I wish I had prettier garden photos to share with you!
Unfortunately, the combination of nutty weather and sore joints (I’ve given myself tennis elbow from rowing) means that the backyard has been sorely neglected for several months now. Three of our beds are currently unplanted.
But, it’s never anything to stress over, having an established garden means there’s always something to eat, even if it’s self-sown. Basil has started popping up in the back bed, and is already looking wonderful…
One thing we did plant a while back was beans…these growing near the back fence aren’t producing yet, but they are growing well…
The Blue Lake beans growing on the side fence are self-sown, which means they had a head start on the others. We’re found that letting things go to seed means there’s always something to eat in the garden, even when we’re behind schedule – nature knows better than we do when conditions are right for seeds to germinate!
The Blue Lakes have kept us in daily beans for weeks now…
We’ve had difficulty raising seedlings this year – possibly because of the bizarre weather (35C days followed by 12C days) – and we haven’t had any successful tromboncino seedlings yet. A couple of cucumber seedlings did germinate though, so they’re planted in the self-watering pot next to the driveway…
Our perennial leeks are going crazy making babies – we would have enough to fill an entire bed with leeks if we wanted. I need to go outside with a long stick and plant a whole stack of them…
Our lemon tree is now making more fruit that we can use…
Broccoli rabé has self-sown all over the garden, and it’s absolutely delicious – we’ve already had a couple of pasta dinners from it…
Red amaranth is a newbie in our garden, the seeds germinated easily and we planted them out as small seedlings…
Our sage has survived winter and the chook rotation (they didn’t eat it), and is now flowering…
A mystery squash is growing in the back – we’re going to let it ramble into the adjacent vacant bed. We don’t think it’s a trombie, but we can’t be sure…
Linda’s lovely yellow cherry tomatoes have been joyously prolific and relatively pest-free so far. Predator numbers have increased substantially in our garden, with the paper wasps making short work of the white moth grubs…
In other news, sadly we’re now down to six chickens, with Harriet and Francesca dying within a week of each other. Both of them were chasing their food one day, and then a couple of days later, lay down on the ground and died. Frannie was my favourite, so I was particularly sad to see her go.
The last remaining chook from our initial flock is Rosemary, and we think she’s on her last legs as well – she’s looking extremely old and tired these days. On a more positive note, the new girls all seem to be fine, and we’re getting between one and three eggs a day. Recently, one of them laid our first ever double-yolker…
And finally, our pond frog seems to be doing very well! We still haven’t seen him, but we know from his call that he’s male and we think he’s a Brown-Striped Frog. He has a “tock tock” call, which sounds like a stick being beaten slowly and rhythmically on a hollow log, like this. Does anyone know more about this particular species?
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Fabulous! They’re *beautiful* pictures, and an inspiring lot of good foods and happy times clearly happen here. :D
xo
Thanks Kathryn! Can I tell you something funny? I thought you were in New Zealand, because I’ve always misread your webpage URL as kiwIsparks.wordpress.com! :D
Just lovely photos, and I love that feeling of pottering around the garden, we’ve found it’s been difficult with the extreme temps, and we lost a lot of fruit off trees in pots, but the upshot is, our veges are doing well in pots too! Love your post!
Andrea, it’s freezing today and bucketing down, crazy stuff for a late Sydney Spring! I’m sorry to hear about your fruit trees. Our leafy greens seem to be thriving on this rain! :)
So sorry to hear about your chickens Celia, but they certainly had lived life to the full. I hope your elbow will be ok, I blew my knee out for weeks when I was doing my pedometer challenge- who knew being healthy is so bad for you?
Your garden looks quite lovely. We’ve had the crazy weather too- last week there was SNOW on the top peak that I can see from my window, and I’ve lost quite a few plants to frost burn. I look forward to seeing who your mystery squash turns out to be :) xox
Snow!! Becca, how could there be snow at this time of the year? I’m curious what the squash will be too – here’s hoping it’s some sort of mutant hybrid! :D
All I can say is that if you can show us so much wonderful produce growing with three beds unplanted, we all better get our gardening gloves on! Envy you the leeks and basil! And the self-seeding. Since all of my ‘vegetable patch’ is situated in pots that unfortunately does not happen! Hope your elbow improves [perchance less rowing :) !] . . . in my case it is a knee wanting to draw attention to itself!!!
