Onion seeds

As part of our sustainable garden, we let some plants go to seed. Lately it has been a few more than necessary, mainly because we're busy and just haven't had a good day in the garden for some time.

We have had some spring onions go to seed recently and I love their big bauble flowers. I collected a few heads for the seeds and found some lady beetles crawling around in them. What a nice surprise. I love the good bugs in the garden!

A sad day

Yesterday my sweet little Button tragically died after being hit by a car. She was a wonderful cat and will be dearly missed.

Today we will be adding some special plants to our garden to honour our four-legged family member.

Spot the Cavoodle

I was attempting to groom my Cavoolde, Issy, today. When I got half way through, she'd had enough and frankly so had I. Until I get to finish it off, it looks like I'm stuck with a bobble-headed spotty dog wearing fur flairs. Oh dear.

Love in the mist

As a child, when I had dreams of being a florist, I thought Love in the Mist was one of the most beautiful flowers. I have finally grown it in my garden this year!

Mmm... Strawberries

And here they are! The first bowl of strawberries for the season. And the flowers and buds. So many flowers and buds! What ever shall we do with all the berries to come. Eat them in fruit salad and freeze them, probably, but surely there will be a strawberry pie or two to enjoy!

At the home improvement store...

I needed to swing by my local home improvement store this morning and I had the opportunity to do so without my children.  As I drove into a car park that was clearly packed to overflowing, I was happily surprised to get a park with relative ease, as the first aisle I drove down had a car leaving.  It was right up the back of the lot, but without children the wander through the carpark was almost pleasant.  The sun was shining, the smell of the fundraising BBQ wafted through the air and the almost comical scene of people trying to fit their purchases in and on their vehicles when it appeared hardly possible was happening in every aisle that I walked down.

Despite a very busy store, my shopping was efficient and took minimal time with no child-led tangents into different sections of the store or negotiations about the playground or purchase of sausages.  I didn't buy more than I was out to buy and I had enough time and space to consider the correct items to buy. This shopping without children has something going for it!

The shopping trip had been quite nice, until I was actually leaving the car park.  I pulled out of my space and I could see the exit, just one carpark intersection away.  This is when the full effect of the busy home improvement centre took place.  I sat at that intersection for 10 minutes waiting for a break so I could cross.  I was chaotic!  There were cars and people everywhere and it seemed that they were all going across my path.  When there was a break in the flow of cars, a stream of people were  crossing on the pedestrian crossing instead.   It was like watching ants funneling in and out of an anthill, and all I could do was sit and wait my turn.  It was kind of eye opening watching the constant stream, looking at so many people and cars.  So many projects were happening in peoples' homes and it is the perfect time of year to get started.

November is strawberry month

November is strawberry month at our house. Our strawberry patch usually provides us with a healthy crop of berries. With the flowers in full blossom and some little fruits appearing, I'm already planning how we'll consume the sweet strawberries. That is, of course, assuming that they make it inside at all and don't get eaten straight from the plants!

Sprouting broccoli

We usually grow sprouting broccoli, which looks more like the broccolini than the regular big stems that we normally see in the supermarket. I often wonder if broccolini is just the commercial name for sprouting broccoli. I like the sprouting broccoli because it can be picked similar to a perpetual lettuce, where florets can be picked as needed and the plant continues to grow.

They are great in steamed or in stirfry. When the florets start to open into the little flowers, they add some colour to the dish. And with so much nutrients in the stems, we actually end up eating more stem with sprouting broccoli.

My children love broccoli, and the idea of eating flowers is rather exciting. My daughter is in kindergarten and has decided that she wants to bring in some of her amazing edible broccoli flowers in for her news at school. I love that she finds these things exciting (and tasty!) and wants to share them with her classmates.

Evenings in the garden

The warmer weather and start of daylight savings has given us more time available for gardening. When eating dinner outside, the garden is so inviting, calling us for a potter and a plant. Seeds are going in several times a week and meals are containing more of our home grown produce.

I can only hope that there is not going to be another frost before summer, but to safeguard, all frost tender plants are still in the green house or inside. Everything is starting to take off with gusto and I'm remembering the joy of warm weather gardening.

