Winter Garden Updates!

It's been a little quiet on the updating around here this winter, so I thought it was about time to do some garden and hobby recapping. Some of the summer veggies are still going strong, with a lot of the root crops staying in the ground until we need them. The tomatoes are pretty much finished, and the leafy greens are mostly done. Things like the broccoli, cabbage and parsnips are still growing and still not quite ready, so hoping they get a wriggle on and finish up soon! Winter things planted lately include three beds of potatoes, garlic, onions, two types of peas, broad beans, carrots and lettuce. Most of these are still in the seedling stages but are all doing well and seeming to enjoy the cooler days and moister soils than in summer.

Dave and I headed down to the Midland Farmers Market yesterday and found that unlike a lot of other markets, this one had plenty of stallholders selling fruit and veg, and the prices were way cheaper than any supermarket. We went a little crazy as the photo shows, we got a good variety that should last us all week. All of that for well under $50 makes us happy people.

Fruit n Veg haul from the market. Tonight: Pork chops with apple and fennel and roasted veggies.

Winter garden beds. Top left: Two varieties of lettuce and two of carrot. Just starting to sprout now, so we should have lettuce in about 8 weeks and carrots during the spring & summer months Top right: Kohl rabi, broccoli, cabbage and kale which were all planted when my folks were here in December and January. Not sure if cabbage and broccoli should take this long? The cabbage is finally starting to form their inner heads, but still no love from the broccoli.

 The onions and garlic bed. Two types of onion, brown and pickling onion, and garlic that I picked up at Perth City Farm which all sprouted and are now looking quite nice.

This is the garden bed that has the most going on in it still from summer. Rainbow chard that seems to be the veggie that just keeps on giving. We keep taking and it keep growing fast enough to keep up with us. Quite impressive actually. Then we have a large crop of beetroot still, as I thought Dave liked them (which apparently he doesn't), and I sure don't like it, so it's just sitting there until someone comes along and steals it or I can give it away. Then parsnips, spinach, carrot and fennel, all of which seem happy and growing well. Tonight I might pick the first parsnip to add to some roasted veggies. Exciting!

 The two tubs of olives we have picked off our tree brining away. They are both 30L tubs so I think we'll have enough olives to last us for a really long time. Next year we plan on using all the olives to attempt to make our own olive oil, which should be fun!

 Potato beds and closeup of plants. The are still pretty small, but so far looking good. Can't wait til we can dig up and roast some freshly grown potatoes! Nothing better! Yum yum yum.

Dwarf peach tree that we got as a wedding present is now planted and is looking quite happy, although it's leaves are starting to drop off for winter now. It already had peaches on it last year while the poor thing was still only in a little container, so excited to see how many we get off it this year. :)