Eha, I’ve decided aches and pains are par for the course as we get older! Hope your knee is ok!
If that’s not a pretty garden I don’t know what is. Can’t believe you have tomatoes already although another friend from Sydney gave us some from her garden last weekend. Too bad about the older girls but they sure had a good life with you!
Rose, thank you – such is the downside of layer breeds – lovely daily eggs, but a massively reduced lifespan. The tomatoes have been grand (as Anne Shirley might say :)).
Yes, you’re correct! It is very likely to be a Striped Marsh Frog (the ‘tock-tock’ ones…). They’re very common in Sydney and will breed in just about any pool of shady’ish water. This time of year the males are calling to the ladies hoping to impress them, particularly after rain. Keep an eye out for Dwarf Tree Frogs or Green and Golden Bell Frogs, they’re the jewels in the froggy crown around here. Some good local frog info – http://www.fats.org.au/en/frogs-of-sydney
Jeanie, thank you for the link! We’ll look out for the other frogs! In the meantime, you might enjoy this post of ours from a couple of years ago:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2011/04/01/moos-frog/
Sorry to hear about your chooks. I remember losing my first girls and it is amazing how attached you can get to them.
i can’t wait to get my garden up and running, your posts are always so inspiring. In Perth we have really bad sand – not soil, so it is going to take a bit of effort to get some decent garden beds established. I do hope you get some trombies, they seemed to be a staple in your cooking last time.
As for your froggie friend, I have a motorbike frog in my front yard.
Jenny, thank you – I’ve never heard a frog which sounded like a motorbike before! :) I’d love some trombies, and Pete’s just told me that we do have a couple of seedlings, so hopefully we will. Hope you get your sand/soil issue sorted – it’s taken us several years to get our soil half decent, but it certainly takes time!
Take care of your aching self, darling one… must be wonderful to be so self sufficient!
Thanks love, I’ve had a week off rowing and tried not to spend too much time on the PC – feeling a bit better now. Hope all is well down there – Becca said you’ve had snow! Unbelievable!
G’day! So sorry to hear about your chickens Celia, true!
What a lovely garden, perhaps you need to take another view! lol
Have any hints and tips on continental parsley that is growing tall and is flopping..seems the growth is not stopping and yes am using too!
Cheers! Joanne
Joanne, sounds like your parsley is trying to go to seed! It’s hard to stop it once it starts – we let ours go, and then we can harvest parsley from all over the garden! :)
I have basil envy! Mine needs to be carefully nurtured to grow. Pak choy however self seeds all over the place!
Alissa, we’re very fortunate, basil has always grown brilliantly here. Potatoes and celery we struggle with though! :)
That’s so sad about Harriet and Frannie. What a shame. Pets just don’t live long enough. At least your one remaining chicken from the original flock has the company of the new young girls. And as for your lemon tree – you’ve gone from a famine to a feast! Sorry to hear about your tennis elbow – isn’t it ironic that you try to do something about your fitness only to end up with an injury! xx
Charlie, I guess layer chooks just don’t have a long lifespan – I do love their temperament though, AND the eggs! :)
It’s so amazing what you can grow in your garden.. fantastic! I especially am fond of the lemon tree. If I could grow one thing here, it would be that. Alas, it’s much too cold here to dream that dream:) I’m so sorry about your chickens, how many years do they usually live? That seems to be so sudden? xx
Not really Barb, the ISA Browns are bred to be layer hens, so they lay 300 eggs a year (more in our case, I think) for a couple of years. The average life span is 2 – 3 years, although that’s an average, so some live much longer. Frannie and Harriet were nearly four years old, and it’s been more than a year since either of them laid, so we’re not really surprised. Plus this really crazy weather we’ve been having really knocked them about.