Right now, we are harvesting lots of lettuce, asparagus, carrots, radish, broccoli, snow peas and an array of herbs. It seems like at this time of year there are new varieties to start harvesting every few weeks!

The nectarine has masses of little buds and the apple has some buds and flowers. The raspberries have taken over the bed that they are in, and I am expecting a huge harvest this year. The strawberries, boysenberries and blueberries are flowering... I think we may not have enough freezer space to store the excess, so I may venture back into jam making this year. The little quince and cherry are a few years off getting fruit, but just having them there is exciting.

So I am thankful for my evenings in the garden and the serenity and sense of balance that they bring to my life.

Everything is happening at once...

It has been a very busy month in our house. While work hasn't completely taken me away from the garden, it has allowed less time for blogging. I have finished one big project now, and the weather is celebrating accordingly with gorgeous gardening weather.

This is a picture from in the shared vegie patch. It is coming into its second warm weather season, and the 'free or cheap' method is starting to pay off. We allowed plants to go to self seed, and I am in the process of moving the plants or seedlings into suitable spots. As you can see, the chard is going strong and giving a plentiful supply; we have enjoyed 'spinach' pie twice in the last two weeks.

I have planted a batch of potatoes that were unearthed from our children's garden bed when I was turning it over. I thought I had collected all of the gorgeous purple potatoes that they grew, but there must have been a few rogue spuds in there, because we managed to plant out 5 rows in the patch!

The herbs are looking delightful and even though there is far more than the three house holds need, they look pretty and smell lovely.

Inside, the windows at overflowing with plants in window pots. I love having them inside, even though they could equally be in the green house for frost protection. Unfortunately, they are getting quite big (well, I suppose that should be fortunately!), so the window adornments will soon be in the greenhouse or planted out into the garden. My children have taken ownership and pride in these plants from when they scattered the seeds and lovingly covered them in soil, so they will no doubt be very excited about the big 'plant out'.

And my garden... Well it is coming along slowly. More time and more sunshine will certainly help. I'm looking forward to the weekend already!

The first day of Spring

Today is the first day of Spring. Mother Nature has placated our fears of a never ending Winter, and although there were chilly temperatures and a frost last night, today is absolutely glorious.

My daughter has been photographing crimson rosellas in the back yard. I have been enjoying the sun and Spring air while hanging out the washing. I'm really looking forward to spending some lazy days gardening in the weeks ahead.

The garden centers are selling frost sensitive plants already, but they still need to be protected from the cold temperatures. We have basil and tomato seedling growing on the window sill inside and other seedlings growing in the greenhouse. It's exciting to see their growth, but I have to remember not to get ahead of myself and plant them out too soon.

First sprouts of Spring

Just as the cold a dreary wintery days are taking their toll on my time outside, there are some sprouts of hope for the Spring ahead. To be fair, my work has been keeping me inside just as much as the weather, but my work load has decreased slightly so I have more opportunity to get into the garden.

My children recently bought some window box planter kits with herb, flower and tomato seeds. The boxes were planted out eagerly. As these have been kept inside, the seeds have germinated rather quickly. While my seed trays in the greenhouse are taking their time to produce sprouts, the window boxes are excitingly full of life after only a few weeks.

Seeing these sprouting seedlings and thinking of the planting and growing in the weeks and months ahead I am both excited and invigorated.

Handy tip for purple carrots

Now here is a handy tip for purple carrots. Don't use them in soup as they tend to colour the soup in an interesting way.

A day in the garden

A day in the garden in mid-Winter is not always an appealing prospect. I have gotten out there a few times but the littlies have made it somewhat difficult to get much done.

Today it was their choice. Their choice of seeds, with their names on the plant labels. They were ready to garden in a flash and so keen to plant out their carefully selected seeds.

It's a mild Winter's day today so that made it nice too! I even got to do some much needed tidying up. To top it off, we also have a lovely harvest of carrots and potatoes to go in our dinner. What a successful morning in the garden.

Perhaps tomorrow we'll even tackle some gardening in the patch...

Too close for comfort

I quite like master stock and the lovely aromats that go into it. We have a number of chicken and duck dishes that use master stock so it can get a bit of a work out in our house. In case you are interested, my 'secret' recipe is basically a blend of a few that I found on the 'net.

