Christmas!

This Christmas my kids got some fun presents, but one thing that I thought was really fantastic was a packet of seeds each. What a great thing to give. They change and grow everyday (well, once they shoot) and provide entertainment. The seeds are for sunflowers so they will bring birds into the yard and inspire bird watching. I love it.

And this week...

I thought I'd save time and apply the Seasol with one of the 'click onto the hose' type sprayers. Seemed like a great idea... I hadn't used it for a year, preferring to use a watering can, and the connector wasn't working so well which meant that I got the Seasol sprayed on the garden super quick, but also all over my shoes!

I think the watering can is the better bet.

I have more tiny carrot seedlings coming up, but I sowed a back up row in another bed just in case. I cut back the chives (snail's love hiding in my chives) and have covered them with a frame to stop the chickens. Fingers crossed.

Tiny pea shoots are coming up, but I haven't put the beans in yet. The purple king beans that I have in at the moment are producing great beans, so I really must get some more in so I don't get a non productive time between plantings like I'm getting with the peas.

I picked a nice little bowl of blueberries today which was great. The garden highlight of the week was definitely opening the lid to the laying box and finding our first egg from the hens. I believe that we have happy chickens and now they are getting mature enough, they are rewarding us. Thank you, little hens.

And what for the coming week?

With rain forecast for the next few days, I'm not sure I'll be doing much. Tidying up, harvesting as we need (zucchini, beans, onions, squash and cucumber being the main crops) and putting in the odd plant or sprinkle of seeds. And the kids sunflower seeds, how could I forget! Better get them in before it gets too late in the season.

Relaxing week ahead. Fantastic!

A Christmas present from our hens!

Our girls gave us our first egg on Christmas day! I suspected it yesterday when I caughonion in the laying box, so with excitement and bated breath, I opened the lid and there it was!

Thank you girls!

Gems you can eat!

I bought a couple of pomegranates today. I just love the little gem-like seeds, so sweet and juicy. Yum.

I wonder if pomegranates grow in Canberra...

"Made it?"

With a new year starting soon and with it assessing the past year and new year resolutions, with career changes and moves for some family and friends, I have been questioning what it means to have "made it" in life.

I have a job, and I think the money is reasonable for the part time hours that I work. I have some aspirations, but more about being better at what I'm currently doing rather than promotion. My employer must think I'm worth it too as they've given me a scholarship to complete my Masters.

Between my husband and I, we earn enough to fund our lifestyle and manage some savings.

We have plenty of things... Probably not all of the things that I want, but definitely more than we need...

I have family and friends that I love and they love me. I am lucky enough to spend the majority of my time doing things that I enjoy - activities with family and friends, my garden, cooking, arts and crafts, music...

I may not be rich or famous, but I am thankful every day for the wonderful life that I have.

I think "making it" is like a garden, really. Growing, blooming, fruiting and providing enjoyment and nourishment. Even when one crop is over, the empty space that is left is simply a reminder of what good thing was once there and an opportunity - an opening - for another. A state of mind.

In my mind, I've made it.

Latte art... My husband's latest designs.

My lovely husband has found a new hobby. I'm pretty impressed!

The start of Summer in the garden.

This past week in my garden I have picked my first blueberries and boysenberries for the season (shh, don't tell the kids). I have pulled out the broad beans and decided not to bother planting them again next year, they are time consuming to prepare and we really don't eat them.
I have harvested half my garlic and picked my first ever squash. I have seen my first zucchini and cucumbers appearing, ready to pick in just a few days. I have seen my artichoke produce flower buds. What a week!

And what does this coming week hold?

Liquid seaweed diluted to the colour of weak tea on all the beds to build resilience and produce good crops. Repeat sowing of beans and sugar snap peas is needed, especially as my peas were so beaten around by the rain.
All my carrot crops have sprouted and then been eaten right off so I'll try once again with some better snail protection. I have pulled out most of my lettuce recently too, so I'd like to get more seedlings in, or perhaps I'll sow some seed that I collected last year.

And in your garden?

The essentials for a Summer garden that I'd suggest are a couple of tomato plants (provide a good stake); some basil plants; spring onions (just sprinkle the seeds over a defined patch, cover lightly with soil and keep moist); corn (but remember it is wind pollinated, so needs to be planted in a block and doesn't grow well in pots); peas and/or beans (need a frame to climb up - try growing it up your corn!); and just to fill in the gaps - pumpkins, whether Atlantic Giants or Golden Nuggets, pumpkins would have to be a favourite thing of mine to grow.

Happy gardening!

First squash

Walking through the garden is back to bountiful harvest. Recently I have had the disappointment of strawberries being damaged by that amazing rain - from 1kg a day harvests to just rotten strawberries, and now only 5 or 6 a day.

But now I have my beans, peas, rocket, garlic, onions as well as first tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber and my first ever home grown squash. Yum!

Chickens

The girls have made themselves right at home! I love the sound of happily 'bocking' chickens in the back yard...

Beyond Blue, Movember and Postnatal Depression (PND) Awareness Week

I choose to support a few causes through donations on an ongoing basis. One of these is Movember and the awareness and support for Beyond Blue National Depression Initiative and Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. I have friends, family and colleagues who grow a mo and it's all a bit of fun.

