Well, this winter has been very wet with both rainwater tanks overflowing- that’s 210,000 litres worth of rainwater storage! We are really pleased, as this sets us up well for summer, and this is our only source of water for the house (we have a bore for the grounds). The downside of all that rain is that the gardens are waterlogged! The amount of water, along with some extended frost (we got down to minus 3, followed by a few days of minus 1/minus 2) means several of our fruit trees and garden plants have really suffered.

We lost a heap of passionfruit, with the unripe fruit dropping off from the cold, and it looks like the vines are lost too! In addition to that, the quail pens have had a regular drenching. So, as in ‘there is never nothing to do’, we have rethought that area. We plan to move the quail pens so we can roof over the top, and have planted out a new passionfruit area alongside the tank. We are hoping the tank will help reduce the risk of frost, plus bought more frost resistant plants (Panama red and Panama yellow).

Despite netting both mangoes and the sapodilla to help protect them from the frost, as they were very seriously set back a couple of winters ago, the leaves have not survived the extended frost we had this year. Fingers crossed they bounce back- we did enjoy some hope grown mango last year so we are keen to nurse them along!

The guava has also really suffered! It has never done quite as well at McCarthyPark 2 as it did in the old place, which is such a shame… but again we are hopeful!

Like in ‘setbacks’, at times it feels like one step forward and two steps back… and if the trees don’t bounce back in spring/summer we need to seriously consider ripping them out and replacing them with more frost hardy trees. We would be reluctant to do so though, given we brought them to McCarthyPark 2 as already mature trees…fingers crossed!