Now, the weather is getting chilly and so warm drinks are favoured over cold, especially in the evening. A few day ago I thought I'd make some mulled wine and a quick google search gave me plenty of options. Jamie Oliver had what looked like a particularly tasty drop so I made a small batch of that, minus the star anise because I just couldn't find it any where.

It was good, but definitely lacked brandy.

Of course I thought the brandy would just improve it, so the next night I made the same recipe with the addition of the brandy and star anise.

The flavours were good, but it took me a bit to finally put my finger on what in particular it was that was so interesting about this drink.

Hmmm, what is in it? Star anise, cloves, cinnamon, citrus peel... All of those are in both my master stock and mulled wine. They also both have wine (shao xing/ red). Now I'm not about to start adding soy sauce, garlic and ginger to my mulled wine, or sugar and brandy to my master stock, but the similarities were perhaps a little too close for comfort.

It was worth trying something new but given I'm quite happy with the master stock blend, we'll need to go with a different mulled wine recipe in the future!

Planning in the patch

Today's task is tackling the patch. We have a fair bit of clearing and tidying to do in there but many hands make light work.

The seeds that my littlies and I sowed a while ago are growing nicely but I'd like to get some more in soon.

Unfortunately it's a bit cold for direct sown seeds to germinate too well at the moment, but there are a few options. I could buy some seedlings, or sow into paper pots and keep them inside or in the green house or sow under a cloche and hope for the best.

For now we'll get the patch looking neat and plan out where to from there.

How to grow a planet

I caught the end of a documentary on the telly last night and it looked pretty interesting so I've just looked it up on ABC iView to watch it all. It is called "How to grow a planet", a BBC Scotland production presented by Professor Iain Stewart.

Professor Stewart is actually a geologist, but in the opening minute of so he captured my thoughts so well in how he talks about how amazing seeds are. How something so tiny and seemingly insignificant can grow into something truly awe-inspiring is one of the things that I love most about gardening.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series now!

Another batch

Yesterday's muffins were so successful that I made some more today!

My dehydrated fruit is also finished and ready for lunch boxes during the week. Yum.

English muffins

It is wet and dreary here. With working bees planned and things to do outside, the rain has put a dampener on some of our plans.

But when it is cold and wet, it feels like good baking weather. Today I thought I'd try something that I haven't made before. English muffins.

You know the kind, flat buns that you split in two and toast in the toaster.

I was actually surprised how easy they were. I put the warm milk (225ml), soft butter (55g), flour (450g), yeast (2tsp), salt (1tsp) and sugar (1tsp) in the breadmaker to make the dough. Then I gave it a quick knead and patted it flat before cutting out circles with a cookie cutter (a bit like making scones). I sprinkled a little polenta over them and cooked in an oiled pan on low heat for 7 minutes each side.

I would post a picture, but they were eaten before they cooled because they were just so good. They were so simple too, I don't know if I'll buy English muffins from the store again!

Pasta sauce?

My husband makes delicious pasta sauce, so when it is his turn to cook pasta is a favourite.

He made pasta with a tomato based sauce a few nights ago and it was different to the normal sauces that he makes. Sure, there is variation, but this was different and we couldn't quite pick why. He'd used the same basic ingredients as usual. We've been making tomato based things with my bottled tomatoes from our garden for a while and they are delicious.

At dinner time it was like we we doing a MasterChef challenge of picking the mystery ingredient only we knew everything that went into the sauce and we still couldn't pick the flavour. It was a delicious sauce. Full of flavour tasty and sweet.

Was it the Hungarian paprika? Is that sweeter than Sweet paprika? I don't know... It was home grown tomatoes, and they are much tastier than regular canned tomatoes...?

It has remained a delicious mystery.

Until this morning when I was looking in the fridge. You see, I made this batch of tomato chutney in the breadmaker which hadn't quite thickened enough. It was really yummy on sandwiches so I had been using it, but I probably just needed to put it back on the stove and thicken it up.

The tomato chutney was no where to be found. I opened the dishwasher and jar from the chutney was sitting there sparkling clean.

As it turns out pasta sauce is delicious with a couple of jars of bottled tomatoes and a jar of homemade tomato chutney. It adds complexities that are hard to describe, yet pleasing to the taste buds.

