Spring (and a parcel in the post.)

This is my granny smith apple, three of the apples have sprouted leaves, two have flowers. The other two I'm not sure... Pretty good for a first go at grafting.

My raspberry plants have all sprouted. I may not get much this first year, hoping that future years will bring lots of fruit...

And my parcel from Diane at Pebbledash. She made the stamps by hand. They are so pretty and came wrapped up with a lovely tag.

Have been planting lots of seeds, waiting for it all to come up. Digging up more garden space. Actually gave up the spade and reverted to the mattock, so much easier and goes deeper. I planted some Golden Nugget Pumpkin Seeds that Tracy sent me in her Pay it Forward gift. Hoping they grow lots of yummy pumpkins.

My citrus trees are all full of blossoms, and smell divine. I have been spraying them with White Oil every two weeks and fertilised and mulched and they are all sending out new shoots as well, which all look very healthy so far. The lemon is a bit sad at the moment, I hacked it back severly as most of it's foliage was diseased and it seems to be responding well. Hoping to get an even bigger crop this year.

I also scored a whole lot of wood chips that had been dumped at the wrong address and they didn't want them. They are going down in my chook run. I think I'll have to keep the chooks in there, they are too distressed in the chook tractor, and I'll get a couple of Isa Browns or Bantams for the tractor.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hannah

Harvest Update!!!

I forgot to add this in yesterday. As of this morning my harvest is at 17.5 Kilos this equals 38.5 Lbs. I said earlier that my goal is 50 by the end of the year. If that was pounds I'd be laughing, but I actually meant Kilos which means 110lb.

Harvested Brocoletti, not sure how much more of this I'll get, they don't seem to be forming as big sprouts as they were, and keep trying to flower more and more, probably spring doing that. Also snow peas, more and more of them coming. 3 eggs, and I'm going to be selling the extras at the markets so the chickens should more than pay for themselves plus earn money. I'm thinking that will balance out their food first then think about paying for all the plants and seeds I keep buying.

Growing Challenge Update...

We receive buckets of rain - last week, pretty much didn't stop from thursday morning to saturday evening. And then the sun came out on Sunday for a beautiful day.

Thought I'd show you all my newest seeds, at the front rocket and lettuces, in the middle asian greens, and at the back daikon radishes, parsnip and silverbeet. They're all growing like mad. The soil is enriched with chook poo.
This is warrigal greens, new zealand spinach, probably known by other names as well. It's native to Australia, and is a spinach like plant that is perennial and grows as a bush rather than like traditional spinach. You do need to cook it before eating, but then it's delicious.

Broad beans are podding up and the bees are loving them, their flowers are gorgeous, and the plants just don't stop growing!

Jonquils.... That's all I need to say for this photo.

These are my first nasturtium photos, both the flowers and the leaves are great in salads, and give a peppery taste similar to rocket. And the flowers make me smile.

This is a photo of the whole back garden, you can see the nasturtium at the very left, then daisies in front of lettuces and snow peas, broad beans with onions and tomatoes behind (see what I mean about growing, they're about 1.3m high in places and still growing. Foot steps with lettuces between them and then the brocoletti and shallots. There's also Kohl Rhabi, parsnip, rocket, curly endive, parsley, coriander, thyme, silverbeet, rhubarb, garlic and vietnamese mint (just planted from cuttings I got last weekend rooted in a cup of water for a few days.)

This is my first apple leaves. This is one of the five I grafted and it seems that four of the five have taken and are growing!!! My first attempt at grafting so I'm very proud of this.

This is the first of my asparagus spears. I planted three crowns during winter, and I will let all the spears grow this year to allow the roots to fully grow. The guy at the store who sold them to me said that once they grow I can trim the fronds and use them in salads and pasta dishes and they do taste like asparagus.

The tamarillo tree is starting to grow some new branches and look a little less like a stick in the ground, but the nectarine looks as though the rain hit just as the flowers were about to open and they don't look great any more. I'll expect nothing off it, and if anything comes it'll be a bonus.

Does anyone else have experience with wet nectarines?

Growing Challenge / Independance Days Challenge.

Planted: Asian greens, leeks, cucumbers, squash, capsicums and eggplants.

Harvest something: Lettuce, Rocket, Dandelion greens, Snow Peas (First ones) Have been eating Salad from the garden most days now.

Preserve something: Attempted to make lillipilli jelly - dismal faliure. I was using a local variety of lillipilli that's a purply grey, just not the same as the hot pink ones I used in Sydney.

Manage Reserves: Using up more old stock - Brown rice, old tin of tuna, creme caramel packet.

Prepped: Set up the small greenhouse again to start the spring veges in. This time I weighted it down with bricks so I don't worry about it blowing over again.

Worked on Local Food Systems: Have set a date for first Permaculture Network Meeting. Not this weekend but next. If you know any gardeners in the Shoalhaven area, tell them to contact me about it!

Reduced Waste: Using old milk cartons cut up as plant labels. Scraps from church and from neighbours for chickens and compost.

Cooked something new: Creme Caramels. (It was a packet mix I must admit, but it needed using up, and it worked perfectly) I took the leftovers to my morkmate's for dinner last night. Also made a Banana Loaf and a Pear and Lillipilli cake. (It's great too except I'm not happy with the lillipillis, need to use normal variety which is better for eating, leave the local ones to the birds.)

More Info about the Growing Challenge