Season of Abundance

A little boy's harvest basket, full of acorns from Nana's house.

 I really love this time of year. From late summer into early and then mid-autumn, when the garden that we've worked so hard to keep going in the heat of summer rewards us with so much delicious produce. My little boy is absolutely loving doing the 'harvesting'. I guess he learned about it when we pulled out the first bed of potatoes, and his little eyes boggled at all the potatoes to be found in the ground. That was a good six weeks ago now I think. And since then, his mission every single day has been to get a harvest. So off he goes with his harvest basket, and fills it up with whatever he can find. Still-green tomatoes (that generally ripen after picking anyway), green strawberries, tiny beans, handfuls and handfuls of spring onions, the occasional squash (after I alerted him to their existence), peppercorns, not-yet-ripe olives, parsnips, beetroot. The only thing he doesn't get is the zucchini's because mama has to cut them off with a knife (best trick ever to prevent a toddler picking them) and the pumpkins, thankfully.

He loves it. Granted we've eaten about 5 beans in the house, and he's had probably a total of three ripe strawberries, but sometimes it's more important for the little one to learn. About growing food, about when to harvest (and when to leave things alone, we're slowly getting there), about eating what we grow in the garden. He loves eating food from the garden, and I love that he happily eats all his vegetables. 

Big zucchinis, after being away for a few rainy days.

I'm surprised by the volume and variety of food we've been able to produce this season, to be honest. If you asked me back in October or November, I probably would have said we'd be lucky to get anything growing for the summer. But after a while, the setbacks sort of disappeared and things started to grow. In little spots that we prepared very hastily (dig a hole, add compost, plant). A dose of rain here and there helped things along, and before we knew it we had a substantial vegetable garden (two, actually). I reached a point where I knew I couldn't plant anything more, even though I wanted to, as I simply couldn't keep up with the watering required, I just didn't have the time. Which was a good thing, really.

So we've picked all the beetroot, and corn, and potatoes (so many potatoes, yay!). And we've had so many little yellow tomatoes, despite so many tiny ones being picked by little toddler hands. I lost a pot full of leeks in an afternoon harvest frenzy, and a late planting of beetroots that were just starting to take hold nicely. The parsnips have recently come out, although I do have another group planted that little toddler doesn't yet know about. Zucchini's are coming in by the bucket load - I planted four plants. We probably didn't need four plants but I really do love having too many zucchini's. It's just a summer thing. From the fruit trees we had plums, nectarines and the odd apple. The low down apples were all picked very early on by toddler hands, and the almost ready high up apples were munched away by a horse. As was the lone pear on our little pear tree, and half the tree for that matter too. 

I had a hard time harvesting the beetroots in this wine barrel, they just looked so pretty.

So I need to wise up in years to come to make sure some of the produce actually makes it into the kitchen. But really, I'm happy with everything for this year. I've had my hands full dealing with everything that has made it's way into the kitchen and I don't know that I could have dealt with much more this time around. And now the silverbeet is finally starting to produce wonderful things for us (how I have missed having a constant supply of silverbeet), some broad beans are starting to grow from a recent toddler planting mission, and some cabbages and cauliflowers are doing quite well in the bed we first harvested potatoes from. And my mind is turning to the autumn jobs, pulling out all the tomatoes, thinking about planting peas and broccoli and more broad beans. I think we will plant a lot of broad beans this year, I still don't really know where things will find their permanent home in the garden so I figure I might as well plant lots of things that will improve the soil. Potatoes to break up hard packed areas over summer, broad beans for a bit of extra nitrogen during the cooler months. 

I really do love this garden toil. And I'm seeing just how much my little boy loves it too. And this is the season to enjoy the abundance, and that is what I am doing.

How is your March looking? Are you enjoying the autumn garden or gearing up for the summer to come?

Garden Share Collective: Slowly Coming Together

It's time again for the Garden Share Collective. I missed last month, mainly because I was feeling pretty low about our garden and couldn't quite bring myself to write about it. But things are on the improve, the battle against the earwigs is not entirely won but we're getting somewhere, finally. Linking up with Lizzie from Strayed from the Table and a bunch of gardening bloggers from around the world.

