Lucky we are in the cooler season, as with my huge break from blogging not too much has been missed ;)We are smack bang in the middle of winter which has so far consisted of about a month straight of rain and a week of glorious sunshine. The days are mildly cool where we bask in the sun and soak up its warmth, and the nights are chilly since we are out of firewood. But that's ok, tis the season for snuggling!
Garden-wise, we have been growing some dwarf snow peas, kailaan broccoli, an out of season tomato experiment, purple dragon carrots, POPPIES (!!!!) and some other annuals, and golden podded peas.
I have also been spending a great deal of time repotting and thinking about the layout of our patch for the coming growing season, trying to make the most of our space. While thumbing through my new Diggers catalogue I came across some new seeds I'd love to try. Namely Painted Mountain corn which are a rainbow of kernels on the same cob. I had been trying to be a good girl and not buy anything new BUUUUUUUUUUUT.... I don't have any corn seeds yet and all the bright colours made me dizzy with excitement :)
Which brings me to some other ponderings I have been entertaining lately. Recently in a conversation about purple carrots I was asked "But can you EAT them???" which has since sparked many minutes thinking about how standardly bland and BORING the hybrid varieties of fruit and veg being sold in our supermarket are. No wonder kids don't like eating their veggies! How bizarre that we have become accustomed to our produce being a certain size, shape and colour, and that anything out side of those specifications is considered to be mutant or abnormal, and something that should be treated with caution or not to be consumed at all. When you open a Diggers catalogue and learn a little about heirloom varieties and how many there are (or were), my first thoughts are that our attitudes are laughable, and secondly I am disappointed at the range available to me and I feel that we are being deprived of something wonderfully amazing and exciting. I find joys in the little things of life. The day I discovered purple and white sweet potato varieties is forever in my memory, and then the looks on my family's faces when I served them up some purple sweet potato mash at dinner put more smiles on my face. So I have always enjoyed bright things, sparkly things, and novel things. Which is lending itself to my gardens personality in all the bright and wacky varieties I am choosing to grow there. Hopefully this coming growing season will consist of a kaleidoscope of colours and fun. I'll be growing my purple dragon carrots, painted mountain corn, tiny mixed mini capsicums, tommy toe, zebra, and rainbow beef steak mix tomatoes, a mix of bright beetroot varieties, sapphire and cranberry red potatoes, lemon cucumbers, and Rosa Bianca eggplant, and of course my spotty variegated basil (if the seeds I kept grow, fingers crossed!).
And, YES! They are all very much edible.
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