Monday, April 16, 2012

the garden now

















This is our garden right now. When I haven't been making enough preserves to last the year (or perhaps two?) or tending to the needs of three kids, or cleaning, you will find me out here. I've been trying to make the garden a little higher on the list of priorities right now. It's that crucial time to get some seeds in before the frosts hit with a vengeance.  I missed that crucial time last year, so there really wasn't much going vegie-wise last winter. Just a lot of overgrown silverbeet. This year we're hoping to have carrot, rainbow chard, tatsoi, broad beans, cabbage, broccoli and other cold weather vegies. So far so good.

As the summer vegies die back from the light frosts, the new seeds are emerging out of our first ready batch of homemade compost. Which is really just a big pile of food scraps, lawn clippings, sheep manure and giant weeds behind the garden. I never thought I'd get excited about compost. But it is kind of thrilling to see that end result of beautiful rich compost.

But apart from the hope of providing food, the garden is my little escape from the chaos of family life. A place where I can hear myself think, get my hands into the soil, pull a few weeds and add water. Many watering cans full I might add.

I do think it is one of my favourite places to be.

18 comments:

  1. Ha Ha! I got excited on the weekend when we were turning our compost and found massive worms...such a pleasure...weird I know :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh that sounds amazing. I'm so jealous. We have basil and some mean green chilli growing but that's about it. We're moving out temporarily so there hasn't been much point in planting too many things. How I wish I could go mad and plant all my favourites!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I spent much of the weekend pottering around outside in our little garden and realised that even if we don't get much in return I thoroughly enjoy being out there. I still have so much to learn but am enjoying the process :)
    x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh! Cornflowers! Aren't they just super pretty? I'm tryng to grow some (again) this year; the seeds didn't germinate last season, so hopefully we'll have better luck this time!
    ~S.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good luck with your winter plantings...I so love my veg garden, I really do....we filled a new raised bed with home made compost two weeks ago and added some chicken manure and straw and on the weekend, my daughter and myself dug it over and found worms, and the smell of it, was just amazing...oh, that sounds weird, but it was, fresh dirt...no poo smell, just beautiful dirt which is now home to several hundred seeds, of beetroot, mixed salad, broad beans and fennel....I just hope the ants dont carry the seeds away from my beautiful dirt!!!
    The garden is a peaceful place for your soul...every one should have a place to grow........

    ReplyDelete
  6. being amongst the garden always grounds me - it's something I need most days but don't do often enough. Happy gardening T x

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just posted about our new pallet compost bays and the twins helping us to throw in the first lot of chicken poop so your not the only one getting excited about compost lol!!
    We just got the rest of our winter seedlings in too....i would love to spend more time in the garden but children do have a way of using any spare time you have !!!Hope you get a bumper crop!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Our Autumn/ Winter plantings are all doing well. It's pretty set & forget in my Winter garden! I was enjoying the lovely 23 degrees today, hanging with the chooks, a little weeding, some more seeds going in, harvest some raspberries, all while the kids played inside happily. I encouraged them a couple of time to come outside, but it was very peaceful all by myself!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. So wonderful!! Wishing much extra time in your beautiful garden :)
    -Jaime

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful! Lovely blog! I have just discovered you, and I'm a new follower!
    Best,
    Anne ♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. thank you for the reminder of what i should be getting in the ground before winter.
    i need to do some serious (SERIOUS!) weeding before i can though. wish me luck!
    ~d.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gardening is so therapeutic. I need to make the time to get into it more.
    I need to get some winter crops in too. x

    ReplyDelete
  13. An exciting time in your garden, and even your seed box is lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I do keep thinking that I need to plant some more things very soon before I loose that window of opportunity for winter vegetables. You've inspired me it's now on the list of things to get done tomorrow. Gardening is such a nice thing to do isn't it I find it really relaxing getting out of the house and being in the fresh air. Those chive flowers are very pretty too:)

    ReplyDelete
  15. So strange to me to look at your picture because we are in the Spring season here in our part of the world and our seedlings are just coming out :-)
    Wow! You sure have a beautiful garden!

    ReplyDelete
  16. huge fog here this morning as well, lovely Autumn days for playing in the garden, our house is messy buy the garden is a treat, always gets my priority on the things to do list, so soothing.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. If you have any questions please check back later as I will do my best to answer any within the comments section.