So as I mentioned, earwigs. Little blighters have been eating everything, everything! To the point where I was starting to wonder whether we'd even get any vegies growing this season at all. But finally we have some plants in the ground and going well. Apparently earwigs aren't keen on onions, spring onions, tomatoes, parsley, and corn, all of which are now growing well. What they are keen on is beetroot, silverbeet, basil, broccoli, eggplant, potato, pumpkin, and I'm sure the list is longer but that's all that we've lost (which is actually quite a lot, I think). I did get a good bunch of potatoes growing despite the earwigs, and they're about to flower. I have some beans in the ground that are so far doing ok… but it's close, there are plenty of holes eaten in the leaves so I'm doing all I can to help them grow fast. We'll see. I've also got basil and strawberries in pots now, they are also doing well and mostly earwig-free.

Herbs are doing well, mostly flowering now and I'm happy for them to flower like mad. It's bringing lots of bees which is lovely. Marjoram, flat leaf parsley, curly leaf parsley, coriander. A sea of coriander is flowering, I'd say we'll have plenty of coriander seed to grind up this year. Also flowering is my celery - have you seen this before? Is it likely to self seed? I'm hoping so. It's become a garden must-have for me, a constant supply of celery for soups and stocks.

Planting

A few things on the list for December. Leeks, zucchini (should already be in the ground but oops), lettuce, beetroot, rocket, carrots, mint. I'll just see what I can get in the ground and see what of it survives. 

Harvesting

At the moment, it's mainly herbs. Parsley, oregano, basil. Waiting patiently for potatoes, tomatoes, onions and strawberries. 

To Do List

Hill up around the potatoes.

Stake the tomatoes.

Create more garden beds (not an easy task - it involves scraping back a thick layer of orange gravelly stuff from the former driveway to reveal the soil underneath, then adding compost and mulch) for the above mentioned plantings.

Regular feeding with weed and manure tea. Sounds lovely doesn't it?

And just our daily watering and caring for the garden.

So overall I'm happy, so happy to finally have something that resembles a garden growing. I've taken over the space right outside our house, which was probably once designed with ornamental plants in mind, but I love having most of my vegies growing right there. At this point in my life, I need fast and easy access if there is to be any successful vegie growing and that is exactly what I've got.

And that's me for this month. Pop on over to the Garden Share Collective page and take a look at the other lovely gardens on display.

Garden Share Collective: Slow and Slow

Time again for the monthly garden round up, thanks to Lizzie of Strayed from the Table who puts on the show known as the Garden Share Collective. So, let's see what's been happening in our spring garden.

marjoram - I just love the look of this plant in the garden

To be honest, very little has happened in our garden this month. A few reasons for this. Firstly chickens. That age old problem again, chickens with free access to the vegie garden, which has been a major deterrent in any thoughts of planting seedlings or seed. It's just too frustrating to see your hard work undone so quickly by rouge chickens, so I've held off from doing too much. Although it's getting too late in the season to continue like this much longer, so it's looking likely that a temporary fence will go around the vegies until a more permanent chicken solution (new chook run) is found. And  apart from that, well, we're going to change up almost everything about the outdoor layout of this place and the vegie garden area will be the first to change. I guess that sitting in the back of my mind isn't helping my motivation to get out there and plant. But anyway, I will need to use the current location for the summer season at least as we'll be pushed for time to get new plans under way (despite my impatience to start digging over the current driveway-soon to be vegie garden right now!).

So progress has been slow. But still, slow progress is still progress, and there are signs of life in the vegie beds. Also - they are weed free! If you recall from my post last month, we were growing some serious weeds in the vegie garden beds and it was looking like a huge job to clear them out. Thanks to lots of helping hands from our neighbours, the whole lot was gone in an afternoon. To say I am most grateful is a huge understatement. So really, I should have all beds full of goodies that are starting to take off, but… chickens. That temporary fence is starting to become a serious priority. 

healthy looking curly leaf parsley

oregano that I've planted has somehow survived chickens and starts to grow

My favourite things right now are not anything that I've planted, but were here already: a sea of coriander emerging in one of the vegie garden beds (I was looking at all the seeds scattered from a plant when we first moved in and they looked like coriander, but I wasn't sure; now I am sure), the beautiful marjoram in the herb garden and a healthy looking curly leaf parsley. I've also planted out seeds of carrot and beetroot (actually in the same place as the coriander seeds), and there are a few survivors of these amongst the taking-over coriander. I look forward to carrot and coriander soup already. Potatoes - I've planted about 20-odd seed potatoes into a bed and just noticed the first one emerging now. I should also add that I've done next to no watering, so these guys are relying on the water that falls from the sky and that hasn't been much. Bits here and there, but things are starting to brown off considerably here. It's pretty dry.

