Sunday, October 7, 2012

Early Spring Snapshot (what's going on in the garden)


Hello!
It's been a lovely day here and I've been able to get stuck into the garden.  
This is an early Spring snapshot of what's happening in the vegie patch and other bits of our garden.

Above are the new box beds my dad and I made, I have planted them with potatoes, Otway Reds in one and Kipflers in the other, I still have 4 more varieties to plant, so will need to find some more good spots for potatoes.  
This is looking back towards our back fence, you can see my main vegie areas and the back of the chicken yard, you can just see my colourful fence over the other side surrounding my little chicken orchard run.


Inside the hot house, tomatoes seedlings are growing well........


....and my lettuce box is keeping us in fresh leaves for our sandwiches and salads, such an easy way to grow salad greens, I am planning to get another couple of these on the go with summer coming up.......


......basil seeds have germinated......


....and a new batch of kale seedlings are looking good, I'm going to try and grow these through the spring into summer, until the cabbage moths get too bad.


I bought a couple of boronias the other day, the most divine perfume in the garden I think.  Got to find the perfect spot for these, as they are difficult to keep alive through the summer, I can't let them get too dry.


The bearded iris are starting to flower, lots of lovely shades of blue and purple, I think I have a few dark ones too somewhere, looking forward to spotting them in the next few weeks.


The broccoli still has a few heads left, and the first planting of kale is tall and lush.......


.....I have spent today clearing out this bed of silverbeet and old peppers, and have given it a nice thick layer of mushroom compost.  I will let it sit for a few weeks and then plant it up with some summer things, planning to use the wire fence for climbing beans if I can get the chickens to leave them alone.


...I have been growing iceberg lettuces for Andre, and they are not too far away from picking....


....The raspberries are suddenly covered in green,with lots of little white flowers that promise a bumper crop (fingers crossed).......


.....while the flowering cherries have finished their blossom, the apples are just starting.  The ballerina apple tree in the middle of my main vegie patch seems to fruit every second year;  judging by the amazing amount of blossom on it, I think this is an on year for fruit....or maybe it's just because we have had a lot more rain this year compared to the previous 10 years.



......and the same goes for the crabapple, lots of pink buds ready to burst into gorgeous flowers, 
I will have to take a photo in a week or two and show you it in full bloom, it's quite spectacular!



....I have planted the last box bed with several different types of capsicum, hoping to be able to have nice colourful capsicum salads and all home grown too!


....in this garden I have heirloom snow peas, broccolini, red spring onions, celery and normal brown onions , plus a huge amount of weeds!


...I have a couple of blueberry bushes that need to go in the ground.  Just trying to find a nice acidic part of the garden where they can thrive, maybe up near the raspberries........

Well, that's about all I have to show at the moment, how's your garden growing?

Bring on Summer I say!

25 comments:

  1. Your garden is looking just wonderful. Do you have issues with fruit fly where you are?

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  2. Oh, how wonderful!! It warms my heart seeing all this upcoming beauty of nature, while overhere autumn is doing it's best to drop summer's richness on year's way to winter ;-). Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Your gardens are just beautiful! We are into Fall here in the US. Our trees are beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow and the air is crisp and cool! My vegetable garden is done and we had the last of the fresh corn on the cob from our local farm stand last night! I am going to enjoy your posts of summer when we are in the dead of winter here! :)

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  4. Oh oh oh total envy here, Love the garden x

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  5. So much happening in your garden Jules, it's great when plants start growing after Winter.......
    Love Boronia, but have never had any success with them, I hope you find the right spot for it to thrive.......the perfume would be divine.
    My Irises are a day or two away from flowering, lots of blues and a couple of other varities as well.
    Hope to get out and garden tomorrow, after a day of rain on Saturday the ground will be lovely and soft for weeding...

    Claire :}

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  6. Your garden in what you describe as early spring is how we hope hope hope ours is by mid summer! We are in Northern England and everything takes ages to get going. We are about to move though - we are having a tropical adventure in the southern hemisphere for a couple of years so will be playing serious catch up to get a garden going when we get there in mid November! See http://www.stitchesandseeds.blogspot.co.uk/ if you are interested in following our adventures...

    Eleanor x

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  7. How gorgeous. My garden is shedding its leaves and preparing to die while yours is brimming with new life! We too have chickens, i've just let mine out into the garden and watching them have a scrat around for the last of the bugs!

    x

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  8. I can't believe how much produce is growing in your backyard..super beautiful!

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  9. i adore reading posts from the blogs i follow from australia...i'm in northern ohio, united states, and of course, it's full-on autumn here, so it's always fascinating to see the spring just beginning somewhere else. it's funny, intellectually, i know that the seasons are different elsewhere on the earth, but i still feel amazement actually seeing it (like a little kid!). we forget sometimes how wonderful the internet and other electronic communication actually is!
    well, take care!
    debra

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  10. Oh how I loved seeing Spring again, we are in Auum and everything is turning and dieing. Love all the green!!

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  11. we are hitting the low 40s today so fall is really here. but love seeing your spring gardens. makes me know that it all truly goes on. thanks Julianne

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  12. I love this blog.
    Always new ideas and just my colors.
    Garden, crochet ...
    Many dear greetings
    Maike

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  13. Your garden is amazing.
    I spent yesterday in the garden preparing ours for Summer too
    Thanks for the ideas of what else I can plant xxx

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  14. Love this post..makes me soooooo jealous though lol! We've moved house in the last 12 months, so no 'real' gardens yet...but hopefully next year we will be able to plant up our vegie garden!
    Sarah xo

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  15. Hi Jules, am new to your blog, but really enjoying it! I am SOOOO looking forward to seeing the progress on your stripy blanket!! The kids are back at school today, so I am hoping to see an update soon! :-) Your Yvestown cotton - the colours are lovely, is the quality good? (perhaps write a blog post about it!!! x)

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  16. What a wonderful garden! Looks like you could feed an army! Hope we get a great summer and your garden is fruitful and plentiful.

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  17. I love your garden!so many plants, it feels proud to be able to grow this all yourself. i understand it very well! my parents have been having dacha for the past 20 years and I myself like gardening :) thanks for sharing these sunny pictures!

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  18. Oh your garden both inspires me and makes me jealous! I am currently reading a book I borrowed from the library called Backyard Self Sufficiency (it's an Australian book)and I am getting all inspired because it is exactly what I want in a garden. My biggest problem at the moment is that I am renting and I simply can't put in place everything I want, but I am going to start out small and hopefully something will grow other than weeds!
    xXx Helen

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  19. Mercy! I have such garden envy! I live in town on a small lot. We have been trying to add more and more. Today I gleaned the last of everything before the frost got it tonight. Here we are ending our season and your's is starting. :o) Hope you have a lovely growing season. Look forward to seeing it when our snow is flying and I am only dreaming of fresh greens.

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  20. I am a cucumber shade of green. I dream of having a garden full of veggie garden beds like that. Next house I think. Your garden also looks so healthy.
    xx

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  21. I missed this gardening post and just had to come back and take a peek and I'm so glad I did. Your garden is stunning and I'm quite envious of your vege garden especially. I would like to have one all year around but we just don't get the sun in winter. Thanks for sharing, it's inspirational.
    Anne xx

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  22. I love you garden! Well done!
    Love NikkiM

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  23. Wow! That's an amazing amount of garden goodies you've got growing! xo

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  24. Hola! Un jardín precioso , me gusta mucho , y el blog muy inspirador me quedo de seguidora si le va bien. Saludos desde España.

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