I try to spend a little time in the garden every morning.
It isn’t always possible, but if I can find five minutes to wander about outside before things get hectic, the rest of the day seems just that little bit easier. Let me share this morning’s stroll with you.
The asparagus (asparagii?) have grown into a ferny mass. New spears are still coming up, although not as many as there were to start with…
The world’s slowest ripening lemon continues to develop. I think I’ve posted a photo of it every month this year!
This paisley shaped bed has been the bane of our garden. It was overgrown with weeds, the soil was poor, and we could never seem to get on top of it. About a month ago, we let the chickens loose on it. They weeded it, fertilised it, and suddenly we had a useful piece of ground to work with.
It’s been planted out with cos lettuce at the front, perennial leeks behind them, and the back of the bed has been sown with comfrey, parsley, sorrel and dill seed.
One of the hardest things we’ve found with growing our own vegetables is keeping on schedule with seedlings. They always seem to take much longer to grow than we anticipate. We were caught out this time, so our most recent bed has been planted with purchased seedlings – broccoli, sweetheart cabbage and celery. We also have kale growing which will hopefully go in soon…
The bed behind has three varieties of mildew-resistant peas – Somerset, Super Gem and Willow – planted alphabetically from left to right…
The peas have germinated very quickly…
The rest of the bed has carrot and onion seed, a few perennial leeks, and a couple of celeriac plants which were moved from the patch that the chooks are on now…
The bed at the back of the garden struggles – it’s close to the fence line and the established moraya, camellia and jacaranda trees suck the water and nutrients from the immediate vicinity. We have yet to find anything that will thrive there. We might sow the bed with manure crops for a couple of seasons to see if it improves the soil…
The next bed along is growing well, although under siege from pests at the moment. Our unusually warm Sydney weather is confusing the winter plants. We have broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, carrots, onions and lettuce growing there…
A little of the kale is still thriving…
…and we have some broccoli and cos lettuce to harvest…
The final bed along is nearly finished. We try to let as many plants go to seed as we can, as the bees love it when we do. The limelight basil is flowering…
…as is Pete’s pigeon pea. We planted this for the chooks, but they seem to ignore it…
Our mini orchard has been a spectacular failure. Dwarf apple trees are not going to flourish in our warm Sydney garden, particularly if we refuse to spray them. As soon as Pete’s brother can come over to help, we’re going to pull them all out and replace them with citrus – finger, Tahitian and kaffir lime. Wish us luck!
Our little herb garden near the back door continues to thrive on neglect – the rosemary is very healthy…
…as is the oregano and thyme, although the sage has had it…
It’s amazing how much joy this garden brings us.
Somewhat surprisingly, the weeds, pests and failures don’t cause us any angst at all. It’s like a fascinating science experiment – there are no right or wrong answers – just a growing understanding of our micro-climate, observing the interplay of pests and predators, and enjoying the peace and tranquility that the garden affords us.
Thank you for joining me on my morning meander!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
So jealous of your garden :D. Professional asparagus farms pick them twice a day they grow so fast. Perhaps you ought to harvest and freeze? :D.
Nick, we can’t harvest every spear (much as I was tempted to!), or the plant won’t make any food for the following season. So the asparagus has been a treat this year rather than a staple. And nothing has made my Pete happier than breaking off a spear and handing it to a friend to try and watching their amazement at how good it tastes when it’s so fresh! :)
You have such an efficient use of space and a great attitude towards growing that your garden is a delight to view even if I can never touch, smell or taste from it! Thanks for the little morning meander, Celia.
Heidi, like all things in life, when we let go of seeking perfection and learn to love what’s there, everything becomes more enjoyable. I feel like you’ve all been out for a wander with me, thank you! :)
It’s easy to see why you enjoy your garden so much Celia!
:-) Mandy
Thanks Mandy! We really do love it. It used to be a buffalo grass lawn and a complete pain to mow – now it’s sheer joy to go outside!
Oh, I am in love with what you’ve done to your garden. This makes me so envious. I haven’t put much time into mine this year but seeing your has given me some inspiration. At the moment I only have some herbs, tomatoes and green bell pepper going. I did seed some arugula but never got the chance to plant them and they dried up. Thanks for sharing your lovely edibles.
