The Backyard Edible Garden - what's your frequency Kenneth?

What is in your garden? What is in your street?

Just off the top of my head I know there are at least seven houses in our street who grow something in their garden that they can eat. Some are extensive. Some are doing what little they can. Others are having to make-do with renting the house and the limitations imposed. It's a long street too. But I'm sure there are more people taking an active role in eating produce from their garden - and I'm curious to know.

So I have put a little gadget to the right side here and would like to know the frequency which visitors to this blog eat something from their own garden. This could be vegetables, fruits, herbs (including edible weeds such as dandelion and the like), eggs from your own backyard chickens, fish, snails, quails .....

The Backyard Gardening Blog - We are not alone, you and I.

Now and then I come across others that are keeping similar garden records. In amongst a whole heap of fancy gardening websites and blogs there appears to be a growing number of people doing the backyard gardening blog, and doing it very well I think.

Here are a couple I've come across that I thought I would share. I say 'share' because I have become increasingly aware that my little blog of backyard projects and personal notes is being used as inspiration and motivation for numerous folks. These are some of the blogs that inspire me.

Vegetable gardening and cooking - what more can I say!
http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/

Gardening by Granny on a quarter acre.

http://www.ourgardengate.com/

Small garden farming in Chicago by Mr Brown Thumb

http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/

The Supurban Farm & Garden - features barrelponics info.

http://supurbanfarm.wordpress.com/tag/barrelponics/

500M2 in Sydney is just that. Read what this guys got growing in his yard. I have yet to make my own list but it is one of the main goals of my garden - to grow as many edibles as possible!

http://500m2.wordpress.com/

Go Greener, Australia

These are not the only ones I check out, but some to get you started. I haven't even sought these out, just stumbled over them researching stuff, so let me know if you have any regular favourites. I will assume that a growing number of backyard gardening blogs means a growing number of backyard gardeners!

Wife and Rainbow!

Wanderings

 

Down in the garden the sun has a sting to it. Sounds of the Albany Agricultural Show drift over the house from the showgrounds close by. A female announcers voice. Shrills and screams from the show rides. The cicadas tick away patiently, summoning summer closer and closer with each tick and click. From the cool shade of the pyrethrum daisy the Empress of India comes out to bask in the sun.

Moving out from its usual spot in the pot by the rock, Frog is out to enjoy the sun also. Taking time to warm itself on the edge of the pot before moving off towards afternoon to catch food and find its place of shelter before the nights wanderings and foraging begins.

The daisies raise their heads and seem to sing in chorus to the beat of the ticking of the cicadas. Energised by the sun they encourage the flower buds below them to rise and bloom. The honeyeaters are quiet in the noonday sun, but the silver-eyes move in the shade with stealth.

The sweet peas are at their finest today. Sculptural forms. Wonderful, fresh perfumes. They seem to hang in the air above the nasturtiums. The bees moving from one to another. The gentle, fragile flowers under a stinging sun.

Under the Lemon and the Lime the parsley is flowering and about to set seed. It is like a miniature ancient forest, populated by dozens of hoverflies that move precisely from here to there. Stem to leaf. Air, to air. A spider moves quickly to shade on a garden stake after capturing a juicy fly.

11:11 on the 11/11/2011

 

ABC Open have a Facebook page for pics of what everyone was up to at 11:11 on the 11/11/2011. If I wasn't at work, where else would I be this time of the year?!

Two Things

 

1. The Sweat Peas are fantastic at the moment. They make nice cut flowers and the perfume reminds me of cottage gardens in the UK.  I will definitely be planting more next season. Masses of the things.

 

2. The picture above is the collection of plant labels I have made using plastic milk bottles. I cut out the flat side panels and then cut each panel into three strips. I then use a permanent marker pen to record what the seeds or plant is and where it came from. Very handy to have around and an excellent recycling project. Handy to have once you've stared at a patch of dirt wondering what the little seedlings are that are coming up!