When my garden isn't growing, then I feel I have no worthwhile photos to take. When my garden is growing, then I'm too busy in it to post here!
So the 'over-wintering' turned out to be a pretty good thing, because once spring properly came in with a burst of two weeks of rain in early October, everything has been growing and it hasn't stopped.
From this at the end of August:
To this in the middle of October:
To this at the end of November:
There's a LOT of things growing in the backyard right now.
It helps that I've started to work out a system that suits me and the space in the garden, and that I've had all of October and November off work. Chances are that's going to continue into the new year, and it's going to be a little rough with nobody earning a full wage in the house. Still, we'll manage somehow. I think the garden produce is going to matter quite a bit this year.
The biggest change this year has been the fruit harvest. As in BIGGEST.
The nectarines and peaches went beserk.
The two weeks it rained - right as the fruit was growing on the tree - probably helped, as did the chickens spending a fair chunk of the winter digging around their roots and turning over the compost that I made in the orchard bed.
The branches got so heavy and large, that when I adjusted the fruit fly net in mid-October, I had to heavily prune some of the fruit-bearing branches to give the rest a fighting chance.
I picked the last of the peaches yesterday and we are now drying them like there's no tomorrow. They'll go in air tight containers with little moisture-absorbent packets for eating next year (if they don't go mouldy). I'll make at least one jar of jam tomorrow, again for eating next winter.
It's nice to have productive garden - but yes, a lot of effort in processing and dealing with the excess. On the list of things to learn about next year: pressure canning.
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