Garden Update - May 2015

Alas we are now moving into winter which is always a bit depressing to say the least. We are expecting a high of 7 degrees today! Mr L'Orange walked the dog in sub zero temperatures this morning, luckily Dog A L'Orange had his cosy yet fashionable winter coat on.

Veggie Patch Update - I've planted beetroot and asian greens into the veggie patch after a 3 hour weeding operation, things had got pretty wild in there. 

We also have growing self seeded onions, carrots, spinach and coriander. I've added a couple of bags of chicken manure and I'm ready to finish this off with a nice mulch of fallen leaves which will have the added benefit of tidying up the garden.

Our garden bed alongside the driveway has recently been ripped out and replanted elsewhere to make room for our new cherry laurel hedge.

We have high hopes that this fast growing dark green beauty will screen out our neighbour in no time at all and look fantastic all year round. I've now got a rather top garden expert on board to help me source plants more cheaply and give me some horticultural advice. Things can only get better!

At last, I have found a fruit that I enjoy in abundance - raspberries!

The few little bushes we planted last year have spread and become a rather large clump full of berries which we have been picking daily as a tasty morning snack followed by a juicy sun kissed afternoon treat. They seemed to last from December right through until now.

Compared to everything else that grows in our garden the raspberry bushes require zero attention and appear to actually thrive on neglect - everyone needs to grow them, they are so easy!

At the moment lemons are in abundance on the tree and they are looking fantastic this year, they really are bursting with flavour. Our lemon has to be the smallest tree in the garden and yet it produces a bumper crop every year.

If anyone fancies a bag of lemons, please let me know as there are hundreds that need a home!

Last of the sunshine?

The clocks have gone back, there is most definitely a chill in the air as evening rolls in and I'm a little sad because I know the long cold winter will hit very soon.

So in the meantime, I am making the most of the sunshine and trying to get the garden looking its best for the last little while that we get to properly enjoy it.

On the fruit and veg front, we have some lovely cherry tomatoes growing and will be able to make some green tomato chutney again this year.

We just have to keep an eye on Dog A L'Orange who also has a penchant for cherry tomatoes so we try and pick them before he gets to them first. Despite being fenced off, he manages to get his nose through the gaps for the odd tomato bite when he feels peckish.

Our other success this year has been the raspberries which have been loving the rain and prove the perfect healthy snack whenever I am in the garden. Again Dog A L'Orange likes to join in and enjoys the odd raspberry or two when he thinks we aren't looking.

We only planted a couple of raspberry canes but they have spread with abandon, which means plenty of raspberries but a bit of a messy spot. Anyway will tidy that corner up when winter comes along.

Beautiful sunshine & lots of raspberry bush

Dog A L'Orange has been his usually naughty self and along with eating everything that we grow, he also decided to rip apart my very trendy wellies today because he got shut outside on his own for 30 minutes and decided to enact his revenge.

Wee Garden Update

Thought you might like to see some recent pictures of the garden. The veggie patch is producing lots of delicious fruit and veg at the moment and we are ready to plant in our new stock to enjoy over winter.

Cherry tomatoes in abundance

Lots of yummy zucchini

Our sole eggplant

The garden beds are looking really good after some recent rain and we are feeling as if all the plants are really starting to take to their new homes. Keeping on top of the weeds in the new beds is another challenge altogether, however it won't be long before winter is here and we can have a break from weeding.

New garden bed with daisy flower sculptures

We picked up the daisy sculptures at the Mudgee Garden Sculpture exhibition last October. They blend in really well with the garden, I'm very happy with my purchase.

White hibiscus with piggy sculpture

We had a huge pile of rocks that were cluttering up the garden so I decided to plonk them in the garden beds for now to give a bit of a rustic effect. We can always move them later when the plants get bigger and we get around to building a water feature.

Hope you have a great rest of the week.

Life A L'Orange - Garden Update

The veggie patch is producing lots of tasty beetroot at the moment, they don't seem quite as big as last year but they are full of flavour and we have been roasting them up with some olive oil and caremlised balsamic vinegar to have with bbq's.

I have added some dill to the herb garden as we want to start using it more with fish and to make nice wee dips over summer. We currently have enough different lettuces to enjoy salads every day of the week if we want, the spring onions are also ready.

The zucinni, eggplant and capsicums have all managed to survive Bailey and are growing nicely at the moment - it will be ages before we get anything to eat though. I planted 2 more tomato plants into the veggie patch so we will get some nice orange coloured tomatoes for salads and some larger red heirloom ones for roasting. Last year's tomatoes were rubbish, so I'm hoping there is a massive improvement this year.

The peas are growing well (see where the stakes are) and we have lots of berries on the blueberry bush this year. The newly planted raspberry plants are also still alive despite Dog A L"Orange tearing past them at high speed when he has a mad five minutes.

Most exciting news is that our fruit trees look the heathiest we have ever seen them, even the apricot and dodgy plum tree that was pretty diseased last year. Just goes to show what some love care and a fair bit of rain can do!

Veggie Patch Extension

Knowing how much I love the veggie patch to the point that it has been overflowing with produce, Mr L'Orange decided to enlarge it for me. See how handy, he has become, he now even volunteers for tasks!

Despite driving rain and chilly temperatures Mr L'Orange braved the elements to add new timbers to the existing raised bed.

We did the same as before and layered the base of the bed with newspaper followed by a layer of leaves before adding the veggie mix compost to the top. Constructing these layers, really seems to help the soil plus it saves you a bit of money as the veggie compost is pretty expensive at $70 a tonne.

The start of the compost going in, it just took a few barrel loads to get it filled, you can see the jam packed existing bed to the right.

