We’re having a very mild winter in Sydney and as a result, the garden is growing lush and green.
Our lemon tree is heavily laden with the best tasting fruit we’ve ever tried…
We’ve been substituting perennial leeks for onions in all our cooking…
Just one monster squash remains in the front bed – the chooks are due to rotate onto it any day now…
In Sydney, winter is the season for leafy greens! The bed we planted in February has evolved and is now full of continental parsley, leeks and fennel…
I’ve been turning mountains of parsley into chimichurri sauce…
Our fennel bulbs are starting to fatten up…
The bed we planted out six weeks ago is already full of broccoli rabé, bok choy and red amaranth…
The broccoli rabé is a family favourite and we eat pasta con cime di rapa at least once a week…
Some of the plants are already starting to form flowers…
Our most recently planted bed is filled with Green Dragon broccoli and more rabé seedlings. We’re trying to grow telegraph peas as well, but none of the seeds have germinated…
At the front of the bed, mini cos lettuces (Little Gems) are coming up…
…as are Francesca’s red leaf lettuces…
There’s a little red rainbow chard left…
Our dwarf lime tree now has five baby limes…
For those of you who’ve never seen a passionfruit vine – here’s the one sprawling over the fence from our neighbour Mark’s yard…
On the herb front, we have oodles of prostrate rosemary, a healthy supply of thyme and a sea of oregano (which also goes into our chimichurri sauce)…
Our potted garden mint is in fine form at the moment…
My succulents, however, have been quite neglected over the past few months. These echevaria prolifica are pretty sturdy though, and seem to have survived quite well…
How are things going in your garden this month?
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Wow, Celia! You have such green thumbs! I’m afraid my garden has been very neglected….i dream of having a garden like yours!! Beautiful!
Jaqi, thank you! It’s not really green thumbs, it’s the chooks – over the past few years, they’ve improved the soil no end and now some things – particularly the leafy greens – just spring up.
Your garden looks wonderful, Celia. It’s mid-summer here in Quebec and this year there are lupins growing in all the ditches. The Preston lilacs are just opening and so too are the peonies. My tomatoes are growing great guns. This year I put them in buckets sitting on black plastic that I laid down to get rid of the Aegopodium podagraria (bishop’s weed). We have an infestation of this weed and some others. My herbs have gone crazy and the zucchini has babies already. It’s also strawberry season (yum, yum).
Your tomatoes sound fabulous – hope you get a huge crop! We only seem to be able to grow yellow cherries at the moment, and cherries in general – anything bigger gets infested with fruit fly!
Wow – so much going on and it’s winter for you. Very impressive!
Tanya, oodles of green – the blessings of a temperate climate! :)
I always forget you live winter days, we live summer days :) Have a nice winter days dear Celia, your garden seems so nice, blessing! Thanks and Love, nia
Nia, hope you’re enjoying summer over there! Have a fabulous weekend! :)
Celia, you garden is doing well. Congratulations
Well, the greens are growing. The peas still won’t come up! Thanks love :)
Oh wow! Celia, your garden is magnificent! I am ashamed to say I barely have any herbs growing at the moment! You clearly have the gardeners touch.
Have a beautiful day.
:-) Mandy xo
How’s your fig tree going, Mandy? It’s winter, I’m sure everything will come back in summer – we’re just very blessed with the climate over here! :)
Our fig tree is standing completely bare at the moment – not one little leaf to speak of although I do already see the starts of “Spring” in the branches. :-)
Beautiful garden! We’ve got a bunch of fennel ready to go, any recipe recommendations? I made Jamie Oliver’s Amalfi Lemons last night. Cut the lemons in half and remove pulp, In the cups put tomatoes, basil, and top with fresh mozzarella. Bake in a hot oven until cheese is just browned. Serve with bread. It’s like lemony pizza. :-) Maz.
Maz, here’s what we do with our fennel – we slice it very thinly and toss it over pizza. It’s absolutely delicious that way! :)
We also make fennel salad…
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2013/11/25/fennel-salad/
Your garden looks so nice even in the winter. The lemons and limes look beautiful. We just got back from a holiday and my garden looks neglected. The weeds are taller than some of the vegetables. The plants in the greenhouse are growing well though. First tomatoes are ripe and lots of cucumbers. Soon canning starts in earnest!
It must be lovely to have a greenhouse! Hope you had a lovely holiday! :)
Have recently sold our property and not yet in our new place – we are building! I miss my garden so lovely to see yours.
Thank you! And congratulations on the sale and new house! :)
It looks wonderful. My summer garden at Casa Debbio is producing strawberries, raspberries, cherries and a gooseberry.
Deb, how spectacular to have a cherry tree in the garden!!
Oh I love your garden, so fecund! c
Thank you darling! It’s so nice to a. have veg to eat and b. NOT have a lawn to mow.. :)
Your garden is so lush for winter. We can only root crops and a sprouts in winter. That said, it’s summer here and I’ve picked loganberries, carrots, peas, beetroot and potatoes for supper. Life doesn’t get much better.
