Treasure harvest

Clearly Miss Sophie was excited to be harvesting our kipfler potatoes over the weekend. It was just like finding underground treasure...creamy, delicious, organic underground treasures.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend too,

suzy xoxo

Flowers in the vegie patch

Happy little marigolds, delicate alyssum and chives that I have let go wild....I love having flowers in my vegie patch.

October's garden

After a shocker of a winter in the vegetable garden I'm so relieved to have Spring life appearing. The broad beans are in full flower which hopefully means beans on bruschetta for lunch really soon. In the background here you may just be able to spot some iceberg lettuces which the snails kindly leave for us to eat!

The leeks are still keeping on. I left them in-situ so that I could pick them as I needed them over the winter, but they won't like the warmer weather so I better get a wiggle on and use them up in the next couple of weeks.

My favourite tree in the garden, the Crab-apple is nearly in full bloom....isn't it glorious?

The granny smith apple tree is also in full bloom, and one of my favourite things to say to the squidgets is "can you go and find Bella under the apple tree?" Speaking of Bella, here she is enjoying the warmer weather and watching the world go by.

Come to think of it, this might be a blog debut for Bella. She is fairly sedentary these days at a respectable age of 16, so isn't often in photo range!

Don't forget to pop on over and enter my giveaway that closes this Wednesday.

Winter vegie garden

After my wildly successful summer in the garden I was perhaps a tad overconfident about continuing the success throughout the winter. In the past I've managed broccoli and broad beans during the Canberrian winter, but not this year! The broad beans and snow peas are growing at a 'snail's pace' which is an apt description because the broccoli is forever being munched by the snails before it gets to any decent size. I've tried all sorts of barriers which work wonderfully well until you forget to put them on one night - and then in the morning...zip....all broccoli G-O-N-E! I'm grateful for the leeks though, because they appear to be indestructible.

We had a very early start to winter so the plants never managed to get ahead before day after day of minus starts and frost. One highlight in my winter vegie garden is my forever producing strawberry plants. These plants have been producing fruit for well over a year, whilst it is only one or two fruits a week now it has been a continuous supply for little helpers in the garden. I don't think a single one has made it inside!

Some winter colour

I think that the humble old cyclamen is one of winter's true winners. It stands up to enormous punishment. This one here is in an exposed part of our front porch and withstands the frost on most winter mornings, and then is in full sun for at least half the day.

If that isn't enough, you could even bring them inside for a splash of colour and they would still be OK....though I find that they do best if they are put to 'bed' back out in the cold each night. Some varieties (including this one above) have the most delicate scent, you have to get close and personal with your plant though, but it is worth it. I give this one a good sniffing at least a couple of times a day!