Harvesting!

Love it! There is nothing as good as going out to the garden and coming back with an armful!
I went and pulled some carrots this morning (1 kg with the tops trimmed) and half a kilo of cherry tomatoes of varying sorts. Dont they look good?


Carrots are for my Mum and Sister
 

On Sunday I cut some of my rosemary where the "branches" (do I call them something else??) had started growing roots and transplanted them in a bed along the back fence. I read that rosemary can be grown like a hedge and this is what I am going for. That particular bed keeps getting over run by Brides Veil, a thin grass runner and I can not keep it out, so I am going to let the rosemary takeover - with a bit of help from moi.

Rosemary after her cut



Two new rosemary plants

Since Dave is making my new vege bed I can afford to give up that spot. I would like to be more organised this winter and have us eating solely out of the garden for our vege. This means more planning and less dreaming about the garden!

Summer

Summer is certainly here! We have had some really hot days here, well at least for us! Inverell usually has much milder weather and I am hoping that there is only another couple of weeks of the stifling heat and humidity to go..... really hoping. Got into the car at Tamworth yesterday and it said it was 36 degrees celcius. That's hot.

But it also got me thinking about what reminds me of Summer. For me it is watermelon, sprinklers, cricket and tennis on the telly, tomatoes, zooper doopers, sound of cicadas and the smell of bbq's.



Yesterday's cherry tomatoes from the garden.

Hard to believe in less than 8 weeks, we will be looking Autumn in the face. Still we have a lot more Summer to enjoy. I need to build another vege garden and it will be in a spot that gets nearly all day sun, work out how to make a compost pile, which seems very technical, and get my worms back up to maximum eating. I am counting on lovely weather on my week off to make these things happen, I think Dave has a list of his own too like fixing the leak in the shed and digging out the fairy garden. Only one more week till our week off work!!! Can't wait!

Catch Up: Backyard

We had a big backyard clean up the weekend before last, the worst bit was hand weeding the pavers, the tips of my fingers hurt even with gloves on but I didn't want to use poison.

Its weeded!

I got some new cushions for the back deck, the were $5 each reduced from $13 so I was pretty happy with that and it makes the deck look a little bit swanky!! Heee!

Looking good

The other thing I am lovin is my apple tree, that actually has apples on it. It is so good!

 

I have ideas for the front yard but whether they happen or not is a completely different story.



What's Growing?

After a lovely holiday filled with lazy days and beautiful weather it was back home. To say we have had some unexpected weather would be an understatement!

Last Thursday the wind was so blustery it could have literally blown a dog off its chain! Then came Friday where we had snow falling about 3 kms away. Snow. On October 12. Then yesterday we had a very very thick frost, just to let us know that we are in no way in control! All I could think of were my tomato plants and how I was told to wait til the end of October but I got a bit carried away with the warm weather.. I am so happy to report they live to see another day.

View from the cabin
 

I feel like I need a day off just to get stuck into all those jobs that I have on my 'to do' list! Though I should be able to get more done now that daylight savings has started. I love daylight savings!!!

Cherries for Christmas

Strawberries in less than a week

Dwarf peach has little baby peaches on it already

Potatoes done as seen on Gardening Australia

Silverbeet, carrots and beetroot - more to go in soon

Tomato plants not killed by frost

Lavender

Asparagus, its very pretty and ferny

Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting - Mmmmm

Back to work for four days then heading off to Queensland for a wedding!! Tomorrow I will show the ugley bit of the garden now that you have seen the good bits!!!

Busy

What a couple of weeks! They have really flown by, I can not believe we are into the second week of September already.... its crazy!

It was Wesley's 15th birthday this week and tonight he is having some friends staying over. They are making homemade pizzas for dinner and playing video games etc. The dining/family room has been turned into a boy cave for the night!!

Last Sunday was Father's Day and we had a nice relaxing day. I cooked breakfast for Dave and my Dad, went to the local markets and then came home and weeded and weeded and weeded.

Wes made this chocolate malteser cake for Fathers Day

At work this week it has been the story of lots of customers and not enough staff, so it has meant being constantly on the go dealing with one thing or another. I have been doing dinner, reading and going to bed early. It has been tiring.

I have had a chance to make up some newspaper seed pots, I saw these in Urban Homestead book (I think).

And I made the potato cage thingy that was shown on last weeks Gardening Australia.