But it is also very serious and personal for me.

A few days ago I saw a poster for Beyond Blue, just briefly, and I can't remember the exact wording, but it had pictured 5 people, 4 of which were blind folded and writing to the effect of '1 in 5 people have depressions, but the other 4 suffer too'. I went looking on the website thinking I might see it there, but I didn't get further than discovering that it is currently Postnatal Depression Awareness week.

Of the people pictured in the poster, I would have been the one not blind folded.

It has been 2 years now since I have escaped the depths of perinatal depression (depression whilst pregnant and post natal depression). I was so ashamed of the depression that I felt that I did not 'confess' this depression to many people. I sought help, I saw my doctor, had a mental health care plan drawn up and saw a Psychologist. This continued in various levels of severity for around 2 years. My husband and mother carried the burden of helping me through this difficult time, whilst having to deal with a depressed me.

Only since returning to a somewhat normal version of myself, do I see how difficult it was for them through that stage of our lives. My mother and husband still don't fully understand what I went through, but they tried to understand and worked with me to get me better. No one really understands what it is like to be depressed, unless they have been depressed. I wish now, that I had spoken up at mother's groups and with friends. I realise now how many other people have been through or are going through depression. To some degree I feel a connection with these people that I have since been able to talk to about PND and liberated to say out loud exactly what I was going through and know that to them, it isn't that outrageous.

My small support network could have been so much larger if more people were aware of what depression is, if the stigma was taken away, and if I had just spoken up. I feared that people would react with "she's just had a baby, what's she got to be depressed out about?" or "having a baby is hard work - get over it". To be honest, I think a few people I know still would say something like that. But most of the people that I know now and have started talking about it with, have said something more like "I wish you had just let me know!".

I am eternally grateful for the love and support that I did receive, without which, this would have been a very different story.

I still have my ups and downs, like most people, and sometimes I feel my downs getting a little too low. But it is manageable now and I know what to do to get myself out of it before it sinks back to depression. I can only hope that I can keep doing that.

I have my garden now, too, and as my daughter says "Mummy goes to her green house when she is upset", but she also knows I go there when I am happy too. I am driven into my garden by an internal force. I often say to my husband "I need to go into the garden" and there I find my relaxation and calm. I have garden walks to take people on, even if it is mostly my husband and children. They don't seem to mind being taken on a garden walk several times a week. In fact, my daughter has started taking me on garden walks to see her gardens now, too!

So, thank you to my family who suffered holding my hand, and thank you to those who suffered without really knowing what was wrong, yet are still friends with me now.

Thank you for all of you who are growing a mo and to those of you making donations.

Let's not be ignorant to depression. Learn more and help someone you know, because if 1 in 5 people suffer depression, if it is not you, it will be someone you love.

http://www.beyondblue.org.au

http://au.movember.com

The green consumerist?

I love my garden. I love having the space to plant things and watch them grow. I love thinking of how my garden will develop and imagining what it will look like in months and years to come. I love watching the daily progress of seedling and fruits and vegetables. I love eating meals with home grown produce. I love that my daughter has asked for her own garden bed, and when it was promptly built for her, and just as quickly planted out, she asked why is it that she only has one garden bed and Mummy has so many more.

Recently I was talking to a friend, about my garden and what I have planted recently and what plans I have when a thought grabbed me. Am I a consumerist greenie?

In setting up our greener life style am I just consuming in a different way? I went looking for a tea camellia the other day, so I can grow my own black tea. I am considering which nut trees would be good to grow. We have our little nectarine tree (with tiny baby nectarines!) and I am considering a peach, because they are supposed to be a little better suited to our climate. I have a kaffir lime because I occasionally like to cook Thai food. I have plans on where to put the passionfruit and need to start researching which grape I want to grow.

I am seeing success with what I have been growing (except for this year's broccoli, but that's a different story) and boosted by this I want to try and grow new things. I want my children to see different things growing and then eat them. In my garden I want an abundant supply of staple veg and an adequate supply of foods that I'd normally consider 'treats' simply because of the price at the grocer and the rate my children eat them when we get them. I want to eat organically grown produce, even if it means having to grow more so that we share a bit with the possums, snails and chickens (YES! We now have 4 hens!) To do this I need to buy stuff. And then the garden centre or hardware store start to softly call my name, beaconing me with the lure of a different heritage tomato or frame for the cucumbers to climb or some other such object that I desire...

Greening our home and lives has cost us a bit of money! The solar panels (although they are starting to pay themselves off), buying a smaller and more fuel efficient car, installing water tanks, the garden equipment, the garden set up, plants...

And I ask myself "am I being consumerist in my attempt to be greener?"...

Seed Sowing September

With the warmer weather becoming more common, I seem to be thinking about the garden so much more. My lack of posts is actually due to my excitement at being able to make an impact in the garden again and certainly not due to a lack of interest... Too much time planting and sowing and not enough blogging...

September really was seed sowing month and the green house is now so full if trays and pots I can hardly get in. I recall this time last year when I didn't have my green house, in fact it was just dream of mine. Until my husband saw the look of absolute delight on my face when in a friend's new green house. It didn't take long till he ordered me one!

