Critters as Pets

A resident frog has spawned some tadpoles in an abandoned bucket. We suspect they are offspring of a dark green frog which hides regularly in our collection of empty plant pots.

Mosquito larvae also hatched in the same bucket, but I scooped them out. These are easily spotted as they wriggle in a haphazard, side-to-side fashion, unlike tadpoles which may swim in a more linear style. Tadpole larvae are also bigger and rounder, whereas mosquito larvae tend to be skinny and long. So if you spot mosquito larvae, get rid of them unless you like mozzies hanging around!

BABY GREEN TREE FROG

TADPOLES
I feed the tadpoles wilted lettuce leaves. (Microwaved for about 10 secs.) At first the tadpoles were only eating about half a leaf per day. But now they definitely go through more than a leaf per day. Chinese cabbage leaves also seem to work, although you have to nuke them for slightly longer than lettuce. The tadpoles are SO cute. They surface for air at regular intervals and blow bubbles with their mouths. They often feed while showing off their bellies, which are taking on a silvery-green colour. Evidence that these are frog tadpoles and not the dreaded cane toad.

(CLOSE UP) TADPOLES

We're also farming earthworms - finally! I bought these as juveniles & worm capsules. It has taken two months for them to grow into adults, and another two months for them to start eating worthwhile amounts of foodscraps.

I find worms to be quite awesome. They are the best thing on this planet for plants. We have harvested small amounts of vermicast from them. The plants which I put the vermicast on seem to thrive and have grown new shoots / buds / flowers!

First Fruits

After waiting for what seems like A-GES.. our passionfruit vine has finally started to fruit! We didn't even notice the flowers - we were away for a week - and one day while checking the trellis I noticed a passionfruit almost the size of a tennis ball growing! Very exciting.

PASSIONFRUIT

Our big guava tree has also started to fruit. Just one at the bottomest branch at the moment. My problem now is deciding when to pick it. It's about the size of my fist now, however, it's not showing any signs of yellowing, the skin is still quite green.

PASSIONFRUIT FLOWER

Having never eaten guava before, my boyfriend asked what it tastes like. Guava has the texture of a pear, with a similarly thin skin. However it has many small seeds on the inside. Being a yellow guava, our fruit should grow larger than the local cherry guava. The fruit should also be quite fragrant.. and hopefully sweet.

YELLOW GUAVA