the first potato

coriander, anyone?

look who else is growing amongst the coriander

a carrot fights for space amongst the coriander

Planting:

• zucchini
• cucumber
• carrots
• beetroot
• silverbeet 
• maybe some more potato

Harvesting:

• herbs (coriander, flat leaf parsley, curly leaf parsley, marjoram)
• rainbow chard

To Do:

• mulch the existing vegie garden beds
• set up a temporary chook-proof fence
• plant seedlings (I've all but given up on seeds for now, toddler and chickens being the reason)
• water more regularly

That's me for this month. Not too much happening, to be honest I'm more excited about plans to relocate the vegie garden to the place where a car is currently parked. It will take a bit of digging, a bit of earth moving perhaps and then a lot of soil improvement. But it will be so nice to have a view of the vegie garden from our lounge room windows rather than a view of a car.

Thanks as always to Lizzie for putting together the Garden Share Collective. Have you taken a look lately?

Garden Share Collective: Spring (again) and a New Garden (again)

So here we are, September already. Can you believe it? Yikes, it's the downhill run now to summer and  all those Christmas celebrations. I've already decided I'm abstaining from all that this year. And possibly for all future years to come. But anyway, back to the garden. It's time to link up with Lizzie of Strayed from the Table and a bunch of gardening bloggers around the world for the Garden Share Collective. I missed last month too, it's good to be back.

Hello pretty - the nectarine is about to blossom.

Anyway, I'm now starting out with another new garden, following our recent house move. Twice in a year is enough for me. In a nutshell, we're now living on a three acre block, the bulk of which is paddock, but it currently has four smallish vegie garden beds, some randomly scattered fruit trees and the makings of a small orchid.

More pretty - the blood plum is flowering.

Lets talk about the pretty stuff first. The lovely nectarine tree just outside the house is almost in flower. Buds are just starting to open. I'm looking forward to seeing an abundance of beautiful pink blooms any day now. The blood plum in the front garden is also about to spring into life, slightly ahead of the nectarine with pretty white flowers. Like little marshmallows all over the twiggy tree. So pretty. Five varieties of apple in the orchid are not yet doing much, nor is the ancient mulberry tree right down the end of the paddock. I'm watching that one with much interest.

And then there is the vegie garden area. Hmmm. It's currently not so pretty. It looks like this.

Less pretty - can you see there is actually a vegie garden bed buried here?

It's not all bad news, I have almost fully weeded and cleared one bed, and done a bit of work on another. The soil looks good (thankfully - walking into a place with good soil, yes please!) and I have been doing some simple planting as I go. You just have to get the stuff in the ground, right? So there is currently growing rainbow chard, spring onions and celery. I cannot imagine not growing celery now. It is one of my ultimate go-to plants, just like herbs. Speaking of herbs, I have also planted out some flat leaf parsley, oregano and lemon thyme, in addition to some of the old style parsley (I don't even know what you call it, other than the old style) and an as-yet unidentified herb that were already growing. Oh and there was some silverbeet already growing here as well. Me and this place, we were meant to be.

Old faithful, a little rainbow chard is growing.

I'm actually quite happy with what I have managed to do so far in this place. It's been a slow process the whole moving, cleaning, sorting and organising and gardening hasn't been top priority (apart from keeping the grass to an almost respectable level, and I think we're mostly failing there). But little snippets of time have been the key, making the most of 5 minutes here or 10 minutes there. It is the only way. I have even managed to make and slowly dispense a batch of weed tea. And so far, so far the chickens have not discovered the vegie garden beds… They have been close, but probably couldn't see them under all the grass. So at least that is one problem I don't have this time around. And besides, fruit trees are flowering. It's all good.

More pretty. Lets juts focus on the pretty.

How is you vegie garden going these days? Gearing up for spring and summer or enjoying the fruits of your labour as you head into autumn?

As always, be sure to take a look at the other gardening bloggers taking part in the Garden Share Collective. And as always, thanks to Lizzie for putting it all together.

Garden Share Collective: Wintery Wintertime

So it's a new month and time once again to link up with Lizzie of Strayed from the Table and a bunch of gardening bloggers from around the world to take part in the Garden Share Collective. Loving the new look over on the Collective page, have you seen?

