an aussie in austria

We had some strange weather this year. Steady and predictable to begin with, then a delightful blistering heatwave, followed by some days in July that I can only describe as… cold. Cold as in the outdoor pool dropped back to below 22 degrees and I didn’t bother swimming for a week. The season finished well though, with late warmth going right into October.

All things considered, the garden did pretty well. And there was even a lovely sunflower as an accidental centrepiece.

I decided to delay planting outside this year, instead growing seedlings indoors – pumpkins and cucumber and zucchini. I’m not sure how it went so badly, but the cucumber died the day before I planned to plant it, the zucchini never grew, and the pumpkins produced only slim pickings.

Then I had to work hard to get all those things growing outside from seeds, and eventually did manage one cucumber, one zucchini and a handful of pumpkins. Sure, it’s enough, but not for the amount of effort I put in!

My snow peas flourished, as usual. It seems they’re the one thing that I can get right. After last year’s sweet corn disaster of only two… I managed to nurture 9 very good producing plants. Luckily it also coincided with Sammy developing a love for sweet corn – so we spent many a lunch time munching corn on the cob.

After the bitter cold days in July, we were rewarded with dry, warm weather and the tomatoes burst forth, ripe and juicy. And then I waited. Waited for the rain that usually turns them into a rotting mess. And it never really came… and they never really started rotting until the weather really cooled down. Hello spicy roasted tomato soup!

I made so many stir fries from broccoli, beans, silverbeet and zucchini that the family started saying no to a formerly favourite meal. So that went in the freezer. In fact, I’m still picking florets off the many broccoli plants… even to this week.

So, it was a good year in the end. The freezer is (over)full of soup and stir fry and strawberries, and the pumpkins are hanging with the apples in the fridge downstairs, next to the jars of fresh strawberry jam. With some late October warmth, I even managed to tidy up the garden to a reasonable, almost-Austrian standard. So I’ll be ready for the garden adventure next year.