Gosh I love Spring - it's just the most beautiful time of the year. We're getting to the tail end of it now with 10 days to Summer, but there's still lots of flowers around. We're noticing it's getting more dry, so we're trying to prepare the garden for the summer heat. In this #dsnapplus I take you for a quick spin around my garden in response to @simplymike's #gardenjournal2018 challenge. I think I missed last month, which is a bit disappointing - it's really fun to join in this challenge and see what is happening in other people's gardens. You can read her invitation to post about your garden here. We'll be doing #gardenjournal2019 before long, @simplymike!

Harvest Bounty

Have pickled tons of beetroots and garlic scapes, and pulled up all of my garlic - some really big bulbs this year! A lot of things are going to seed so I'm letting the bees feast and giving a lot of stuff to the new chickens (yes, I have new chookies - so excited!). Coriander, spring onions and fennel have all gone to seed, but I'll leave those to self seed next year by shaking the seeds all over the garden. We've had lots of delicious artichokes this year too - now I'm letting them flower as they will look so amazing!

Climbing Things

The grape vines are doing great - J. trimmed them and put new wires up around the vegetable patch for them to climb on, and they will protect the garden a little by providing shade. I've been planting a lot of climbing things for that reason - two varieties of pumpkin, some lebanese cucumber, a few varieties of melons. The hops are going crazy as well - I can hardly keep them under control!

Fruit

Looks like it'll be a great season for fruit again - it's fun to take stock of just exactly how much we have - apples, pears, mandarins, limes, lemons, quinces, apricots, plums and nectarines! Oh, and plus blackcurrants, redcurrants, raspberries, elderberries and blueberries. What a feast!

Being Water Wise

The wicking beds are working brilliantly - really pleased with them. Capsicums, basil, corn, chilli, cucamelons, cucumbers, tomatoes and jalepeno are all doing well with the constant supply of water. I've also done some ollas, which I'll dtube about later in the week. The eggplants are particularly doing well with that extra bit of water the terracotta vessels provide. I'm glad we've got the chooks now as they pick through the straw, fertilise it a little and then we can layer that on the compost and in the garden. We managed to get a ton of mulch (literally) on the native beds so they should be okay.

I hope you enjoyed this little video tour of my garden. You can here me say 'oop' when J. suprises me by not being in the shed for a change. Did you spot him?

What's going on in your gardens?