Getting our veggie garden ready

More hands make light work and this afternoon Poppa Waz and James put together the Bunnings veggie boxes and then we dug through the pile of bark/dirt to sift out the weeds and then we layered our veggie boxes weed mat, lucerne, manure, bark/dirt etc. and topped them off with some compost material at the top. I need to get a couple of bags to top them up but for now it was a great effort. When I say we, I mean Nanny, Pop, James and Sienna and I took quite a few photos. I'm excited that they are nearly ready and we can start planting and attending to our organic garden. I am a little concerned about possums around here as I have trees in the back and we are surrounded by bush but we'll have to see how we go.

Veggie Garden

I have recently been neglecting our veggie garden as there has been other things going on in our life however this afternoon I got my hands dirty (well I did wear gloves) and dug out the tomato bush that wasn't going so well and a huge basil bush that had gone to seed. I fed the basil to Coco and Fluffy our chickens and threw the infected tomato bush in the bin rather than the compost).

I did the little trip to Bunnings Garden Centre early today and then I was able to plant butterhead lettuce, beans, basil and some spring onions. I think tomorrow I will plant some coriander seeds as I miss just popping out to the garden and cutting a handful of home grown herbs. All of this will be ready in about 6 weeks so not too long to wait again. When you don't have anything to harvest you really miss it and nothing tastes as good as home grown produce.

Garden Produce

Here's some of what was picked out of the garden a couple of days ago. I think cucumbers are so easy to grow and they keep producing every few days. Today I bought some punnets of lettuce and spring onions to plant and in a couple of weeks time I'll get some more so that we can stagger our harvest. The eggs were collected over a few days but always look good in the basket.

Seasonal Produce

This morning I picked 5 cucumbers from the garden, some shallots, and tomatoes from my new plant. This is still bringing me lots of joy to collect and eat home grown veggies. The other night I also made a yummy quiche with our fresh eggs and I think I'll make another one tonight for dinner.

Lebanese Cucumbers

This morning after the rain had stopped Sienna and I went out to check out the veggies and to my surprize there were 3 cucumbers there. I was told that once the flower dies it's not long until the cucumber is ready to eat. It's hard to believe because when the flower died the cucumber was about 3 cms long and now a week later it looks like a real cucumber. I was so shocked and extremely delighted that we are growing a new veggie and are having such great success. I can't wait to pick one and try it in a few days time. Starting our veggie garden back in April this year was one of the best things we have done as it's brought us so much enjoyment and good healthy food at the same time.

Veggie Garden

Here's a few pictures of new things in the veggie garden. I've planted some Lebanese cucumbers which are growing nicely and I'm excited about that as Sienna and I love cucumbers and the plants look as if they have a heap of them growing. Also the new tomato bush which unfortunately this morning nearly got dug out by the chickens when I wasn't looking. They went straight back into the chicken coop after that. I really need to get some more to plant out one box as we've eaten what was growing and now half of it only has dirt in it which is why Coco and Fluffy thought it was for them to scratch around in. I still enjoying walking outside and picking some coriander and lettuce for my lunch or Sienna's sandwich. I miss not having tomatoes at the moment but hopefully we will have some soon.

First Wombok (chinese cabbage)

A little while ago I planted 6 womboks in our veggie garden and they have grown heaps and are ready to harvest. Today I picked the first one and made the "Chinese Noodle Salad" which is my families favourite and we had it for dinner tonight. Nothing tastes better than organic food straight from your backyard. It's so cool...I just love it.

What's growing

This morning I took these photos of our veggies and they are thriving to say the least. I swear the lettuce doubled in size overnight after that rain on Thursday. I have some Chinese cabbage growing which are going well and am keen to make the "Chinese Noodle Salad" with these which are our families favourite salad.

Two little tomato plants

I'm amazed at how two little tomato plants can produce so many tomatoes. Today I picked 2 bowls of tomatoes and then the kids and I popped over to two of our neighbours tonight to share some with them. They also got a bok choy each as well. The fact that they are home grown with no chemicals makes me feel great.