My friend's is twice the size of mine and I loved it, but assured my husband that I didn't need one that big, perhaps just because I just wanted one and didn't care how big, just that I was getting it!

I love my green house, it is my happy place. I heard my just turned 4 year old daughter say to my Mum the other day "Mummy goes to her green house when she is cranky because it make her feel happy". Did I say that to her at some point, or did she observe that herself?

I think of how I can possibly fit a chair in there too as the compulsion to visit it, to see the germinating seeds, the budding flowers, the just out of season vegetables lures me to stay...

So my green house is full and I still have more seeds to so to ensure successive crops... and my husband commented that "perhaps we should have gotten you a bigger green house".

Children in the garden

Today I had a lovely hour and a half in the garden while on parent helper roster at my daughter's Playschool, which is like preschool for 3 year olds - sessions are for a couple of hours twice a week, run by a not for profit organisation.

Earlier this year my husband and I helped plan and put together 6 garden beds, each 1 meter by 3 meters. With the teacher, we planned the beds to be 4 rotational beds, with a herb bed and a strawberry patch. So a few times a term I have been going in and helping the teacher and students planting out plants, seedlings or seeds (either direct sowing or into paper pots and then raised in my green house). Although we only had a few things in mind to do today, we just got caught up in it all, which I love!

Last term we sowed seeds for broad beans and sugar snap peas into paper pots with children from both groups. These have grown into healthy and strong seedlings which are due for planting out. We chose to plant out the broad beans today and the peas will go in later in the week by the other group of children.

We explored how the thick white roots were poking though the faded rolls of newsprint and dug holes to carefully plant the beginnings of our productive beans.

With dirty hands and thoughts of food, we poked around at what we had growing and were delighted to see that there were some things ready to eat. The sweet taste of fresh broccoli was tempting and eagerly eaten fresh and raw. We were on a roll... plump cherry sized radish were poking out of the soil. A somewhat less eaten vegetable by 3 year olds, would these school grown radish tempt the taste buds of the budding green thumbs?

Once the dirt was washed off and the bold red radish looking delicious to my adult eyes, I sliced wafer thin slices of radish. The pattern within the white of the radish is gorgeous, but not as beautiful to me as the pattern within zucchini, though much more appealing raw! Thankfully the radish were not spicy, rather a pleasantly mild flavour. The children gobbled them up! Fantastic!

I see three successes right there, with planting broad beans, eating broccoli and radish, but our gardening experience was not yet over. We also pulled up a bed of green manure, to be dug through to continue enriching the soil before we plant it out when the weather warms. Finally, the children sowed a tray of everlasting daisies, which will be planted out into the native garden when they are bigger.

Seeing these young children enjoying themselves and learning about gardening, food production and trying new things was really so good to see. I see it every day in my own young children and every week with the primary school aged children in my gardening club, too. It renews my faith in believing that through exposure and experience children will choose to make decisions that benefit themselves and their environment.

PJG

Stephanie Challenge update

Yesterday I sowed some seeds for chinese cabbage, or Pak Choi, so I have made a start on growing my Asian Greens. I will have to check out some favourites of gardening friends and see what else I should put is as it is just at the beginning of the planting season now.

Asparagus. Yay! I actually already have 5 asparagus plants that I put in last year. Although they shouldn't be harvested in their first year, I did cut a few delicious stalks, so I am really looking forward to this year when I can cut more for harvest. Yum.

Next in Stephanie's book is Bananas. I would love to grow a good cavendish, although I believe that firstly they do not tolerate frost, and secondly there are strict rules about non-farmers growing cavendish. Apparently growing lady finger bananas do not have the same strict rules, although we still have the frost issue. I'm not sure if this is one that we can find a solution for as my green house is not big enough to fit a whole banana tree!

Basil. I have grown basil with great success in the past and look forward to growing it again this year, and for the first time from my own collected seeds. I love the smell of basil and the taste in both fresh and cooked foods. I can hardly wait for my home made pasta sauces and pesto again...

Bay. I actually have a Bay tree. A very small one, perhaps only 30cm high. I had wanted a bay tree, but when my husband inquired as to how big they grow - if I recall correctly it is around 5 meters - he wasn't big on the idea. I did discover that if pruned regularly they make a good hedge and stay small and are quite slow growing. So I have had my little potted bay for 6 months or so now. Being so small, only really special dishes get a fresh bay leaf in them and there is still a pack of dried bay leaves in the spice cupboard.

And last one for today is beans. I currently have broad beans in the garden which are still rather small but they should produce a bumper crop again this year. I didn't save seeds from last year's crop so I will have to remember to this year. Last season I also grew blue lake, purple king and bortolli beans, all of which I have saved seeds for planting when the weather warms up. I think I'll grow the blue lake and purple king again, although the variety of bortolli were drawf and I thought were a waste of space when I have so much vertical room! Do bortolli beans come in a climbing variety? More research to be done.

Signing off from the pyjama gardener and her pyjama clad gardening children...

Food on TV

I wouldn't say I watch a lot of tv, although I do have my favourites. Just like half of Australia I watched 'Masterchef' and have been watching 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution'. On Masterchef I found the little talks that chefs would do about their 'food philosophy' quite interesting. Most would talk about fresh foods cooked 'simply' to let the flavours of the foods shine. Sure thing. There was one celebrity chef that really sung to my tune, though.

