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.