Saturday, August 16, 2008

SOMETHING ABOUT ME


I want to share another passion of mine with you, gardening. I love my ornamental garden it's mainly natives local to my area but what I want to share with you is my productive garden. I don't take nearly enough photos of my garden but I do keep a gardening journal that has all sorts of information in it from propergating seed dates to planting and harvesting and all sorts of information that I pick up about pests, companion planting and crop rotations etc.

Our yard is quite large compared to the newer homes and blocks in our town, I once had a huge hot-house right up the back but the plastic slowly wrecked and was far to expensive to replace at the time.

We've had chickens for years but as our lovely ladies slowly died of old age, I haven't replaced them, but will be doing so in the near future. They provide our family and friends with fresh eggs that the kids just love to collect and their poo is just heaven on our garden. Oh and we throw all the snails in to them and watch them go for it, they just love those juicy little buggers.

I have always had a compost bin to put all of our kitchen scraps, weeds, shredded paper etc into and have had a worm farm for a few years that provides us with the most beautiful worm poo tea to dilute and add to our soil.

We don't use chemicals on our garden, we pick off caterpillars and bugs and use natural products that don't harm other insects or the soil.

I know that in a small way we are reducing our carbon footprint on this earth and have the luxury of eating fresh, organic produce that has not been in cold storage for months or sprayed with poisonous chemicals and the kids love to care for and eat the produce we grow. They have a real input in what we grow, down to the planting, care, harvesting and cooking of this produce.

So, whether you have a large garden or a few pots on a windowsill, you too can get the simple pleasure out of connecting with the earth and growing a little something to harvest. Believe me, if you have never tried fresh organic fruit and veg you don't know what you are missing and when you do try it, you will realise how tasteless and bland the supermarket varieties really are.

4 comments:

  1. Sue you are a truly inspirational lady. I loved reading about your garden. I don't know where you find the time. I hope to in the near future start some sort of veggie garden. You have inspired me. Donna.

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  2. Yum! Asparagus and Broccoli! 2 of my faves. I loved seeing pics of your garden Sue. Hurry up and get those chooks, will you?

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  3. Thats another dream,next spring i will be planting a few veggies too! I d love to eat strawberries fresh out of my own garden:)))

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  4. How wonderful to have your own garden that produces FOOD! Your vegies look beautiful.

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