Good on you Jamie Oliver. Seasonal produce. Locally grown produce that is currently in season. LOVE IT! Gordon Ramsay would bang that drum as well on his "Kitchen Nightmares" series. Following the seasons in terms of food and produce makes so much sense to me. The food is fresher, specially when it doesn't have to travel half way around the world before it gets to my plate. The food is 'greener' as less carbon is used in the transportation of foods.

I wish I could say that I am growing all my own vegetables in our gorgeous garden, but in reality I don't have the time and productive garden space to do it all. My family and I are also guilty of liking to eat out of season foods - we all have our favourite fruit and veg. I actually struggle with that on occasion in the produce section of the supermarket.

I bought a 'Marie Clare Seasonal Kitchen' cook book thinking that it would be a great seasonal companion to my vegie garden. Unfortunately a quick flick through it before buying it (no doubt with two small children both trying to pull me in different directions at the same time) was not enough to get a good idea of that rational behind it.

Critically looking at it I realised that the recipes looked delicious. I also realised that they often had a mix of in season and out of season produce for where we live. The Seasonal Kitchen, was more about the kinds of foods that you like to eat in certain seasons.

So many of our favourite recipes have this same mix of in and out of season produce. So there the dilemma lies. I have now been buying only Australian grown produce with preference to locally in season produce. My little girl is getting 'no' probably as much as she always has, but I am making sure to give her a more meaningful response than "it's too expensive". Sometimes I hear myself saying "darling, strawberries aren't in season in our area at the moment, so although those very expensive strawberries might look good, they have been in cold storage while traveling a long way before getting to these shops. They won't be as juicy and sweet as the strawberries that we grow at home and will probably go mouldy very quickly." Perhaps I go overboard a bit...

But then I saw Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution in Huntington, West Virginia, USA. I actually felt sick in my stomach when a class of lower primary school students couldn't name whole raw vegetables. I have all sorts of comments on that but won't go into it. It did reaffirm to me that everything that I am doing with my own children and with children that I teach, in relation to sustainable productive gardening, really is so important.

PJG

Winter is slow in the garden but there is so much on my gardening mind

I look out into the garden and can see so many things to do. There is a big pile of pots that need washing out so I can reuse them, the strawberries need tidying up, the paths need sweeping and a once over with the pressure sprayer to get rid of the slippery moss and lots of general tidying up to be done. On the other hand, the plants seem to be not doing much at all and growing so slowley in the cold weather. I find it all a bit frustrating actually! I find myself longing for the warmer weather when everything was growing like mad and our produce was bountiful.

There seems to be such limited time to get out there and do things now as well, perhaps only a few hours in the middle of the day. The last few days we have been out there for a while, but sooner or later my littlies feel the cold, or want to play in icy water, or dirt gets flung into eyes and unlike in warm weather when dirt is brushed away soon to be forgotten and a bit of water play is all part of watering, they are just wanting to go inside into the warm.

So, Stephanie, what do we have from you to be inspired by? First thing in the book is Amaranth which you tell me I should plant from September. Better hold off on that one.

Next is Apples, Pears and Quinces. We have a three way apple that we put in last winter which is still very small and won't produce for a while yet. Although a pear tree would be good I'm not sure if we have the space concidering my husband doesn't like them. Better just bake something for the apples, pears and quinces for now. I'll get back to you on those ones.

Artichokes. Stephanie recommends 2 or 3 plants per family as they have a high yield. We don't eat many fresh artichokes currently, so I thought putting in one would suffice. Once I got out to the garden centre I could only find quite small pots of artichokes. However, many pot had two or three plants in each, so I have put in 3 small globe artichoke plants in a nice protected spot as they don't like frost much.

Garden centres tempt me. I had a sleeping two year old in the pram while my husband wandered with our older child, so I actually had a good wander and picked up more than I had intended to buy. I walked away with the artichokes, 4 heritage raspberry canes, an olive tree and 2 varieties of seed potato. Even more for me to do!

Having a productive garden excites me, seeing the different things grow and mature. Caring for the plants and being rewarded with beautiful tasting produce that half the time is so easy to pick and eat that our children 'spoil' their dinner eating it.

Speaking of which, it's dinner time now...

PJG

Making more paper pots

I sow seeds for a number of people, to be helpful and because I just like sowing seeds. I think it is something to do with encouraging the growth of a plant - a tiny seed laying dormant and with a little care and know how, a beautiful plant emerges. Beautiful for its aesthetic beauty perhaps, or beautiful for the gift of fresh food for me and my family. I think that's why I have so much trouble thinning out crops, but that's another story altogether!

So it's back to rolling up more paper pots.

My littlies like to help with this and so long as I am not too worried about things being done perfectly and to a uniform shape and size it is fine. I figure that I am just happy that they are wanting to help and do these things with me, be it making the pots, sowing seeds into them, or into the garden, planting out plants, harvesting or watering, they are being a part of the process and enjoying it.

I attempted to have my 3 year old video the quick pot making process, but although she is a pretty good photographer for her age, she still hasn't got the hang of film... So here are some photos showing some of the steps involved in making the pots.

