Gallery
![](/assets/pixel.gif)
![](/assets/pixel.gif)
![](/assets/images/1(26).jpg)
As we're about to begin a new year, we thought we'd share a glimpse of our heritage seed garden. Most of our time
this past month has been spent weeding, mulching, weeding, mulching, weeding, more mulching & ...... hand pollinating
many of our zucchini, pumpkin, cucumber & melon varieties. A very satisfying although time consuming job where each
afternoon just before dusk we walk around the garden & peg closed all of the male & female flowers. The next morning
just after sun-up we then do the same walk but un-peg the female flowers & pollinate them with the males finishing by
taping them up to prevent any unwanted cross pollination. Not an easy job when you've got a handful of highly aromatic
pollen & there's plenty of bees around trying to help you!
![](/assets/images/1(6).jpg)
![](/assets/images/hand.jpg)
![](/assets/images/our.jpg)
![](/assets/images/growing.jpg)
![](/assets/images/chilacayote.jpg)
![](/assets/images/bag.jpg)
![](/assets/images/fruit.jpg)
![](/assets/images/carrot.jpg)
![](/assets/images/pkin.jpg)
![](/assets/images/tagging.jpg)
![](/assets/images/akiera.jpg)
![](/assets/images/windsor.jpg)
![](/assets/images/mum(1).jpg)
![](/assets/images/garlic.jpg)
![](/assets/images/chooks.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(27).jpg)
We've been keeping ourselves busy in our heritage seed garden during the past month. Pumpkins & zucchini are
doubling in size and the Chilacayote is doing its best to take over the garden despite our best efforts to try to tame it.
Our main focus at the moment is harvesting & drying heirloom tomato seed.
And of course there's always the weeds to keep up with......
![](/assets/images/1(7).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(8).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(9).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(10).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(11).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(12).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(13).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(14).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(15).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(16).jpg)
![](/assets/images/2(2).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(17).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(18).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(19).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(20).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(23).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(28).jpg)
Harvest is in full swing in our heritage seed garden this month. Early pumpkins are now being harvested & left to dry
out, tomatoes are being picked every few days and their seeds extracted, fermented & dried. Beans are now becoming
mature with dried pods now harvested every few days & left to dry further. We're also hand pollinating the last of the
pumpkins & melons. We've given up on the chilacayote & have left it to overtake a large section of our garden. Perhaps
one of the more pleasant tasks of harvesting the heirloom apples & pears & delivering them to our local market for
sale.......A most bountiful time of the year!
And of course there's always the weeds to keep up with...... again!
![](/assets/images/1(42).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(43).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(44).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(45).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(46).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(47).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(48).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(49).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(50).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(51).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(52).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(59).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(29).jpg)
The past month has been spent mostly cleaning and processing bean, tomato, cucumber, pumpkin, marrow & squash seed. Many new (or old!) varieties have been added to our range. Apples and pears from our heritage orchard are now mostly harvested with only the late varieties remaining. We are half-way through the process of weeding, mulching and fertilising the espalier orchard. Dried bean pods are being harvested every few days and left to dry further before being processed. Remaining pumpkins, squash & marrow left on the vine are slowly reaching maturity and have finally slowed down after their vigorous growth of the previous month.
...... all this while tip-toeing around the garden with a big red-bellied black snake (our first sighting)!
![](/assets/images/1(60).jpg)
![](/assets/images/2(6).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(61).jpg)
![](/assets/images/2(8).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(84).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(85).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(86).jpg)
![](/assets/images/pumpkin triamble zucchini black beauty.jpg)
![](/assets/images/pear corella.jpg)
![](/assets/images/bean dragon's tongue.jpg)
![](/assets/images/bean australian butter.jpg)
![](/assets/images/yacon.jpg)
![](/assets/images/arrowroot.jpg)
![](/assets/images/tamarillo.jpg)
![](/assets/images/cucumber giant syrian.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(30).jpg)
![](/assets/images/Mum & Akiera pulling Parsnip 'Turga' for checking prior to winter storage.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Removing any damaged, split, forked or imperfect roots.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Parsnip 'Turga' stored in tubs during winter ready for planting out for seed in spring.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(31).jpg)
![](/assets/images/Turning grass into lawn - turf removed with chook house straw bedding laid down.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Straw then covered with nutrient rich compost from chook pen.jpg)
![](/assets/images/New garden bed now ready to plant.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Drying the last of our tomato seed.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Harvesting our last Pumpkin 'Dill's Atlantic Giant' before the first frost.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Bean 'Speckled Cranberry' maturing on the bush just prior to harvest for seed.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Photographing Bean 'Calabrian Express' seed for our website.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Photographing Apple 'Hubbardson Nonsuch' for our website.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Our pet guinea pig 'Christine' doing her bit to fertilise the garden.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(32).jpg)
Many would guess that winter would be our slowest time of year. A nice relaxing time to put our feet up in the garden & sip a nice warm drink of lemongrass tea. Well...... one can only dream!!! It's actually our busiest time of the whole year.