I have bean envy! And the rest looks fantastic as well. My garden is a bit neglected as well but we do have rain! Everything has greened up overnight and the frog chorus is deafening. Clever you to identify your visitor, all I know is the green ones.
Jo, we were excited to figure out which one it was! We still haven’t seen him though! :) Hooray for rain, for all of us!
I love your garden. Mine at Vergrmoli is all finished for the season. Wild boar have been in and are quietly eating what is left. They really like geraniums and have eaten them down to the ground.
Wild boar, Deb! That’s like a scene from an Asterix comic! :)
I think your garden is still very impressive Celia. As you say, once they’re established, they tend to forgive a bit of neglect and yours is clearly still doing wonderful things!
Kari, thank you – it’s nice to still be able to harvest some organic produce each night for dinner!
Your photos are fabulous as is your garden Celia. So sorry to hear about your chooks, that’s very sad.
I could use a few of your excess lemons – both our trees are bare at the moment.
Just yesterday I had a double yolk – have’t had one for a while now. I always like to think it is good luck – not sure why though. :-)
I wonder what your mustery squash will turn out to be – fun stuff.
Have a happy week ahead.
:-) Mandy xo
Mandy, I’d love for it to be good luck – even though I’m not particularly superstitious, I do like that idea! :) We may well end up with some strange mutant squash – or Pete might get sick of it and we’ll have to yank it out. :)
I love your garden photos and more importantly I love your garden! The self sown stuff just amazes me.
Maureen, at least half of what we eat from the garden at the moment is self-sown. Gotta love the lazy gardener’s approach.. :)
What lovely photos! I think your benign neglect of the garden is probably a good thing. The volunteer plants always seem more robust than the ones we so lovingly attempt to coax along!
Pat, that’s very wise, and I think you’re right. Certainly the plants that have self-seeded always seem to do better in the garden!
So sorry to hear about your chickens, we had 4 lovely hens but the fox got them the other day, I was so sad. Will get 4 more in the Spring but they won’t be the same as my first mini flock. Lovely to see your garden flourishing whilst ours are dormant!
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that! Having the chooks die from old age is one thing, a fox attack is another. I hope you get some more soon. Just clicked on your blog and read that you’re in West Dorset – I had cheese from there the other day! It had traveled all the way across the world to Sydney – a farmhouse cheddar made by Ford Farm in Dorset. :)
You have no idea how beautiful of a human you are! Your honest, unpretentious, raw, earthy garden clicks overwhelmed me. And I wish I could give you a tight hug! From one gardener to another :)
That red amaranth leaves took my breath away!
I found love all over your lovely post, dear.
Nusrat, what a kind comment, thank you! I know that our approach to gardening is a lot more laid back that many gardeners, and the backyard is sometimes a bit scruffy looking, but it still makes us so happy! :)
Poor old Harriet and Francesca. I heard on the radio the other day about some chooks that lay less eggs but live for about 10 years.
Glenda, pure breeds can live for ages. They lay only a couple of eggs a week, and they get broody and cantankerous. Our layer chooks lay an egg a day, and they’re entertaining, and we love their friendly natures, so I doubt we’ll ever go the purebred route.
Your garden reminds me of the transition from teens to early 20’s to late forties…. I realized it was fine to not spend hours over every little thing :) Sad about the Girls but they had good lives, and were at home.
ED, thank you for saying that. I’d like to think they had good lives too. It’s nice to get older and less perfectionistic about things, isn’t it? :)
What a beautiful garden!
Thank you! :)
Your garden is so lovely and productive Celia. Isn’t it great once a garden is established…even with minimal work there is something to pick. Your beans looks wonderful and I am envious of your lemons! Sage is pretty isn’t it?
I have not planted tromboncino this year, instead opting for a zucchini called Long Florence. I wonder if it will take over my world like the trombons did last year? Happy gardening, chook raising and cooking to you x
Jane, the trombies were a monster last year, weren’t they? We didn’t get sick of them, but it was touch and go, not sure how the boys will go with another year of them if our seedlings actually do take off! :) Hope all is well in your part of the state – are you getting any of this rain?
