Winter Veggie Progress Report

I haven't posted lately about my vegetable patch. Unfortunately I don't get a huge harvest over winter as my beds do not quite get enough sun during the winter months. Being in a rental property I can't alter the backyard too much (or chop down trees) and already the garden beds take up a bit of space and I don't want to take too much of the backyard away from B's use.

With all of that in mind I have planted some veggies in containers this year to try and get a little more sun and a bit more success over winter.

Here are my potatoes which have self-sown from last years crop. The gift that keeps on giving!!

I have used the tyres from the birthday party to help build the potatoes up to get a bigger and better crop.

Close up of potatoes

Home grown garlic - can't wait!

Broad beans

Broccoli

Silverbeet - one of my favourite crops. It just keeps giving!

My lemon tree is now starting to provide some fruit after my hard pruning last year. I'm so glad as I use quite a lot of lemons in my cooking.

I have also got some leads on community gardens to try and maybe get a plot so I can grow some more produce off-site.

I also really love that when it rains B doesn't complain he just says "our veggies will grow now". It is one of those moments as a parent that you realise you are doing your job! We had a lovely day today out in the garden weeding, rearranging and planting some more seeds.



Waste

I have been musing for sometime on my waste or lack thereof. I do make a very conscious effort to cut down the amount of waste that our household produces both by controlling what comes in and how we deal with what needs to go out.

Firstly, I try to be really mindful of what I purchase. Is it really needed? Is it going to be used? This is particularly true with food. I am very conscious of what I buy and that it is all used. If I am finding myself with some food that is needing to be used and I don't have a plan for it immediately I look at how to keep it until I do. For veggies that I'm not planning on using can I use them in a stew, soup or just cook and freeze until I need it? Bananas are of course easy - smoothies or just into the freezer to make muffins or cake. Other fruit is good for smoothies, ice cream or again just frozen until need.

A really good blog on this issue is by Kylie Kwong and you can find it here. It's quite staggering the amount of food that is wasted and I am consciously trying not to contribute to the problem. There are a number of reasons for this. Of course, cost is the major one - it's like throwing your money out. There is also the environment and all the resources that are consumed into producing the food to just be wasted doesn't make sense to me. I think it's also about respecting farmers who spend their time and money in producing food for us as well.

Any food scraps we have are then put into our Bokashi Bucket. I really like this system as you can put meat scraps as well as other traditional composting materials. It also produces a liquid fertiliser which I then use to fertilise my vegetable garden. So it's a winner on a number of fronts.

I also recycle as much as possible - paper, glass, cans, etc. Luckily there is a tip not too far from me that takes a lot of materials that I can't put in the recycling bin. It also has a tip shop which can be a bit dangerous (but I'll post on that another time).





So this is typically the rubbish we throw out in a fortnight. It is basically just the packaging that I can't dispose of any other way.

And then, I got this book yesterday which takes reusing to a whole other level. Hopefully I will get some more tips and tricks!!

What about you? What are your secrets for reducing your waste?

Planning

I have been a bit of a bad blogger lately. I have not blogged as I would like to as life has got a bit stressful and hectic.

One of the reasons for the stress is that I have been really short of money. It has been a really bad month for bills, new glasses for B, modem dying and other myriad life expenses. It has led to some reflection on the need for more planning.

I have been doing really well with my weekly planner for activities and menus which has helped streamline a few things. Less trips to the shops, a varied menu and feeling more in control. For more info see my previous post here.

As the summer veggies are coming to an end I have already started planting the next lot to try and have some ready to plant out as soon as I pull the rest out. I planted the seeds last Thursday and when I went out today the broccoli, broad beans and lettuce were already sprouting! Hopefully this means a good crop ahead. I would really like to try and be as self-sufficient as possible from my (small) garden and planning is needed to try and make sure I have different produce ready throughout the year.

 Broccoli

Broad Beans

But the big area I need to work on is my budgeting. I currently am living from pay to pay and juggling bills and I am really tired of it. I need to really knuckle down and get my finances sorted. It also needs to involve a bit of planning. I had B's optometrist appointment booked and was fairly certain that he would need glasses. However, I also thought that we both needed to go to the dentist. I was way overdue and he had never been. We could both go now and get these appointments done and out of the way? Well, when the check up cost over $100 for the 2 of us and then over $100 for me to get my teeth cleaned and I need a filling as well (that's not for another couple of weeks) it probably would have been better for me to plan the dentist for a different month to the optometrist. So, I have had to pay for the dental appointments and $345 for glasses in the same month. So better planning on my behalf is needed to try and spread these expenses over more than 1 month.

I did really well over January clearing up my clutter and sold some through eBay and also through a Facebook group. However, I still have lots more to sell but seem to have lost the momentum. I really need to get this going again to not only clear the stuff away but also to get a bit of extra cash. I am going to set aside some time each evening to make this happen.

I really need to get on top of planning stuff. I think it's not something that comes naturally to me and I have often resisted being a real planner type person. I have always been a more of a winging it type person but this needs to change.

Would love to hear any tips that you have for planning and getting life organised!! And I will blog more regularly - have lots more things to say.

Home Grown Vegetables!

Well this is the view of my veggie patch! The pumpkins and zucchinis are a bit out of control and taking over! They are also growing into the neighbours!

Over the past year or so I have been trying to grow more of our food at home. Some successfully and some not so much. There are a number of reasons for this. I like to know where my food has come from and to cut down on my food miles. When I grow it in the backyard it becomes food metres rather than miles! Also, when I have grown it I can pick just as I need so it's beautiful and fresh. It also encourages B to eat more of his veggies when he knows where its from and he has participated in the growing process. I find that he is really fussy with "out of season" produce but anything in season he will wolf down.

One of my favourite stories is last year when I had some a friend's children over one day. Her eldest picked an ear of corn and I cooked it up for him for morning tea. His response? "This is the best corn I've eaten!" Couldn't ask for a better reason!! (For all my friends in Iowa my corn is just about ready to harvest now)

There were huge hailstorms here in Melbourne on Christmas Day and I thought I may have lost my tomatoes with the storm. Another friend had to pull his out as they were so damamged. I didn't think mine were too bad so I thought I would just leave them in and see. And surprise, surprise I now have lots of tomatoes growing! So glad I left them in.


Here are some more photos of my garden up close:

Zucchini

Cucumber

Lemons. When I moved in about 15 months ago the lemon tree was in an awful state. It hadn't been pruned in a very long time and was full of gall wasp. I cut it back very hard and have had to wait patiently for it to regrow and fruit again. It will still be a while till I get lemons but it's exciting that it will happen soon!

And now I have started harvesting!

Zucchini - so glad I'm not producing for supermarkets - they would not accept my bent ones! hehe!!

Strawberries - yum!!

The next challenge is to try and refine my process so that I can harvest produce nearly all year. This will involve some planning to ensure I have seedlings ready to go when I pull finished ones out. It's an extra challenge as our backyard isn't huge so I don't have a lot of space to expand the patch without taking too much toddler playspace!!