RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN, PLEASE!

Sometimes a thundering sound proceeds the rain - you can hear it long before the first drops hit the ground. It sounds like a fast approaching underground train.

Roses love the rainy season, this was taken in April 2009.

Over the years the garden has formed its own character. In places, it is quite formal. But there are also wild patches where a jungle forms very quickly, if it is not constantly weeded.

This is noticeable especially now, during the rainy season. As soon as the sky opens, everything becomes alive. Suddenly, tired and dry looking grass bursts with the deepest green colour, dead looking trees, shrubs and bushes decide to live again.

It used to be pretty much a rule here in Lilongwe, that the rains would start in mid-November. We would then have a heavy downpour almost every afternoon until end of February and then gradually, less and less until the rain would stop altogether at the end of April/beginning of May. But this pattern has changed in the last five years or so. We can now expect to have the first real rain in early December.

The rain, or lack of it, causes a great deal of anxiety in Malawi: there is either too much/too little/it's only in certain areas or it has stopped and there is a threat of a drought or crops being destroyed. On the other hand, riverbanks burst and houses collapse because of heavy rains. The rains are also very localised: it can rain buckets quite close to the house, and not a drop where you are standing. Usually one rainy season is enough to get a domestic garden going. Two seasons and it will be well established. This was certainly true with our garden.

You might think that this would be the ideal time to plant flowers and vegetables, since there is plenty of water (if you are lucky) and the soil would be nice and soft. But no - according to experts, all planting should be done before the rains start. If you start digging now, you might destroy the soil structure.

I have also never been very succesfull with vegetables in January-February. Usually, there is just some lettuce, perhaps the odd eggplant and green pepper growing. Fresh herbs are another story - plenty of those (right now lemongrass, mint, parsley, rosemary).

In a couple of weeks time it will be time to start preparing the vegetable garden. This year, I am also planning to establish a container garden and I have a perfect spot in mind: just behind the kitchen...