Well it's winter. And it's fair to say that I'm in hibernation mode, and not doing too much in the garden. Actually it has more to do with the fact that we'll be moving soon than winter, but my motivation to be working in the garden has slowed off. Still, we have a productive little garden that is still feeding us regularly, so lets take a look.

Harvesting

Celery, so much celery. I will always plant a good patch of celery now, just having it there for the taking whenever I need it is absolutely wonderful. Really - cold wintery days, making soups and stocks, celery for flavour straight from the garden - perfect. It took a while to find it's feet but now it just grows and grows and grows and I just take stalks as I need them. It's a also home to about twenty million snails but that's another story.

Also harvesting broccoli, we're picking the first heads now. Hopefully we'll get some more smaller shoots coming through before we leave this garden. Rainbow chard and silverbeet, as always, although it's struggling with being crowded by broad beans at the moment. And of course herbs - rosemary, parsley, chives, thyme and oregano are the regulars at the moment. Great for flavouring hearty winter soups and slow cooks, along with the celery.

Planting

During June I managed to plant out some seedlings of rainbow chard, spring onions and a bunch of pretty spring bulbs (totally unrelated to the vegie garden, but noteworthy none the less!). My gardening efforts will be centred around getting cuttings of things growing in pots over the next month, in preparation for a move, and hoping that I can keep harvesting bits and pieces before I can establish a new garden. 

To-Do List

Well, take cuttings of herbs mainly, and get them growing in pots ready to take to a new garden. That's about all I'm planning now for the month ahead, and I'm hoping that the little vegie garden I've put time and love into will end up in good hands with a new care-taker.

So a slow time in the garden, but that's ok, it is winter after all. I'm also hoping that we get some broad beans setting soon, so far we've got lots of growth and plenty of flowers, but I'm not seeing much in the way of beans setting. Watching these guys closely.

How's your garden looking these days? For more lovely gardens check out the Garden Share Collective page, and I'll be back with another update in early August with some sneak peeks into a new garden space. Exciting times ahead!

Garden Share Collective: It's winter again.

On the first (official) day of winter, it's time once again to take a peek into my little vegie garden. Linking up as always with Lizzie of Strayed from the Table and the Garden Share Collective. Have you joined the collective?

Stevia, a little sweetie flowering.

And so it's winter. Not that it feels like it, and apparently the garden isn't sure it's winter yet either. But the conditions are lovely all the same, and lots of greenery is growing in the garden. Mostly weeds, mind you, but some vegies are doing their bit as well. 

Currently on the go in the vegie garden is celery (I am loving this, I planted it back in summer and now I just take stalks as I need them for soups and stocks and lentil bolognese), rainbow chard, broad beans, peas and broccoli. And about twenty million snails, mostly little ones. Any ideas on how to remove snails sans snail bait? I haven't tried beer yet, as we just never buy it, but I wonder if wine would have the same effect. Any ideas fellow gardeners?

The herb garden is also ticking along quite happily, albeit slowly now as it's a fairly shaded area. Currently growing is rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley, mint, rocket, chives and a stevia plant I found at the market. And a bunch of weeds in between.

I absolutely love silverbeet and rainbow chard. Can't get enough of this stuff. Nor can the chickens.

Planting

In June, I'll be planting garlic, some more rainbow chard, spring onions and some brown onion seedlings from the nursery. A few weeks ago I planted out cauliflower and mini cabbage seedlings and they all got eaten by those darn snails. Very, very disheartening to see, especially as I made quite the effort to get them in the ground, and all for nothing. Gosh, I sound so bitter!

Harvesting

At the moment it's just celery and rainbow chard plus herbs as needed. We had a few more zucchini's during May but I finally had to remove the biggest zucchini plant I've ever grown and make space for new plantings (the ones that got eaten..).

The broad beans are flowering. So pretty.

To Do List

Well, I'm keeping my garden To Do list to a minimum at the moment, so apart from planting out a few bits and pieces, possibly into pots, I'll be keeping an eye on frosty nights to cover up flowering peas and broad beans if needed and not too much else. Regular checks of the broccoli to make sure the white moths aren't attacking it again, making sure the peas and broad beans are supported. The garden could do with a nice big bed of pea straw but I'm not sure I will have the opportunity to get to it.