While the weeds have certainly slowed with the onset of cooler weather, we're still harvesting the last of our pumpkins & extracting & drying the seed; digging and inspecting carrots & parsnips for winter storage in tubs (to be planted out for seed in spring) and planting lots more garlic, shallots, egyptian walking onions & peas.
Winter is also the time when we germination test our whole seed bank. A task which takes nearly 2-3 months to complete, yet one which we know to be crucial for obtaining good results in our garden (and for our customers!).
So yes.... while we dream of warmer weather, we are still busy getting our hands dirty!
![](/assets/images/extracting silver edged pumpkin seeds by hand.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Washing Pumpkin 'Silver Edged' Seeds.jpg)
![](/assets/images/pumpkin - silver edged drying in trays(1).jpg)
![](/assets/images/marking fruit trees with permanent orchard labels.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Extracting Bean, Climbing 'Wagrapine' seeds prior to cleaning.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Mowing barley straw to break it down for using as mulch on garlic.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Kale Red Russian growing strong during our first frost of the year(1).jpg)
![](/assets/images/garlic russian elephant growing in garden.jpg)
![](/assets/images/garlic southern glen growing strongly.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Pea 'Elaine's Sugar Pea' growing well in our cooler weather.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Germination testing our Seed Bank(1).jpg)
![](/assets/images/Winnowing Bean 'Australian Butter' to remove any debris.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(33).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(34).jpg)
![](/assets/images/garlic giant russian growing strongly.jpg)
![](/assets/images/apple royal gala the first flowers of spring.jpg)
![](/assets/images/pear williams bon chretien just beginning to flower.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Radish Cincinnati Market.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Pea Mills(1).jpg)
![](/assets/images/salad dandelion in flower.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(35).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(87).jpg)
![](/assets/images/Pea golden podded.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(88).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(89).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(90).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(92).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(93).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(94).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(95).jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(96).jpg)
![](/assets/images/Hanging Pea Blue Podded Capucyner for further drying.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(36).jpg)
![](/assets/images/pea purple podded hanging for further drying.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Akiera in Her Chook Hat - all things garden!.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Mum & Akiera processing Pea 'GoldenPodded' seed.jpg)
![](/assets/images/1(37).jpg)
Absolute CRAZY time of year!!!!!
Busy planning, planting, processing seed, weeding, weeding, weeding......... and more weeding! We've gone from a couple of months of relative reprieve to full time action! With so much work, we've had to come up with some clever & different ways of keeping our 5 year old daughter Akiera busy in the garden too (so we can weed!). From turning our run-down and out-of-action dog house into a cubby and converting the lawn around it into a garden solely devoted to melons (Akiera's absolute favourite fruit besides strawberries & mulberries) to buying a blow up pool from the tip shop guaranteed for hours of fun!!! The list goes on.......
We've also started up the warmer weather with a stall each Sunday at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra. A great place to meet our gardening customers face-to-face and to obtain valuable feedback - as well as an opportunity for our customers to pick up their order freight free!
![](/assets/images/Tomato KY1 steadily maturing fruit.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Parsnip Turga flowers being pollinated by flies and ants.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Parsnip Turga seeds maturing.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Egyptian Walking Onions harvested and laid out to further dry.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Sorrel 'Red Veined Bloody Dock' maturing seed.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Lettuce 'Celtuce' starting to send up flower stalks.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Zucchini Rampicante beginning to climb upwards.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Zucchini 'Costata Romanesco' starting to flower.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Lettuce 'Bronze Arrowhead' starting to flower - attractive enough for the flower garden!.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Blueberries in abundance!(1).jpg)
![](/assets/images/Blossom bagging Pear 'Red Sensation' - an effective & safe way to beat the cockatoos!.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Pear 'Beurre Bosc' slowly maturing - looks like a good year!.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Bean Australian Butter beginning to flower.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Cucumber 'Painted Serpent' seedling surrounded by garlic mulch.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Photographing Radish 'Gourmet Mix' for our website.jpg)
![](/assets/images/Market Stall at Old Bus Depot Markets (Canberra)(4).jpg)
Thank you for letting us share a little bit of our life with you! We love what we do!