Firstly I tear tabliod sized newspaper into 4 strips. Then I use the pot sized wooden rolling block and roll the paper allowing overhang at the bottom (image 1). Then I tuck the overhang towards the middle of the base of the pot (image 2). Next I use the base wooden block to push and twist the base firmly into place (image 3). Then it's just a matter of sliding the pot off and there it is (image 4).

It's a quick process when I am doing it by myself and takes twice as long when I have little hands helping me roll the paper and twist the base, but is rewarded with sowing the seeds once we have finished.

My girl understands the process enough to know that she sows only one or two seeds per pot and gently covers them with soil. My boy, however, does not yet have that control, which means that often we end up with two different varieties of plants growing in the one pot! Sowing surprise...

These pots are similar in concept to ones that I saw recently on the Gardening Australia TV Show (and in the mag), without the costly outlay of the kit. I have to say I do think the wooden base block that squishes and secures the base is fantastic though, so I am telling myself that it was money well spent!

Before I go, I had a friend of mine over during the week - she is a real inspiration to me and I look to her and her garden with envy. She was feeling in a similar situation to how I was a few weeks ago, feeling down about the cold and the lack of love she was getting from her garden. We walked through my garden and popped in on the greenhouse and the kids played and laughed. It was cold and we baked and ate and drank warm drinks. We had a wonderful time. What really uplifted me what that I inspired her back into her garden. Or perhaps it wasn't me, it as just talking about gardening that enthused her again. Either way it got me back out there in the cold weather again, thinking "there is so much to do!" and she did the same.

PJG

Julie & Julia and Stephanie

When I was in Melbourne recently my sister gave me a copy of Julie & Julia , which I watched the other night. I had a nice evening at home with the kids sound asleep and my husband out. On the couch with a chick flick, a cup of tea and my son's birthday baklava (named as such as I made an especially good batch of baklava moments before going into labour and so it is his birth day/my birthing day tradition now).

I enjoyed the movie and the escapism of watching it. But was one of those movies that I couldn't help but think of correlations between the characters and my own life. Myself just turned 30 and looking at my point of life in relation to my peers; like Julie I too sometimes lose perspective of what I have done in my life when comparing one aspect, such as career to people I went to uni with or are (gasp) younger than me. Then I remember why I too, am not sitting in that Executive role I know I am capable of - I have made the decision to have children and to be at home with them, to be their constant and have them in the care of my husband or family on the 2 days that I now work.

I thought of my husband and his enjoyment of cooking. I like cooking and preparing food for my family and friends. I love it when I see the enjoyment of people eating it, and I love that my husband brags about my cooking. I know that I am no masterchef though. I am a good home cook, that likes to do fancy things every now and then, when I have time. My husband on the other hand has in the last year discovered that he has rather a flair for making fancy things easily (somehow with the kids around). He went from having his basic 3 or 4 meals (there was never much surprise as what was for dinner on a night that he was cooking), to planning these amazing dishes that are divine to eat. Sure he is working through the Masterchef cook book and website, but making things he has devised himself with techniques he has leant. The old favourites are still on the menu too :) I admire his drive to test his skills and try new things. He is unlike Julie in that he didn't already posses the cooking drive before being motivated my a show and a chef.

So then there is the logical link between blogger and blogger. I had a fleeting moment of thinking "Perhaps I should cook my way through Stephanie Alexander's Cook's Companion". That's like a bible of cookery for me... but it really was just a fleeting moment, as just as Julie feared jointing and boning a duck, although not having any problem with that, I just couldn't bring myself to prepare any lamb dishes as I simply can't stand the stuff!

Perhaps I should set myself the task of growing all of the vegetables in "Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden" instead? That's more up my alley. Maybe I'll even cook some of the dishes too :)

Hmmm, I think I'll need more vegie patches...

PJG

The cold and wet are dampening my gardening spirit

As the weather has been getting colder and wet for days at a time, I haven't been getting out into the garden as much as I would like. When the day warms up and pottering in the garden is possible, I am not always in a position to be out there, with work and other commitments.

I am starting to miss the warm weather when I can wander into the garden at 7am in pyjamas and bare feet with my children out there with me... times when I can garden or potter any time of the day and spend time out there just because... when I see the bountiful produce and we have an array of fresh produce that can be eaten straight from the garden.

My winter peas haven't grown much and are no where near pick and eat stage; the broccoli is still small and again, no where near floret stage. We have plenty of onions and spring onions, but I'm not so keen at just pulling them out and eating them as is! Sure, the are lettuce, herbs, beetroot leaves and chard growing that can all be eaten, but it's not the same.

I still have a quantity of pumpkins, but we are actually reaching pumpkin saturation point in our meals at the moment, so we may lay off them for a bit! When I pulled out the tommy toe tomatoes I hung the trusses of green tomatoes up to let them ripen and they are slowly ripening up. I have one rather protected garden bed, it is actually the rhubarb and asparagus bed, that I planted roma tomatoes in. This was as a deterrent for the pesky couch grass starting to make its way into the bed - apparently couch doesn't like tomatoes. It didn't stop the couch, but is protected enough to not be effected at all by the numerous frosts that we have had so far. I am still picking tomatoes from the garden, even when the tomatoes growing in the green house aren't in good shape! Thinking of the green house, I have lots of little seedlings of winter veg in paper pots in the green house and more I need to sow...