Garlic planting time

I now have 120 cloves of garlic planted, which will hopefully mean 120 head of garlic.

Now is the time to get garlic in the ground to ensure they have enough time to fatten up before it gets too cold. Hopefully we're not already too late, because it has been mighty frosty here lately!

Start by selecting some good eating garlic. You could buy garlic from the nursery for planting or from your local grocer. A nice organic garlic is good, but aim for locally grown garlic. Imported garlic has been sprayed and may not grow as well, if at all.

Carefully separate the garlic cloves, making sure to leave the papery covering in place and not damaging the base of the bulb. Tuck the bulbs into prepared soil leaving just the top pointy bit poking out. You could plant garlic in rows around garden beds or in with your roses (natural protection from aphids for the roses). I prefer to plant a block patch of garlic and rotate the bed that they are in each year.

What to do this weekend in the garden

With only a week till my little boy turns 4, the coming week will mean clearing and tidying the yard for a birthday party.

If you are inclined to do any gardening this weekend, I recommend planting out your garlic. You can also put in seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. I'll also be sowing some root veg seeds and some sweet pea seeds that should have gone in ages ago.

Everything slows down in the cooler months, so cloches such as these milk bottles help to provide some extra warmth and protection from the elements.

A pretty display

My daughter's school is having a Market Night tonight. The kitchen garden committee is having a stall showing the plans of the garden, sign up sheets for the upcoming working bee, seedlings for sale and things like that. They also thought a display of veg and herbs that we expect to grow would be inspiring.

I went out to my garden and this photo shows some of the things I collected to add to the display. I think it looks pretty good!

A lasting impression

We have pre-service teachers at my school at the moment which is great for building the profession and inspiring future teachers in their careers as educators. Having finished my Master degree last year, work/study/home life management is still pretty fresh in my mind.

I was talking to one of our mature aged pre-service teachers about all of the juggling that we do. I mentioned my garden and shared patch and a spark of recognition came across her face.

It turns out that her family came to our house when it was open for the sustainable house open day last year. Apparently her husband still talks about things that we have done with our house! That gave me (and my husband when I told him) a little glow of pride. It feels good that the sustainability of our home has made a lasting impression on someone.

Potato farmer

We were out in the garden when my 3 year old asked me how potatoes grow. I was sure that we had explored this multiple times already, but who am I to pass up a learning opportunity?

We yanked out a few potato plants that had come up of their own accord, shaking off the dirt and collecting the tubers. My son carefully placed the potatoes in his 'potato pockets' until he could fit no more.

We then got out a bowl of water and a scourer and sat on the back step while he scrubbed the potatoes ready for dinner. He was so proud of his bowl of freshly picked and scrubbed potatoes that I promised to cook them for dinner.

And that's when I realised, perhaps I'd been had...? Freshly picked potatoes usually means a meal where the potatoes 'shine' in their potatoey-ness; oven baked chips or baked potatoes are favourites. And oven baked chips (a definate favourite of my boy) had been promised for dinner.

I have to give him credit, he did work hard for those chips, but next time I'll know what he's up to when he asks to see how a potato grows.

House work day

I quite enjoy house work day.  It's not that I enjoy the house work, but I do enjoy my house when it is tidied and cleaned.  My children try to help at times and it can mean more work for me in the end (such as when they wash the dishes), but I suppose that is part of the process of kids learning to clean.

What I like most is the day at home.  The time spent pottering.  The weeding or planting between hanging out loads of washing as I contemplate the perennial issue of not having enough pegs.  Singing to my favourite tunes as the stem mop creates a sparking clean floor.  Enjoying the view of the back yard, and often children playing in the garden and/or mud ("wash yourself off before walking on the floor - I just steam mopped it!") as I wash the dishes and clean the kitchen.  Folding washing straight off the line into our own baskets so that I can stay outside just a little longer... I could probably get the house work done in half the time if I didn't potter, but then I wouldn't enjoy the day nearly as much.  My 3 year old son is a real 'home body', so he is quite content to play and potter with me.

It helps to slow down the pace of our lives, in contrast to the days at work and the running around with errands.  It is a selfish day when we aren't very social, instead we take time to be grounded at home, take a breather and then, when we are finished or have run out of time, relax.

