Weekend garden surprises

cardamom flowers in Brisbane

Working full time generally means only a cursory glance at my plants, as I run out to feed the chickens in my pyjamas, before heading off to work. If I'm lucky, and the crane that gets me out of bed on time is operational, I might even fit in dog-poo-pickup before I have to jump in the shower. Yes, you guessed it: I'm not a morning person.

The silver lining to this, is that by the time the weekend has come around, some magical transformations have taken place in the backyard during the week and I am rewarded with some lovely surprises on a Saturday morning. This weekend just gone was no exception. In between the washing, vacuuming and other chores, I took some time to smell the roses. (Ok, so that's really just a metaphor. Roses are lovely, and I did grow up in Victoria, but I now live in the subtropics and mainly grow edible plants!)
My first revelation over the weekend was discovering my cardamom was flowering, which I've read in Brisbane, is a rare delight. I believe it's even more unlikely for the seeds to set, but I live in hope; cardamom is such a beautifully fragrant spice!

This Arabica coffee tree deserves a medal

It's the first time I've ever grown cardamom, in fact, it's the first time I've grown many of the plants I now have in my backyard. I guess that's what makes all the new developments so exciting. New shoots, new flowers, new seed pods, new tastes. They're all part of the wonder I experience weekly in my own backyard. And just when you think you know what's going on, another surprise...

To my amazement I noticed my arabica coffee trees now have a reasonable quantity of buds! On several branches, on each tree!! Just when I thought they weren't doing well enough against my fence line and I was mentally gearing up to move them into a sunnier position, away from the environmental weeds (Chinese Elm) that border my non green-thumbed neighbour.

I cannot wait to harvest this small but worthwhile quantity of beans. What's probably most noteworthy however, is that one of the three of my Arabica coffee trees has quite a history. It really should get a medal for bravery.

This coffee tree lived with me in a former life at a rental property and was hastily and brutally dug up, under my instruction, by an ex-boyfriend when I moved. It had been growing under a large Eucalyptus and to survive it had developed a long, single root, supposedly to try to compete for water. Unfortunately, during the assault that was the digging up process, this single root was cut off in order to extricate it.

The poor thing then spent about a week out of the ground, because I was too busy unpacking, and once planted, lost every single leaf and stood for 12 months as a bare bunch of sticks. I kid you not. A good 12 months. Bare. Alone. Not one leaf. And then one day, you guessed it: SURPRISE! Leaves, new growth and the rest is history.... and now buds.


The last and perhaps sweetest marvel from my garden this weekend was the realisation that my espaliered peach tree had some decent sized fruit on it. At first I wasn't that excited, it'd had fruit before, but always with little wiggly larvae inside, which I'm guessing belong to the fruit fly. But let's face it, I don't really know. It's something Google and I will have to spend a bit more time on. (After all, fruit fly are not something you worry about climbing fruit trees in Victoria as a kid.....) 

peaches in the subtropics

But no! No larvae and only the sweet, sweet taste of homegrown produce. Who knew I could grow my own peaches?! And not just from any old tree, but one I have haphazardly shaped into a reasonable first attempt of espaliering. And how did I do that? Well,  weekend by weekend really.... but I'll tell you about that after I get home from work.