Suzi, thank you, but it’s really a very low key garden. We plant when we can, weed when we can be bothered, and figure out what to do with what grows. We can’t seem to grow tomatoes well, although we do have a self-sown cherry tom growing at the moment. Figures it’s trying to ripen now in late autumn! ;-)
The varagies of weather and nature often upset our gardening plans too. This spring is so wet and cold that everything is weeks behind. I wish I had your problems of too much growing out of season, rather than not growing at all. :)
The weather is so strange lately, isn’t it? We had a wet, cool summer when everything was waterlogged, and now the sun keeps coming out and we’re just a couple of weeks from winter! :) Hope the weather gives you a break soon!
I have been meaning to put a lime keffir in a pot for ages and i keep forgetting, your garden looks fantastic celia, i bet you are getting lots of eating out of it and if you get a mild autumn you should get many more days of eating yet. Isn’t it funny how we are all growing about the same things, us in our cool spring and you in your autumn! c
Celi, we’re only getting a little food out of it at the moment – lettuce, a bit of kale, broccoli and lots and lots of leeks! On your advice, we’ve gone very gently on the asparagus and only harvested a few so that the rest can grow and feed the crowns.. :) x
Thank for the tour, you have a lot growing and everything is healthy and looking good.
You are not only an efficient gardener but a very organized one also, wish I was more orgaized, but it is not in my nature.
Norma, thank you, but we’re really not very efficient – we don’t seem to get plants in when we should and where we should, but it’s fairly easy maintenance now that most of the ground work is done. Have you read Linda Woodrow’s book on Permaculture gardening? We’ve based our garden around it. The chickens do most of the heavy work for us – they dig up the old beds, fertilise the soil and all we have to do once they’ve finished is rake over the ground and plant seedlings! :)
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2010/07/02/permaculture-gardening/
The only thing i like more than a morning meander in my vegge garden is a peek at someone else’s. I was especially interested in your asparagus as I’ve never grown it but would love to, thanks for posting x
Thanks for stopping by, Max! The asparagus have been amazing – we’re not sure why they’re growing now as we’re nearing winter in Sydney! We’ve eaten maybe two dozen spears, and they’ve been absolutely delicious. We’re letting the rest grow now to feed the crowns for next year…
I love your approach to your garden – taking what it gives you and appreciating it for lots of great reasons. So many wonderful veggies growing, and all that great mulch, warms my gardeners heart!! I can’t wait to see how the kaffir lime gets on, I buy the leaves from an Oriental shop and pop them in the freezer, I can only dream of what it would be like to grow some :)
Claire, I have friends who find their gardens such a chore – they allow themselves to get upset by the weeds and bugs and spend heaps of time trying to keep the beds “neat”. We don’t ever feel that the garden imposes a burden on us – we get to it when we can – and the chooks keep it under control for us when we can’t! :)
Your garden is fabulous Celia. I love finger limes. I hope you have success growing them.
Thanks Barbara! I adore finger limes, and rarely see them at the shops. I’m sooo hoping they’ll grow! :)
love your garden and your approach to it celia and i love the way nature refuses to be tamed..
Jane, it really does make it easier to garden when you accept that, as you say, nature refuses to be tamed. All we can do is try to direct it a little..
Finger limes are a great idea! They’re so uniquely delicious! :)
Lorraine,I love finger limes. I so hope they grow! :)
I love the tour of your garden. In my old house I planted citrus and they all thrived. I had so many limes, oranges and lemons. It was wonderful. I also have amazing herbs and a bay leaf tree. I actually didn’t have any trouble with pests! Happy Mother’s Day Celia xx
Charlie, you must have been doing something right not to have any pests! Our garden seems to be swarming with them. With the exception of mosquitoes, unlike the neighbours, we don’t have many of them, despite having a pond! Pete thinks it’s the dragonfly larvae that keep them at bay…
Whatever you are doing in your garden seems to be working just fine, so keep on doing it! Watch out for that rosemary, though – it will take over if you turn your back!
Amanda, I know, we once had the rosemary variety with the long straight stems (that folks use as skewers) and it took over an entire garden bed. This type has soft stems, and it’s in a contained bed, so hopefully it won’t escape! :)
Fantastic garden Celia… there is nothing nicer than wandering outside and harvesting from your own little patch. Love the asparagi… yours looks so delicious, I might give that a try next season. I love your approach to the garden, considering it as a science experiment… ours is somewhat the same. Amazing how good things can grow when they are tended with love and not made to feel regimented.