I was feeling a bit down about the garden, but just writing about some of the things we have going on in there is actually making me feel good. I just checked and the temp is 9 degrees C and rising, and it's not actually raining at the moment. Well a little bit of drizzle won't harm us... Come on my littlies, let's get on some warm clothes and get out there! There is plenty to do and you could do with a play on the jungle gym.

PJG

Broccoli and Garlic

More broccoli and this year's garlic has gone in. With the warmer weather extending longer into Autumn this year, hopefully the garlic bulbs will be forgiving about being planted at the latter end of the ideal planting time. This year I have planted a block planting of garlic, in rows in the newly reassigned her bed (I have been asked not to plant vegetables in there anymore as it is partially under the washing line and it seems that my vegetables can get quite big and even at full hoist, the clothes brush against the plants).

I have put in some garlic kept from last year's crop which was a purple skinned variety, as well as some store bought Australian grown organic purple and white varieties. Hopefully they will grow well there and provide some insect protection as well. Last year I had them in rows at the edge of the vegetable beds and found the insect repelling properties working well. We are yet to see if the shift to a separate bed will have any impact on the insects.

More broccoli went in a few weeks ago, nestled amongst coriander (for the smell to discourage cabbage butterfly), ruby chard and green and red varieties of lettuce (to visually distract cabbage butterfly). My family loves broccoli so it is a welcome addition to the garden. I have sown a few different varieties of seeds, although failed to label them after sowing the seeds in the paper pots... there is a purple variety and a green and cauliflower as well if I remember correctly! I'm sure we'll have no problems eating whatever grows.

Now that I have two children helping themselves to produce straight from the garden, perhaps I should be planning for double to broccoli than last year... better get to making more paper pots and sowing seeds.


PJG

Visiting family and the The Heidi Museum of Modern Art

A few weeks ago I took time out for the first time without my children and flew down to Melbourne to visit my brother who as been quite unwell lately. Just taking two days out, the longest and furthest I have ever been away from my littlies was difficult, something I never would have done if my brother had not been sick. Fortunately he is recovering well and we could actually enjoy time together.


We made it out to lunch, going to the Heidi Museum of Modern Art to see the gardens and sculptures. I enjoyed seeing my brother excited by the art, spending time with family and seeing the beautiful gardens. They time away was so good. Knowing that my children were happy and safe with their Daddy, I could really enjoy myself. I felt like I had the rare experience of viewing the gardens (and eating my meals and shopping...) at an adult's pace, not driven by the time line and needs of my children.

I felt a little guilty about how much I liked this! My husband and his voice of reason reminded me that it was the first time that I had been away from our children like that, being me and not mother me or teacher me, but me being allowed to focus of just being sister me without juggling the others at the same time. I can never stop being mother me and I certainly didn't stop thinking about my children. Knowing and trusting that they were safe without me for more than a few hours was liberating and I think perhaps a mind shift for me for the better. My children are just turned 2 and going on 4 and I am starting to get some of myself back...

When I left to come home, I felt like thanking my brother for getting sick so I could spend the time with him. I realised that visiting him, my sister and step mother is much easier now than it has been in a long time, and know that it is something that I can do relatively easily again. I'm not sure how long it will be till my brother is medically able to fly again, but I hope to see him again soon, especially as my popping down for a visit is now a more viable option!

Mother's Day

Mother's day today. I had a day spent out doors with mothers in my family. Breakfast was mine, with beautiful, tasty pancakes made by my husband and children (actually not outdoors as our outdoor setting was borrowed by my mother in law for her lunch). I did get to potter in my own garden for a bit, in pyjamas and slippers :) The temperature was still low, but the morning sunlight warmed my back as I relaxed and enjoyed my space.

Morning tea - more of the traditional Mother's Day breakfast from my own childhood. We had croissants on a sunny deck with my mum as my children explored the yard. Mum will be moving closer to us soon - I am excited about the possibilities that it will open up and the closeness and support that will be achieved from this.

Lunch with my Nan, Mum and Aunts. Once again outside. Beautiful Autumn air, colourful changing leaves and the warmth of the midday sun.

After lunch I joined my husband and children with his extended family who also had finished lunch and were settling into coffee, cake and outside play. Bustling with people, it was vibrant with play and conversation.

As the sun's glow was cast behind the trees and the afternoon chill setting in, we made our way home. With tired children and a day spent outdoors, my boy came over to me. "Cuddle Mummy". Scooping him into my arms and a kiss on the forehead, he was asleep.

My Mother's day afternoon was not spent outside gardening as I had imagined. Instead I was cuddled on the couch with sleeping boy in arms and girl by my side. Gardening is one thing I love to do with and for my children, and plan to do for many years to come. But sleeping cuddles is a very limited occurrence, with opportunities dwindling.

As I type, my children play happily together and the smell of a gorgeous dinner cooked by my husband wafts to me, beaconing me into the evening. I feel so happy to have such wonderful people in my life, and that two of them call me "Mum".

