Gardening and The Plague, Con't.

Okay so I officially sick.  Literally the ONLY downside to breastfeeding, in my opinion, is the fact that you can't take flu medication.  I would kill for a Codral!  This is the second time I've had a cold/flu/plague thing since Tabitha was born, and I can't believe how many years I just took flu meds for granted!  Okay that's enough complaining.

I was supposed to take my little sister Q to a recording studio in South Melbourne this morning, where she was recording a radio ad (she does a little acting and voiceover work), but I am definitely too sick so The Daddy took her instead (good man).  Afterward, they went to one of our favourite cafes, St Ali.  The Daddy brought me home some fabulously rich carrot cake, which has sufficed for lunch with a big glass of milk (you should try this milk, because a. it is brilliant and b. the farm is kind and gentle and doesn't kill the cows when they get past their prime and doesn't separate the calves from their mummas):

I ventured out into the garden (shielding my eyes from the sun like a vampire thanks to massive headache).  Quite pleased with how things are progressing in the garden!  I planted three types of tomatoes this year - some ordinary round fairly prolific ones, which are doing brilliantly, with over 40 tomatoes on the one plant:

Also a fancy heirloom variety which looks lovely and jolly and apparently tastes magnificent:

And also some Roma tomatoes, shown here sharing a large terracotta planter box with some basil.  Every time I walk past this planter, I run my hands through the tomato leaves and then the basil, and inhale the scent from my fingertips.  Blissful!  Olfactory bruschetta! 

Easily our most impressive fruiting plant is our monster of a passionfruit vine!  This thing is truly ridiculous!  Last year was its first harvest, only a few months old at the start of summer, and we had a total glut of passionfruit.  This year the vine has easily tripled in size, covering the entire back fence.  This year, however, I am prepared - I plan on making lots of jars of passionfruit curd, plus I have an excellent recipe for passionfruit cordial.  The flowers of a passionfruit are incredible, it's hard to imagine a more exotic bloom.  See below, though the colours are washed out - it is a strikingly vivid purple in real life:

There are loads of these all over the vine, ranging in size already from large grapes to a tennis ball:

Moving away from the edibles, the florals are also pleasing me greatly!  Of course we only have a very small garden however I have coaxed a few blooms from the soil.  In a shady corner of the garden I planted an Hydrangea, and its first flowers are so pretty!  I adore pale lime green paired with soft pink, so I was thrilled when I saw the colour of these flowers.  Also below is a 'ribbons and bows' petunia, I have a large planter box of these on the decking full of pink and purple frilly flowers:

Three summers ago, I planted some sweetpeas.  Each year they have come back beautifully, and I never tire of the soft scent and delicate flowers.  Yesterday I cut some and brought them inside, setting them in a small milk-jug in the bathroom.  They are so pretty!

Oh and finally, how could I neglect to include my lettuces?  So humble but such an important part of the garden!  I have a large planter of 'perpetual lettuces' which means you can cut off one or two leaves without having to pull out the whole thing.  This suits a small family perfectly, I hate always throwing out half a lettuce.  And because the box includes a number of varieties (cos, butter, and two purple-ish ones whose names I am unsure of), it is easy to do a very attractive mixed green salad!

Also in the garden is an enormous rosemary bush, a healthy patch of thyme, a demonic mint plant which is threatening to engulf the entire garden AND apartment block, some beautiful and fragrant Star Jasmine (which our friends Pam and Iain brought over as a wedding anniversary gift last Spring!), two types of chili plant, two MASSIVE zucchini plants, and a rather pathetic capsicum.  

We have managed to kill three lemon trees in the past two years, all without collecting a single lemon.  We have given up on lemons for now.  When life gives you lemons make lemonade - but what happens when life can't even give you lemons?!

Tomorrow morning is the Farmers' Market, I will drag myself down there for a spinach Golzeme and a (decaf) coffee, regardless of how I feel!