Freezing this morning. Can't envisage going outside yet. This year I have had a very poor vege year. We really need a greenhouse of some sort. The raspberries were the only success. The apples were stripped again
I got some new daffodils yesterday- Jonquil Soleil D'Or, Yellow Trumpet daffodil, Rockery Daffodil and Daffodil Magnifique. Also Tulips Barcelona. Have to work out how to outsmart the chooks so that they don't dig them up. Maybe pots.

Not a lot growing. Today I started on expanding my extra raspberry patch. The new hens helped after I started digging by chookin it over.How beautiful they are. Pinkie, Bonnie, Nellie and Kitty. They are laying 4 eggs a day even although it's so cold.

The coriander and red lettuce planted on May 3rd is up and healthy. The spinach however wasn't so successful. Today I sowed some Early Nantes Carrot seed . Says all year round on packet - we'll see. In seed beds last week I planted broad beans early long pod,snow peas oregon, . rainbow chard silverbeet, southern european spinach andsilverbeet fordhook giant. Mizuna coming up here and there. The arugula isn't all that successful at present. Only one or two raspberries struggling on. I think I can safely say they are finished.

Just planted the malus hupensis. It's the tea crabapple. Hope it makes a nice tea with the berries. I am investigating establishing a berry patch up near the cherry trees. Lots of weeding etc to do at the moment while it's possible to make progress. Beautiful weather . I planted some lettuce,coriander and spinach seeds a while back. Only the lettuce and coriander have appeared. The raspberries are still going strong. Quite surprising - picked a bowl yesterday. I should investigate planting an early variety to keep them going from Dec to end May. I like the autumn bearers because they are mindless to prune. Everything right down to the ground.
Planted some snow peas about a week ago. I also harvested 6kg of Jerusalem Artichokes. The evidently have a low GI and we like them. They make good mash and a also good baked.

Planted some bulbs yeasterday. Daffiodils, snowflakes, freesias all around where the roses are and in pot . Sowed some coriander,spinach and lettuce seeds. Lots of weeds around. Beautiful day today. I need to get outside in the sun and work.

Little tomatoes, first turnip, raspberries are happening. It's sooo cold today. So much to do in the garden but the weather is a turn off. Plenty of parsley and celery. I planted more coriander, spinach and lettuce last week. They're just starting to show through. The possums got all the apples this year. I didn't even get one. Looks like netting is the go. The trees will be larger next year and we should get some reasonable numbers. The rain affected the apples too I think a lot fell off the trees. My sasanquas are flowering like crazy. I hope they double in size next year.
We bought a tulip tree, two flowering cherries- prunus sekiama syn kanzan and a crabapple - malus hupehensis
My eggplants are still bravely flowering but no eggplants. Too cold here I guess. Planted in November. They are obviously hot house up here.

Christmas

It's been a busy and frustrating time in the garden. La Nina is causing havoc across Australia and here in the Blue Mountains we have had a lot of rain too. However it is wonderful to see everything growing again after so little rain for so long.
We have planted a Cidrella Sinensis (chinese cedar) which turns bright pink in spring. Also I have planted my sasanqua camellias in the front.
The vege garden is a bit overgrown but the beans are doing well. Tying some string to the top of the lattice and letting it drop down was a good idea I picked up on the internet. It gives the beans something to grip onto and a bit of movement. I find I garden in spurts and when I go back to it my climbers are crawling along the ground. Then you break them when you pick them up. This seems to work for me anyway.