Archive | organic vegetables

I Love…

We have been harvesting quite a lot of produce from our garden; nectarines, cauliflowers and onions. I love that we are growing our own food, there isn’t always an abundance of it, but when it is available, it makes me feel so good to sit at the dinner table and know that part of our supper came from our garden.

The nectarines are large and juicy.

I discovered a couple of cauliflower heads while clearing out one of the bends. I hadn’t been into the veggie garden for a few days and was so surprised to see the growth after the rain.

It is wonderful to have this crop of apricots, last year we only had two on the tree, this year we have about twenty, they have grown so plump.

As I walked around the apricot tree, I noticed this yellow apricot lying on the ground. I excitedly bent down and picked it up. It had been lying in the sun, it was so warm in my hands. I showed it to everyone, we shared it amongst the six of us. It tasted amazing, a large part of that was because we grew it ourselves:)

Oh… this makes me so happy! I brushed the earth aside ever so slightly and there they were, the first of our potato crop!!  We will dig them up in a few weeks, just had to have a quick peek:)

Our thorn tree is in bloom, these little yellow flowers are just brilliant, like bursts of sunshine.

Off they go for a ride, my sweet loves…

Still really adore watching our chickens sand bathing:)

Wishing you a wonderful week;)

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Peas and Beans…

Jenna has been making her first quilt over the last few months and today she finished the front of it, I love it, it’s so beautiful! (Proud mama here!) The heat continues to be incredible, but we just turn on the borehole sprinklers and head straight for the pool… I have also decided to start our mushroom growing kit, it has all been set up and apparently we will have mushrooms growing within 15 days! So exciting, I need to spray it a few times a day with cooled boiled water and that is all:)
Tonight we are making stew for dinner and I am adding broad beans from our garden, we picked most of the beans and quite a lot of peas too, it’s hard not to eat the peas though, they are so sweet! Tomorrow I will pick the rest of the bean and pea crop and freeze them. Thank you all so much for your comments about the jam. We ate some this morning and I must say I am VERY pleased with how it turned out, I wasn’t too sure about its consistency when I was pouring it into the jars, but this morning, I can spoon it onto my toast and it is lovely and thick, (but not too thick). I am also glad about putting it through the juicer because of the pulp it created, so no big pieces of fruit in the jam, the pulp has added an even texture. I am going to freeze the extra bottles and give some away as gifts. We are going to make more jam tomorrow too, I have discovered that another one of our mulberry trees has large and juicy fruit on its branches, I love all the preserving that is going on over here.

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Sunday Snapshots…

 We have been spending so much time outside today, Caiden even had a swim! Richard has been working on another little tree house for Kye and I have been enjoying the sunshine…

Our plum tree just burst into blossoms all at once…

The young egg layers versus the old egg layers…

Our quaint orchard…

The raspberries have gone from dead looking sticks to luscious green…
I took this photo lying down in the knot garden today, the green is just so beautiful, it soaks into your soul…

This is our herbal knot garden, we have slowly been restoring it since we moved here a few years ago. It has a Bay tree in the centre and various other herbs in little beds with pathways in between. I love this spot in our garden and I am going to extend the veggie growing into this area amongst the herbs. I think that would work well.

The platform has been straightened and a pole has been added for support, so sweet…

Sandy constantly collects all her toys and always keeps them close…

 I love this wall, I think it has been here since the house was built in 1928…

Have a peaceful Sunday and week:)
xo
Linda

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Out and About in our Garden

I am loving working in the garden at the moment, there has been so much progress, our raised vegetable box beds have all be repaired and composted, we have added gravel to the pathways, which look a lot neater now and this keeps the weeds at bay too. I have been using the most wonderful online veg garden planner, it is called Grow Veg and it really is worth taking a look at. You can plan you veg garden, what you will plant in each box or bed, the programme also lets you know what plants will be suitable as companions for each vegetable keeping them pest free and enriching the soil. It helps and gives guidance on crop rotation and how to ensure continuous food with succession planting. You can even add your postal code to the programme, it will take your seasons and weather conditions all into account. I really am enjoying this tremendously!
I am also reading a book I downloaded to my PCs Kindle called One Magic Square by Lolo Houbein, I was going to order the book, but I couldn’t wait to read it so I just bought the kindle version and I love it!
Other lovely organic gardening sites to visit are Jane’s Delicious Garden and her blog she has a book out too by the same name.
And now for some garden snapshots…
These are our Primulas that are in full bloom…

We have added crushed stone to our pathways…

Hooray!! The Asparagus has started to grow…. Delicious!

Nectarine blossoms…

Aahhh, the Rocket is so tasty this year, it just continues to grow by seeding itself all over the garden…

Miniature Prune blossoms…

This plant is so gorgeous, it is called Buddleja, an indigenous plant to South Africa, it is flowering now during our winter months and the perfume that emanates from its flowers is just amazing…

These two Grey Louries, were arguing over a piece of orange they discovered on the bird feeder this morning, very entertaining to watch:)

This is one of my favourite birds, the Rameron Pigeon, they are huge birds, with large yellow feet, beaks and circles around their eyes, so beautiful…

Wishing you all a wonderful week.
xo
Linda

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