And this morning when I had a wander in the garden the dwarf peach tree had its first blossom! I was rather excited. Not as excited as I was when I spied the first asparagus spear popping its head up this week! Wont be eating any for a couple of years but exciting none the less!

like most NSW folks I voted this morning in our local council elections. There are 3 or 4 new people running this time and I am really hoping they get in, so the council has a new injection of life and hopefully fresh ideas in it!!

How was your week? Busy?

Day Off

Today has been my first rostered day off since starting in my new position. I have to work an extra 25 mins a day to get my day off but its really not that big a deal as I usually work till 5 anyway and have 50 mins instead of an hour for lunch. So I kind of get a day off every four weeks for working my usual hours.

I was up at 5.30 to see that Wes made it to the bus  on time as they are off to Ag-Quip. He isn't back until 7 tonight and will probably be very tired. Its alot of travelling in one day but Gunnedah is close enough that its not worth staying overnight.

I put some washing on, got tonights dinner ready and did the dishes, then went and had an extra hour in bed. Ahhhhhhh.

I spent this morning in the garden weeding. Not that you can really tell I spent all that time in there! But I do have the wheelbarrow as proof!

My winter garden has been pretty sad incomparison with last year. Everything has grown really slowly except for the first lot of broccoli which bolted really quickly.

I have just left them. They are pretty and the bees are totally loving them. I saw a bee that had so much pollen that I just don't know how he managed to take off!

I also made an orange cake with white chocolate icing which I got from Inner Pickles blog and is totally yummo. I will be using that icing on everything that moves.

Finally this afternoon Amelia and I pick some flower for the table. It is remarkable that anything grows in the front yard at all!

I am off to finish Radical Homemakers, what a great book, I highly recommend it to everyone.

This Weekend

What a lovely weekend! A lot of sunshine, little bit of rain and a good lot of gardening.

Right in the middle of this picture is one of our escaped guinea pigs. They are living under the garage and, so we found out today, in the mower shed. Must be retiring there after dark. If we want to catch them we are really looking at getting a possum trap. I have started calling them Thelma and Louise.

Got an asparagus crown today and the run down from Shirley the garden guru from the nursery. The green will die down over winter and come back with spears about mid August. I have never had just cut asparagus but everyone assures me that it is soo much nicer than anything in the shops.

Red onions, lettuce and silverbeet in!

Red onions

Beetroot seedlings look a little down on their luck but should perk up in the next day or so.

First lot of broccoli is in and I am not even going to mention the first white cabbage moth I saw today.

Our house is coming along, I am still loving the colours we picked (lucky!) the only downer is that it rained just enough yesterday to put a halt to any more than a couple of hours of painting, I am sure the painters were even more disappointed then us!

I got the River Cottage Bread book out from the library yesterday and it is jam packed full of bready fabulousness! Dave made Roti at lunch time and it was super quick and tasty. The first couple were a bit crispy as they were cooked a tad long but he got it in the end!

What a Whiz!

Cooking

Yum!

Weekend Happenings

So we have been through 5 tester pots now and have definately definately decided on the colour scheme below. Really. The house will be a light bone colour, the trims are off-white and the gutters are a darkblue/gray called Ironstone. I love how it looks, Dave painted one side of the old loo out the back.I have been trying to get all the vegie beds ready, adding manure, casting and getting the mulch happening. In the last week the weather has really cooled off and we may get the first frost before Anzac day!This morning we headed out to the strawberry farm and picked just over three kilos. There were quite a few people out there and that was before nine. I wish more farms opened their gates like that, I wouldnt have to go to the supermarket at all.

I still haven't gotten rid of the roses in the front yard but I am still planning on ripping those suckers out. I just don't like them! I thought they might grow on me but alas no, they are not for me. What flowers/plants do you not like????

The Good and Bad

Ahhh finally the zucchinis are done. Lets pause for a moment and think of all the zucchini meals I won't have to cook this week..........nice.

So they are pulled out, as are the squash and also the rogue potato plant that gave me 8 potatoes when I had forgot to buy any! Most of the beds have also been turned over and weeded as well. This is all good.

I have been re-reading Linda Woodrows permaculture book (again) and have decided to change up the garden a bit as per her suggestions. No matter how many times I read her book, everytime something different strikes me - love it. What I have started to do is fill the bed under the clothes line with my herbs but much more than I would usually put in. I am also going to put in some groundcovering herbs too, as what Linda says about bare dirt is so true, that if you dont have something there, something you dont want will fill it ( I am paraphrasing by the way Linda is much more eloquent than me).

