Then and Now

Sometimes it is good to look back and realise just how much progress has been made in the garden.

Front garden in 2008 above and below at beginning of this year. There is always something in flower in the front yard - roses, agapanthus, diamond frost which is the white flowers at the front (always flowering). Amongst all jthat there is a fig tree in a large pot, a mango tree, blueberry bushes and strawberry plants, thyme, and parsley is also growing in gaps.

Below is the raised vege patch in Sep 2008 when it was newly built

And how it is looking now. At the moment I have snow peas as tall as the fence, beetroot, silverbeet, turnips, chillis, eggplants, parsleys and some young tomatoes.

The long backyard when we first moved here - all lawn and no trees or shrubs.

Now the backyard is lush and green. There are now passionfruit vines, 5 citrus trees, 2 apples, lemon grass and herbs galore, peach tree, 4 olives all planted amongst fragrant flowers and bushes.

Our week

It has gone by so quickly! Thought a quick update would be good just to show I haven't dissapeared completely.

GARDEN:

I have been enjoying the garden more than working in it. Plenty of flowers in bloom including lots of sunflowers. I should have plenty of sunflower seeds in a few weeks for my cooking. Thats if I can get to them before the birds do. At the moment we are getting frequent visits from the parrots. They are enjoying eating the seeds from the butterfly flowers.

This photo is a part of the front garden. It is a little overgrown at the moment and like a mini field of flowers. Amongst those flowers I have some herbs growing, silverbeet and squash plants. There is a young mango tree too.

READING:

I have just started reading The China Study. From what I have read so far (which isn't very much) it is proving to be a very interesting book and confirming in my mind what I already believe about what we eat affects our health.

I am also reading Cindi O Meara's book Changing Habits, Changing Lives. I am a huge fan of Cindi O'Meara. She advocates eating real food, food that our great, great grandparents would recognize. Real foods that are cooked from real ingredients.

This book is about making changes one at a time. You read the chapter and inplement that change and once you have got that change down pat move onto the next chapter and work on changing that one. Changes include such things as starting the day with breakfast. I have done that one.

Now my day begins with a cup of water with lemon juice, fruit and a boiled egg or a homemade protien shake (complete with fruit, egg, oats etc).

BAKING:

I have been cooking heaps. It is so quicker and cleaner and easier with the thermomix. After an hour and a half yesterday I had made bread, crackers, chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies for lunch boxes, hommus dip and custard.

All made from real ingredients and no additives.

Today I am making pastry for a quiche, sorbet and more bread.

EGGPLANTICIOUS

Mmmmm, I love eggplants! This year I planted two different types. Got lazy and brought seedlings. I planted eggplant Bonica which is a F1 hybrid. It produces oval shaped fruit. These have been slow to grow and ripen. But finally I picked the first of these today.

The other eggplants I have are mini lebanese. They grow long and elongated and are great producers. Each plant has quiet a few growing on them.

The eggplants are growing in my front yard vegetable garden, the path in the picture leads to the front door. I have lost count of the amount of people who have asked me what these are. No one recognises what eggplants look like it seems. In this garden I also had tomatoes (all ripped out now), okra (will post about these another day), red kidney beans, basil and a border of thyme. This front yard vege garden was going to be temporary (because Mr Gadget was under the impression that front gardens are NOT for vegetables - too unsightly). But low and hold, he has been swayed after seeing how all the vegetables have flourished here and how peole haven't gasped in shock but have commented that they look great. And of course I was a little bit shifty and planted some of Mr Gadgets favourites here too - the basil, tomatoes and okra. So the vege patch will stay - hurray, I say!

My very favourite way of cooking them is to cut in half length way, rub cut surface with garlic or lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil, season with black pepper and sea salt and then roast in oven for about 20 minutes. Delicious! They are also wonderful cooked on the bbq. And a grating of mozzarella cheese melted on top is a bit divine too.

