Tuesday 25 September 2012

Eli and his Snails

I love spending time outside in the garden - it is so good for the soul! Whenever I am feeling overwhelmed, short on patience or stretched beyond capacity, spending time outside always seems to help. Pulling some weeds, checking the fruit trees or planting vegetable seeds provides an immediate sense of accomplishment. This is certainly very helpful when it is time to go inside and tackle the (constant) mountain of washing or the challenges that consistently come with being a parent. I always feel calm after being in the garden. Of course, Eli is my constant companion and enjoys being outdoors just as much as I do. He is particularly wonderful at hunting down any snails hiding among our little plants. Never keen to feed them to the chickens, Eli doesn't seem to mind the slime the snails deposit all over his hands as he plays with them.
Eli with his snails. Those gloves won't stay on long!

Love you snail!
 We are all excited to have seen success with some of our vegetable plantings. Baby carrots and snow peas are particularly popular and are pulled up out of the ground, or off the plant as soon as they are big enough!
Our broccoli plants actually look like they will grow a head of broccoli (I planted these with my fingers crossed!). The mandarin and orange trees have blossoms for the first time and the stone fruit trees all have miniature fruit on them.
Donut peaches
 Very, very exciting! I am saving all my pasta jars in the hope that I will have such an abundant crop of fruit that I will be able to preserve some of it (but we'll see how that goes!). I have even had success with some fig tree cuttings from my mum's tree. I haven't grown fruit from a cutting before and didn't really know what to do with the cuttings. After some internet research and advice from Sabrina Hahn I dipped the cuttings into rooting powder and stuck them into pots filled with propagating mix. Thirteen of the nineteen cuttings have struck and are growing leaves. I can already taste the fig jam!
Fig tree cutting
 Of course, there are parts of my garden that are full of (ahem) weeds. I have set myself a goal to be weed free by the first week in October. Feel free to send a message around that time to see if I was successful!

What do you grow in your garden?

2 comments:

  1. I'm so pleased that you started up a blog :-) I don't mean to gush, but your positivity and enthusiasm for life is inspiring! My goal is to be more like you! (and if a few weeds get pulled out in the process, all the better!!!)

    P.S. Love Eli's cheeky face in that first photo!

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like we are good for each other then Gab (I think exactly the same way about you!).

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