Autumn Projects

Today the children and I gathered more tomatoes from the garden. There are still vines with tomatoes on them, all at various stages of ripening, so we are sure to be able to gather more in the coming days, if not weeks.

This weekend I am going to endeavour to get a lot of preserving done. It will feel like quite an accomplishment has been achieved, when all these jars are filled. We are definitely moving from Summer to Autumn, with a good portion of the garden's crops now ripening up on a daily basis.

What are your plans for the coming weekend? 
Are you also in the throes of gathering in the fruits of your summer labours, now it is the start of Autumn here in the Southern Hemisphere? 
Or are you planning to work on your own Spring preparations, because you are based in the Northern Hemisphere?  
Each season brings its own unique preparations and projects. What is it you are looking to do over the next few days?

Feel free to leave a comment and share what projects you have planned for the coming weekend.

My Backyard

It is great when cuttings take! I recently struck several cuttings provided by a neighbour, and these were ones that took. There is something so happy about Impatience flowers. They bring such a wonderful splash of colour to a garden.

So many things are fruiting in the garden, and others are going about producing seed. When you stop and take note of all the diverse forms seed pods take, they are really quite interesting to behold.

A pot of plums. It just says 'Summer', doesn't it? We have been enjoying sampling them, and I am keen to look at making some plum jam soon also. This season we have had a lovely crop of plums.

It is just such a source of joy to wander out into the garden, reach up amongst a green canopy of leaves and find fruit ready for picking. There really is nothing quite like homegrown fruit, ready and ripened, and straight off the tree.

My Backyard: Berries & Jam

There is nothing quite like coming in from time in the garden with a container of berries.

I am looking forward to doing some jam-making soon. The promise of plum jam, raspberry jam, strawberry jam, etc in the near future is very appealing.

We have also been harvesting copious amounts of plums from the two plum trees this week. We have stewed up two stockpots of rhubarb and plums, and plan to freeze it to use later as filling for fruit crumbles, etc.

The peach tree is still quietly working on producing peaches. I am so looking forward to harvesting them also at a later point in the summer.

Having harvested the garlic last week, it has been prepared to put away. Here is a photograph showing the end result.

It has been a very productive week here. We have been working on the enclosure for the chickens, tidying up the garden shed, working in and around the garden harvesting, collecting seed and clearing various garden beds as appropriate. It has been a great week to enjoy in the garden all that is typical of it being summer.

According to the current Moon Calendar, from Saturday 4 January through to Monday 13 January is a great time to plant all above ground producing crops. A chance to spend part of another week in one's summer garden. Enjoy.

My Backyard: Summer Harvest

Having been ill, it has been some time since I have really enjoyed time in the garden. It has been so lovely to start to get back on track with garden activities again, including starting to harvest some of our summer crops.

Here are a few photographs of some of the produce we have been able to harvest from various sections of the garden lately.

We have harvested the garlic and prepared it, both for using it when cooking plus putting a good proportion aside for replanting mid-next year.

The first of the passionfruit has started to form! A very exciting development, as the vine is relatively new to the garden.

Plums, plums and more plums. Having applied a lot of manure in autumn, we have had a plentiful harvest of plums already to date this summer. I am so looking forward to making plum jam in the near future!

It is so lovely to see the results of our efforts in the garden throughout the year now come in the form of harvestable produce. I am really looking forward to doing some preserving, plus freezing, in order to stock up for the year ahead.

According to the current Moon Calendar from Saturday 28 December - Sunday 29 December is a good time to plant root crops. From Monday 30 December - Friday 3 January it is time to cultivate only. From Saturday 4 January - Monday 13 January it is a good time to sow and plant above ground producing crops.

All the best with your gardening endeavours over this time and as you look forward to the new year ahead. Enjoy.