Winter CAN be lovely...

5 minutes ago I wandered outside in the damp darkness with my gumboots and torch on the hunt for slugs. What I found however was far more delightful. Maybe my nose was compensating for the lack of visual substance. Or maybe daphne really does smell as good as I thought I had experienced! Enchanting, to say the least! I moved the pots to my porch from where I will hopefully be able to enjoy the scent much more easily.

Also, some Ajuga plants arrived a few days ago, and will be getting planted into the ground hopefully before the end of the week. I had already planted out our rear access path... space... with some (and threw my back out shortly after from all the landscaping I had to do to prepare the area) to grow into a ground cover and liven up that thoroughfare dead-space but these got pulled up by some chickens we were minding a couple of weeks ago for a relative. It was disappointing, but expected nonetheless. Nevermind! They will be replaced soon, which is very exciting, and hopefully they'll be able to get some growth in ASAP!

Although we are only, technically, half way through winter, I have my daphne's flowering, and my little greenhouse ready to grow some seedlings, and my thoughts are turning to preparation for our summer garden. It is beginning to feel like we are on the home stretch now to warmer weather.

If only my poppies would hurry up and start sending up some flowers!!!

Thumb twiddle workout

Today I am feeling uninspired (garden-wise anyway. The house is getting a thorough cleaning after being neglected a little over the last couple of days.)
Everything is merely existing, there's not much happening to speak of. The tomatoes have a few flowers but that's it, carrots are taking their sweet time to grow, as are the poppies, the snow peas and golden podded peas are lazily producing some pods, and it is as if the alyssum looks up at me and says "I'm tiny, but still cheery". I go outside to check the Kailaan broccoli for caterpillars every few days (I'll be getting some netting for next year), but other than that there's nothing else going on.

Indoors my current project is making the kids some library bags after our train/library excursion on Monday made me realise they don't have any. I found a great backpack style design that I'd like to have a crack at so once my home smells a bit better I'll be whipping them up (toddler permitting).

I am eagerly anticipating some flowers from these poppies, and the sweet scent of our daphne to begin wafting it's way around THEN I'll be excited about my winter garden again :)

"I can eat a rainbowwww, eat a rainbowww, eat a rainbow too"

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.