Winter garden greenery.

Anyway I'm very happy with this little winter vegie garden, it is surprisingly productive and is without doubt the most productive winter garden I've yet produced. I'm loving watching the flowering of the peas and broad beans and just seeing the greenery flourish against the cool season backdrop.

So how is your garden looking as we start June? 

For more gardens, head over to the Garden Share Collective page and take a look, there are bloggers from all over the world taking part so there's sure to be someone near you.

Garden Share Collective: Autumn in Full Swing

Another month has passed, once again it's time to take a look at my little vegie garden as part of the Garden Share Collective, joining in as always with Lizzie of Strayed from the Table. Also congratulations are in order to Lizzie, she's now a mum! Wishing Lizzie and Roy all the best with their beautiful baby girl. 

A plant must be very resilient in these parts.

And on to the garden… You know this is the first time in my years of vegetable gardening that I've really embraced the autumn/winter vegie garden. Normally I get to the end of summer and things tend to shut down for the winter. And last year I planned my autumn/winter garden and then - baby - and nothing at all happened. Well, nothing that I did anyway. So I'm loving spending time out there in the cooler weather and having different crops on the go.

Currently growing happily are broad beans, peas, rainbow chard (still going from summer), celery, lettuce, a couple of beetroots and some other hangers-on from summer that will soon be finished - zucchini, capsicum, leeks, basil. The herb garden is doing well, I've been busy building a rock wall and creating quite a happy little space in that area of the garden. One day there will be photos. Mostly I spend my outdoor time trying to protect the vegies from toddler feet, toddler hands and rogue chickens. Again. Always the chicken issue. Thankfully broad beans bounce back fairly well from being stood on and sat on.

New season growth - broccoli, broad beans and peas, with zucchini and capsicum in the background.

Planting: Hopefully over the coming month I'll get some cauliflower and brussels sprouts planted, and maybe some more broccoli and spinach. I don't think I planted anything during April, the peas and broad beans all went in late March. So it's probably time to get planting again.

Grow little pea, grow!

Harvesting: Quite a lot during April actually. The zucchini is still going, albeit at a slower and slower rate, but it is still giving us beautiful zucchini's every few days or so, particularly after a dose of rain. I cannot bring myself to pull out that plant yet, it is such a good provider. Maybe this month. Also harvesting the last of the leeks from summer, heaps and heaps of rainbow chard, and capsicums too. The little capsicum plants came good after all and gave us a lot of fresh, crisp green capsicums. William's favourite thing to forage for at the moment, as well as the rainbow chard for the bright stalks. Celery is still in plentiful supply and I take what I need for soups mainly, as and when needed. And for distracting William away from capsicums. Plenty of herbs being harvested too - parsley, oregano, thyme, sage and rosemary mostly. The basil is still there, I'm about to bring it all in and dry some for winter, the mint is our favourite 'snack' plant (again, a distraction against more untoward things for a 13 month old) and the chives remain untouched. Must try some of the chives.

Not what you want to see on the broccoli leaves.

To Do List: A few jobs to be done in the garden this coming month. Very first up is to get some dipel out onto the broccoli. I've lost a couple of seedlings completely and removed a few caterpillars, and there are plenty of eggs on the undersides of the leaves. I knew it was coming, I've seen those little white butterflies in the garden so it was only going to be a matter of time. Then some more planting, cauliflower and brussels sprouts. Maybe this will be the month when I pull out the zucchini. The capsicums are also starting to suffer with cooler nights so they will probably go. Then I have to put up some support for the broad beans, and possibly get some sort of frost protection measures in place. And fertilise with my weed tea again (I did this once last month). It seems I have a busy month ahead in the garden. Time to get busy again, I've not done much other than harvest for the past month.

So that's me and my little garden for this month! How is the garden growing in your part of the world? Have you had a look at the Garden Share Collective page recently? There are so many bloggers contributing from all around the world, there's bound to be someone close to you.

Wishing you all a month of happy gardening!

Garden Share Collective: Autumn is Here

Another month, another Garden Share Collective post. As always, hosted by Lizzie of Strayed from the Table and linking up with gardening bloggers from around the world.

