The nicest thing about having a reasonably well established garden is that it can cope with the occasional period of neglect!
We’ve only managed to spend a small amount of time out there in the past couple of months, but we’re still happily picking as many lemons as we can use, and the asparagus bed is providing us with daily spears…
We let any lettuces that we (or the chickens) don’t eat go to seed, and as a result, we’re blessed with salad growing everywhere, including between the bricks…
My little succulent garden is doing well – I think I’ve figured out the right balance of fussing and neglect which keeps it going…
A couple of months ago, one of my graptopetalums dropped all of its leaves. I tossed them into an empty pot of dirt, and they grew into new plants…
Our one and only cactus – this little baby has been ignored all year, but it’s now bursting with daily red flowers…
A couple of the main beds are lush with edible leaves – chard, kale, lettuces, broccoli, leeks and mixed Asian greens. We eat what we can, and the chooks and worms deal with the rest…
We planted beetroot seedlings in the newest bed a month or so ago, and they’re almost ready for harvesting…
Our newest crop is fennel – we picked up a punnet from Bunnings to try them out. They’ve grown beautifully, but they’re still little…
We picked two small bulbs for dinner on Sunday night…
…and mandolined them finely for scattering over pizza. The fennel turns lovely and sweet as it bakes – Big Boy declared this to be his favourite pizza of the night…
And some sad news, our mad hillbilly chicken Bertha died today – very peacefully, sitting in one of the nesting boxes. She hadn’t been sick at all, so we’re pretty sure she died quickly and (hopefully) fairly painlessly.
Bertie was such a fabulously bonkers chook – we always wondered if she’d been stepped on as a chick, as she was quite lopsided and wonky. She was perpetually disheveled, with a bent over comb and breast feathers poking out at funny angles, and she’d happily walk around all day long covered in dirt and food.
She was fast on her feet, whippet smart and downright ornery. We loved her for being such a cranky, personality-filled addition to our garden and, whilst we’ll miss her, we’re glad that we were able to give her a few happy years in our backyard.
RIP Bertie…
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 