The zucchinis are done, and the cucumbers long gone. We picked the last of the pumpkins on the weekend, and collected the beans that we left to dry out on the vines. We still have tomatoes hanging on, trying their hardest to ripen in the lovely Autumn sunshine we’ve had lately, but this week’s forecast for cold nights will pretty much do them in if I don’t pick them now.

This is the end of the summer crop. It’s a bittersweet time in the garden.

It’s lovely to be harvesting the last of the summers bounty. Pottering around picking beans in the afternoon sunshine, while the bees buzz in the borage. There is still enough herbs, lettuce, and spring onions to make a salad for dinner and still flowers in bloom. Just enough growing to let you imagine the warm days aren’t quite over yet.

But they are.

There dews are heavy and there has already been one light frost. The coming heavy frosts will kill off even the hardy nasturtiums and soon there won’t be much left in the garden to add to our dinner. It’s time to pull out the last of the summer crop and start thinking about what we might plant for winter.

We don’t plant a lot over winter. I am a fair weather gardener. I don’t like the cold, so I don’t intend to spend hours working in the garden when it is cold, wet and miserable over winter. But there is something about growing things that gets under your skin… I can’t rip out the zucchinis without thinking about what I could plant in their place. The seed catalogue lures me in and makes me think that perhaps the winter isn’t entirely too cold to garden…. I mean it’s not like it snows here or anything (well not often!)

So I will plant a winter garden, just a small one, but I’ll keep to my usual gardening ideals…

A Busy Mum’s Guide to Growing Veggies – in Winter!

Grow what you eat.
This the most important thing…. plant the stuff that you and your family like eating!
There is no point having a garden full of exotic Russian Kale if no one in your family will eat the stuff. We will grow bucket loads of broccoli and cauliflower because we like broccoli and cauliflower, and I can put it in lots of different meals, as well as freeze it if we have too much.

Plant what grows well in your garden.
There are some things I just can’t grow. Even though those things are supposed to be ‘easy’ to grow, in our garden, they just won’t. For a while I tried and tried and tried, then I got wise and gave up. I put my efforts into growing things that do well in our garden. We grow enough rhubarb to supply an army because for some reason, rhubarb grows in our garden even with severe neglect, and those are the best kind of plants, especially in winter! Another good winter plant for us is silver beet, it requires very little input from me to thrive.

Plant lots and put them close together.
Jackie French taught me this trick – ignore the planting distance written on the seed packets and punnets, put your plants close together. Some of them may not grow as well because they are crowded, but odds on they’ll still do ok and you can often pick those ones first and enjoy them as ‘baby broccoli’ or ‘pea sprouts’ etc. Planting close together and planting lots will mean less space for weeds, and more chance of success, especially if you are planting from seed.

Think ahead but don’t get too hung up on technicalities.
When growing veggies you do have to think ahead, at least a little. I need to plant garlic and potatoes in winter to have them in the summer. I need to think about how big plants will grow and where to put them so they don’t shade or crowd out other plants. But I try not to get too hung up on technicalities.

There is lots of great advice about companion planting, crop rotation, permaculture and all kinds of other fabulous gardening information, but I just I can’t seem to keep any of that information in my head. I’ve let got of having ‘the perfect garden’ and just settled for ‘a garden’ and so far, despite some failures, it’s been ok. I am sure when I have more time and my brain is not filled with sleep deprived mush and concerns of what on earth to put in school lunches, I’ll master crop rotation, but till then I’ll let it go.

Plant something for the kids.
If your life is full of small children, like mine is, it is unlikely you’ll ever get time to potter around the garden alone. I’ve found that planting something that kids can pick and pick and pick and never kill is important. We have lots of mint in our garden, which some people may think of as an invasive weed, but I think of as a play thing. My kids can pick the mint bare without any damage to the plant. They make potions out of it, or just collect it in a bucket, keeping them entertained for hours.