The finished veggie patch extended on both the right and left giving us about double the space. As soon as the topsoil was in we got busy planting seedlings and can now look forward to spanish onions, carrots and zucchini in approximately 8 weeks!

Winter Garden Update

The one good thing about the colder weather is that we don’t have to cut the grass or weed the borders! This gives us a bit more free time to focus on all the other neglected areas, pretty much all the rest of the garden. Our goal is to try and have everything sorted out ‘dans le jardin’ before September so spring and summer can be spent relaxing and enjoying our efforts.

Trees in their autumn glory at the front of the house

I have been busy picking up dropped leaves, with 4 trees in the back garden and a whooping oak tree in the front this job often feels full time! We have got gravel down around the cabin and deck plus over the old concrete driveway which we are going to turn into a little private courtyard area for cabin guests. Check the next blog updates for more on this one.

Trees at the bag of the house - notice the leaf free lawn!

Last weekend I braved the biting wind and planted two new yellow roses for the front ‘yellow themed’ border. From the picture I should gets lots of roses and these ones have a lovely perfume to attract insects to the garden. 

Beetroot at the front and leeks at the back

Broccolli and onions on the right

Gnome standing guard

In the vegetable patch, I’ve planted (yet again because my last attempt failed) carrots and also spinach so we can have some yummy spring salads. The beetroot, leeks, onion and broccoli are still going strong but need to grow.

Veggie Bartering System

The best thing about having a veggie patch in the country is that you can start a nice little bartering system going as everyone has their own patch. Whenever we have an over supply of a certain fruit or vegetable we always take some to work or give them to friends/family or neighbours.

In return, they all do the same back when they have something in plentiful supply. Allowing us to try plenty of new things, find out what grows well in Orange and get the chance to swap recipe ideas.

So far we have received for free:

4 cos lettuces

1 large bag of blueberries

3 tomato plants

1 large bag of string beans

2 dozen fresh eggs

1 large bag of lebanese cucumbers

1 bag of purple beans

1 handful of baby egg plants (aubergine)

1 jar of coriander seeds

1 lemon grass plant

Bumper Veggie Patch Harvest

After a 6 month growing period, our Spanish onions which started off as tiny seedlings are now ready to pick and taste delicious.

If anyone is after a quick growing easy vegetable to add to the patch then zuchini (courgette) has to be the one. We planted ours about 6 weeks ago and we now have a bumper crop and one huge zuchini which could be mistaken for a marrow.

We have been busy cooking up a storm of zuchini based recipes, we have done zuchini fritters, added zuchini to salads and are going to give zuchini muffins a try. I've discovered that you can also freeze chopped up zuchini in zip lock bags and then just pull it out and add it to stir frys, currys or pastas as you need it. 

We managed to make our first full salad all with ingredients from the veggie patch which we are very proud of. Just need to wait a few more days until we get more rich veggie pickings.

Veggie Patch Update

It seems hard to believe that we only got the veggie patch started in July and how far it has come in such a short space of time.

Here are a couple of then and now shots that will knock your socks off.

With no vegetable growing knowledge, we seem to be doing not too badly: the zuccinis are huge, we still have plenty of carrots and spring onions. The lettuce is nice and leafy, spanish onions are ready to pick and the snowpeas, corn and cucumbers all seem to be doing well.

Huge zucinni flowers

Lady birds feeling the love

Only thing that hasn't worked is the garlic, I think we didn't pick it at the right time or something. We are gearing up to expand the veggie patch as we are running out of room at the moment and have so much more we want to grow.

Love Carrots

I went to the veggie patch on Friday for some salad accompaniments and look what I pulled up?

 I think the twisted carrots probably stem from my chucking all the seed into one hole rather than trying to spread them out as per the instructions.

Love heart carrots

Very cute though and you never see ones like this in the shops!

 

Ms L'Orange & her homegrown veg!

Getting Beetastic

The delicious deep pink beetroots just keep on coming from the veggie garden. In the last week alone we have had roasted chicken with roast beetroot & other veg, home-made burgers cooked on the bbq with sliced beetroot (boiled first of course). Then we tried a delicious beetroot salad which I mixed with fetta cheese, pine nuts some rocket and then drizzled with olive oil and caramalised balsamic vinegar – delish. Sorry dear readers, we wolfed this dish down so quickly after our epic day of painting, I forgot to get photos!

My next beetroot challenge is to make a beetroot dip from sour cream, chives, garlic and salt and pepper. Sounds gross and it is flurorescent pink but it tastes devine, will try it tonight! The real question is will it taste as nice as the ones I buy in the shops?

There are still plenty more beetroots in the garden fattening up, I’m thinking of trying beetroot & chocolate mini muffins next – anyone got a good recipe?

Through lots of cooking and eating beetroot, I have also become pretty good at removing beetroot stains from tablecloths and clothing.  So for anyone else currently getting beetastic, my top tip is to rinse the pink mark in hot water asap and leave to soak overnight if stain persists. I do believe, I am truly starting to become a domestic country goddess!

Heirloom Vegetables

For those of you keen to grow your own salads this summer head along to the Orange Farmer’s Markets on the second Saturday of the month and stock up on some plants for your garden. I picked up some lettuce and 2 heirloom tomato varieties for about $7 last Saturday – this is a total bargain assuming everything survives and bears fruit!

Lettuce & tomatoes at the front

I got some green zebra tomatoes which look exactly as the name describes and also some Black Negra heirloom tomatoes. When this is combined with the yellow and red Tumbling Tom cherry tomatoes I have already planted we should be in for some really colourful salads this summer.

Veggie Patch Update

Just a little bit of sunshine and the veggies are finally growing! Take a look at the latest beetroot, spring onions, carrots and garlic.