For the 52 week illustration challenge the topic was Pencil so I decided to use coloured pencils to draw the pineapple I had harvested. One of my pineapple plants in the garden had just produced a fruit over winter. They are pretty tasty I must say and we need to get in quick before the possums get to them.
Spring in the garden
Carnations from the kids Grandmother "Marnie" by the cubbyhouse. On our to-do list - oil that cubbyhouse!
Friend in the garden
This water dragon hangs out in our garden sometimes. It makes me happy when I catch a glimpse of it. I like to think of our garden as a haven for native animals. Here it is hanging out on the veranda of the kids cubby house.
Visit to a maze park
My little garden
Since these photos were taken the lettuce and parsley have been eaten by the local possums. They are just resprouting now.
Currently in my winter garden I have:
strawberry plants
oregano
(recovering well)
sage
(going crazy)
lemongrass
(re-potted today)
mint
(sad, re-potted today)
parsley
(nibbled by possums)
perpetual lettuce
(nibbled by possums)
mizuna greens
(looking and tasting good)
garlic chives
(yummy in corn fritters tonight)
onion
(experiment)
A sprouting store bought onion which I planted in a pot to see what it would do.
I have never used sage in cooking before so I'm looking forward to trying this. Feel free to send me any of your favourite recipes with sage.
Growing our own food
Recently I have been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and watching "Gardening Australia" and "the Edible Garden". I have been inspired to grow our own fruit, herbs and vegetables and have so far started planting a small amount of herbs and salad greens. We have been happy with the results, enjoying salad from our own garden most days. It tastes so much better when it hasn't been sitting in storage for awhile, and it saves us buying a massive lettuce or bunch of herbs and wasting what we don't need.
Above is the Mizuna which is a Japanese lettuce with yellow flowers which you can also eat. We also have mustard greens, perpetual lettuce and sweet rocket (which is a delicious spicy flavour). In the herbs we have rosemary (established), lemongrass, oregano, continental parsley, mint, lemon thyme and garlic chives.
I have two types of strawberries, one type has white flowers and they were a gift from a friend, the other has pink flowers and has green fruit now. My white flowering strawberry plants have produced two ripe strawberries so far, but they where nabbed by birds before I could get to them. I might have to put netting over them so I get to try one this season!
Spring in the garden
Autumn Garden
Our chillies have been turning red too, these ones are really spicy hot.
In the garden
Red and green
Beautiful parrot perched in our Japanese maple. He was very friendly and curious.