So my little vegie garden has seen some big changes in the past month. Gone are many of the stars of summer, the tomatoes and potatoes making way for new plantings of peas and broad beans. The zucchini is still going, I can't believe it but this one plant which has given us so much, continues to give almost daily. Rainbow chard is looking revitalised with some milder temperatures and more rain, a few leeks remain growing in the garden and some new plantings of lettuce, silverbeet and beetroot in the front yard are doing nicely. I had planted out kale in the front garden also but every single seedling got eaten. So I'm calling that one a fail and moving right along.

Planting: I've been planting peas and broad beans all over the place recently. A few different varieties of each, hoping for some good crops. We've had amazing weather for growth with overnight rains and warm sunny days, so things are looking good. Also broccoli seedlings finally made it into the ground, they seem to be taking well. And some spring onion seeds which are happily emerging now. In April I'll be planting some more broccoli and spinach seeds, probably some more silverbeet and some cauliflower.

Harvesting: I harvested my potatoes during March! Given that I planted them so late in the season [4th January to be exact], I wasn't sure if they would do anything much. The harvest wasn't as big as it would have been had they been in the ground earlier, but still, 10kg came out of the ground so our cupboard is currently stocked with home-grown potatoes. So delicious and I'm so happy that they grew. Plus they broke up that section of clay down the back of the garden perfectly. Potatoes are such amazing plants in my book. All the tomatoes also came in, not enough to bottle for winter but enough to enjoy some beautiful tomato-based meals. A few green tomatoes were turned into green tomato chutney, which should be almost ready come to think of it. Apart from that, we're currently harvesting: rainbow chard, zucchini, leeks, capsicums, celery, basil, mint, sage, thyme, rosemary, lettuce. 

To Do List: I'm keeping a close eye on that zucchini to see when I can pull it up to make way for new plantings but it's doing such a great job, even though it takes up so much space, there's no way I can pull it up. But maybe in April… I will probably bring in most of the celery soon to make space, and the capsicums are providing very well at the moment but I'm not sure how much longer they'll keep going. So I guess I'm watching and waiting to see what space I have to clear out and replant in. I'd also like to get back into making my own organic fertiliser - weed tea - that I swear by but haven't had the time to do for many months now. A bit of a maintenance month, perhaps.

Well that's where my vegie garden is at right now. How's your patch looking at the moment, are you enjoying the quieter days of autumn of getting stuck into spring plantings? For more gardens, take a look at the Garden Share Collective page, there's plenty from around the world so bound to be something close to home.

In The Garden… a new garden bed, a boy and a watering can

Our project for the past week or so has been getting a new garden bed going in the front yard. The bed itself was already there - full of dried off flowers from summer. The plants were pretty straggly, having been there for years and in need of some trimming. But I thought a more productive garden bed would suit us better. So the old plants were pulled, sheep poo was added, it was all dug over a bit, pea straw was laid out, and finally the seedlings went in. And now we water. Beetroot, lettuce, kale and a little capsicum that won't get to flower, but grew so beautifully from seed anyway. 

My little helper.

Baby beetroots. A mix of punnets from the nursery and heirloom seeds from Diggers.

Up close and personal. An heirloom.

Time to water.

Much more exciting.

I'll be doing this post weekly, on Friday's, so if you would like to join me and share something In The Garden, please do! Any and all gardens, plants in pots and balconies, the gardens at your local park, any garden will do. Leave a like to your blog in the comments so we can take a look. From last week, With Vintage and Me is a regular In The Garden poster and has some very pretty seedlings on the go.

Garden Share Collective: Summer Ends

Another month down, another Garden Share Collective post. Hosted by one of the most enthusiastic gardeners around, Lizzie of Strayed from the Table. Have you been for a look yet?

February has been a slow month for garden work, but an abundant month for garden harvests. All the work from earlier starts to pay healthy dividends. We have been eating from the garden daily, with zucchini, tomato, rainbow chard, leeks and celery featuring regularly. And from the herb garden, which is doing surprisingly well, getting the hot afternoon sun as it does, we've been enjoying basil, oregano, thyme, sage, dill and rosemary. The mint and chives are also doing well, but for some reason they are always forgotten. Poor things.

Finally they are ripening.