Also planting something the kids can eat straight from the plant is also a good idea. Peas are good in the cooler months

So there you have it… my probably almost fail safe, might work for you, if you want to give it a try, I’m not making any promises, guide to growing veggies. Of course these tips work equally as well if you are lucky enough to be on the other side of the world and enjoying spring instead of autumn!

Do you have some gardening tips for busy mums (or dads, or whoever) to share?
Do grow a winter veggie garden? What are your favourite winter veggies to plant?

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A Busy Mum’s Guide to Growing Veggies – In Winter. is a post from: picklebums.com

If you follow my facebook page you will already know that we have collected our first honey from our hive yesterday! At the moment we are squeezing the honey from the combs by hand, and it’s all rather exciting!

We are slowly filling a bucket with golden, home grown honey, and another container with the left over interesting waxy stuff.

Can you tell we don’t know what we are doing? Luckily my brother-in-law does know what he’s doing and is looking after the bees for us.

What can I make from all this glorious honey?

What is your favourite way to use honey?
Your favourite recipe?
Any special tricks when replacing regular sugar with honey in a recipe?

And what about the wax?
Some of it will be saved and made into more ‘foundations’ (think that is the correct term) for the bees, but I want to keep some as I have a hankering to make something with it… but what?

I’d love some ideas and advice about how best to use this glorious home grown honey!

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Honey! Honey! is a post from: picklebums.com

It’s zucchini season again.

The time of the year where we try and find a way to eat a zucchini every day so we can keep up with the plants and not to let any grow to the size of base ball bats!

It gets easier to accomplish each year as I find more and more great zucchini recipes.

Here are a few of our favourite zucchini recipes.

Five Things to Cook with Zucchini

1. Zucchini and Potato Fritters.
An easy side dish and you can use veggies other than zucchini too.

2. Zucchini Slice
The quickest, easiest zuc recipe ever. My kids can just about make this on their own!

1 big zucchini grated
1 big carrot grated
5 eggs
1 cup of self raising flour
1 cup of grated cheese
50ml oil
Onion, herbs, slat and pepper.
Mix it all together and cook it for 30 minutes and eat!

3. Zucchini bread/cake/muffins.
This recipe makes a LOT of cake, enough for a small loaf as well as heaps of muffins. It’s a lovely afternoon treat and great in lunch boxes.

4. Zucchini Boats
This couldn’t be easier…. cut the zucchini down the middle (cut it half if you have a big one and need smaller portions) and bake in the oven. Once the zucchini is pretty much cooked, sprinkle with cheese and herbs and bake till the cheese is golden and melted.

5. Carrot, Zucchini and Beef Stir Fry.
This is a favorite treat meal of ours, something we have every once in a while. I often freeze zucchini strips so that we can have it at other times of the year too.

Marinate beef strips in garlic, soy sauce and cummin.
Cut Carrots and Zucchinis into thin strips (add some onion or other veggies if you like).
Stir fry the beef strips in a little oil, add onion, carrot and zuchinni and a little of the left over marinade.
Cook well and serve over steamed rice.

What is your favourite way to cook zucchini?

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Five Things to Cook with Zucchini. is a post from: picklebums.com

I think I may have an unhealthy obsession with bird houses….

I need a collection of these.
I’m pretty sure I could make a tea pot bird house.
We’ve grown gourds before but never done anything with them.
And I’ve just decided what the kids are getting for Christmas next year!

I am trying to mitigate the bird house thing with other garden pretties…

These beaded garden stakes look pretty, and easy enough for the kids to help make.

We’ve made spider webs like this one for climbing veggies before and they are always fun.

Our neighbors have a little pine forest so I think we could collect enough pine cones to make a lovely rain chain, but I’m not sure where we could hang it.

I adore this stacked rock sculpture… I need to start collecting suitable rocks now!

Of course all these things would look lovely… if we had a garden instead of a forest of weeds!

What garden pretties would you put in your dream garden?

{image by See-ming Lee via flickr}

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Lovely Links – Garden Pretties… is a post from: picklebums.com

Despite planting this year’s veggies way later than we should have, I am really pleased with how the garden is growing at the moment.

