A few photos from this morning…
A sea of basil occupies the front bed…
Bishops Crown chillies are notoriously difficult to germinate, so we were chuffed to find a small volunteer plant growing next to the kaffir lime tree. All the chillies have started to ripen…
The weather has been cool and wet this past week, and the brassicas have suddenly taken off…
Our self-sown Lebanese eggplant continues to fruit…
A couple of years ago, Julie at Eveleigh Markets gave me a basket of French marigolds. They’ve now spread throughout the garden, adding glorious colour (they deter pests as well, apparently)…
Our lemon tree is growing a new crop…
Lemongrass seems to really like our backyard – the small plant Nic gave us for Christmas a couple of years ago is growing well…
And finally – rainbow chard self-sows itself into all the beds – there’s always some in the garden to pick…
How are things going in your garden?
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Stunning! When I grow up I want to be like you, but if that doesn’t work, I have that request to be your neighbor still pending…. I know the competition is fierce, but maybe Small Man can put a good word for me? I love metal chemistry…
Sally, I WOULD happily trade veg for chemistry coaching! :)
Wow – your garden is so beautiful – so luscious and thriving! I envy your green thumb. :) The Bishops Crown chilies look lovely – how do they taste? My mum adores her marigold. My finger lime is growing new leaves/branches but it won’t be another 2 odd years before they fruit. :)
The bishops crowns are sweet with medium heat – they’re a great chilli to cook with! I wish our finger lime would hurry up and do something too – it’s been in the ground for ages! :)
frozen here. solid as a rock. and it’s snowing!
Hang in there! Spring is only around the corner! :)
I am so jealous of your basil. It only grows here for a short period in the summer so never gets as big as that!
Pat, basil loves our backyard for some reason, and grows prolifically, self-seeded and unattended. We can’t use it up fast enough! (which of course, means it goes to seed, and then..well, it all starts again..) :)
lovely my garden is just starting to come to live will do an update soon
That’s good news! :)
Good to see how well everything is growing. Loving the self seeded plants too. My plot is looking like its had a winter bashing!
We’ve had a tough year timewise, so what you’re really seeing is photos of our self-perpetuating garden. The chooks have been doing most of the work! :) I saw your greenhouse – I’m sorry your allotment had such a rough trot!
My garden is filled with snow- not lovely snowdrops- just about 7 inches of snow- and it is still coming down. I love all the beautiful basil, Celia- and totally love that your garden is all volunteer! Thanks for sharing with those of us who are not so richly endowed with green at this time of the year!
Heidi, it’s not neat, but it is lush! :)
Gorgeous – I love that you let the self seeded ones grow…your garden pleasantly reminds me of what we have to look forward to in the northern hemisphere!
Thank you! We let all the plants we like go to seed and self-sow – we’re not ones for neat plantings in rows. Oh ok, I admit it, we’re just lazy. But I prefer to call it rustic.. :)
I wanted to be there :) Beautiful, Blessing your garden. Thanks and Love, nia
Thanks lovely Nia! xx
Oh wow! Your basil is glory. We just put a few herbs in. Our broccoli is done. It’s the end of winter here and although we have tons of citrus everything else is a bust. Looking forward to Spring. :-) Maz
Maz, you do so well with citrus. We just have our lemon tree, but it IS doing quite well at the moment!
I cannot wait to have a garden again! I don’t know when that will be, but I’m determined to have one, even if it’s just a little balcony garden. Yours is gorgeous!
Thank you! It’s not very tidy at the moment, but it is lush!
I wish I could have my own garden… yours is great!
Thank you! I hope one day you get your wish! :)
Beautiful plants! My basil never gets as tall as yours. Marigolds really work for pest control. I let mine self sow, so I have lots of volunteer plants. My garden is still covered in snow and frozen. I have started some plants indoors for transplanting later.
Manuela, we’re a lot warmer here than you are! :) I’m glad you’ve got plants ready to go – spring can’t be far away!
