It’s late Spring here in Sydney, and our garden is glowing green.
Two large clumps of curly parsley are thriving in the first bed, and I’m hoping to make a batch of parsley soup this week. It’s hard to believe that I was lamenting about how hard this was to buy in June.
We’ve just started harvesting our first Lebanese cucumbers…
Our second bed of corn has been planted, replacing the peas that are now finished…
The first bed of corn is growing at an incredible rate – the plants are noticeably taller every morning, often by several inches. Pete tells me that corn is a grass, and grows accordingly…
Some of the corn is already flowering – as these plants are wind pollinated, they need to be planted within proximity of each other, rather than scattered throughout the beds..
The garden is full of wee visitors, including dragonflies, bees, paper wasps and these tiny ladybeetles…
Our broccoli, from which we’d harvested a large head several weeks ago, continues to provide small delicious offshoots for our dinners..
This is a single cherry tomato plant. And now we know to only ever plant one cherry tom in the backyard. The added bonus is that they grow so quickly that almost nothing eats them.
Our basil plants scent the entire garden, and seem to really enjoy their spot beside the tomatoes…
Our other tomatoes are standard romas – they’ve fruited heavily, but none have ripened as yet…
We’ve planted celery in every bed, but the ones in the first bed are now going to seed. I wonder if we can harvest the seeds for use in our coleslaw?
My favourite vegetable in the garden this season – Tuscan kale, also known as cavolo nero. I use it in place of spinach, and it’s been producing for months now…
And finally, great excitement as our first eggplants are ready for picking! The capsicums are growing well too, but they’re still very green and not nearly ready for harvest.
I’m a little gobsmacked at how well Linda Woodrow’s permaculture principles are working in our suburban backyard. Her plan is clever, well laid out, and ensures that there is always something in the garden for dinner. And we’re all marveling at how fast the process has been – getting ready took a bit of time, but we only really started planting out a few months ago. Our little patch is now providing eggs for ourselves and my parents, as well as all the carrots, cucumbers, beetroots, cabbages, celery, beans, leeks and herbs that we need. Hopefully, we’ll soon have enough tomatoes to be able to process our own passata and tomato ketchup, and our potatoes will be ready for harvesting before Christmas.
We’ve been blessed with lots of rain lately, which has helped the garden no end, and we haven’t sprayed anything other than diluted worm pee on the plants. We don’t buy any fertiliser (apart from one initial bag of dynamic lifter), and we don’t worry too much about the insects. As Linda taught us, we don’t have bugs and weeds, we have chicken feed.
Almost all the hard slog is done by our lovely hens, who till and fertilise the soil, eating all the weeds and slugs in the process. We repay them for their tireless labour with kitchen scraps and garden waste, like this spent broccoli plant. I’d like to think they’re as happy with us as we are with them!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Wow….I am suffering from a severe case of garden envy!!!
Celia you guys are amazing!!!
Your garden and your chooks are great producers.
You sound very satisfied- and you should be!
What a wonderful return on your investment of time and energy.
Thanks for sharing a little glimpse of your green paradise!
Damn, that’s a beautiful garden! I remember having had a tough time getting my parsley up and running – but then I let it flower and go to seed – and it naturally spread about 10,000 baby parsley plants!
Are you saying that you let the chickens go scavenging in the garden? I can’t believe that they don’t eat every living thing there, if you do!
You are surely doing something right – just gorgeous.
Doc, we don’t let the girls run free – there would be nothing to eat if we did! They’re in a large chicken dome, based on a plan from Linda’s book. It’s very clever – they roost on a raised platform at the top of the dome, which keeps them quite safe from predators, and the circumference of the dome is the same size as each of the garden beds. So as each bed is finished, the whole dome is moved onto it, and the chooks get to clean up all the leftover pants, weeds, bugs etc, then they fertilise the space and rotorvate the soil. Once they’ve had a couple of weeks on it, we move them to the next patch, and plant out the one they’ve just worked over.
If you google “chook dome”, you’ll find lots of photos…
Your garden is like a green paradise. It must be nice to cook with all the ingredients fresh right from your own garden. I love your tomato shot… your cherry tomato is really one in a million! It’s so special!
I am so inspired by this burst of ‘freshness’. The idea of growing your own food is so noble, it appeals to the ‘better man’ in each and every one of us. As we speak, my garden is clear – all the fancy pant plants the husband of mine planted last spring, uprooted and transferred to the front of house leaving me room to grow loads of things. Thanks for the inspiration – now I have to go make someones white chocolate bundt. LOL
It is winter here in zone 8B. I am very envious of your kale. Wednesday I had 5 young (10 inches tall) plants in my garden. Thursday morning they were gone! Totally!!! I have no idea what could have happened.