Anne, sounds like a bountiful harvest! We can’t seem to grow potatoes anymore, not sure why…
I wish our winters were like that here. When we’re buried under 3′ of snow I do wonder why we continue to live here but I love being close to Boston & the ocean. We’ve been finally getting the perfect summer weather & things are starting to pop up in my garden. I’ve just done a few herbs & flowers given the limitations with the hip. But it’s sure nice to watch things grow & you’ve got so many incredible things in your garden.
Diane, hope you’re mending up well! It was a big op! We’re blessed with the weather, but even if it was different, I don’t think I could live anywhere other than Sydney!
Celia, my hip is feeling so great and the weather so perfect that I think I’m going to get out my clippers and diggers and start attacking the ‘yard that got away from me’. I couldn’t do much last fall or this spring so you can imagine how scraggly things are.
Your garden looks wonderful Celia, so lush! Loving my summery garden here with gluts of raspberries and strawberries but blimey your winter garden with its limes and lemons looks even more summery to me.
Andrea, I can’t seem to grow raspberries and strawberries – I so wish we could! If only we could share our produce! :)
Oh for Sydney’s temperate climes! I’ve tucked my garden in under netting for a long Winters nap. There are a a few brave sprouts, but with an apparent temperature of minus 6 yesterday, there’s not much going on! Xox
Minus 6! Stay warm, darling! xx
Always a joy to take a walk through your garden Celia! Bitterly cold here in Canberra, as Bec said. A wind chill of minus 5.2 at midday!
Goodness, it IS cold down there at the moment! It’s cold here too, but nothing like that!
I have a few herbs growing but that’s it. I’ve been clearing out all the bits that Rob left. I DO have one red tomato to pick if the birds haven’t gotten to it overnight. You have a wonderful garden!
Thank you! We’re lucky in that the birds don’t do too much damage to our veg!
my mint is not looking particularly minty at all, my succulents reluctant and my chillies despondent. Other than that? Absolutely fine :-)
Hahaha…how’s the worm farm going, Brydie?
Your garden is amazing! My winter garden has an abundance of kale and oregano and my marigolds are flowering. Winter has been very wet and very cold and we’ve had snow already :)
Tandy, sounds glorious! Marigolds are the only flower we grow in the garden – they make great companion plants – plus they just self-sow everywhere!
Huh!!! Mild winter? Well, it was a frighteningly hot autumn, BUT!!!!! It is freezing here in the Highlands [and, yes, we are now recognized as part of ‘Greater Metropolitan Area’ :) !] . . . .I promise you, Celia, if you opened my front door at the moment – you would pull back and make a face!!!! Oh, your garden IS enviable . . . .am trying to find time and quietude to put down an awful lot of garlic :) !!!! The mushrooms are doing great!!!!!!
Oooh stay warm, Eha! Freezing cold, but great conditions for growing garlic as you say! :)
How lush your garden looks Celia. It’s been mild here in Melbourne too(apart from yesterday’s nightmare weather) and l still have raspberries ripening on the bush. It’s been very surprising to see fruit at this time of year. The rest of the garden has been hit and miss. The baby spinach and garlic are thriving, but the beetroot l planted hasn’t come up. The latest lettuces are struggling too. I’ve planted asparagus and as l have never grown it before don’t know if it’s growing. The original plants are still green so l’m hopeful. Wish l could have some chickens here like you have to help the soil. Oh well, can’t have everything:)
Jody, hope you get to have chickens one of these days. It really does seem to make a huge difference!
Yey, Celia! There’s a lot going on with your garden and that got me excited! A lot to be expected real soon. Green thumbs up! :)
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Thanks Julie! We’re eating a heap of leafy greens at the moment!
Gorgeous greens.
Thank you, dear man. x
I never get over just how much you grow Celia it’s very impressive.
Nancy, honestly we just chuck in a bit of seed these days, we don’t even bother to raise seedlings. I think we’re very fortunate with the soil now – the chooks have made a huge difference.
Well apart from the succulents, everything in your garden looks so vividly green and healthy. I love how your lemon tree has come along and now your lime tree is doing well too. There’s so much going on and I love all your posts where you show us what’s developing – they’re inspiring! xx
Charlie, the lemon tree has gone bonkers, but the lime tree is teeny still. I’m resisting posting a photo of the same lime over and over like I did with the lemon.. :D
So lovely Celia :) My parents planted a lemon tree a little while ago, it’s only a little one and most of the lemons dropped off when they were only small however 1 remained and grew to size and mum gave it to me. It’s currently in my fruit bowl but I feel it’s almost too precious to use! Silly isn’t it but I think home grown things are so special. The little ones that dropped off were surprisingly juicy too :)
Stefanie, how nice that your mum gave her only fruit to you! It really IS special! :)
Your garden looks beautiful and abundant! You probably have more vegetables in your garden than my local grocery store even carries, lol. I don’t have a garden, unfortunately, but do plant some herbs in my greenhouse window.
Thank you! It’s funny – so much grows in the garden now that we get very lazy about shopping – we just eat what we can find. It’s not always a balanced diet, but there’s always something green on the table!