Autumn in Canberra

People complain about Canberra weather. I probably do too at times. But mostly I love it. When you know what it is like here and expect it, you learn to enjoy it. I suppose that comes for really loving the city that I live in, and the life that I have made for myself here.

Today is a typical Autumn day here in Canberra. A frost over night and brisk morning air. Already I can feel the warm sun on my shoulders. A five-layer drive to work becomes a two-layer lunch time. Canberra has the climate for layering clothes and I like layering.

It's at this point in the season - the first big frost - that a shift happens. All of the jobs that I should have done, well, it's probably too late. Direct seed sowing now means slow germination and growing. The remaining tomatoes have probably frozen on the plants. Frost tender plants have been exposed to the elements and suffer for it. I know to expect this, as it is part of living here. And I know to do everything I wish I could in the garden, I'd probably have to dedicate many more hours to it every week (and something else would have to give to make that time).

I have a grand vision for my garden, and maybe one day it will be there, and maybe one day the plans will change. But for now, the time that I get out here and the produce that we harvest and eat make my garden my happy place. Especially with my family around me and even in the frosty cold.

For the love of carrots

Carrots seem to do well in our garden. My children have learnt to let them grow till they are a little bigger and we get to enjoy them as snacks and in meals.

I picked these two carrots today. They look like we can't really have one without the other.

Just what I asked for

The weather is perfect for garden play/gardening today! Just what I asked for. Now, where to start...

School holidays mean lazy mornings and pj-gardening

Just as my body has recovered from a week of gardening and renovating at places other than my home, the rain is upon us and a good day in the garden with my littlies seems unlikely.

School holidays started here this week and as I'm now the proud parent of a school aged child this is quite significant. I am a primary school teacher and I did work full time in schools before I had my children. So you could say that the concept of school holidays is not new to me. But with the juggle of school, after school activities, my teaching jobs, my husband's work and our other interests and passions, having my daughter off school for two weeks is significant.

I still have work to do, as does my husband, so there is a bit of juggling. But much less than usual. We're getting to slow things down and enjoying it.

I was really looking forward to a lot of pyjama-gardening, but unless the rain clears or it gets warmer outside I don't think we'll all be out there much. Cold and wet children get miserable quite quickly so it's not really worth it.

While we are waiting for the right moments to venture out I can let my body rest a little more and enjoy spending more time with my little ones. Quite perfect, really.

That first frost caught me by surprise

We had a frost last night. I wasn't expecting it at all. Perhaps if I had been paying attention to weather reports I would have known. But as it was, I was totally unprepared.

All of the frost tender veg are looking a bit sad and I find myself longing for the weather to be a little warmer.

At least I enjoyed a lovely weekend in the garden to see out the last few warm days of the season.

The slow road to sustainability

Some times I feel like we are achieving so much, sometimes it feels like so little.

In the last few weeks I have done very little in my own garden, but finally on this long weekend I have made some great progress.

So far this weekend I have tidied, pruned and harvested. I have planted out seeds (carrot, swede, broccoli, onion sets), collected seeds (carrot, bean, zucchini, squash, sunflower) and enjoyed being in my garden.

Being tomato harvest time, I have also picked kilos of tomatoes. We seem to eat a lot of tomatoes, but there are far too many ripe at the moment to possibly eat them all. Sound like what's happening in your patch too?

Well, besides the green tomato pickle and relish that I sometimes make, I also bottle my tomatoes. It's a bit like tinned tomatoes, but in a bottle I suppose.

It's really very easy to do. I pick my tomatoes and give them a good wash. If they are large tomatoes, I blanche them and remove the skins then roughly chop. Then into the slow cooker. Cherry tomatoes go straight in whole. Turn it on low or high depending on how quickly I want them done and leave the slow cooker to work its magic. Sometimes I add herbs, but I usually leave any flavourings and seasoning till I'm cooking with the bottled tomatoes.

Several hours later, the tomatoes are cooked in a clear-ish liquid that they have produced. I take clean, hot jars and lids from the dishwasher (but you can also boil then oven dry jars and lids), spoon the the tomatoes and juice in, seal them up and there we go!

The lids with safety 'buttons' pop down and you know that there is a good safe seal. I store in my pantry and use as I would tinned tomatoes from the supermarket. Only, I know I have organic, zero carbon mile produce going into my dinner, and it tastes so good.

