TO SEE A CARROT FLOWER

 

 

Carrot flower in the garden

Carrot flower up close

Chook tractor where beetroot garden bed used to be in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

Transplanting the lily pilly in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

Beetroot harvested in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

Sylan putting up a tarp in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

Tying the tarp to the old clothesline in preparation for the Flemington Permablitz

 

I’m stealing a few hours this morning while the rain dampens our efforts to start putting up some photos of the preparation for our Permablitz. We have been working solidly for several weeks and I have neglected my blog terribly, as we have slowly been swallowed up by a growing mound of clay and so many earth walls to build before Sunday!

Although we are excited by the new design,  nostalgia made us solemn as we ripped up some of our old chook rotation garden beds. A carrot gone wild had started to bloom and I felt sad to deprive our bees of its pillowy blossom.

Since we started our little veggie path in July of last year I have never stopped delighting in the wonders of flowers, roots and leaves that I had never before associated with the produce from the green grocer.

 

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REMNANTS LIKE SPECKS OF PAINT

Broccoli Waltham in the nature strip

Cauliflower in the nature strip guerrilla garden

Broccoli Waltham in the nature strip guerrilla garden

Broccoli on the chopping board

Broccoli, chilli, lemon zest, bread crumb and parmesan pasta

Globe artichoke and orange marigolds in the nature strip guerrilla garden

Grape hyacinth flowering in the nature strip guerrilla garden

Spider in the broccoli Waltham

Broccoli and broad beans in the no-dig garden

Aquadulce broad beansgrown from seeds from the Diggers Club

Blue borage flowers

Garden diary watercolours and colourful specks of food on the plate to match

Our little nature strip guerrilla garden has burst into life as winter and spring fight it out (looks like the last week of 20 degrees and glorious sunshine will be battered down to 11 degrees and dreariness by the end of the week. Sigh.). The broccoli has formed beautiful heads and the cauliflower is shyly following. After hearing about the local naughties raiding nearby community and school gardens, in some cases departing with whole strawberry plants, I have been delighted to see no one has taken anything. Sure people seem to think it is a good place to dispose of junk mail and empties but otherwise people have left it alone. More surprising, as is technically public land people have more of a right to have a nibble, but don’t tell them I said that until after I have harvested my first cauliflower, he’s just so cute.

Here is the recipe for the Broccoli and chilli pasta with garlic breadcrumbs.

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PUMPKIN PENDANTS – FEBRUARY IN THE GARDEN

Vines taking over the back fence

Basket of garden produce

Cherry tomato plant tied up with old socks

Eggplant flowers

Freshly picked green beans

Native raspberry growing in the driveway

No dig garden bed

Plastic bottle protecting young seedlings

Sunflower leaves

Zucchini tromboncino ready to be picked

Cluster of pots around the wattle tree

Investigating the corn

Picking our first black beauty eggplant

Vines taking over the back fence

Zucchini chips

We were away a bit in January and the pumpkin and zucchini vines took the opportunity to take over everything, although we’re not complaining with zucchini chips and beautiful beans in our tums. We were proud to fill our first basket of produce from our very own garden. It probably didn’t need to be all piled into the same basket, but it just felt much more satisfying walking around the garden piling it up higher and higher!

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A HOME FOR SOME FEATHERED FOLK

Three haughty Isa Browns now call our garden their home, Beven calls them ‘Tasty’ ‘Chicken’ and ‘Nuggets’… I do not. Dylan went all out on their weathboard chook tractor – the perfect size to fit over our veggie beds (when those guys aren’t causing mischief free ranging!). These happy hens christened the tractor almost immediately with this lovely brown egg.

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