in the garden

mid autumn...

 a busy time. while others may start winding down their gardens for the cooler months, now is the prefect time for growing in our area. the days are still warm enough to promote fast and healthy growth and often with night there comes a dew that helps to keep up the moisture content of the soil. calm soft breezes and sunny days provide great growing conditions. another bonus during the autumn months is the lack of hungry bugs and birds around although i am always on the look out for the snails.

it has still been quite dry here and we are so fortunate to have plenty of water. our garden is lovely and green and the lack of shady trees not so missed at the moment.

i have grown plenty of seedlings from seed this season and with a top up of seedlings from the nursery the vegetable beds are full. we have all sorts of asian greens, broccoli, rocket, lettuces, carrots, leeks, coriander, beetroot, kale, spinach and silver beet, radishes, dill (to be used in wonderful fish soups this winter, yum!) dandelion greens, parsley, chives and celery. the only plants not doing too well are the peas, they all sprouted so well but have since gone yellow and some have even died. maybe the salt air is not agreeing with them.

plenty of garlic has been planted and is just poking their sweet little green spears through the soil. last year we had a wonderful harvest of around sixty heads of garlic. i have used some of that harvest and planted out over 140 cloves this year. as we still have quite a bit left i am hoping it will see us through and we won't have to buy any. after this year's harvest we will surely have enough for our family for an entire year.

thinking of my daughter's love of picking flowers (oh and mine too!) i have planted many seedlings of flowers. i have no idea when these will actually be flowering. it will look wonderful if they all flower at once however that is unlikely, i think. i am never that clever. larkspurs, ranaculas, poppies, sweet william, pansies (which the snails ate for dinner one night), stocks, sweet peas, marigolds, cornflowers and nasturtium. seeds of hollyhock, tobacco plant and cosmos tossed to the wind, i care not where they choose to grow, just hoping they fill the garden. 

it has been such a happy time for me in the garden of late, i am much more grounded with my hands in the soil. slowly, slowly it is improving, the soil holding more water, full of worms, the grass cover helping to create a small cooling micro climate keeping the dust down, the weeds becoming fewer with each passing season.

i am trying hard to make my peace with this little plot we have right now and not expect so much from it, to work with it and to simply enjoy it.

harvest

there's not a lot growing in our garden at the moment.

the wind is ferocious most days, it hasn't rained for months (literally), the sun is harsh and at times there are so many flies that gardening isn't a pleasant experience.

i have been trying to get seedlings growing but either they wilt in the sun or their leaves burn to a crisp or the birds peck the leaves until they are full of holes or they scratch at the ground around the plants and cover them with a layer of mulch. if thats not enough to kill them then they are sure to be eaten by any six legged insect that comes along.

yesterday we planted out some more lettuce seedlings, along with basil and parsley and planted bean and corn seeds. i have bits of string tied all around with little bits of tin foil wrapped around the string to hopefully deter the hungry birds. so far it seems to be working.

we do have some nice tomato plants going though and we picked our first tomato a few days ago so that was exciting. we are picking some delicious strawberries but the plants are looking a little grim so i think some shade over them might help.

and the garlic harvest was fantastic this year. the best i have ever grown i do believe. over sixty big fat bulbs of perfect garlic. hopefully it will be enough to last a good part of the year ahead. i have cleaned up all the bulbs and had a go at plaiting them back they don't look right so they will probably just hang in bundles... when i work out where to store them.

summer's nearly here so the good news is there is only a few more months of this harsh weather to go... and then ahhhh! autumn!

rowan and oak

how exciting!

today i have kindly been asked to guest post over at rowan and oak. i talk about growing my own food and keeping the desire going when harsh climatic conditions are working against me.

head on over to check out amber's lovely blog.

sunday

sunday.

sunshine and chickens.

what a lovely day today was

a bike ride to the playground

morning tea in the winter sunshine

home for lunch in the garden watching the chickens 

long nap time, always good!

afternoon tea in the sun... watching the chickens... again.

a beautiful winter's day.

can you believe it is winter and i still have sunflowers? they have been great. i threw some seeds around in late summer not expecting them to come up but they did. then i didn't expect them to flower but they did. we sit on the lawn and peel off the outer husks off the seeds and eat one at a time. it makes me feel healthy. 

growing below the sunflowers are some self seeded tomatoes. a few have started ripening, also unusual for this time of year. the little one eats them all, it makes me happy.

out in the garden

 

there's not much happening in our garden at the moment.

looking forward to the cooler, milder days of autumn so i can get stuck into it again.

summer is just too harsh where we live to grow much.

we do have some lettuces to pick, zuchinnis that are nearly ready, plenty of basil, silverbeet and parsley so at least there is something.

oh and we have rhubarb, which is doing well and looking fabulous, maybe its the little bit of protection it gets from the wind. will cook some up very soon. love it stewed with apples and having a little yogurt on top once it's cold.

our tomatoes have finished and the chickens are in a makeshift pen digging up that patch to get it ready for the next crop.

had a nice little bit of rain the other night which always makes the garden so much nicer to be in. oh come on autumn days!

tomatoes

we have been picking quite a few cherry tomatoes from our five plants.

sometimes there are too many to eat that day and we freeze some.

i love being able to pull them out of the freezer months later when the tomato season has finished and pop them into a pasta sauce, no thawing required.

jess has been enjoying taking all the little tops of and putting them into the bags.