RIP old girls. At least it sounds like they had a happy life right up until the very end. How exciting to have your first double-yolker!
Your garden is just wonderful Celia. When I saw this post hit my inbox I got so excited to see it again.
All those lemons!!!
Claire, I’ve never had a double-yolker before, I was so excited! Thanks for sharing in our garden Claire, I can’t wait to see how yours progresses (although it’s hard when you’re preggers, I’m sure!).
Sorry to hear about the chooks! My sage is also flowering and I’m hoping my leeks will grow :)
Tandy, if you can get your hands on some of the perennial leeks, I think you’d really like them. They spread like weeds, and taste delicious!
I love your blog and I am passing along the Blog of the Year 2013 Award to you. As usual, participation is optional. If interested, please visit this link: http://fooddaydreaming.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/awards/
Thank you, that’s very kind of you! :)
Your garden photos remind me that life will begin again, next spring, and I can’t wait!!! You also remind me of the inevitable setbacks we face…thanks for showing both sides.
Thanks for your lovely comment – gardening is so rewarding for us, but I know friends who find it frustrating because they can’t keep on top of it. We decided early on in the piece that we probably wouldn’t be able to always keep it pristine, and now we find it a very relaxing place to be! :)
How wise of you to let your garden work FOR you and not stress too much over it. I know a woman who is so obsessed with her garden and her planting schedule that last year she was digging and setting out plants in sleet (not even food mind you, just decorative plantings).
That basil does look like its doing great as does everything else. Do you think if you let those beanstalks grow up into the clouds that you could climb up and find….what was it, a pot of gold? I guess I forgot the details of that story.
Di, I (ahem) take the same attitude to housework as well.. :D
I don’t think we could manage a well manicured garden, and I’m glad it doesn’t bother me, but we’re all different, and for some people, weeds drive them crazy. We just tend to eat ours (chickweed and purslane). :)
Oh Celia, now I’m going to have to google purslane. Housework? Is that where you get out a vacuum & rags for dusting? I’ve heard of it.
Your stress-free approach in the garden is a sterling example, and I try to follow it myself. After all, it’s clearly working well! Sorry to hear about your hens, though – it is sad to lose garden residents, plant or animal.
Siobhan, that’s very kind of you, I like the laid back approach – it makes gardening fun and doable for us. It does get messy sometimes though – thank goodness for the chooks! :)
Your garden is looking pretty amazing considering you’ve not really planted anything.
My sage is also flowering…I’m not sure what this actually means. Is it going to seed, dying — can I still eat it (as the texture of the leaves has now changed)! This gardening is tricky business.
Mel, I’m not sure, we’ve never had sage flower before! Hopefully it means we’ll get more sage next year! :)
What a wonderful lemon and tomato crop Celia, your garden is doing amazingly well given that you’re not planting anything! Love the double yolk egg, isn’t that suppose to be good luck (kind of like when a bird poops on your head?!!)
Sorry to hear about your chooks, your new ones have big shoes to fill! xx
Lisa, Mandy said it was good luck too – I’m going to believe it! :D
Aren’t garden volunteers (self sown) wonderful! I find they do better than the purposely sown seeds.
Wish I had a fruit bearing lemon tree. Perhaps you could make preserved lemons.
Norma, they’re really so much more robust than plants we try to grow from seed. Maybe one day in the future we won’t need to plant anything at all, wouldn’t that be cool? :)
Considering how much trouble I’ve had sowing seeds these past few years, I think it wonderful that you’ve so many self-sown plants. It’s nice to see so much green in your garden. As you can well imagine, there’s very little green here. That’s OK. I’ll garden vicariously in yours whenever you do. It will be a nice reminder that Winter isn’t forever. :)
John, it’s like nature is reinforcing us for being lazy gardeners! We deliberately let all the plants we really like go to seed, and then we have plenty to eat.. :)