Your plants look very lovely. Will you share the recipe for parsley soup?
Everything is so dull and drab here in the UK at the moment; your garden has cheered me up!
I’m gobsmacked at how wonderful and fruitful your garden is. Congratulations to the gardener(s) and the chickens on a job superbly done ! Hooray! xx
You and Pete are superstars. All this from the woman who 5 years ago used to say “I don’t go outside.” Hahaha. You backyard was always nice but now it is a work of art.
Wow Celia – you’ve got such a cornucopia of beautiful greens there!!! I have to admit to being envious of your bounty, but I know there is a lot of hard work behind it. I’m so impressed by all of it! Long may it continue to work for you.
This is so exciting! The Wonderhub put in the winter veg yesterday, carrots, onions, radishes, bok choi, broccoli, spinach and lettuce.
We also harvested the last four bananas and cucumber.
Since it’s winter here, pickin’s are pretty lean, just a few straggy herbs and green onions. What we do have is citrus in abundance. Yay!
Maz
The epitome of sustainability. Those girls certainly earn their keep.
That cherry tomato plant is amazing! You must be so pleased to be able to just look around and see all your lovely goodies.
(said goodies particularly turned into a basil/pecan pesto, and fried eggs on sourdough…so, so good!)
Celia, you and Pete truly have the most remarkable garden. It is clear to see the love you both put into it (and the chooks). You remain an inspiration – thank you.
:-) Mandy
Thank you all for sharing the excitement with us! It really is such a joy – I struggled to stop the post sounding like the rant of a mad woman, but it’s just is so exciting to be outside at the moment!
Perhaps the thing that made me the happiest – the neighbours were over on the weekend, and were inspired enough to take home our surplus seed potatoes and tomato seedlings and plant them in their own backyards. It was so nice to see our friends caught up in our excitement as well!
Judy and Heidi, thank you – we’re definitely more than satisfied with how the garden is at the moment. Since this is our first ever attempt at vegetable gardening, up until now there’s been a lot of planting and hard work done purely on the belief that things would grow – so to actually have food on our table is such a reward!
Tes, thank you – that cherry tom is threatening to take over the whole garden!! :)
Oz, can’t wait to see what you do with your yard!
Patricia, thanks for stopping by – your blog is fabulous! I wrote a bit about the parsley soup recipe here – basically it’s a potato and leek soup with heaps of parsley cooked into it in two stages – half at the beginning, and the other half at the end, so that it keeps its colour. Very lovely Rick Stein recipe.
Suelle and Joanna, thank you both, because it was the photos of your gardens that kept us inspired when we were planting out and not knowing what was to come! :)
Dan, I was saying that less than five years ago! Can you believe it? I still can’t. :)
C and Maz, thank you!
Peter, they certainly do! And all for scraps and weeds!
Green is my favourite colour! What an amazing garden, you should be proud of yourselves.
Brydie, so glad you enjoyed them! :)
Mandy and Deb, thank you for the kind words, and for sharing in our excitement! :)
Oh my goodness, it seem just yesterday you showed us the little baby seedlings, I’m in so much envy but I know you don’t get gardens like that without a good plan and some pretty disciplined work, so well done kiddo – those chookies of yours are having a lovely life I think.
I love your big cherry tomato plants, your going to have such fun making roasted tomato sauces. One of my buddies dreams of turning her back garden into a little permacultured world, its amazing what you can do isn’t it.
Anna, thanks love, we have been blessed with a good plan, and it is a lot of work, but so worth it, particularly as we’re eating our own crops – I wonder if people ever become blase about that? I can’t see it happening.. :)
I am feeling a little envious, Celia – your garden looks wonderful. Despite being on 40 acres, we don’t really have anywhere close enough to the house for a veggie patch to be really practical. I had one further from the house, but it didn’t really work out well. This morning I have called a man who makes raised galvanized beds and I think they are my answer. I have some lovely sunny spots right next to the house just begging for them!
Do you find your chooks dig up the seedlings in the garden beds?
Amanda, our friends have the raised galvanised beds – they look like cut in half water tanks – and they’re fantastic! Takes up lots of soil, though, but much easier on your back! Our chooks only get access to the beds we want them to clean up and fertilise, so they don’t eat any seedlings they’re not meant to! :)
Hmm, I did wonder about filling them. I have no desire to be carting soil about the place. Might look into getting a load delivered straight into them, perhaps.
