Around the garden

 Although I have quite a few hundreds more photos of the as yet unnamed babe, I thought it was time I returned this blog to some semblance of it's former self. And what better topic than the green and fertile garden.

In the past month it has been quite neglected. Other than a quick watering on the hottest days (27C here in Tas!), some seed sowing at the opportune moon moments and a quick dash to raid it's bounty for meals, I really haven't spent much time there. 

Fortunately, Mother Nature doesn't just stop doing her stuff and now that I've had a leisurely stroll around I see that not only is there lots to be done before the cool months but there's also a whole heap of promise to come while the sun is still warm.

I planted two cucumbers in Dec and I must say I'm a bit disappointed with the output.......only one cucumber!! There are loads of little flowers and teeny cukes but thats it. I love cucumber and will plant them in the soon to be poly tunnel so that we actually get to eat or pickle some next year. 

This is a part of our first garden. It's in the lowest area of our block and the soil is black and very heavy. I added loads of mushroom compost and some sand (because I happened to have some) and the soil is getting better but I plant most of my crops in the new garden on higher ground. 

Here there's lettuce seedlings overdue for transplanting, two rows of carrots (which are my second successful batch and I am so excited to have mastered the art of carrot growing) and two rows of beans over on the right. 

Tomatoes are finally ripening but I can't remember which variety I planted....sigh........ next year they'll be in the poly tunnel and I will be more diligent with the keeping of names!

We harvested the last of the onions. Now, that was another excitement as it's the first time I've grown them and they were huge!! 

The beans are just flowering because I planted them a bit late due to being away from home in spring last year. 

The one corn!!! Well, ok there are two of them but either way there won't be much of a harvest! We carved the new garden out of a bare pasture paddock and unfortunately there were loads of nasty little cut worms lurking in the soil. Just as I was dreaming about mounds of buttery hot corn on the cob, the little pests ate through all the tender young stalks and it was bye bye corn!! 

I cured the cut worm challenge by putting a few chickens in a garden bed sized chook cage for a few days - the girls had a delicious protein hit that week!!   

And lastly but by no means leastly? the ubiquitous zucchini. We have eaten them almost everyday for weeks - baked with bolognese sauce and cheese, fried with garlic and tamari, grated into zucchini slice and tonights delight ....... zucchini salad!! 

Oh it was yummy and I promise to share the spur of the moment recipe soon!