End of the season

It feels like spring is already here.  With the shortest day long past and the weather here in Queensland starting to really warm up, all our plants are springing and sprouting.  We've had 24 degree days all week and its predicted to be 26 degrees tomorrow.  Wouldn't you be fooled? So I took a little walk around to show you whats blooming.
This is the first time I've grown loofas and I've been waiting patiently as they've grown and finally dried out.  So I peeled one back to take this pick.  And I thought they were sponges and grew in the ocean!

 My lovely cabbages are coming along nicely and I haven't given them more than a glance since I planted them, thanks to all the lovely rain this year.

And next to the cabbages are the beans and broccoli, which have been similarly neglected and therefore thriving.

I've put garlic in the next patch again this year and though its looking a little dry, a bit of a soak and it will keep going strong.  We got so much garlic from the same two rows last year that there is still plenty in the kitchen.  And what I planted here was the pick of last year's crop.  It was so prolific!  And you can see the wonderful peas on the trellis next to that.  They are almost done but there's still be another dinner or two left on this lot.  Peas are one of my very favourite crops.

I've just closed this patch off from the chickens, who have done their wonderful work of weeding and fertilising.  I wanted to put in a green manure before I plant in it again, so I gave it a good soak and planted sub-clover, then covered it all in a layer of lucerne.  So the soil will be heaven when I've dug in the clover.

The raised garden area has had a bit of a winter clean up but there is still plenty growing there - celery, mustard green, chard, spring onions (no they aren't leeks) strawberries, fennel, eggplant, rocket, purple beans, rosemary, borage and onions

And lastly, this patch has also just had a freshen up.  We've had a good crop of broccoli and kale and a bit more still to come.  I laid down a bit of compost and lucerne mulch to give it a last boost of the season.

 I've also added some newspaper, compost and lucerne to these rows, ready for spring planting and mulched the leeks that are still left in this patch. There is plenty of volunteer parsley that self seeded from the herb edging as well as some more purple beans, carrots and cherry tomatoes down the far end.

And lastly the girls have been enjoying themselves gobbling up any weeds that I throw over the fence.  We have a new rooster now, Jed, and the girls seem much happier with him around.  He's hiding behind the pole there but was busy having a big crow when I took this shot.