis, cucumbers and other vegetables I had planted would survive the dry days. Well....apparently it rained quite a lot during the three weeks and when I took a walk around the garden the next day after arriving home, I was greeted by a jungle instead of my nice and neat veggie patch. 

There were tomatoes, potatoes and cucumbers everywhere! I couldn't believe it.

Of course, it was all the Storm Birds' (Pacific Koel) fault as they have been calling out for rain for months now :-)

 

 At least we were able to find out what four plants were that just appeared out of nowhere before I left as neither the CEO nor myself had planted anything in that section of the patch. After pulling out a lot of weeds I discovered that they were rockmelon plants and considering we had already planted rockmelon in another section of the garden we are going to have a glut of the fruit in the future.

While it has been great to have so many wet days now we have a problem with powdery mildew on the zucchinis which need attention so I will try some of the remedies from Kelly's Natural Pest Control workshop.

Also this little critter is enjoying himself on the leaves as well. Is it friend or foe...can any expert gardeners identify it for me please?

We have two areas where the figs are growing and this lot on one side of the garden is covered in pests while on the other side the figs are growing pest free. Neither are in the shade so I have some research to do about growing figs. Last year we covered the figs to protect them from the flying foxes and got quite a good crop without having to contend with any pests but it was much drier then as well.

Beans are growing on the fence right next to the figs and are healthy and growing quite prolifically despite their pest ridden neighbours.

 

When I left there were a few dahlias growing which didn't look happy due to the lack of water but now they are blooming everywhere and are putting on a beautiful show.

 Don't they look fabulous?

This is one of my favourites as I love the 'striped' ones as they are so unusual. The dahlias are the CEO's department as he does whatever you do to develop different colours. Some are quite stunning I must admit. 

I have soooooo much preserving to do so need to get my QCWA Style Cucumber Pickles recipe out and just get stuck into it. All I need is the energy to do it as I am still recovering from being on Baby Watch :-) I can't complain as my girl is still sleep deprived because bub sleeps a lot during the day and then is awake at night. Isaiah James is only 18 days old so there is plenty of time for him to learn that nights are for sleeping (don't tell my daughter I said that though).  I am sure the feeling of being sleep deprived is familiar to all those mums who are reading this. We do survive even though at the time we often wonder if we will.

 I hope everyone has a great week and that any readers in South Australia and Victoria who are near the bushfires are keeping safe. Let's all pray for rain for those areas before any more damage is done.