The garden is now showing signs of wear and tear, the end of a long, hot and productive summer. The tomato plants are browning off, and we're not watering much to avoid splitting the already-large fruit. The tomatoes themselves are still ripening regularly and we have just loved the sweet taste of these fruits. I gave up buying tomatoes from the supermarket a long time ago, and really, when I eat these, I am reminded all over again why I made that decision. Plus William squeals for the tomatoes every time we go out there - at 11 months old, he is a master tomato-picker, foraging among the leaves and coming up with the goods. Sometimes green, which he has a good nibble at, and when he finds a red one, it's like a jackpot. He eats the whole thing in a juicy, tomato-stained mess. Just gorgeous.

Potato flowering, some capsicums and celery.

The potatoes are flowering like mad. I'm still waiting to see how they go, what with being sown so late in the season. But I'm heartened to see such abundant growth in that section of the garden, which stood bare for so long with nothing much seeming to take, except for weeds. So we shall see, perhaps by next month I will have a bumper potato harvest to report, or perhaps not very much. 

Leeks - what can I say, they have grown beautifully. Occasionally I pick a large one, but more often than not I take the smaller ones, the ones being crowded out by the zucchini, or that have suffered from baby-squash or cat-squash or chicken-scratch. Serious conditions, all. And out of 36-odd onions that I planted out, I harvested 5 small ones. The cat slept on all of them. All of them! Thank goodness for the leeks to flavour our dinners.

The zucchini has once again been a star performer. From only one plant, we've not run short of zucchini for about 2 months now. Lucky we all love eating them in this house. I've not had enough to entice me to make a zucchini chocolate cake, although now I think about it, there is a large one in the fridge, a bit too large for my liking, which could just suffer that fate. And then I would have to eat cake. The things you have to do!

Rainbow chard has been one of my favourites, as always. It is also one of the chicken's favourites. Now what are the chickens even doing in the vegie garden? Yes, my question exactly. They've not had enough greenery in their run so I take pity on them and let them out, and of course off they go to the vegie garden. I had basically given up shooing them out, since all the plants were established and they couldn't do too much damage. Apart from devouring my rainbow chard. Sharing is caring, I suppose. Anyway they now have a significantly larger run with lots of greenery. So the vegie garden is to remain chicken-free, unless I invite them in.

The oregano starting to wander.

My little herb garden continues to thrive, provided the water is kept up. Oregano is starting to do it's thing and spread out over it's rocky home. Sage is growing like mad, thyme is also growing well. These all went in as tiny little seedlings and grew ever so slowly for a few months there. I look forward to seeing them bed in a lot more over the wetter months to come. Mint is flowing, basil is flowing, dill is flowering, there are even little thyme flowers to be seen.

Mint flowers.

I've managed to finally tackle a new bed in the front garden, where I'm planning to put lettuce, beetroot, kale, broccoli and probably some more silverbeet. Nothing is planted yet, but the old flowers have gone, sheep poo has been dug through, it's had a drink and is now resting soundly under a solid bed of pea straw. Monday is the day for seedlings, photos to follow. I'm loving creating a new bed for a new season.

So in summary:

Planting in March will be broccoli, kale, beetroot, lettuce, silverbeet. Possibly broad beans.

Jobs in the garden for March will be to clear out the tomatoes and zucchini when finished, dig in compost, add fresh pea straw and think about what goes where for the autumn/winter. Lots of greens, I'm thinking.

Currently harvesting tomatoes, zucchini, rainbow chard, leeks celery plus the herbs. Hoping to get a harvest of potato and some capsicums as well.

It's me, digging sheep poo!

That's me and my garden for this month. For more garden inspiration head over to the Garden Share Collective page and see what's been happening in other gardens. There's bloggers from all over the world taking part, I always like to know what's going on on the other side of the globe. Happy gardening!

In The Garden... autumn is on the way

A dried garlic flower. There are a few of these, I'm thinking they will look lovely in a tall vase in the house. And hopefully some garlic will be found too.

Pretty flowers spill over from the neighbouring side. Greenery and a pretty view from the kitchen, so lovely.

A little capsicum has set down in the vegie garden. Grow little capsicum, grow.

A lone apple hangs on a branch. Maybe I will pick it and we can celebrate our bounty. Or maybe I will just leave it there for the birds.

And signs that autumn is on the way. I look forward to the changing season.

What's happening in your garden this week?

I'll be doing this post weekly, on Friday's, so if you would like to join me and share something In The Garden, please do! Any and all gardens, plants in pots and balconies, the gardens at your local park, any garden will do. Leave a link to your blog in the comments and I'll be there to take a peek.