I’ve been a bed mamma!

My seedlings were doing so well. And then I had to go away.

There was no-one close that I felt I could ask to look after my precious new-borns, so I did what I thought was the best…

Leaving them outside in north Queensland unawares of the weather conditions could well have led to a withering, desert-like drying, heating, cooking and scorching of all new life. As it turns out giving them a good drink, and then putting them in the bathroom in the relative cool, (yet unprecedented humidity) led to a moisture breeding, slowly drowning, mould growing asphyxiation! 😦 

This is my poor zucchini, and behind him my unrecognisable rocket!! Shadows of their former selves and their burgeoning glory!

I don’t watch the news, and I don’t read the paper, so I had no idea what had eventuated in my absence until I was nearly home. The pilot onboard my flight made a comment as we were approaching Cairns airport for landing; “lucky for us there has been a break in the ‘wet season’ for our arrival today”… WET SEASON!!! What wet season?!?! It’s not even November you muppet!!!

“FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND finally copped a bit of a soaking yesterday, with 213.4mm falling on Cairns Airport in the last 24 hours, smashing the October record. 

To put all that rain in context, that’s five times Cairns’ average October rainfall total (42mm), triple London’s average October (62mm) and more than the previous six months rain combined. On one day.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Cairns fell just 0.5mm short of the previous October 24 hour record rainfall of 213.9mm, recorded at the old Cairns Post Office on October 4, 1930. By 9pm this evening, Cairns had recorded 334.2mm of rain in 36 hours, making this our wettest October since 1930.”

Now that might have been alright if my plants were outside, although there’s a chance they may have been washed away altogether! Instead they were inside soaking up all that moisture, with no way of evaporating it off again! Even the Jiffy pots were starting to show signs of moisture degradation and mould growth… certainly not the kind of growth I had hoped they would foster!!!

You can just see the mould/ mildew/ furry stuff growing on the tops of these seedsticks! 😦 That’s the parsley still trying to do its thing! And yes it’s growing in a recycled tin can! I think they make great little pots! I cut a few slits in the bottom for drainage, but you could leave them intact (being really careful not to overwater) and then have them in the kitchen looking pretty (and shiny, or decorated by you/ your kids/ your inner artist!) with your most used herbs and all mess free!!!!

I did have one star that didn’t seem too perturbed by all this moisture however! My friend thai chilli. It remains to be seen just how happy Mr. Hot Stuff is, given that since I arrived home he hasn’t really made up his mind whether he’s going to continue growing or just stay this big forever! C’mon buddy, hold on, just like Yazz said, the only way is up…..