Summer Veggies

Just a picture of part of my veggie patch - about half of it in actual fact. I tend to grow things we use a lot of, vegetables that are hard to come by in the shops and things that are better freshly picked. In the photo there are four different kinds of beans growing up the fence, a variety of different beetroots, kale, eggplant, capsicums, chard, cucumbers on the trellis, sweet corn, spring onions, shallots and various herbs - several kinds of parsley and basil and coriander. In other parts of the garden there are tomatoes, more sweet corn, pumpkins, lettuce, pak choi and zucchinis and more herbs.

Ugly as it is the shade cloth is an essential these days.for many plants. When I started gardening many years ago we'd never even thought or heard of using covers in a vegetable garden. Now any leafy greens wouldn't survive the summer without it and nor would fruit like capsicums. Even the tomatoes get severely scorched if they are not protected. Our summers tend to be drier and hotter, too, and the shade cloth and mulching help to cut back on water loss and so make the water bill less frightening.

Those who have doubts about climate change are, I suspect, not gardeners because for those of us who've worked in the garden for many years the conclusion is as obvious as it is inescapable and the science confirms that it is happening. Whether it's all man made or partly cyclical the science shows we are at a tipping point. There's no doubt that human activities are contributing to what is happening and we need to act now to deal with mankind's part in what is happening. Who cares whether we're entirely responsible. We can improve things by acting to reverse or at least slow our contribution to climate change  While we quibble about details we're losing the opportunity to make this a better world for future generations.