The only thing we are eating is lettuce, herbs and the ever present rhubarb, but things are budding and beginning to fruit and flower so I am hopeful that there might be lots of food to come.

It looks like we will once again have a glut of zucchinis!

The kid-made bean support seems to be making the beans happy. Morgan is checking them every day for signs of his favourite snack to appear.

Can you see it? Right there! Hiding among the leaves… We have one, tiny, green tomato! I am still hopeful though!

We’ve never had much success with cucumbers and this year seems to be no different. The plants are still small but they are growing, ever so slowly, so maybe we’ll be able to make enough pickles for us to have one each? Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could boost them along?

We also planted a mixed cover crop over some of the bare soil that we aren’t using this year and it’s coming along great! That darn pretend cat freaks me out every time I go out there, but I don’t think the birds are remotely bothered by him!

I am always surprised what grows in our veggie garden, despite my ineptitude!

Are you growing things?
I love checking out other people’s gardens so if you blog about your garden make sure you leave me a link in the comments so I can pop on over and say hi!

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This Year’s Summer Garden is a post from: picklebums.com

A few weeks ago there was nothing but weeds and grass and clover in my veggie garden.

Then we mowed, and weed whacked and got the tractor out and then there was dirt…. lots and lots of dirt, and a fair bit of mud.

Then the sun came out and I dug in the dirt and the mud. I carted bucket fulls of good dirt to raise up beds out of the mud… and finally I planted.

I know it is already December. I know most of our veggies should have gone in more than a month ago, but I don’t care. I am not a fussy gardener, I don’t care that our zucchinis will be late or that our tomatoes might never ripen. I don’t care if we don’t grow a single cucumber.

It is just nice to be back out there and mucking around in the garden.

And no matter what, there will always be rhubarb… and mint.

What’s growing in your garden?

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In My Garden… is a post from: picklebums.com

Shameful neglect… whoops!

A baby apple tree that we grew from seed.

Hidden strawberry flowers.

Mint hiding in the neglected bits.

Someone let the cauliflower go to seed…

Look what is hiding in my sorely neglected garden!

Join in Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys.

Veronica may be a neglectful gardener but she is a passionate story teller and a fabulous blogger. Living in Tasmania with her husband and two kids, Veronica blogs at Sleepless Nights and also VeronicaFoale.com.

 

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Wordless Wednesday – What’s Hiding in Veroncia’s Garden? is a post from: picklebums.com

It’s officially spring here, though the cold wet and windy weather today might have you believing otherwise. Despite the lack of sunshine I am embarking on my annual garden dreaming event. It’s where I look at seed catalogues and browse web sites and dream up gardens that I can’t possibly prepare, let alone plant or manage. Want to join me? Here are some lovely links to get you started…

Some garden blogs that I am loving right now…

A Way to Garden – a US based garden blog with lots of variety. I seem to spend a lot of time reading the pests and diseases section!

Skippy’s Vegetable Garden – This gardener packs a lot into her backyard veggie garden and I LOVE the photos of the garden in all seasons on her side bar.

The Duck Herder - a lovely Aussie blog full of growing goodness.

Au Couer Du Jardin – ever wanted to move to France? Then go drool over this gorgeous French garden. And to think I never used to like flowers much, now I’m drooling over a garden full of them!

Some garden things that I want to do and make…

Good old Martha always has good ideas, or at least her staff do. I want to try these stick plant markers from Martha Stewart.

We kept the old tired when the Big Whit Bus got new ones and the tire guy said we could come back and take as many as we like! I’m thinking of something like this tire wall for one edge of our veggie garden. It seems a good way to make a wall sheltering other plants and raising up some things that really don’t like to be near our clay soil.

I’m going to grow lots of flowers in our veggie garden this year, and I’m collecting sticks to make garden structures. Check out images 2 and 8 from this beautiful Connecticut Kitchen Garden.

Garden resources I love…

All of Jackie French’s gardening books. I own and love Back Yard Self Sufficiency and have borrowed lots of others from the library.

Eden Seeds are my favourite seed supplier. Their services is awesome and they have a huge variety.