Wow that is one amazing cherry tomato plant! I don’t think all varieties are as good as the one you have. Hang on to some seeds from it.
Your garden has really been transformed in such a short space of time. Very impressive effort! You are inspiring me to get out there and get my garden beds weeded and planted with more lovelies. Might pop over to the garden shop this week…
Girl, your garden has raspberries! In Sydney! And the best bay tree I’ve ever seen.. :)
It is all looking marvelous, Celia!! Absolutely thriving! I can’t get over your cherry tomatoes! What variety are you growing? You’ve also reminded me to plant out the cucumbers today. Go ahead and harvest those celery seeds when they arrive – what could be better than collecting them straight from your garden! The corn is looking amazing too.
Our dome has hit a standstill – waiting to go onto the next bed which still has garlic in it…I like the idea of having a permanent place for it to go while the other beds are cropping. Linda’s style of gardening is certainly remarkable when you see what comes out of such a small space! :)
Chris, the variety is Sweet Bite, and we bought it as a seedling. We’ll definitely be saving seed from it this year (and that too is a brand new adventure – we’ve never saved seed before!).
The small space thing is really relevant – I think the cleverest thing about Linda’s plan is the use of advanced seedlings, which really maximises the output of a small garden.
Spoke to Ian, our garlic expert, and he recommended just leaving ours in for a couple more weeks. He said they might still for bulbs, but I’m not overly optimistic..
Celia. Your garden is so beautiful and green. I am in awe. I cant believe how fruitful your cherry tomato plant is. Will be sure to plant one of those next time. We have planted 3 varieties of tomato. Looks like we get quite a crop but nothing is ready to pick just yet. I will try to get out there and take some photos this week.
We will have lots of cucumbers, tomatoes, cos lettuce, an abundance of herbs (I dont know how we lived without the basil and parsley in our garden). Oh and when I say garden, we have a patch that is about 2.5 x 2m. It was full of weeds this time last year, and now we are able to have beautiful salads almost every night. It just took a couple of hours one afternoon to dig in some cook poo. Now I wish we had somewhere for some chooks…
By the way, those cookies were AMAZING! I had to put a dozen in the freezer just so I wouldnt eat them all. The BEST cookies I have ever made.
Have a lovely week.
Vita, so happy to hear you enjoyed the peanut butter choc chip cookies! Thank you for letting me know – they really are wicked, aren’t they? Now you know why they need to be frozen.. :)
Isn’t it amazing how much we can grow in a little bit of ground? I’m still amazed by it all. I wish you had somewhere for chooks too, they’re so much fun! :)
Wow is all I can say. It’s absolutely amazing that only a few months ago there was nothing there.
I will never stop marveling at how a few little seeds can become something like your garden.
That is so inspiring and I am very jealous. My few pots of herbs, fruit and vege look very sad next to your garden!
Please keep all the photos and updates coming. I love seeing it all and reading about it.
Claire, thank you! Don’t be jealous though, I never want to make people feel like that.. :) More photos coming in the next post!
Hi Celia, your corn looks so good, in fact it all does. Your corn flowers out the top have the pollen. The plants will put out cobs further down the stalk, two or three per plant depending on the variety. The pollen from the flower on one plant has to land on the silks from another (they can’t fertilise themselves). That’s why they like being planted in a block. Have a look and you should find the immature cobs forming now. Love your parsley – all mine got too wet and the roots rotted. I agree with Christine – harvest the celery seed, both for eating and for planting next year. Half a teaspoon added to soups and stocks gives that real celery flavour. Save those cherry tomato seeds! How gorgeous is that plant! And I spotted carrots in the photos, that looked like they are doing so well. Your garden is inspiring!
Linda, you’re right!! I rushed outside to have a look when I read your comment, and there are the baby cobs, just starting. I took a photo…
Your plan is amazing – thank you for all the ideas, tips and inspiration, both in your book and on your blog!
I wish I had a green thumb like you! Anything I seem to plant always dies :(
Susan, Pete’s the one with the green thumb, I’m the one who used to murder all the house plants! :)
Every morning you must be running outside to see whats grown overnight! I don’t think the wonder of it all ever runs out, there is too much to be grateful for. I know what you mean with the cheery tom plant, we had several hundred self seed, and I felt so very mean and guilty pulling them out. I wish I had some chickens to feed them too…
R, apparently you can’t feed tomato leaves to chickens, as they’re toxic! Honestly, that cherry tom is growing like a triffid! :) And I do exactly as you say, I run outside every morning and see what’s grown, and give thanks. :)
my goodness celia! i wish i’d be a beautiful tiny red spooted lady beetle, so i ‘d fly over your garden miracles & admire everything from the closest view ever!
here is late autumn, but your marvellous shots just make my day! congratulations for your creations reflecting your care & love on the photos! :)
Gina, thank you, you always say the nicest things! :) I’m sure late autumn in Greece must be beautiful…
I can’t believe the difference between what the garden looked like in August and what you are producing now! truly amazing! yes, us northern hemisphere people just have bare trees at the moment so ti is lovely to look at all of that green growth. sorry for typos -Using nez exciting iPad but can’t get the cursor to go back!
