New Year, new challenges

I cant believe it has been nearly 12 months since I wrote anything on this blog.... anyhow, I shall begin again, a new year and new dedication to at least writing now and again....

So much has happened - we brought  another house at the end of 2015 and moved in over Christmas 2015/2016, I then took on a new role at work from May which has basically kept me flat tack for the rest of 2016.  

Sewing madly for my markets has also kept me on my toes, but its been a good but hectic year.

My reading has gone downhill in 2016 but I do now have a garden, which is lovely but daunting - 2 acres of it actually - well 1 acre is reclaimned rainforest and the rest tropical gardens and lawn.  We now live in the hills around Cairns (Kuranda) and commute down the range each day to work.

Work has meant there has not been enough time in the day for too much gardening and planning but now we are settled in and generally the house sorted, 2017 is the year to really start planning our edible garden and get stuck into it.  I had some success in the dry season with beans and tomatoes but much else got eaten by birds or just failed to thrive.  I am not sure what I am doing wrong - this tropical gardening lark is testing my patience.  So need to source some good advice from locals about how I can tackle my gardening problems.

Here are some photos of the house and garden.  This is the vegetable garden once I had cleared it of weeds and planted out in pots - the soil is clay so I am trying to break it down before planting in it as things are just dying if I plant direct at the moment.  This patch is now overgrown again and needs clearing out and compost and mulch laid again.

 Enclosed vegetable garden with lemon tree (about March 2016). Unfortunately bandicoots still get in and dig things up - constant battle with wildlife here.

 Pineapple corner - I have a few more planted in this area now.

Luscious tomatoes until the sunbirds realised they could get tasty treats from the bushes.

I'll write more soon about my bookish aims for 2017 and more garden and creature encounters.