My May Garden is missing a cat

The pumpkins are out (well over 70...), the big bean plot has come out and the garden is looking very bare... This time I didn't feel so much of the loss of the plants as I was clearing up, but more the sadness of my cat. Remembering seeing her in her hiding spots, taking in the sun or napping. I still call out for her to come in - I wonder when it is time to stop trying.

The broccoli bed has been dug over and the little home raised seedlings have gone in. Broccoli is a firm favourite in my house hold, so growing them is always very exciting. This year I an trying a number of different methods to ward off the cabbage butterfly from laying its eggs on my brassicus. I have interplanted my seedlings with lettuce, ruby chard (silverbeet) and herbs including parsley and coriander in an attempt to confuse the butterfly with smell and different shades of green.


I read somewhere that white half egg shells deters the butterfly as it is tricked into thinking that another butterfly is or has laid its eggs there already. White egg shells come from Leghorn chickens and it seems that the freerange chicken eggs that we buy are from a different breed of chicken, so don't have the white shells I require. So the milk bottle butterfly idea was born. Butterfly shapes cut out of milk bottles and stuck on skewers to mimic butterflies. Now to see if it makes any difference!

Olives

This past weekend my Mum and I got out the ladders and picked a tub full of olives. My littlies had lots of fun helping us pick the plump black olives, tossing them into the tub and squeezing them until their hands were stained purple. Fortunately they didn't squash too many and we rescued a fair amount of olives ready for curing.


This year we decided to split the olives between us and try curing them different ways. We have slit some and pressed others, then are leaching out the bitterness in one lot with plain water, one lot with salted water and one lot is dry salted.

I really like the process of preparing foods, such as drying and jam making, although this is the first time that I have tried curing. I'm looking forward to tasting the results! Perhaps if we get a good result we might find a spot for an olive tree in our yard...

A cat in the garden

A regular feature to my garden, whatever the season has always been my cat. She is a small silver tabby that we picked up from the RSPCA four years ago. And what a cat she is! I have never met a cat better with children and so oblivious to bird life in the garden. She seems more than happy to laze around under the shade frames or broad leafed plants while our amazingly coloured native birds inhabit our yard and nibble on the sunflowers.

But now it is off for another call to the RSPCA as our wonderful cat was last seen 4 days ago - the morning that we arrived home from our holiday. Sweet cat come home, we miss you!

PJG

Garden adventures in New Zealand

I have recently returned home from a family holiday to New Zealand. Although hard to leave home and my garden, which I missed being in while we were away, I found myself inspired with seeing different gardens. New Zealand is a beautiful place - we honeymooned in South Island and vowing to return, took a family holiday for 17 days in North Island.

This time it was much faster paced, with small children racing us around different sights. The different gardens that we visited, did slow them down and quite flatteringly my boy referred to many gardens as "mummy's garden".

Hamilton Gardens (not surprisingly in Hamilton) was a favourite, in fact we visited there twice. They had many different "garden rooms" in different styles, taking you on an adventure as you wander from space to space, being moved almost in time, place and mood by the different settings before you. Perhaps my most favourite was the "sustainable back yard garden" which gave an example of how a sustainable garden can fit into a small average back yard, complete with chickens and bees. The next would be the kitchen garden run by the tech college students, comprising of 6 garden beds of around 15x15 meters surrounded by more garden beds containing permanent planting and fruits.

We have been discussing having chickens for a while and seeing them both in the sustainable back yard garden and some beautiful Chinese Silkies at the Children's zoo in New Plymouth (a small zoo but FREE!) we have been planning where their enclosure will go and how to design it.

We also visited an amazing park in New Plymouth with huge joining green houses entered through tunnel grottos that was really just like a garden in heaven. The air seemed to invigorate the lungs and spirit. My girl has developed an interest in gardens too, and between exploring the different areas, would stop to say things like "Oh Mummy, this is a lovely flower, it is so pretty".

What inspiration - and desire to return to my own garden!

PJG

Dinner vegies

With the vast number of pumpkins that we have at the moment I have been including pumpkin in many meals. Perhaps one of my favourite ways to prepare pumpkin at the moment is tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme and spring onion and roasted. Simple but so very tasty. We have prepared pumpkin this way using the Jap, Butternut and Golden Nuggets and it is delicious with all of them!

Last night we had pumpkin, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, red spring onions and carrots prepared this way, making a sort of roast vegetable salad - the cherry tomatoes were especially delicious! We served this with steamed beans and corn, along side our versions of 'surf and turf' (fish for me, steak for my husband, cutlets for the kids). I love meals where all the vegetables come from our garden, I feel such a sense of pride in our meal and our garden.

It used to be that occasionally we would be pointing out the vegetables in the meal that were from the garden "these are the beans that we grew" (helpful when getting littlies to try new veg), now we point out what is not "only the meat and pasta is not from the garden..." (and now the littlies eat all veg grown from the garden without question or hesitation!) I love it!

PJG

Pumpkin harvest time

This year I feel like the pumpkins have been so much more work than pumpkins are supposed to be. I planted out butternut pumpkins and golden nugget pumpkins. My husband loves Butternut pumpkins best and Golden Nuggets are usually the perfect size to cut and eat in one family meal, with no need for storing cut pumpkin in the fridge. All good.

