Some old and new friends around the garden

When we moved into our little home, our tenants were nice enough to leave some amazing herbs and veggies growing in the beds they built. It was such an awesome gift. Now, once I've figured out what most of everything is, we have leeks, chives, rainbow and regular silverbeet, (I think) beetroot, spinach, parsley, mint, thyme, rosemary, fennel, pineapple sage and probably a few things I haven't found yet. 

I had to give the mint and the thyme a massive cut back the other day, but out of came a massive amount of dried thyme, which should keep and I can make some tea out of. Or maybe some shaving cream for Jacob (if he ever decided to shave!)

Since Monday was a public holiday here for some, I headed to Leacroft Nurseries with some of the family and was so impressed! I hadn't been there before, but will be going back this week! They have so many native plants and it's all fairly priced! Yep. New favourite place.

Lemongrass (new), fennel with pineapple sage (old)

Feijoa & the $5 tomato plant (both new)

Lavender (new) and one of our leeks (old)

Yep. Love gardening. And love my green gumboots.

Future Plans... in Gardening

Some inspiring greenhouses..

via flickr Old Chum 

via weheartit

via finehomebuilding

via flickr emma.williams

via Tom Mannion

And the most inspiring... The Owen's house from the movie Practical Magic... 

How do you NOT love this!!!???

Herby Goodness!

At first, J thought I was nuts... 

A small collection of jars. A medium collection of jars. 

Now, a massive collection, being used to make herb infused oils, tinctures, salves, astringent toners, hair tonics, and soon - SOAP and LOTIONS!

One of the best parts about this whole process, all of the herbs I'm using are from our garden! That is one of the most satisfying parts. Really! (That and using my awesome Lemon Balm and Lavender Toner! Heavenly!)

Since we have had so much rain in the last few months - Summer? What Summer? - everything has gone being going crazy in the garden! We have tomatoes that have mysteriously appeared, as well as some pumpkins and zucchinis that are almost the size of the calf... a couple different kinds of beans, cucumbers, the list goes on!

This year, I was so lucky to have a good base of herbs. The mint was already going crazy in a bed, but I transferred it to an old lemon tree pot and it's taken off even better than before. It's so healthy and loves to be cut back. The lemon balm, calendula, and the lavender are doing beautifully. The rosemary and thyme coming along nicely for their first season. Even the Goji Berry plant has finally shown us some life - and some berries!

This is been one of the BEST growing seasons in ages! I hope everyone else has had great success as well!