Lizzy, the asparagus has been the treat of the season – just so nice to see it growing so strongly! And thank you, that will be my new description for the garden – it’s unregimented.. ;-)
Thanks for the tour Celia. You have so many delicious things in your tidy garden! I agree…5 minutes in the garden clears the mind and is good for the soul. I also agree that the seedling schedule can be tricky, I have started to allow a lot more time than the seed packets/books prescribe for seedlings to grow and found my ‘timing’ is improving a little. Have a lovely Sunday :)
Jane, you’re kind, but it really isn’t that tidy, nor is it particularly productive at the moment (especially compared to yours!). :) But it is a very nice space, and we love wandering around out there. We’re still trying to figure the seedling thing out, but we’ll take your advice and add a little extra time to the packet instructions, thank you!
Thank you for the tour Celia! We need to get some new seeds and I desperately want peas, Mum and I both adore them, so I’ll check out New Gippsland online. Mr T is actually watering at the moment, he said that this week’s abnormally high temperatures and today’s wind have dried everything out.
Rose, there’s some great stuff at New Gippsland Seeds, although some of ours just didn’t come up, like the snowball cauli and the red seeded snake beans. They might not have been right for our climate. The peas have been spectacular though, and it was really the first time I’d tracked down the mildew-resistant ones for retail sale.
What a refuge from the daily cares Celia, so much beauty and life in such a small area- congratulations! My finger lime had been in for 2 seasons without fruiting but it did set flowers, although its not a dwarf variety. I gave it a good feed with citrus food so here’s hoping for next season :) I’m desperate to see what colour it will turn out!
Becca, I have a sneaky feeling ours isn’t a dwarf either, which might prove problematic. It has lots of different coloured fruit grafted onto the one tree. I hope it fruits!! :)
Lots of different colours? Oh my goodness, where did you find it Celia?
Becca, Daley’s nursery had them…scroll down the page here:
http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/bushfood/fingerlime.htm
We have had an overcast Spring, but everything is slowly coming along. We have the world’s tiniest apple, the size of a garbanzo, and a tiny bit of broccoli. On the other hand we have more citrus and herbs than we know what to do with. Happy gardening, Maz. :-)
Maz, I’m hoping we can some success with citrus too – the three lime trees (Kaffir, finger and Tahitian) and now all in the ground. The lemon is also going well, although we’re perpetually fighting off leaf miner…
Your garden is what dreams are made of :D
Thanks Nic, that’s a lovely thing to say! :)
I think you should start charging admission! Beautiful garden.
Sally, thank you – it’s not really beautiful, but it is incredibly peaceful!
I enjoyed being on your morning meander too! The first thing I do when we arrive at the house is run around and look at our plants. I couldn’t go yesterday and someone forgot to give me an update on the strawberries and peonies…
Strawberries, Anna! I hope you’re doing much better with them than we have! :)
I would love your garden…. the only problem is it would not be only the herbs thriving on neglect. A great looking garden, very exciting to have such a wonderful supermarket in the back yard. Happy Mothers Day
http://www.mykitchenstories.com.au
Tania, it takes a bit of work to set up, but once it’s going, it really isn’t that hard to maintain, particularly because we’re not particularly pedantic about neatness. Last night we had family over for dinner, and I went to the garden and harvest a little each of broccoli, kale, leeks, a single kohlrabi and a couple of small carrots. All together they were enough for stir fry veg to accompany our rainbow trout. So yes, you’re absolutely right, it is a bit like having a supermarket in the backyard! :)
Dear Celia,
Your garden looks fantastic and I can’t help but think it would have a major part in giving your family the freshest of healthy salads.
Chopinand, thank you, we have been enjoying some lovely cos, and the self-sown baby toms have been delicious!
Lovely garden, Celia! Do you mulch between the plants? It probably saves a lot of weeding! My greenhouse is doing well, but the garden isn’t planted yet.
I made your filled jam doughnuts not long ago and they were a big hit with everyone. Thanks for the great recipe. My search for a good doughnut recipe has finally ended!
Manuela, we try to mulch everywhere, but sometimes we’re not so consistent. The lovely coverage this time is the hard work of Big Boy who had a few hours over the weekend to lay out the mulch over the new beds – we use pea straw.
Thanks so much for letting me know about the doughnuts, I’m really chuffed that you liked them! :) x
Impressive! Always jealous of those peppers. And your space!
Greg, we’re very fortunate to have the space, although it’s not really a big backyard in Aussie terms. Getting rid of the lawn provided us with heaps of room!