But then the mystery compost pumpkins sprouted and were doing rather well. 'I really should let them grow', I thought, as they did go to all the trouble of growing for me... I had no idea what variety of pumpkin they were - pumpkin surprise! They turned out to be something like a Jap/Kent and what I can only describe as a cross between a Jap/Kent and a Golden Nugget. We have tried one of these and they taste pretty good.

The pumpkins are dying back, so I am pulling them out over the next few weeks - partly because I could actually do with the path space back again, but also as we really don't need any more pumpkins! This photo has the first mass harvest picking, although I have picked 70+ to date and there are more still to be picked. To think that there could have been more... I have spent countless hours slashing and yanking pumpkin vines off the path, only for them to be choked and impassable in only a few weeks. My arms prickling from the spiky hairs on the pumpkin leaves and stalks and thinking that next time I should wear long sleeves, but not learning from my lesson. I don't often walk out into the yard planning to garden, it's just a wander over to check something out, kids are playing well or helping me out and all of a sudden we have been out there for hours...

We carved names into pumpkins, our names, names of family and of our children's friends. This has been delightful watching them grow into name scars over weeks and months. Sometimes we go on garden walks to visit our named pumpkins. Sometimes my girl comes home saying that we need to write a name on a pumpkin for a new friend. I love that she sees sharing our produce with a friend is special and important. I love that she sees the sowing of seeds, the watering and caring for the plants, the harvesting and gifting of produce and the meal where the produce is shared, all as being special and something that we get great enjoyment from.

PJG

Eco paper pots

Yesterday's potter in the garden was very productive, with children who were helpful and excited to get out into the wet mulch.

We had lots of fun making pots with the new wooden eco pot maker that I purchased over the weekend. I have made paper pots before, out of an old Yellow Pages, but the hand crafted paper pots dried out easily and I had trouble making a flat base.

I had been thinking about how to achieve a larger pot with a flat base and then I came across this kit. It is basically a wooden cylinder which the paper is rolled around, overhang at the bottom is folded over and then pressed and turned in a wooden cap on the bottom which secures it into place. The bottom cap and cylinder are then removed and you are left with a flat bottomed pot!
I think that I might be on to a winner. Here are the new ones with tiny lettuce growing in them.

My girl was very helpful in the making of pots, even making some herself without any help! She then chose some seeds out of the seed box and has sown some sugar snap peas - because she can either eat them whole or shell them, depending on how she feels :)

PJG

Autumn Rain

The rain over the past few days has been wonderful. I love seeing the vibrant green of the plants, like they are smiling and showing their appreciation for the cool and wet.

We have had around 33ml over the past few days, giving the ground a nice soak. It's times like these that my weather station gets a real work out as I am continually checking the rain fall in our yard so I keep track and calculate how much water is going into our tank. Unfortunately we are still waiting on the pump for the big tank that we installed earlier this year...

Today the rain has cleared and we are off to do more exploration of the garden than we can under an umbrella!

The beans have been amazing this year!


We started with a winter planting of broad beans we had great success. After the frosts finished it was only a matter of weeks before we were harvesting broad beans! Having never eaten broad beans it was exciting, yet we didn't quite know what to make with them. Searching recipes we found and tried a few, but gave away a lot of beans too. I discovered a very tasty broad bean dip that I'll be growing them again this year for. I also discovered that when shelled, cooked and shelled again they can be frozen and later added to a recipe when needed. Time consuming initially but a good way to deal with the excess.



After a slow start in Spring the runner beans really took off. We have been continually harvesting beans for months now - green beans, purple beans, bortolli beans and the February planted butter beans are full of flowers. I judged my succession planting beautifully and had cross over harvesting of a week or so between different crops.

But now comes the time when my largest planting of Purple King beans have given me a big container of dried beans for planting next year and the leaves are dying off. The landscape of my garden is changing once again and I feel myself a little saddened by the change. Those plants provided us with up to 1kg of beans a day and were often played in by my littlies, snacking as they played.




We still have more beans producing, which will continue to be eaten raw (possibly while still attached to the plant) until the frosts hit. I was wondering yesterday what our children will do once bean season is over. "Broccoli season" was my husband's response. How could I forget broccoli season and the sneaky eating of broccoli whilst still growing... I love it!

PJG

Welcome to my garden

Welcome to my garden!

My husband and I have a 1/4 acre block in Canberra and with this we are trying to achieve a great number of things. With a 1 year old and a 3 year old, play space is a must, somewhere to entertain when we have friends over is useful, but what I spend the most time doing outside at home is pottering in and around the vegie gardens.

Over the past few years my vegie garden has grown, from one 1.5 x 3 metre bed to around 40 square meters of kitchen garden. This is greatly thanks to my gorgeous non pyjama gardening husband, his faith in my vision and his muscles! We are currently growing beans (4 varieties), corn, pumpkin (4 varieties), lettuce, zucchini, cucumber, onions, beetroot, carrots, radish, tomatoes (4 varieties), eggplant, chili, potatoes, blueberries, strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, herbs and companion planting flowers.

Seeing my children garden along side me, or stop playing for a bit to munch on some strawberries, beans or broccoli is the real reason why I garden. Their knowledge about growing their own food is wonderful, and eating from the garden tastes so much better! If they grow it, they'll eat it!

PJG