So the road to sustainability is slow, because I only have 20 jars of tomatoes so far, and the tomato season in coming to an end. I could probably make 100 jars and we'd get through them in less than a year. Next year, I'll put in a few more plants and collect more jars and we'll be just a little bit further down that road.

Gardening is good

We spent this weekend camping with friends. It was fun and exciting and chaos all at once. The real purpose was for a 24 hour mountain bike race. But as a support crew member, it was not quite so physically draining for me. I got to enjoy some time with my lovely friends and cheer on my husband and children in their races. None the less, when I got home I was exhausted and my husband had a much needed nap. My children happily went for some garden/water play with my mum and I had a little while to rest...

Despite being tired, having washing to do and bags to unpack, there was something much more urgently in need of my attention. Ok, maybe it wasn't really urgent. But I desperately needed my garden time.

With the glorious afternoon Autumn sun shining on me I weeded, pruned and harvested. Gardening makes me feel so good.

The slow cooker is now simmering with tomatoes to bottle, there are huge carrots stacked in the fridge, my garden is looking neater and there are assorted seeds clinging to my merino top. I feel both enlivened and exhausted, and I'll surely sleep well tonight!

Pulling out the weeds?

We couldn't get down the garden path due to the overgrown, self seeded tomatoes. So I was ruthless, pulling them out and freeing the pavers from the tomatoes. I did think to snip off the little trusses of Tom thumbs, even though most of them were still green. Here they are now in a big bowl where hopefully most if them will ripen nicely.

Not a bad harvest from some plants that were basically weeds on the path!

This is what it's all about

We just collected seeds from the carrots and sowed them into the garden bed that has been prepared for winter veg. I love having the full cycle happening and what my children learn from it.

In fact, as we were watering in the seeds, my 3 year old told me about how yesterday he collected seeds from the sunflowers, dug holes, planted the seeds, topped them with soil from his digging patch and watered them with water from the 'little tank' that they fill their watering cans from.

I was both very impressed and wondering exactly how we will deal with the sunflowers that will soon be emerging in the lawn.

I get more done in my pyjamas

This weekend I have spent more time in my pyjamas than I have in a long time. With two teaching jobs, two kids in school, two school committee positions and too many other things to do, I don't get much gardening or house work done in my pyjamas these days.

But this weekend, you would be excused for thinking it was Spring with the amount of Spring cleaning and clearing out that we have done here.

Perhaps being in my pjs is my commitment to the task knowing I can't really just pop out to the shops or anything, so a long weekend at home had been fantastic!

Sharing a backyard space for productive gardening

I came across the sharing backyards website today on Susan's blog http://aslongasyouhaveagarden.blogspot.com.au/ (thanks Susan!).

After the article on the patch was in The Canberra Times, and again when we had our home open for the Sustainable Homes Open Day, we had people asking about how they can set up their own shared garden space. Although there are several community gardens around Canberra, an 'at home' alternative would suit some people better.

The Sharing Backyards organisation is not yet established in Australia, but is in America, Canada and New Zealand. Perhaps this is the answer to many questions, empty backyards and idle green thumbs?

http://www.sharingbackyards.com/

Fancy a cob?

I just picked this cob of corn and am about to toss it in a pot to have with dinner. But first I wanted to show it to you. The luster is gorgeous. The plump kernels look juicy and I'm anticipating their sweetness. The ear itself is quite large, which is great because I'm hungry and my kids have their eyes on it too. We do have more growing in the garden, but not quite ready for picking. So, pot, boil so I can tuck in!

Sun, glorious sun

How quickly we can forget a week of constant rain. With beautiful sunny weather and loads of washing on the line, the wetness of the past week are almost forgotten.

Besides the small annoyances of no flowers on the zucchinis and raspberries forgotten and rotten in the hard to reach spiky places, the garden is looking like it loved the recent down pour.

I am certainly looking forward to getting my hands dirty again and getting some more seeds in.

Cuddles on the couch for me this weekend

It is cold and rainy and I have a sick little girl. It doesn't really feel like a gardening day at all. There is weeding and tidying to do and more seeds to sow, but with all of this rain it almost seems pointless - the seeds will all be washed away!

