A pretty good harvest for the first day of Winter

I almost thought I had abandoned this blog (too busy, too otherwise occupied, too many TV series to watch on DVD after the kids are in bed) but I was so chuffed to pick all of the above today that I had to keep a record of it somewhere! We've also got harvestable leeks, parsley, coriander, radishes and so much self-sown  lettuces that I am pulling them out whole to throw to the chooks and there is still plenty to spare. The beetroot, carrot and parsnips are getting bigger and the first sowing of broad beans are poking their heads up out of the soil.

I am feeling especially chuffed when a year ago we didn't even have the chooks yet and it still looked like this:

It's good to take the time to remember, particularly when I am feeling that going back to work this year has meant so much less time spent in the garden. Luckily the chooks keep working for me here and the plentiful sun, rain and unseasonable warmth this May means things just keep on growing!

In the middle of a heatwave

It's stinking hot outside this week so the hardworking chooks are getting some extra attention. Not only have they been moved on in the chook clock to a shaded jungle of lettuce, kale, celery, parsley & broccoli gone to seed, we rigged up a shade cloth for their comfort, and I change their water a couple of times daily to keep it cool. It's a hard life being a chook!

Chooks are back on the job

The chooks are back to work in their clock. I think they're happy to be there. It's closer to the house so it's far more likely a passing child will notice them and throw them some seeds and there's good tucker to be had from the spent vegetable plants that were left to go to seed. It really does not take them long to transform a used bed to a fresh one ready to plant. Three weeks ago they started work in section 6 when it looked like this:

Today the chooks have been moved off this section and they have left it like this:

All I did was let them out each day, cut off the vegetable stalks at their base and left them lying on the ground and throw them extra straw, grass clippings, weeds and kitchen scraps. Now I just need to rake the path, lay out the dripper hose again, turn on the taps and plant the next lot of Summer vegetable seedlings that are ready and waiting to go.

Before letting the chooks out into section 8 I pulled these last beetroot, carrots & spring onions, the final harvest from a guild planting that also provided us with snow peas, lettuce, kale, parsley, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, silver beet and an attempt at celery which wasn't really successful - the celery grew plenty but I never worked out when to pick it and it went almost straight to seed.

Those chooks are pretty good at their job....and they produce great eggs too!