DELIGHTS

We have just spent the last few months redoing our front yard. It did have a lot of brick pavers with dips and big puddles when ever it rained. There was no drainage in front of the garages and since there is a gentle slope down to the garages from the driveway this wasn't good news with heavy rain. So we decided to redo the whole front yard. Drainage was fixed, old weeds and all the grass was removed. We redid the driveway with a stampled concrete finish. And I was all for having no grass what so ever at the front. Mr Gadget is far more traditional than me and thinks that front gardens must be very manicured and must have grass. So a compromise was in order.

He got some grass. I got a much bigger garden in the front and a lovely sitting area. I love this front area. It is so pretty and a beautiful place to relaxing. There are fragrant roses, and pretty cottage garden flowers.
The heavely fragrant Double Delight rose

and the gorgeous apricot Just Joey are flowering prolifically.

A hedge is growing along the front of plumbago and in front of the bricks there is another hedge of photinia. Amongst the flowers I have tomatoes, eggplants, parsley, artichokes and thyme growing happily. I have planted a few trees too - a weeping mulberry, coffee tree and magnolia. It makes me happy to see the flowers as I come home and to be able to sit out here amongst them. Everyone should have a place of indulgence and beauty and this is mine.

In the back garden I have harvested 7 beans and two cherry tomatoes! Who would have thought I would get so excited over home grown vegetables. They went into the stir fry we had for tea along with fresh oregano, parsley and sage.

With the weather warming up I have been making lots of iceblocks and icecreams for the boys. Iceblocks are simply frozen cordial or juice. The icecreams are made from powdered milk mixed with fresh fruit or vanilla essence or chocolate topping. The powdered milk is much cheaper than fresh milk and I always have some at hand for using in cooking, custards or for the kids when we run out of fridge milk.

M xx

FRONT GARDEN

In the suburb where I live front yards are neat and showy. Manicured lawns, ordered shrubs and bushes neatly enclosed in garden beds, paved driveways leading to the garage. There is this unwritten code that front gardens are for show.

When I go walking around the neighbourhood with Zippy we play this game - guess what sort of people live here. According to Zippy the super neat gardens and houses belong to fussy, posh people, the messier gardens to lazy people. I guess the front garden of a home is a statement to the whole neighbourhood of what the people who live in the house are like.

So that got me thinking of what first impressions I want to give people when they come to my front garden. I want people to know that I love gardening, that I am concerned about the enviroment and that everyone can grow vegetables and fruits.

Mr. Gadget and I have just redone our front yard. We have paved the driveway, dug up all the lawn and replaced it with larger gardens and reduced the amount of lawn at the front. I was all for making the whole front garden and no lawn but Mr. Gadget was a tad horrified with this suggestion - he is far more conservative than me and has a desire to impress the neighbours with an ordered front yard. So we compromised. Since I am the gardener I got the job of choosing and planting the gardens out.

Our front yard is facing north and the best place for growing veges. It is a lovely size too and off the road. The front hedge (to the right of the photo is plumbago).

Below is the larger part of the garden. Over that brick wall is our pool. In front of the wall I have planted photinia to form a hedge. I want the pool area to be nice and private so want the photinia to be a foot higher than the brick wall. The weeping tree at the front is a black mulberry. There are 5 standard roses, 3 blue mooon roses, apaganthus and clivia bulbs.

On the other side of the hedge is a public walkway. I have replaced the grass with agapanthus and further along grevilleas for privacy. I am going to plant pumpkins and other veges out there this year - between our fence and the grevilleas. It is council land but not used by anyone and gets lots of sun.Looking up the driveway I have a teardrop garden bed with a small magnolia tree, three lavendar plants and a border of parsley planted. The dirt is where the turf will be layed (hopefully next week).This is the path leading to the front garden. The garden has been extended. The greenery is the original garden - mondo grass, hydrangeas, some sort of ginger, and manfern. In the front I have planted tomatoes, eggplants and edged with more parsley. I had intended on planting mondo grass and more hydrangeas in front.Towards the side is a smaller garden bed. There is a coffee tree (coffea Arabica), star jasmine and thyme in this garden.

The agapanthus were all given to me and are great fillers. But now I am realizing that I am going to be space poor to fit in all the veges and fruit trees on my wish list so thinking that they may have to go to make room for more productive plants. But that job will be for another day!

M xx