The life and times of Libby Withnall

we turned this….

into this…

Christy helped me plant the seedlings – tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, chinese cabbage, butternut pumpkins, beetroot, capsicums, and some new strawberry plants. I also planted some seeds – leeks, carrots and zuchinni. Then Kevin and Amy helped me do the mulch. So it was a real family effort. I still need to fertilize and put out some snail bait (the dog friendly kind).

Now we just have to patient and wait for it to turn into this.

Look what I found lurking in the garden after our holiday.

Now this baby wasn’t even ready to pick when we left. Crazy how quickly it grew. And I think it might even be bigger than Jody’s monster, but I didn’t think to measure it so we’ll never know .

They are not so tasty when they are this big but the dogs don’t seem to mind. Lucky since they’ll be eating this big boy for quite a few nights.

Hard to believe it looked like this just 4.5 months ago.

Lots of zucchini – you can see the two plants have overtaken the garden. We’ve got standard and lebanese. Plus carrots.

Beetroot, strawberries, lots of tomatoes (a few different types) and one cucumber (so far).

The toms and strawberries are so delicious – so much better than anything you can buy in the shops (even organic).

And we’ve found a few monsters hiding amongst the leaves. They are rather tasteless though so the dogs get these ones.

We’ve also had some baby pumpkins and the butternut pumpkins is desperately trying to give up some pumpkins – but they keep dying once they reach about 7cms . Our lettuces went to seed with all the crazy weather and we’re waiting on the new ones to grow. The celery got squashed by the zucchini  and the spinach is just about ready to start harvesting.

FINALLY…I have the video ready to share with you. It’s been a bit of an ordeal I can you and after doing the video twice – firstly on the i-phone, then with the proper video camera, this is the original i-phone video – which I was finally able to upload. It’s probably not the most exciting video but I’m pleased how the garden is progressig after the flop it was last year.

Yes, it’s Spring which means it’s time to get those vegetable seedlings in the ground.

This is what I started with. Lots of soil, weeds and a few leftover spring onions. Though surprisingly last years strawberry plants have started producing again.

The first job was weeding, then the not so fun job of raking through all the soil. This year I had to do it by hand which was tough.

Then the fun part, planting the seedlings. With being away we didn’t grow any ourselves this year so all had to be purchased. I also planted some seeds – carrots and silverbeet.

Then the last job – mulching. Of course, using straw for the strawberries.

Looks a little better doesn’t it?

The fence (used for tomatoes) is to try and keep the dogs out of the garden.

Now the hard part…being patient and waiting until things are ready to harvest…

….allowed me to get outside and check up on our vegetable garden. Unfortunately it’s not looking very healthy at all.

Things started to go bad when we were away January and Kevin only watered the garden once all week – despite having some pretty hot days. Then for the last week we’ve had lots and lots of rain.

So the tomatoes are on their last legs – the big ones have gone rotten (I assume from all the rain).

The celery stopped growing ages ago and looked like this after a week of no water.

Still no sign of any viable zuchinni (the one thing we’ve always had lots of success with), cucumber plant is dead and our pumpkins never got going this year. The only thing still looking good are the onions, carrots, capsicums and some of the strawberries. It’s been a very mixed year with the tomatoes (until we went away) being the most successful. Now need a dry/sunny day to get out there and give it a good tidy up.

Well, this recipe is about as home made as I can make. Cherry tomatoes from the garden and eggs from our chickens…comprising about 90% of the meal.

Cherry Tomato & Feta Frittata

Our vegetable garden has been in for some months. We’ve had mixed success this year – I assume to the crazy weather of hot one day and cold the next. The big success this year so far has been the tomatoes (just starting to pick delicious red one), cucumbers (already have quite a few), strawberries, and capsicum is coming along nicely. I have been blown away with how extra yummy everything has been. Unfortunately the celery has stopped growing (no idea why), most of the lettuce has gone to seed, there is NO SIGN of any pumpkins and the zucchini plant (usually our most prolific) is moving at snail pace.

Amazing strawberries….

Lots of capsicums (peppers) coming along nicely.

Second zucchini – planted from seed and already bigger than the first one we planted months ago!

Kevin is very excited cause we FINALLY got the solar panels he’s been wanting for a long time – just it time too. We will get a rebate from the government of around $8,000 (I think) but was scrapped in the new budget which came out the day these were installed. Kevin is feeling pretty pleased with himself. He’s now having fun monitoring how much power is being produced.

Another change has taken place at the front of our home. Mum & Dad were doing some gardening work and had leftover pebbles which they offered to me. We’ve had to keep topping up the bark in the front garden so jumped at this opportunity. Looks fantastic too. So much better than bark!!! Thanks Mum & Dad – they not only supplied the pebbles but did the hard work of putting them on the garden. Not the best photo but you get the idea.

Well, it’s that time of year when the veggie garden is getting a bit bare and I can let the chickens out for a scratch around in it. They were so happy when they realized they could dig in the garden (they have no grass in their area as they’ve destroyed it long ago). Rounding them up to put them away again is another story. Rosie was funny, keeping a real close eye on them. They were only allowed in one half of the garden so I had to watch them carefully as well.