The garden is productive

It has been a very dry spring at Honeydale as we have had less than half of the average rainfall for November leaving the bush dry and distressed, even the lantana is starting to dry out.

We have rainwater tanks to catch and store water for drinking and cooking but not enough to keep the garden alive.  Fortunately we have a bore that provides good water for our garden and orchard so we have an abundance of vegetables.

We have been harvesting and eating silver beet, strawberries, peas, lettuce and rocket for some weeks now.  We have also been picking and pickling cornichons for a month now and have several bottles aging for the Christmas pate'.

This morning we picked lettuce, radishes, crystal apple cucumbers, beans, dutch carrots, zucchini (including some with flowers) a few tomatoes and chillies to tide us over in Brisbane.  Some of the vegetables we will give to our friends and neighbours.

We are keeping the zucchini with flowers to make zucchini flower pasta for our dinner tonight.

We have several varieties of tomatoes and pumpkins that are almost ready for harvest along with sweet corn.  Hopefully we will soon have steady supply of vegetables to be self sufficient wiht the exception of potatoes and onions.  

In the next few weeks we start preparing a new garden where we plan to plant potatoes, onions and winter vegetables in the new year.

Jen and Rog

Email: honeydaleqld@gmail.com

Photos by Roger and Jennifer Holt