Images of the first week of September

This is the first week of Spring and I'm taking full advantage of the good weather!  Our next helpxchange helpers from the UK, Liz and Spencer, arrived today.  I have a great little project in mind for them - the building of a chook tractor!  We shall see.....

I spent much of my morning sowing more seeds into trays, labelling them and feeling that buzz of excitement that this season brings with it.  The promise of great things to come:  Basil pesto's, tomato salads, grilled capsicums and eggplants, caponata (olives, capers, eggplant and tomato dish), green beans with butter melted on top.................  taste delights!  I sowed 2 lots of beans (one yellow, the other green) underneath our new bean wigwams (bamboo stakes pitched together to create a wig-wam shape, on which the beans can grow up and around), sweetpeas to attract the butterflies and bees, nasturtiums under the fruit trees to repel the nasty insects, asparagus (yes, you can grow them from seed), artichokes, tomatoes, capsicums, gazanias (flowers to remind me of South Africa), sunflowers (lots, so I can plant them in a clump), cauliflower (to make Aloo Gobi with), peas (directly under the trellis they will grow up on), crystal apple cucumber, caper bush (hope they germinate) and okra (ladies fingers used in Indian cooking).  There was a lone ring-necked dove eating seeds which Mike puts out for them every second day, and foraging among the grass for titbits we throw out.  It is so tame, I walk within half a meter of it and it does not even side-step away!  Our cat knows she is not allowed to chase them and she eyes them but never acts upon her instincts.  I am delighted we have bred a bird-proof cat!  We have always admonished her if she looked as if she was setting herself up for the attack.

I mulched the garlic crop today with compost.  They are doing great but I know that they are gross feeders in order to make great big bulbs that will last through the year till the next crop is harvested!  Last year I tried a different location in the orchard and the crop was poor - not as big and healthy as previous years - partly, I think, because the soil was not fertile enough, and they also didn't get "fed" often enough with compost and compost teas.  I noticed our compost I was spreading, was teaming with thousands of worms - I think it is the new addition of pony poos which we are adding.  A local guy who works in the hardware store has ponies and a huge hill of poop which he is only to happy to deliver a few bags at a time, free of charge!  You know what they say about one man's junk is another man's treasure.  Same for pony poop.

So below are merely some photos documenting the scenes in the garden, rather than a blog about what is happening currently in the garden.

After suffering the usual winter and frost temperatures,
 my potted mint has made a miraculous comeback!

Our first early citrus tree has all but fed us through the long,
cold winter.  Now this later variety, smaller and not as sweet, is
waiting to be harvested.

The last of the pumpkins - we have about 5 left.

Our strawberry patch is looking tidy after becoming
totally overgrown over winter.  Ready to "spring forth".
It is located behind our shed, along a little alleyway,
which made it easy to "bird-proof".  The sun reflects off of
 the wall to create a warm little micro-climate.

A new pathway through the orchard, awaiting some mulch or
sawdust from our carpenter friend.  Another great free gift!

Mid-winter sown broadbeans awaiting pollination by bees...
You either love or hate these little guys..... it has taken 4 years
for my tastebuds  to accept them! 

A late daffy - most all of my daffodils bloom in winter
The majority  have not the patience to wait for Spring!!

A birdhouse awaiting occupation....  Every Spring, I make another
birdhouse.  We have 5 already awaiting occupation.  I have the
sixth cut out, ready to be put together.

One of my many bird feeding contraptions - there are spikes inside
to impale fruit on for the little White-Eyes.

The pathway to the herb garden, lined with lavender
Always a fragrant walk as we brush past the lavender bushes!

Our herb  garden is still sleeping but we grow sage, basil, parsley
rosemary, thyme, chives, stevia and oreganum.

The path to the compost bin - an essential aspect of organic
growing!  The worm farm is the little black stack next to the wall.

One of my lovely signs made by Julee from Germany!

The smell of freezias to delight the senses, just outside our front door.

These little snowbells have sprung up under my late-fruiting orange tree.