And here’s my pinterest garden and growing board for a bit more inspiration.

Are you garden dreaming?
Have you got big plans for a Spring/Summer garden (Or Autumn/Winter garden if you are on the other side of the world)?
Have you got an gardening links to share?

Tell me all about it!

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Lovely Links – Garden Dreams is a post from: picklebums.com

With recent Autumn rain we are once again in the middle of millipede season. Here are some of the things I’ve learnt from battling against these nasty black creatures….

The kind of millipedes we have at Portuguese millipedes and they stink when you pick them up, squish them or when they die. They are feral pests, imported from their natural home of Europe.

Having a millipede drop off the ceiling and into your bed in the middle of the night is the stuff nightmares are made of.

One of the first complete sentences my toddler twins ever said was ‘Burn the suckers’ in reference to how often we swept up millipedes and burnt them alive in the fire.

When there are loads of millipedes they can stop the trains in our area.

We are yet to discover what will stop these creepy mini snakes coming into our house. We’ve tried poisonous chemicals, strips of metal, light traps, even mopping the floors with Detol to deter them from coming in, and yet still they come.

I get several hits a month to my blog from people googling ‘my baby ate a millipede’. And for all those people…all my babies have eaten millipedes and while it is gross, they have all survived.

There are so many posts about millipedes on my blog that a friend suggested I needed to add one to my blog design… so I did. Can you find it?

What do you know? Join in with Yay For Home’s Things I Know link up and share your genius with the world!

{top image by ARHiggins via flickr}

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Things I Know… About Millepedes is a post from: picklebums.com

Life is frantic at the Pickle Farm today.

I have a sick kid, a back yard full of mud and holes, Christmas presents half wrapped and chickens in my kitchen.

Yes, chickens…. in my kitchen.

Two of them.
A black one and a white one.
And no, they are not waiting to be roasted, they are both very much alive.

Raising baby chicks wasn’t exactly what I had planned for the week before Christmas and yet here I am.

It’s those darn delinquent mothers, you see.

She was all keen to have those babies when she sat down and wouldn’t get up all those weeks ago. She was still keen on the idea when they hatched and was all psycho chicken baby protector for the first week or so.

But then, when she got out and about with her two new babies she could hear life going on without her on the other side of the fence. She saw the other hens busily scratching and laying and getting busy. Hamlet the handsome rooster gave her the eye through the gate and that was it. She was off.

Over the fence she flew leaving her babies behind. She wanted to go back to work, and she figured the kids would be fine at home on their own while she laid a quick egg.

The first day she laid her egg and came home. The second day…. well… after she laid her egg one of the girls invited her out for a drink after work, and then Hamlet asked her to dance and one thing led to another and before she knew it she was waking up next to the big black rooster the next morning, her kids left home alone all night.

By the time child protection arrived and attempted to usher her out of the office and back home she was over the whole idea of having kids. Kids just cramped her style, kept her stuck at home on the nest when she should be out laying eggs and partying. She’d already decided she was never going back….

The department attempted to place the two abandoned kids into a foster home, but the potential foster mum had 3 day old triplets and she wasn’t interested in taking on any more responsibility. So it came to pass that Penny and Seed became wards of the state and took up residence in warmest spot in the Department, the kitchen.

We should have known really…. A hen called Snow who is as black as black was always going to be trouble (for the record she was white when she was born).

Doesn’t she realise where she lives?
Doesn’t she know that we are into attachment parenting around here?

Abandoning your 3 week old babies to go back to work just doesn’t cut it on the Pickle Farm. And what’s worse… three weeks after deciding she didn’t want to be a mother she is back attempting to sit again! What? Is she just in it for the baby bonus? Is she trying to rort the paid maternity leave system and buy herself a flat screen TV?

Needless to say the Department has their eye on Miss Snow and she won’t be having any more babies for a while. And Penny and Seed are now happily chirping away in my kitchen and being cuddled to exhaustion by the big kids…. lets just hope they turn out to be hens and not dinner.

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Delinquent Mothers is a post from: picklebums.com