End of July Garden Walkaround

Well, another month has ended already and there is only one more month till Spring! What changing weather patterns we have had for the past few months with above average temperatures for Autumn, a freezing weekend during the first week of winter followed by mild conditions. Then the really cold weather hit and many layers of clothes were the order of the day for weeks on end. Now, at the beginning of August the forecast is for 22C today and we have had lovely sunny weather for the past week to 10 days. It has been very dry and we received less than half our average rainfall for July.

I took a walk around the garden to record what is growing at the moment for future reference.

 Dwarf Peas will be on the menu soon. Savoy-Verona Purple Cabbage and Rainbow Chard from The Seed Collection are growing well. Many of the seeds from The Seed Collection are $1 or so a packet and there is free postage on orders over $10.

We have multiple gardens of garlic as we are big garlic eaters but promise we won't breathe on you. The particular garlic in the photo above is one which I am anxious to try out as it is called Small Cloved Hot Purple Skin Garlic...a bit of a mouthful but if you would like to grow it it is available from Fair Dinkum Seeds. The silly birds in the middle of the photo are the usual culprits looking for macadamia nuts and the Purple Sprouting Broccoli is from The Seed Collection as well. Actually it doesn't look like the broccoli in the online photo so perhaps I have mixed up the seeds somewhere along the line. Oops!

 There isn't a lot happening in the fruit department apart from a few Tamarillos which I used to make some Tamarillo Mustard Relish, Pawpaws which are hanging in there despite the frosts and the fact that they shouldn't be growing in our climate, my first try at growing Strawberries in my new strawberry pot which was on special from Bunnings for $3.95 and heaps of mandarins which are being given away and also made into Mandarin Curd.

There aren't a lot of flowers growing apart from a few Bromeliads , Lillies, Snowdrops and the pansies I bought at the Camellia Festival which are now growing in a bucket.

The Flanders Poppies are starting to bloom although I forgot that the CEO pulled most of them out last year as he was sick of weeding around them and I didn't plant the seeds again somewhere else out of harm's way. They always make such a beautiful show in Spring. Never mind! The Calendulas are doing well and I have been picking the petals to dry before infusing in olive oil in the sun to add to my next batch of Calendula soap.There are also a few pots of Azaleas which always look pretty.

I am still nursing my Gotu Kola, Pennyroyal Mint, Galangal, Arrowroot and other herbs and plants through winter and hope that they will survive any more frosts we might have if I forget to put them under cover at night which I try to remember to do. Spring isn't that far away so by the end of August there should be a riot of colour in the front garden. 

Well, that's about it! How is your garden doing at the moment?