So I'll cuddle on the couch and enjoy the opportunity to do very little and not feel guilty about it, because cuddles is exactly what my girl needs at the moment.

Something I'm listening to photo

I'm listening to the rain. It is pretty hard to avoid at the moment! The tank is full and the ground is soggy, but it looks like the rain will be continuing for some time...

Money photo

This tomato plant is called the mortgage lifter. I think the story goes that the breeder of this tomato variety was able to pay off their mortgage by selling tomato plants. How nice would that be!

All vegies grown are money in the bank, really. Because whatever we pick from the garden saves buying it at the store.

Something I ate photo

Yes. I did eat this, right after I took the photo.

Night photo

Flower-like lights sparkling in the night.

Green photo

Perhaps having ruby chard for my green photo doesn't seem right given its name, but as far as greens go, silverbeet is a great vegetable.

Inside my bathroom cabinet photo

I have been using the Alchemy/Akin products for a while but found myself out of conditioner and at the supermarket, which doesn't stock my usual. Checking my ethical shopper app, the Organic Care range rates pretty well. It also boasts the same 'no SLS' etc content, grey water safe and even comes in a plant based plastic bottle "bio back". At almost twice the volume and one quarter the price I thought I'd give it a go.

And what do you know? It conditions my hair. Looks like I may have a new regular.

My shoes photo

Ok, I admit, most of my gardening is done with no shoes on. And in my pyjamas. But you knew that already.

Where I work photo

In my garden, of course!

A favourite photo of me photo

This one is not a recent photo. This is me with my little girl who is now 5, planting out the first of our post baby productive gardens. We had productive gardens before our bub, but a year or so went by with no plantings and we later decided to move the garden bed to a different part of the yard. So this photo is the start of our current array of garden bed.

Handwriting photo

The handwriting is missing from this plant label. I probably thought that I would remember what I planted or couldn't find a pencil. As it turns out I think it marked a row of carrots. I really should keep a pencil in the label box to avoid confusion!

Something I hate to do photo

Alas, you can't see the spider's web at all in this photo. I do not like walking through spider webs.

Thirst photo

My trusty tank quenches the thirst of my parched summer garden when the rain is sparse... Although we haven't had to worry too much about that lately! We also have a smaller tank with no pump that my littlies are allowed to use to fill their watering cans or gravity feed into the closest gardens.

Time photo

What time is it? If the sun is out it is gardening time!

Something new photo

Here are some new plants that I recently bought with a Christmas gift voucher. Mostly flowers, but the exciting purchase of two cranberry plants. My daughter has been asking whether we can grow cranberries for a while now and finally I found some plants. Before buying them we even considered where they would be planted, which was a change from my usual impulse plant purchasing!

Phone photo

Ok, so I have had some trouble thinking of a way to have a phone photo relating to my garden. The most obvious idea won out... I do most of my blogging from my mobile, so this is a photo of my home phone taken on my mobile. Double the phone for one photo?

Thinking of winter already?

It is a beautiful day here. The sun is shining, the bees are buzzing and the birds are joining in a chorus. I have had a few things stressing me lately, so a dose of gardening was well in order.

Flicking through my seed box, I realised that it is actually time I started thinking about Winter. Seriously? I hear you question. But we are finally having some nice weather...

Alas, it is only days away from Autumn. While the soil is warm and the rain is frequent, now is actually a perfect time to start thinking about Winter crops.

Today I started with another sowing of carrots and onions (I love growing them year round), as well as some beetroot and romanesco broccoli. Next on my list is swedes and parsnips and although I haven't had much success with kohl rabi in previous years, I think I'll give it another go.

But now, I can still enjoy the sunshine and a morning coffee in my garden. What a lovely way to relax and unwind.

Heart photo

Ok, it didn't come out like that, but I thought it was a nice way to show a heart in my garden.

Something blue photo

Where something blue is the happy smiling face of a pansy.

Inside my closet photo

Well this is inside my seed drawer anyway. Our local home improvement store no longer stocks Yates seeds. When they were selling off the remaining stock, it went down to 20c a pack.

Well! I saw that and couldn't help myself. We now have a container of seeds for home and the patch that is being put to very good use.

