The air has been changing of late. Although there have been some hot days recently, we have had a few cooler days this week, along with cooler nights. The fresher air tempted me to venture out into my garden last week, to survey the damage of a long hot summer on my beloved garden.

To my surprise, there weren’t too many casualties. The weeds were running rampant in parts of the garden, but were easily removed due to a recent downpour of rain, which had soaked the earth, enabling the weeds to come out with ease. I had feared that I had lost my Camellia Sasanqua, which seemed to have totally disappeared, however the weeds may have actually protected it from the elements as it seems to have remained unscathed!

On Sunday afternoon, my 12 year old son & I made a trip to our local nursery. Although still quite a hot day, my boy enjoyed ducking in & out of the sprinkler system set up at the nursery! We arrived home an hour & a half later, laden mostly with various herbs that we had chosen.  The late afternoon weather was extremely kind to us, cooling down beautifully so that we could plant all of our newly purchased treats!

So far we have planted new batches of thyme, sage, coriander, basil, dill, both flat leaf & curly parsley & my son’s favorite, chocolate mint! My chives, peppermint & rosemary plants had survived summers onslaught of heat. I have new plants of cherry tomatoes, a huge family favourite, & was thrilled to find a number of new tomato plants had popped up throughout the garden, where my son had stood to eat freshly picked tomatoes last year!

My lemon, grapefruit, lime trees all have the beginnings of small fruit on their branches & the pecan nut tree has an abundance of nuts on it, which are starting to ripen & fall from the branches now! The outer casing of the nut is easily removed by hand, then a gentle tap from a small hammer on the shell breaks open the inner shell & there you have beautiful, freshly grown pecan nuts!

The photo to the right is one I took just before Christmas, showing the green pecan nuts starting to develop. They have now turned brown & will drop from the tree when ripe. I have a delicious Pecan Nut Pie recipe, which I will be posting here shortly!

It is such a pleasure to watch the trees & plants grow in my garden & I am even more thrilled that the weather is now cooling down. Sunburned limbs are not a good look on anyone!

The simple pleasures in life really are the best. All I need is my garden tools, a fine day, a few new plants to add to my collection & I’m set! With the gentle sound of the wind-chimes rattling away in the breeze & the occasional visit from a baby Magpie or Pheasant Coucal, what could be better?