Mock Magazine Cover (Photoshop)

A couple of years ago when I was starting out in photoshop one of the photoshop magazines had an article in it with a suggested exercise to do a "mock up" cover of a magazine cover to practise your photoshop skills. So last week when James wanted to take some pictures to school of our veggie garden I did one up for him to take along with some other pictures of our garden along with some tomatoes and capsicum. I showed him the real gardening magazine and explained to him that this was a "pretend magazine cover" for a bit of fun and to explain that to his teacher. Anyway the next day I asked his teacher did she like the photos she told me that she thought it was a real magazine cover and had to take a double take on it. You can see that James and Sienna's names are in the bottom left hand corner of the cover (double click on picture to make it bigger) but it's just a little bit of fun. (small things amuse small minds they say)

Tonight's side dish

It doesn't get much better than this. Picking veggies, plating them up and sharing them with your family. I'm taking this side dish to my Mum's place and even though it's winter just those fresh colours just makes you want to try some. Sunday night roast at my mum's place is a tradition of my family for over 20 years. Most people are home on Sunday evenings so my mum made it "roast night" and we all catch up every week. The kids are in their pj's and usually watch a dvd and catch up with their Brisbane cousins.

I know my little veggie plot would be considered small by any standards (2 x 1.2x1.2 boxes) but I'm loving it. Today I planted some more butterhead lettuce, dill and coriander.

Sharon, Di and Amy...all I can tell you is it's in the nozzle and the wrist action and just practise. It is not easy to start with but if you use the "buttercream recipe" (just search on google) because it doesn't need to go into the fridge so you can ice them the night before and they will look beautiful the next day. (I have to work out how to reply on my comments, Sharon help!!) The options are a bit confusing and I'll have to look into that.

If you want to see some lovely cupcakes go to Leanne's blog where she did the most inspiring lego cupcakes for her son's birthday last year (posted 15th June, 2009). And her gift wrapping of those individual cakes is something that should be in a magazine.

Veggie Garden

Here's what I picked from our veggie garden today.

Farmers Markets and our Veggie Garden

The kids and I went to the local Farmers Market this morning to get some organic eggs, strawberries, Stanthorpe apples and some nuts. We had our traditional dutch poffertjes which are delicious. James and I convinced Sienna to try them this time however that meant that we had to share them between 3 people instead of just 2 people this time so it was only fitting to get 2 plates of this yummy stuff afterall we are on holidays.

When James was born we lived in Melbourne and every Saturday we would go out for breakfast and then go to the markets for fresh fruit and veggies which I just loved. When we moved back to Brisbane they didn't really have anything like that here however, 6 years later there are Farmers Markets all across the city which is fantastic. Good for the farmer and good for us and the atmosphere is always great out in the fresh air. I've done another little 5x7 collage (CZ design) for our morning at the markets which is going to go in a "holiday album" and also I've done one on our home grown veggies. It's good to see a little collection of how our garden is growing.

The very first home grown tomato

I've been thrilled with our little veggie patch and we have our first Tommy Toe tomato off the bush. Sienna has taken it to kindy for show and tell and even carried it in a little container to school when we dropped James off. She is showing this little beauty off and is soooo proud as am I. I've mentioned before that the veggie garden is making me very happy and I'm looking forward to when we can pick some more tomatoes off the bush. For now we are going to have to share this little one which is a whole 3.5cm x 3.5cm. It's not the size that counts but the organic quality of this little tomato which is well loved. Given that they are cherry tomatoes it's grown to it's potential. Here's adding some more variety to the kids lunches.

Home Grown

I love reading about people growing veggies and I have wonderful relatives who are very successful at veggie growing. Recently I got my act together to grow a few of our own veggies in the backyard. We started with two 1.2 mt x 1.2 mt plots and planted two types of lettuce, capicums, tomatoes, spring onions, thai basil and some marigolds. We are still to get the carrot and corriander seeds in the ground however, it is a great sense of achievement when you can walk outside, pick your organic lettuce and put it on your sandwich for lunch. It's such a small thing but makes me very happy. My youngest, not so fussy eater was very excited to put lettuce on her sandwich and is keen to have it on her lunches for kindy.