Something that makes me happy photo

My children eating straight from the garden makes me happy. The fresh food, being outdoors, learning about gardening and food, getting our hands dirty and the sense of connectedness to our environment make me happy about beans or tomatoes or carrots being eaten seconds after being picked.

Self portrait photo

A self portrait (of sorts)

Front door photo

My front door. We have a lovely courtyard out the front of our house. It is great for hot summer days, unfortunately it seems that summer has given up already this year so the courtyard and front outdoor living space hasn't had as much attention this season.

Sun photo

Well, sunflowers. These are the sunflowers that are in my children's garden bed. So far they haven't been eaten by the birds but I'm sure it won't be long until they are!

Button photo

This is my cat Button. Button was a stray cat that we got from the RSPCA. We went there specifically to see her (I'd been watching their website for the right cat). Once we got there, my husband found a surrended cat that hadn't made up on the website yet that he wanted to bring home. What were we to do! Well, the only option really was to bring them both home.

When we introduced our new cats to our family and friends, we only had one cat to show off as Button hid under the couch for a good week! She was very shy but is now the cat most likely to be carried awkwardly by a 3 year old or coaxed into games by a 5 year old.

Button and Cookie have become loving friends for one another over the past 18 months and are a wonderful addition to our family.

Dinner photo

This is last night's dinner. It was by request from my little girl on the night before her first day of school. She excitedly helped my pick almost everything from the garden as well as helped me prepare the meal.

10am photo

10am at my place is usually coffee time. This is my Hookturn silicone reusable take away cup. Insulated and recyclable, it is the travel cup that I had been looking for.

It also won't break if accidentally knocked off the edge of the garden bed, which is an added at home bonus, as shards from my sleek and lovely glass double walled Bodums would seriously hinder my bare foot gardening.

A stranger photo

When one of our totally free range chickens became a little adventurous and met her unfortunate end at the mouth of the neighbour's dogs, we made the decision to build a large enclosure to keep them in most of the time.

Although not really a stranger to my garden, the chickens are restricted to the patch and it is strange to not have them bocking at the back door anymore.

Hands photo

This is my 'hands' photo. On my hand is much loved and well worn gardening glove holding seeds, one of life's great wonders.

Words photo

The words in this photo are on the label of the chili plant that my 3 year old bought me. He bought it when he was with his Gran, she said he insisted on it. He waters it, cares for it, shows us the progress and growth every few days. He is very proud of the plant and I am proud of him.

My view today photo

My view up the garden path as I'm hanging out the washing.

Photo a day challenge

A friend of mine is doing a photo a day challenge for the whole year. I thought I'd do it for this month and based around my garden.

Here is the list of what I'll be taking and posting photos of this month.

Growing time in the garden

Last year was a busy year for me. With study and extra work I was pretty busy and my family was too, to make it all possible. With my study complete and a mortar board waiting for me in March, my work load has been reduced. I realise now how much time it took up. I'm not saying I didn't like it. I loved my study, it was personally and professionally rewarding. But it took up so much time! My garden was getting just the basics done. Beds were being dug over and plants or seeds going in. Some seeds were raised in the green house. Occasionally some seasol would be watered in and a few weeds were pulled. But the glory of this year's January garden does not compare to last year. There have been gaps in my planting/seed sowing for successive crops. Some things haven't gone in at all. It's getting late in the summer growing season now and I'm wondering how many pumpkins we'll get - not whether it will be over 60, but whether we'll get 6. So over the past few weeks, my time in the garden has been growing. I have been able to get back in there more and it feels great. In my garden now, not so many things have been grown from seed. I have bought more seedlings or plants to go in and really, I have to be okay with that for now and look forward to the growing time that I have in the garden and the growing that will come from it. Looking outside, I can see it's a nice day here for gardening...

The lilliums are flowering!

They are some interesting carrots!

After a few weeks away from my garden, I spent all day pottering in the garden today. I didn't mean to, a few minutes turned into a few hours and before long my children were covered in mud from playing in the mud patch and it was time to start dinner.

But what to cook? As I said, all day in the garden, so no post holiday grocery shopping was done...

Luckily there was some frozen fish in the freezer. Added to that, home grown and freshly picked potato, zucchini, beans and carrots. Check those carrots out!