THE UPSIDE OF ISOLATION

As I stare at a month of isolation from work, I’ve started re-reading old issues of Gardening Australia magazine, and today I picked up the July 2013 issue.

My experience could not be more remote to Michael McCoy’s ruminations regarding the downtime in the garden afforded by winter in the south. Here in tropical Cairns, we live for the autumnal change that Easter brings. The days still hit the early 30s, but with so much less humidity, and the nights take on a crispness that sends you looking for

the cover of a sheet. During spring and summer, the humidity reaches drenching heights, even when it’s not raining, and makes working in the garden a harrowing event. This is when we find ourselves sitting limply on the verandah, watching the garden become an ever-encroaching jungle, with no more willpower than is required to lift a cool drink to one’s lips and an icy cloth to the brow.

But now it’s April, and with time on my hands, it’s into the garden! Vegie gardens have started popping up in every suburb, and seedlings are the ‘in’ purchase, after vegie soil and toilet paper. We are lucky that a very keen gardener in the family started sowing early, so our small vegie garden is now in full swing. Now that

I’m home, I’m opening up the jungle at the bottom of our large property to really get the kitchen garden geared up. It’s hard, backbreaking work, but I can see that the soil is excellent and holds a lot of promise. Large, empty vessels that have been lying around the yard for years are taking on new life as containers.

We are all enthused. We can sow a dizzying array of herbs and vegetables over the cooler months – that’s when our tomatoes and soft greens come into their own. We still have to go to the store for cool-climate brassicas, but everything else is on our list: corn, peas, beans, pumpkin, lettuce, rosellas (my husband’s jam could win Best at Show), eggplant, passionfruit, spring onions, and an abundance of herbs and bee-friendly flowers. What we don’t grow, we swap through the Food is Free project within our neighbourhood.

So, instead of spending my month of isolation cleaning the house, starting that tedious painting project, filing the bills, and worrying about staying safe, I can mix it all up with a huge dose of fresh air and aerobic exercise, with a magnificent treat in store at the end: our own delicious home-grown vegetables and herbs.

Sue Day, Cairns, Qld