Something to report

Well, I wouldn't have thought it would be so hard to find time, remember to take photos and remember to post.

Despite the dry summer, things are comingalong nicely in some respects, and failing dismally in others.

Last year, our two apple trees were able to supply us with apples for two months - it was wonderful to pick an apple straight from a tree as required.  This year however, with three apple trees, there are about 10 apples.  Go figure.

The kiwi fruit have lots of little brown buds that are slowly forming fruit.  With any luck we should get a nice crop in a couple of months.

And then there are my tomatoes.  The flowered prolifically, but for some reason, they are not ripening. I was excited to see one begin to ripen several days ago.  To my great disappointment it was riddled with holes.  But its shape and colour are still wonderful to see.

Then today, while watering the tomatoes in preparation for the 33 degree Celsius day, I found my first ripening tomato that was not pest damaged.  So I have picked and have it sitting inside to ripen away from any unwanted critters.  This tomato has been placed beside the same ball for a size comparison.  It is quite large.  My old Greek next door neighbour grew these little beauties from seed.  Can't wait to taste it!!  Just going to wait until it is as red as the other one.

Today I was also able to harvest my first bunch of grape ever!!!  Very exciting times here.  In past years I have forgotten to net the vines and all of the grapes have been taken by those pesky possums.  But this year I got in first.  The next photo shows you my first harvest - there is about that much to harvest again.  I can also tell you that I have already sampled these grapes - I just couldn't help myself - and they were lovely and sweet.  The flavour was actually quite different to the store bought varieties.

And one more image addition for this entry - this is the lemon cordial recipe I made from home grown lemons - it has been mixed with home grown mint - and is beautiful on a warm day like today.

Well, this is my inaugural post on my very own blog.  I thought it would be interesting for me to talk about and photograph what is happening and what I am harvesting in my garden throughout the year.  For my first post, I thought I would  provide a description of the food producing plants and animals you would find in my garden if you were to wander in. Stay tuned for information and photos about what my garden is producing and what I am making out of this beautifully fresh produce.

Front Garden

• 4 olive trees - 1 established, 3 very young
• 2 feijoa (pineapple guava) - 1 established, 1 very young
• 1 young pear
• 4 chilli
• alpine strawberries
• red currant and cuttings
• 3 plums - plus one cutting
• 2 pink lady apples
• 1 jonathon apple
• 2 macadamia trees - grown from seed
• 1 blood orange 
• 1 bay tree
• 8 tomatoes
• 2 artichokes 
• beetroot
• greek basil
• oregano
• majoram
• parsley
• peppermint

Back Garden

• 2 passionfruit - 1 black and 1 yellow
• 3 grapes
• 2 raspberry patches
• alpine strawberries
• rhubarb patch
• vietnamese mint patch
• horseradish
• 2 ricoto chilli bushes
• 3 kiwi fruit vines - 2 female, one male
• lemon verbena
• assorted rosemary bushes
• 2 tahitian lime trees
• meyer lemon
• blood and navel grafted orange tree
• 1 elder flower tree
• 1 quince
• 1 murcot mandarine
• 1 cavendish banana - with 4 pups
• 2 pistachio trees - 1 male and  female
• 1 ben hur pomegranate tree
• cherry tree
• thyme
• josterberry
• black currant
• red currant
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 beehives
• 6 chooks
• loganberries
• blueberries
• beans