My mini garden ( pots really!) are very neglected… I have painters doing the outside walls of my house and everything is cover with dust, old paint, new paint etc.
The work has been going for more than a month due to the rainy weather we are having here in Argentina this autumn.
Your garden looks wonderful, vibrant and full of greens….my total envy!!
Ale, how nice it will be to have everything painted though! Hope it finishes soon.. :)
I wouldn’t know how things are going out in my garden because I have entrenched myself firmly INSIDE and won’t be going out there into the freezing cold any day soon. Who would believe that we live in the same country?! ;) LOVE your garden. Beautiful, green, healthy, delicious, love reading your garden posts Celia they inspire me (to plot away inside till it warms up in about November and I can emerge like a butterfly from my winter warm blanketty cocoon ;) )
Ooh, it MUST be cold down there, Fran! I’d be hibernating too! :)
Yup, it doesn’t snow on Serendipity Farm but its pouring down and there is snow predicted on the mountains (withing easy driving distance from here) so that tells me it’s time to put my feet up, grab my crochet and knitting and a good book and a BIG mug (make that a thermos…) of tea and settle down to wait it out (till November ;) )
Beautiful Captures :) My garden is growing and hope it starts producing in the next week or so. Happy Hump Day!
Thanks Renee! Hope you have a fabulous growing season in your garden!
A wander round a productive garden is so satisfying isn’t it Celia. Even if the ‘productivity’ doesn’t quite match the picture in one’s head! It’s still lovely to see what’s growing. Here at Trounce Towers we are still fighting the Possum Wars and have now resorted to ‘camouflage dugouts’ i.e. veggie netting, which is not beautiful but at least will allow us to grow leafy greens, parsley and tomato. The possums just love young tomato leaves and our lettuces all have punk haircuts. Mr &Mrs P obviously don’t like cabbage leaves but the butterfly moth caterpillar does so I bought some Dipel and that seems to be doing the trick. I must try and grow some broccoli rabe – I like bitter greens. We so desperately need rain here, our rain water tanks are almost empty. I enjoyed the wander in your garden – it’s a little patch of peace in a hectic world.
Jan, they’re predicting that we’re heading into dry weather – I’m a bit worried! Good luck with the possum wars – it’s annoying that you’re not allowed by law to do anything about them!
Celia, why oh why didn’t I buy a dwarf lime instead of the monster I now have…….
See Elaine, your comment made me happy. I was just outside the other day saying to Pete, “oh I wish we’d bought a full size lime instead of a dwarf one”, but now I take that back.. :)
Very wise choice on your part! I’ve given away 18kg of limes and I still have another 5-8kg to pick and its started to flower for the next crop; imagine the fruit it may have set if I hadn’t thinned them out.
I’ll seek your opinion the next time I want to buy a fruit tree
I’m a little sad our garden is mostly fallow this year, a few herbs to garnish meals is all that is out there. This year we put great effort into our flower garden and pots, which has brought such joy. Not sure what the summer would look like after surgery, just had to err on the side of less and even though I feel great and could have handled it, I’m okay to let the ground rest as I have. :)
I am always amazed at the variety you have in your garden Celia, what a fabulous expression of life and bounty.
Judy honey, you’ve had a lot on your plate this year. Our rule with the garden is that it’s never allowed to cause us stress. If that means we need to ignore it occasionally, then we do..
Those fennel bulbs are amazing Celia. Consider the price of a single bulb at the shops or markets, you’re sitting on a gold mine!
Fiona, the photo is a bit deceptive – they’re still only little. And they’re pretty cheap at the shops at the moment! But having said that, nothing beats being able to go outside and grab one for dinner – suits my last minute approach to cooking! :D
It’s really good to see a fellow Sydneysider’s garden, Celia (and Pete, the chooks and whomever else your helpers may be). The possibilities for me are slightly different, having entirely potted balcony and courtyard gardens. And I’m gearing up for a big spring by working on The Infrastructure – painting pots, rigging up the vertical edible perennial wall, preparing for new pets (native stingless bees!), installing rainwater storage and a watering system (or thinking about it). So not much plant-wise, other than the excitement of my natal plum, prostrate Meyer lemon and tamarillo setting fruit for the first time, altogether. And rhubarb, of course, endlessly…
I’m always in awe of folks who grow potted gardens – they take more commitment, but I’ve seen some amazingly productive ones! The watering system sounds like a great idea – I know even our potted succulents need regular watering! :)
What a wonderful garden you have! So much produce.
Thanks Clare! Lots to eat out there!
I’m here in Bali with a dear friend, Helen, who read this post and mentioned the red lettuce reference. I was in China at the time – the land of censored internet but wonderful everything else. Hope those red babies are ready for the salad bowl soon and that my garden is behaving itself, by itself! F xx
Thanks again for the seed! I’m looking forward to adding them to our mini cos – which is the only other lettuce we grow! :)
What a fantastic garden and it must be so fragrant with mint and limes.
Meghan, thank you, that’s generous of you given that you guys are landscapers and our garden’s a bit wild at the best of times.. :D
Wow! That is fantastic~! Can’t wait to see your passionfruits :-)