Productive

We are all about the making and doing here at our house, there's always a work in progress. That applies to our garden, which is a big one, but a relatively clean slate. We have two lemon scented gums up the back of the rear garden, (they are destined to be whoppers), and an old avocado tree which has seen better days, but everything else is yet to be determined.

This is a bit daunting to the perfectionist, ie procrastinator that I am, I feel that I need a complete plan and so have not done much at all. However I do love a bit of seasonality, and so we have a few raised beds, old garbage bins with the bottoms cut out, and planter boxes triumphantly gathered from the Nth Coburg tip shop (sheer heaven).

The strawbs are small but perfectly formed, extremely flavoursome if a bit tart. My son is always checking them for readiness, and I seem not to get to eat any, only if I beat him to it.

Summer annuals - I have often thought that annuals are a waste of water, space and time, but as a temporary filler they have won me over this summer. Plus I know that when I do get my immaculate plan off the drawing board, I won't have to rip out anything perennial.
Here we have dahlias, snapdragons and cosmos, I also have a few sunflowers just opening up, and have put in some foxgloves for spring. I'm crossing my fingers that my borage seeds come up soon, and am hoping to try lupins.

This is my baby lemon tree, I am looking forward to sharing many years with it and enjoying my own lemons. I do think it sucks having to buy lemons, living in Coburg and Brunswick does mean that you can find the neighbourhood trees easily and swipe a couple on the down low here and there. I have found myself at dusk roaming the back alleys for handy lemons when I'm in the middle of making dinner!
This tree has one lonely fruit that I have been waiting on like the proverbial golden egg, it's starting to yellow up, can't wait! ('Scuse the alignment on these pics)

Blueberries growing in an old rubbish bin with the bottom cut out, claimed from hard rubbish.
I used chook poo in building up the layers, and noticed that a lot of leaves appeared burnt and dropped off soon after planting. My mate Laurel, who does the RRR Dirty Deeds gardening show, suggested that I use pine needles as a mulch, to generate some more acidity in the mix, which blueberries prefer (chook poo tends to be alkaline).
Trimmed a few bits off the Xmas tree to use as mulch, hey presto she's come good! I would recommend growing blueberries to anyone and everyone, they are really easy, they are perennial and they don't cost the fortune that you pay at the greengrocers.
Am thinking of trying raspberries too, they really are my fave, so velvety and soft.

We have had sweet corn already, and recently planted leeks, they take so freaking long! I have a sweet potato project going on, will let you know how that goes in a few months. Hmmm what else? Oh yes, peas that come up from the pea straw mulch, Leo adores eating peas from the shell. What parent doesn't get off on seeing their kids eat foods straight from the garden?!

We also have a truckload of curly parsley, and oregano, and the ubiquitous rosemary bush, love love love.......not so much luck with cucumbers this summer, boo hoo.

How does your garden grow?