5th December 2007

The garden is going well - we have had some good rain this week so everything is peaked up. My onion harvest is in and I must this weekend find the time to plait them up.

But the news for this month is not so much the garden as the house. I have finally, after downing as many calming things I could find, embarked on the interior of the house. The builders are here and I am coping, if only barely. Having renovated Ashcotte in Bendigo, I am not sure I have the nerve for this ... but it has to be done, so I am gritting my teeth, drinking too much wine, and getting on with it.

This initial stage is the hallway and drawing room. You wouldn't think that was too much, but it has taken almost a month so far (the builder promises me they will be finished this week - we'll see). In the drawing room the ghastly 1940s fireplace had to come down and everything rebuilt so I can put back a Victorian surround. I am having a gas log fire put in there (over winter I had two put in elsewhere in the house and I love them - I am so over wood fires ... the grit, the dirt the fuss, the cleaning and chopping and carting ... no way ever again). In both hall and drawing room dado rails were going in to divide up the tall walls, the thirty year old carpets were coming up (oh my God they were in a state!), the floors are not being sanded because right now I just can't cope (which means they won't ever get done), everything was to be painted (walls a soft apple green, below the dado rail in antique white, and all the woodwork (doors - ten! - and windows and skirting boards and dado etc.) all in glossy antique white. The paint work looks splendid - it really lifts the hall and drawing room - which has been some compensation for living in a state of nightmare of brick and plaster dust for all this time.

The builders had got to that stage where everything had been demolished, the walls stripped, plaster gouged out of cracks waiting to be refilled etc etc etc. The hallway was littered with debris, every room in the house was under a thick layer of dust, the builders were due to start rebuilding - and then bingo! They come down with chicken pox and flee for a week! So here I was, stuck in this nightmare while they went off to have the damned pox. I managed to clean a trail through the hallway for me and the cats and somehow I survived.

Mostly it has been cleaned up now and mostly it is now all fixed and just a few finishing touches to be done.

But oh, to think I have the rest of the house to go. And all the really expensive bits!

I have consoled myself by ordering two exquisite leather sofas for the drawing room, also another beautiful Pakistani rug for the room's floor (I already have one). I also need to order in the fire surround and the gas fire men have to install the fire. The room won't be looking good for another 3-4 months at least as the sofas will take months to arrive, and I need to get curtains made up, too. And Christmas looms. Everything now is dictated by "Oh, but Christmas is nearly here and we'll have to close down for ten months'. I really hate Christmas ...

But hopefully this weekend I will be able to start moving stuff back into hall and drawing room and finally start to clean!!

 

24th December 2007

Just before I get myself tucked into some Christmas beer, I thought I might give a sum of the food production thus far this growing season. I had set myself to be self-sufficient in vegetables and soft fruits from December, and in fact I have largely been self-sufficient since about October. The only vegetable or salady thing I have needed to buy in was some celery ... I forgot to order celery seeds. Otherwise ... here are my efforts in no particular order.

Potatoes: I have had many kilos of King Edwards from what I called my 'ferals' - last year's patch which was not supposed to grow potatoes this season but which has been feeding me since late winter in feral potatoes grown from escaped seed spuds. My main potato crop, the more 'formal' one, should be ready in about 6 weeks.

Tomatoes: last year I could not grow a tomato to save my life. All succumbed to some horrid fungal disease (we had a very early and very humid summer and the tomatoes just did not like it). This year ... well, I have eight foot high, six foot diameter monsters that are laden with as yet green fruits. I am going to be awash (praying now that they will continue to do well). I kept three or four back in the hothouse to see how they did, and they haven't 'done' at all - although they are growing some fruit, they are sickly looking bastards. Tomatoes do best nurseried in the hothouse, but grown to maturity in the open air.

Onions: the winter crop is (finally) in and the summer crop is growing on well. I should be OK for onions for the rest of the year. I will grow another winter crop next year. I have red sweet onions and Hunter browns - the red onions did far better. I have some heritage varieties to try out next year.

Garlic: a big and wonderful crop of Tasmanian purple, now either plaited up and hanging in the scullery or dehydrated and stored in jars.

Shallots: just about ready to be picked - much earlier this year than last. I should get a good crop.

Leeks: one very good winter crop and another crop on its way. I love my leeks!

Herbs: I have been more diligent this year and now grow all my commonly used herbs - rosemary, sage, thyme, basil, peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm and others which for the moment escape me. I have also been far, far more diligent about drying out the herbs I will need over winter ... although, my God, the basil takes 3-4 days to dry out in the dehydrator! I will use some of these herbs and some of my garlic to make garlic salt for seasoning. I also make herbal teas..

Carrots: an utter failure this year! Why, I have no idea. Last year I was awash in carrots. Oh well ...

Beans: mostly Berlotti, but I have some other varieties as well. They are growing on strongly now.

Peas: none of the ones I have planted have done well ... but the feral peas from the pea straw mulch have kept me happily in peas and I have frozen lots to put away for winter.

Spinach: has done well - will need to put more out soon.

Silverbeet (Swiss Chard): another good crop that I have been eating and putting away in the freezer for next winter.

Beetroot: several rows coming on well. Must also plant some more soon.

Strawberries: I have been awash in strawberries. I never thought I could get sick of them, but I have this summer!

Raspberries: are almost ready to pick.

Gooseberries: ditto - I will get a small crop this year.

Saladings: all kinds of lettuces and relishy bits.

Walnuts: I should get a good walnut crop from the tree this year.

Peanuts: an experiment for the hothouse. I think I may have set them too late, but they have sprouted and I have potted them on. Now for some warmer weather and longer days to get them going.

Capsicums: Sitting in the hothouse ripening up.

Cucumbers: I have cucumbers growing both for cucumbers and gherkins.

Pumpkins: as usual have taken over the entire garden. I should get a very good crop of pumpkins.

Squash: I have forgotten to check the squash patch! (It is tucked away in an unusual spot.) I will do so once I have done this page - they were going great guns last time I looked.

Asparagus: I managed four spears this year. Next year I should be able to start picking in earnest.

The fruit trees are still to small to fruit, and the rhubarb patch is still immature (but doing very, very well!).

Overall, I may not have been eating hugely widely, but I have been eating well. I am looking towards the seasonal unfolding of the garden.

So there it is. I know I must have missed at least four major crops, but that beer is calling and I must away. Seasonal best wishes to all!