What glorious colours and rich pickings! I garden vicariously, thank you for sharing ;-) Spring is definitely showing out in these parts, with wonderful blossoms and crocus and daffodil bulbs just peeking through.
Danielle, that sounds fabulous! I love it when the bulbs start to appear! :)
Our summer has been extremely dry and we haven’t had any rain since early December here in Northern Tasmania and I am really jealous of your damp conditions :). Got to say your garden is wonderful. I love that you are getting volunteers. My veggie garden is in transition at the moment so that we can hopefully prevent mamalian pests invading Poland. Lost most of my growing pumpkins to bush rats this year which is a HUGE pity as I adore pumpkins. Kudos on the bishops hat chilli. We have trouble growing regular chillies so I bow to your prowess :). Cheers for the lovely photos and the reminder that sooner or later (in our case probably later…) autumn is going to descend and we will hopefully get some rain to make everything green again :)
I hope you get the pests under control! And I think it’s not us that good with chillies, it’s the Sydney climate! :)
Where are you? I thought you were in NSW? My daughter who lives in the city just grew some fiery hot habanero chillies and we used a teeny tiny one in our nachos on the weekend and it almost killed us ;).
Luscious.
Thank you :)
Upon seeing all that basil my brain responded – pesto! Although it may be a funny thing to aspire to, it’s this; a verdant, productive garden I’m working towards. That it’s still all in my imagination doesn’t daunt me, as I see it in your practice the possibilities.
You know, there’s really only so much pesto one can eat in a season. :) I’m pretty much pesto’d out. But Thai stir fries and curries – the basil is gorgeous for those! :)
Oh Celia, your garden is flourishing, love. Ours fried in the big heat, so we lost all the basil, the six cucumbers and various other things… the cool change has seen the strawberries, aubergine and other things come back to life! Love your garden updates, so very inspiring xo
Lizzy, we’ve never been able to grow strawberries. Everything seems to eat them! I suspect the cooler climate in Canberra is more conducive to them! :)
Beautiful basil there, my friend. Whenever I’ve tried to grow it up here in the Adelaide Hills it just bolts straight to seed. :-(
Amanda, we’re having a similar problem this year with coriander. Hopefully we’ll be able to get it going once the weather cools down!
Your garden looks gorgeous Celia, look at that beautiful basil! Those chillies look great too. I have a lot of cucumbers in my garden…not sure how thrilled my family are about that! x
Jane, our cucumbers didn’t really work this year, so we’ve been eating masses of purslane instead. Wish we could trade! :)
Ah I love that sea of basil. We have only small plants of Basil Genovese this year due to the awful weather conditions at the start of the season. Meanwhile the Thai basil is going nuts. I also grow Marigold to deter pests but mine are a boring yellow. I LOVE these red ones. I am looking forward to some skinny eggplant recipes from your garden too.
Francesca, the ones we have are called French marigolds, and they’ve mixed up and jumbled and now we get some that are very orange and some that are quite mottled. Skinny eggplants always end up as curries! :)
I love your little piece of peace in the suburbs Celia! My silverbeet has self sown as well and is cropping up everywhere. I’m about to follow your lead and grill eggplant slices for the freezer as they’re going gangbusters just now- yummo xox
Becca, I love having rainbow chard on hand – it goes into everything here! :)
I am IN LOVE with your eggplant! We have planted some seeds but got none yet, I hear they take a while to grow – I hope ours takes off like yours has! :-)
Sandy, eggplant seems to grow every other year for us – one year we have heaps, and then the next none at all. I’m not sure why that is!
Lovely basil and aubergine – it all looks so rewarding and the marigolds are like little beacons – I believe they are beneficial in the garden too. We are still fighting possum wars and also our next door neighbour’s cats like our veggie patch for a little quiet contemplation. Peter’s latest addition to our armoury (or will be, this weekend) is an electrified fence round the veggie patch……stay tuned:):) our chickens could well be laying fried eggs!
An electrified fence! I guess that’s the only alternative though, as you’re not really allowed to do anything about the possums. Not sure how happy your neighbours will be when you fry their cat though.. ;-)
I read the words self-sown and I start dreaming of a garden again. Everything looks so good!