Isn’t it astonishing, Anna? P&E have just planted our excess seed potatoes, and there’s a prolific tomato plant in their backyard as well. We’re trying to spread our mania to the neighbours as well.. :)
Oh that looks lovely… and super yummy!
You are about 8 weeks ahead of my garden I’d estimate – makes sense as I’m further south.
Bee, thank you, looking forward to seeing your garden as well!
Joanna insisted I came and looked at your garden and the chickens. It all looks very healthy, including the chickens! I’m just thinking what to plant for next year and whether to give up having a lawn… all the best Brian
B, thanks for stopping by! We’ve decided lawn is over-rated and lots of hard work once small children are grown and ensconced in front of computers and iPods. Mind you, we don’t have poodles.. ;-)
hi Celia,
What a lovely post. We are only 2 hrs south of you, but my kale has gone to seed already :( I loved it too though, and will definately be saving seeds.
Your cherry tomato plant looks just amazing. This year is the most success I have had in the garden, mainly because I am a lazy waterer. Thank goodness for all the rain!
Cherie
Celia, I am so jealous! Our garden looks so sad compared to yours… your veggies are so lush and unblemished! Our broccoli plants have holes in the leaves :( I think we have a snail problem, but I bet your chooks take care of them! I am such a permaculture convert because of you!
Absolutely brilliant Celia! And what a bounty you have now! You and Pete have done such an amazing job! :o
Celia,
I didn’t know where else to post this but I was blog hopping a while back and I found a recipe for candied fruit – oranges and lemons I think (possibly a Hugh FW recipe) There was a photo to go with it – was it on your blog (I can’t find it anywhere)?
Hi there, not here, but you might be thinking of this post by Gill at Some Say Cocoa?
http://somesaycocoa.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/candied-orange-peel/
Cheers, Celia
Looks great! Still way behind you, season-wise but the weather is getting hotter and stickier…
Thanks Lee! Can’t wait to see your pics..
Lorraine, thank you! And it is bounty, that’s a great word for it..
Honey, some of our plants have been savaged by bugs – particularly the cabbages and for some reason the potato leaves – there’s just so much there that it’s hard to see the holes! And truly, we don’t particularly care – lots of predators in the garden now, we’ve seen dragonflies and paperwasps and they’re all making an impact. Next thing is to try and get frogs!
Cherie, we’re pretty lazy waterers too, but the rain and lots of mulch seem to have helped. We’re getting watertanks too.
Good to hear permaculture principles are working for you. We saw plenty of permaculture gardens in Australia that worked really well. CT reckons this could be down to Aussie ingenuity, but suspects your weather plays a large part in it – he’s only jealous. Enjoyed watching your chooks.
Celia! There is something rare and wonderful about home grown food so why wouldn’t we sound half mad writing about our gardens? I feel all kinds of house proud when I squeeze fresh lime juice over a dish or chop cilantro from the garden for tacos. (And don’t get me going about basil. :-)
We are going to have a bumper crop of artichokes this year, so excited! I’d love to find a spot for a pomegranate tree and a couple of avocados.
How do you keep your chickens out of the baby plant beds? I would think that would be a challenge.
Maz.
Hi Celia, I really enjoyed watching the chickens devour the broccoli plant…their contented clucks were a lovely contrast to the plane flying overhead!! The vegies/herbs look wonderful.
Choc, CT may be right, our temperate clime really does make growing pretty easy. We can’t grow cold weather things – the garlic is looking pretty ordinary, and I’m not sure how the apples will do – but in general there’s a lovely long spring/summer season! Permaculture is such an eye opener!
Maz, the chooks are in a large movable enclosure, so they only get to go onto the beds we put them on. Look forward to seeing what you do with the artichokes.
Robs, I never notice the noise until I play the recording back! They were very contented with their broccoli.. ;-)
What a fabulous reward for all your effort! It must feel like a dream living with that glowing green garden and being able to pick veg for your meals every day!
Sheer bliss, Sarah! We just pulled in our first proper tomato harvest as well, and we’re eating cucumbers daily at the moment!