I always loving spending time in your garden, celia! I imagine your chooks wandering about it and you strolling through with a sunhat, gardening gloves and a trowel (is that what those are called). I may be too romantic, but this is what I imagine.. When I finally have a garden, I will be emailing you to get help with the seed planting side of things, you really know what you’re doing!! xo Smidge
Smidge, if only that were true! The seed thing is real trial and error, I reckon most of the seed we’ve tried to plant over the past few years has failed. Over time we’ve narrowed our range to what we now know will grow! :)
So much more exciting than a backyard of grass.
I like the sounds of your lime plantings, I hope they love their new setting Celia.
(and finger limes are such funny little things aren’t they.)
Thanks Brydie! Finger limes are wonderful – I haven’t seen them for sale at the markets, and I would love to get my hands on some, although I have no idea how long they’re going to take to grow!
I swoon over your garden!
Will you post some recipes of what you make using kohlrabi? I planted some today actually even though I’ve never even seen it in a grocery store. Which is probably the first step to this plan going wrong- ha. But on the off chance it grows, I have no idea what to do with it or even how it will taste. I’m just assuming I will like it as I like most things that grow.
KK
KK, they’re easy to use – we cut off the leaves and give them to the chickens, then discard the root. The bulb is peeled, and there is a tough bit at the bottom which we usually discard as well. The rest is sliced into matchsticks and stir-fried – it tastes a bit like a cross between broccoli stems and cabbage. We really like it!
Lovely garden, Celia.
Ours does not look as good but we are picking pears, apples and feijoas.
Thanks Meg! Our apple trees are now gone – Uncle Steve came over on the weekend and he and Big Boy dug them out. We’ve now planted all three lime trees! Enjoy your lovely produce!
It is looking amazing! This weekend I planted leeks, parsley and opal basil. I see my beans are showing their face again – this time I hope to get more than the tortoise!
Tandy, the opal basil is beautiful – we grew some last year. Beans would be nice, although I do love the idea of a tortoise in the garden! :)
lovely growing understanding amazing.really
Thank you! :)
I’m impressed with the density of your plantings! I’d bet because you have improved your soil with chick manure. I love the design of the raised beds too.
Doc, the first time we planted our beds, they were packed and overcrowded, and the plants grew small and all over one another. We’ve learnt our lesson – when they say a broccoli plant needs half a square metre, they mean it! :)
Our garden is designed around Linda Woodrow’s brilliant design – circular beds exactly the same size of the chook enclosure, which means the girls can rotate onto each bed as it’s finished and clean it up for us!
Your garden is thriving, dear Celia! :) Just look at that lovely produce !!! I also love the lemon tree! My salad leaves, my herbs, my radishes are producing a lot now. I can’t wait for my courgettes, chili plant & cherry tomatoes to grow bigger!
Sophie, you’re so clever to be able to grow courgettes, we just can’t seem to figure it out! :)
Loved the tour, Celia!
As you know, in my next life I want to be half as good as a gardener… Phil and I have zero hopes for this life, we even attempted to get some lettuce going, and the dogs managed to invade our raised garden, breaking through the fence and dug every single spot of dirt, as if searching for gold. Or oil. Or maybe a hidden bone. (sigh)
the only lettuce that survived was devoured by some type of insect. I might take a photo and send you by email, it is absolutely pathetic.
so, I do live vicariously through you…
Sally, I guess you can’t have dogs AND a garden, although my friend Christina has a really productive veggie patch in her front yard (the dogs are at the back!). :) xx
Celia, posts about your garden always make me SO jealous! We’re about to move into a new apartment and we have… a balcony! Yippee! I’ll probably be able to squeeze about 3 pots of herbs out there.
Don’t be jealous, SK, I never mean to do that to anyone! I hope the new apartment works out well!
I honestly had no idea asparagus looked like that – amazing! Im down with sesame seed plants and vanilla vines and tumeric, another one to add to my wonderful word of food! gorgeous!
Trish
Trish, thanks, although we really have no idea what we’re doing with the asparagus. It just keeps growing! :)
I think the name “garden” underplays your backyard, I think a better name would be the sanity portal . Beam me up Scotty
Moo, sometimes I feel like the hunchback of Notre Dame, running outside, yelling “sanctuary! sanctuary!”.. :)
I am here and I have wandered around the garden with you and I love it and you xx
I’ve just come back in from this morning’s stroll. Thank you for joining me, your company made it all the sweeter. We found handfuls of self-sown yellow pear tomatoes this morning.. :)