Thank Maureen! One day, love! xx
G’day! What a GORGEOUS garden indeed Celia, true!
I am curious as have HEAPS of basil this year and was wondering how best I can store it and freeze it too! Thank you!
Cheers! Joanne
Joanne, I’ve never had any luck storing basil – it always goes brown on me when I freeze it, and I’ve never tried drying it. Good luck with yours!
That’s so much basil! You could make a lot of pesto with that. I grew lemongrass once and it grew and grew and grew so quickly that I couldn’t use it us as quickly as it produced. Would love to grow it again though as you pay so much for one stick of lemongrass. Everything in your garden looks wonderful xx
I’m so over pesto, but the basil is a great addition to curries and Thai stirfries! Come over and get lemongrass anytime!
I so enjoy your blog Celia. I am a lover of all things green and am looking forward to starting my garden again after my move south. Thanks for your efforts. Mirri
Ooh, that’s exciting! Good luck with your new garden!
There are so many types of basil, and I don’t seem to be good at any – can you tell me what sort you have planted?
Lorelle, it’s Genovese basil (Italian basil) and we bought the seeds from the Italian Gardener.
Celia you know you can eat the marigolds? Pick the freshest petals to pop in salads.
I didn’t know that! Thanks Rose!
Oh my goodness that basil is incredible!!
Thanks Stefanie! There’s more than we know what to do with! :)
My garden?. Not so good. But I can live vicariously through yours. Celia that basil is magnificent
Come and get as much as you like, love xx
The basil is a little slice of heaven and has me dreaming of fresh pesto and Caprese salads … vibrant and fragrant. My garden is brown right now, but it will be vibrant soon as winter gives way to spring tending and planting. Until then, I will visit your garden here, and dream. :)
Judy, love, love, love caprese salad! When we can make it from homegrown tomatoes and basil, and fresh mozzarella from down the road, life is just perfect! :)
I didn’t know you had a lemon tree – how wonderful. That basil is really quite impressive. I only have about 6 puny plants inside right now but hopefully I can start to plant outside – well maybe in about 4 months or so :)
Di, it’s only a few years old, and for the first year it made just one lonely lemon. It’s doing well now! :)
Everything is looking beautiful Celia! And is the lemon tree new? I don’t remember you having one before? :)
It’s been here for years, but it’s off to the side, behind the lemongrass! :)
My marigolds are also doing well and I have an abundance of basil and chillies and the lone baby marrow every now and then :)
Tandy, it hasn’t been a great year for our cucurbits either, apart from our mutant trombie butternut squash. All the other trombies have grown, but not produced fruit. I can never predict what’s going to grow and what isn’t! :)
Your garden looks beautiful Celia. You certainly have green thumbs:)
Thanks Jody! It’s really not us, I think following Linda Woodrow’s plan has really paid off, and the soil is finally starting to improve. Plus when we let things go to seed, the plants that grow seem much hardier than the ones we try to plant!
I’ll look her up because my planting is not working and looking at your lovely green garden made me think how brown and burnt my garden is. Thanks for the name. Enjoy your weekend:)
Jody, here’s how our 7yo neighbour described our garden! :)
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2012/05/25/school-project/
What a good project for your neighbour. Your garden looks very lush and productive so it is obviously working. I think this is the way to go. Thanks for the information Celia:)
Your garden looks wonderful! I have not had much luck with basil…perhaps we live in a climate zone that is too cold. We also live in the middle of a field and get lots of wind! I think I will give basil a try again when we get our greenhouse built. :)
Can you believe I’m buying basil and chard like that from our local farmers market right now? Weird how the seasons are crossing
Fantastic, Celia! The number and variety of self-sown plants — that don’t just sprout but thrive — in your garden is remarkable. The chard and eggplant alone would make me very happy. Add the basil and I’d be one very happy gardener. :)
Your garden is producing well, I see! In my garden, it is nearly spring! I have pruned my fig tree & my winter flowers are doing well! x