Chook Tractor!

I sent the 2 little browns out to clear the berries behind the henhouse yesterday, and they did a stirling job. Today I'll send all four of them out as soon as the laying is done. There is something pinching the eggs. At first I thought it was one of the girls eating them - but I'm not so sure that it isn't the blue tongue. There were shell fragments outside the wire yesterday - it will help to keep all that cleared.

The seedling area is working weell, and I've transplanted a tray of beetroot, eight apple crystal cucumbers and there are squash to go today or tomorrow. Need to sow some broccoli, and some spinach.

I also put two pots of compost up, just to see how much weedage they'd bring to garden. Kind of a test-run. I'm expecting HUGE tomato problems arising.

I never seem to come in from the garden with empty hands

even if I'm just cleaning out some old pots with misplaced labels  :) The blue potatoes taste lovely!

Jan 26th - traditionally our tomato canning day

And we're ahead of ourselves, because we did all the prep yesterday. It's lovely and cool today, and the sky is very grey -

but the vegetable garden is pretty.

This little patchwill be cleared out today and fed and rested for heritage garlic to go in in a couple of weeks.

Oh! Look what came out of it - all those heritage carrots I'd forgotten about

- orange, white and red. I've been feeding the tops to the chooks, and the bottoms had grown on anyway. Must remember next week to sow some of the seeds in the bee-feeding area near the apple trees, as well - I can keep the greens and seedheads for cooking, as well as for the chooks.

Jonathon's beans

On the wall of Paul's office.

The ones I can reach, we eat green: the ones up high, I let dry for that gorgeous winter casserole we stuffed ourselves with last year  :)

The raspberry bush at the side needs pruning back now - but behind them, that Jerusalem artichokes in the grow bag looks promising!

In all this sun and rain we're having, the nectarines have developed a nasty mould problem. I've been pruning and picking up after them, but I think a copper spray of some kind might be needed. Note for next year...

I should be sowing broccoli this weekend.

Building up the soup cache -

very slowly...

Oi!

For a little while there, we looked like getting a really fine crop of apples...

But it ain't gonna happen.

It's a rainy, grey early morning - but will you just look at Joss's hollyhocks?

In my Australian garden! Somewhere I have a photo of the twig these seeds came on - Joss brought it home from one of her walks with her maman. I planted three seeds, and they've taken two years to bloom, but they're beautiful