I am also going to mulch much much more heavily than I do now. Much more. I am going to use a combination of thick newspaper, which I will get friends to keep for me and sugar cane mulch. My Uncle Ronnie told Mum about how he does this and in turn Mum told me after seeing the results in her own garden. I have also been more loving towards my worms, I have not been the greatest and still they thrive for me so I am going to baby them a little.

Now for the bad. This directly relates to not buy anything new for February and in the interest of FULL disclosure here it is - last night Dave and I took the kids to the local show, Dave had told the kids ages ago that we would take them and we had fun. Though I think the Ashford show last year was just as good (and heaps cheaper). On the good side Amelia got first prize in "An Article Machine Sewn, 10 Years and Under" - she is very proud and should be! This is the first time we have taken the kids to our local show and they thought it was pretty good. I am TRYING to feel bad about spending the money but am failing miserably.

Also thank you to the lovely honest person who handed my lost purse in last night at the Show! I thought it was long gone but was handed in with money and cards all there. Love that there are still honest people out there. Thank you.

And because I love putting a picture in - here is tonights dinner, roast pork! Whats cooking at your place for dinner?

In the Garden

The garden is looking good and we are getting some good produce out of it but now I wish I had planted more. We have an abundant supply of zucchini (no surprises there), tomatoes, squash, basil and lettuce. We are still eating our own carrots, beetroot, garlic and onions too.

Four days away from home and a you get a monster zuc!

However there have been a couple of failures too. I have only had 2 cucumbers off my plant! Last year I planted Richmond River Apple and they were prolific this year I planted a different variety and it has done nothing. I'm not sure whether it is the spot I planted it or what.

The other not so great grower has been my nugget pumpkin bush which was going to be my compromise in not having a full patch this year. It has grown flowers and looks healthy but nothing has happened. The flowers must not be pollinating. I thought their lack of growth was due to all the rain we had but now I am not sure. Gardening is a learning experience!

I picked the first of my beans yesterday and still have more to come but I am really happy with how that experiment came out and can't wait to make a casserole to put my beans in!! If i had more space I think I would definatel plant more and I think I may even be able to do that if I fiddle with the garden space a bit more. I will definately try different types next year.

Aren't the beans pretty?

I am planning my Autumn planting now, I want to have a really great productive garden this winter, so it is all in the preparing and planning!!! Cross fingers!

Garden, Cooking, Making

Here is Amelia's sewing machine, isn't it too cute? It works well too.

This material will be turned into some purses. I love the pattern. The red colour is more a cranberry colour and is gorgeous.

More zucchini and squash. I haven't got sick of it yet! Going to do a stuffed zuc come the weekend, should make a really nice lunch.

Grapes - somehow the birds have not gotten to them yet!!

Bertolli beans, this is the first time I have grown beans to dry and store. I am hoping it will be a good trial and one I may be able to expand on next year.

Wes made this self saucing pudding. Oh yum!! Saturday morning he is planning to make breakfast - Baked tomato with an egg inside, sounds good hey?

Oh thank heavens I can hear rain!!! The first rain of 2012.

Zucchini

Is this the saddest zucchini in Australia? Way way too much rain has resulted with us actually wishing for zucchinis, if you can believe it! Usually the zucchini love is already waning for the kids but not so this year. Hopefully with a little sun one might actually get to the table!

Around the Garden

Beware that some of these photos might be a bit off centre, my camera has decided to take pics but not show anything on the display screen so you dont know whether you have actually got the photo you wanted to take. Noice.These gardenia's smell absolutely lovely every time you step outside.

This is a dwarf pumpkin, it is more of a bushy type. It will be interesting to see how they go.

Cucumber growing. A few things such as this and the zucchini seem to have not grown as much as last year. I think it is to do with the huge amount of rain we have had. Hoping that now the weather is looking to get back to normal we might have a bit more oomph.

Beetroot. I always seem to have some.

Capsicums - both normal and purple varieties

Turning purple.

Beans have too been slow growers. They did get a lot of rain not long after planting which I know is not a great thing.

Cherry tomatoes - you can see out homemade fly traps.

Zucchini - I have for but not one zuc yet.

Lots of squash though.

The garden is looking good and with a bit more sun will be a lot better. Cross Fingers!