Thank you so much for your lovely wishes for our 16th wedding anniversary yesterday, you are all so kind...
We have brought in the last of our Manhaga and Malawian Pumpkins and are clearing the vines, I think next season I'm going to let them grow on the roof, we have a section of flat roof on our home and I think they will be very happy growing up there. This year they climbed onto the top of the veggie garden shade net roof to grow, none grew on the ground, only above on the roof. They were quite heavy for the shade net, so next year, roof it is.
I cut open one of the Manhaga pumpkins, going to make pumpkin fritters with it today...
I am very excited to see that the Goldenrod roots that I planted last year have started to grow and flower. These are such useful herbs, I intend to use them for natural dyes and they also have wonderful medicinal value as well.
Ahhh, the colours and shades of Autumn, there is nothing like it. The leaves are falling and are adorned with the colours green, amber, orange and yellow all appearing on one leaf, just breathtaking...We are going to melt some beeswax and place a few leaves in the wax to preserve them, probably make a small garland for our work room.
We have also started the winter preparations on our veggie garden, pulling out all of last season's plants from our summer planting, adding a generous amount of our own compost we make from chicken / rabbit droppings, straw, lawn cuttings, leaves, comfrey leaves (this is an amazing activator for your compost heap) and kitchen scraps. We also add used tea bags and crushed egg shells. I am going to plant flax and lupines in a couple of the beds to enrich the soil and to encourage bees and insects into our veggie garden.
I am going to reorganise our compost heap into 3 large bins, using pallets for the sides, the 3rd having the most mature, almost ready-to-use compost, an intermediate bin for rotting down matter and the first will hold the the newly added material. Richard is going to go and collect a trailer load of horse manure from our friend's farm to mix into the three heaps as well.
Can you believe we have an Almond blossom now, in Autumn?
Wishing you a lovely weekend.
Linda
I don't know why, but it surprised me that your leaves changed color too....Autumn or Fall, as we call it, is my favorite time of the year...it's so beautiful and the air is so crisp.
ReplyDeletedear, i read you from italy.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the middle of a worm reany spring...it's sweat surprise to think about your autumn
Linda, you now have me very curious about goldenrod. We have it growing wild all over our property in the fall [which really plays a number on my allergies]. I would be glad for you to visit and collect all you want! :) Maybe I should look at it in a different way instead of with distain!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! And am from Ontario Canada, where we are just starting our Spring. Golden Rod grows wild here everywhere, and is considered a pest like weed. I would love to learn what it can be used for....
ReplyDeleteMel
Wow, those pumpkins are beautiful! Enjoy your autumn, Linda. It's my favorite season. :) I'm glad you and your husband had a happy anniversary!
ReplyDeleteVisiting from Ginny's garden journal and thoroughly enjoyed your pictures. We're just warming up to spring and starting seeds here in the Pacific NW (Washington state, U.S.). I do love fall -- my favorite season. Your leaves are lovely.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, ~Lisa
My friend this has to be one of my favourite posts on your blog!!! How awesomely inspiring to me. I LOVE this time of the year!! I am in awe of the size of your veggie patch, it is huge!! I am finally getting someone in to help me with mine, just twice a month, but it is going to be a huge help to me. I am going to plant some beetroot today. I hope to be able to visit you, your family and wonderful home some day :) My sister is moving up to Joburg towards the end of the year, so maybe it really will happen!
ReplyDeletewow linda! those pumpkins! and your gardens, so amazing. i love them and am just a wee bit envious. its always so incredible to me that as we head into spring, your part of the world is approaching autumn. i hope you had a lovely anniversary. xxx
ReplyDeleteYesterday I bought a bunch of seeds. Getting ready to plant soon!! I'm thinking with all of the deer I am seeing in the field behind my house I may have to invest in some netting like you have all around your gardens! The other day I found a pile of deer poo in my yard.... they're getting braver...........
ReplyDeleteIt is Spring here in Michigan. I have worked very hard to get rid of all our goldenrod - just amazed by your post. Please post more on the benefits of goldenrod. I thought is was just to keep the tissue industry in business. I also love the updates on your chickens. I love it all. So glad I found you.
ReplyDeleteFabulous seeing all the growing wonderfulness. :))
ReplyDeleteYour garden space looks amazing. I aspire to that one day! It's so neat to see fall happening as we are in full swing fo spring.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful to see how Autumn is coming to your area Linda.
ReplyDeleteYour veggie garden is huge and looks wonderful Linda. I love the autumn colours and used to live in Canberra and would get a gorgeous display but unfortunately up here we don't get many trees that change. I'm thinking of planting a persimmon tree, do you have any of those? They are supposed to be very hardy and give an autumn display. I hope you show us how to preserve the leaves in beeswax, never heard of that but it sounds like a great idea! You sure got a bumper crop of pumpkins, I just made pumpkin dahl with coconut milk and its delicious :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat glorious photographs, Linda! Honestly, I believe that you must live in Paradise! XXO-
ReplyDeleteAhh, such glorious pictures, Linda! What a delight it is to see your garden and may I say that I am smitten with your netted enclosure?
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested to see how your goldenrod performs, I would love to see the colours it creates as a dye. I tried growing madder last year but fear I neglected it beyond rescue, however we do have a native indigo growing..to be experimented with down the track.
Lovely to see some Autumn foliage in your parts, it would have to be my favourite season. Enjoy those pumpkins..your fritters sound yummo! :)