Spring has well and truly arrived early this year. It's not yet the end of August and already our plum tree is bursting with fresh green growth (after a heaving crop last summer she is taking her biennial breather). The towering elder, our nectarine tree, is reaching its many outstretched arms towards the sky covered in candy-floss coloured blossom gifting us a delightful display that you cannot help but be drawn to from all corners of the garden. A few lone snow white apricot flowers are slowly emerging and the first fuchsia bud of our peach tree has popped open. Every tip of the quinces spindly branches hold a petit green rosette. Just looking at this delicate new growth takes me back to last spring when she was a sea of voluptuous marshmallow pink petals and I will be waiting eagerly for that moment to arrive once again. The cherry twins, nashi pear and apple all still sleep soundly, as if awaiting their moments of adoration respectively. I do so love this long slow performance of our orchards yearly symphony.
The rain starts to fall in a light pitter patter. It feels like a summer shower with the air being so mild and still. Oh how I've missed this feeling, these sights and smells of a new season on the cusp of dawning. Considering this has been one of the most pleasant winters I can recall in a long time, I still herald these markers of the warmer days to come with joyous fervour. I can't not smile at the sight of our garden in one of it's most beautiful transformative periods.
The garden has been at the forefront of my thoughts these last weeks of August, awash with all the tasks that need to be done in preparation for a long hot summer of feasting from our patch. The green house is prepped, I've set up my new potting bench (aka. our old roadside find BBQ), we've slashed a mountains worth of weeds from our front garden to clear ground for more raised beds and there is still lots to be done, slowly and daily, as our minds now turn to seed raising, mulching, compost and worms.
My focus this growing season, our second on this land, is to focus on the basics - ensuring we have an abundance of what we know and love and eat on the regular. Tomatoes are non-negotiable, alongside all the leafy greens, soft herbs, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, beans and chillies (my husbands one goal is ensuring he has ALL the chillies). Throw in some melons, pumpkins, spuds and flowers for fun (maybe some corn, capsicum and baby beets too?) If I can reign myself in and keep focused on these staples grown in healthy compost rich soil I'm hopeful we'll be able to keep the chooks, creatures and critters at bay enough to enjoy a bountiful harvest come December and beyond. All fingers and toes are crossed that our new berry patch takes off with reckless abandon too.
Beyond this season bigger ideas are forming in my mind. A year of observation is culminating in a picture that becomes clearer by the day of what we really can create on this plot of land we care for. An orchard extension (just typing those words makes me squeal with delight) and a native wildlife friendly verge are all cementing themselves as concepts that I simply must bring to fruition in the coming years. But I pause, take a breath and look out at the all beauty I am currently surrounded by, apart of not seperate from, and I know deep down that if no other plant should ever call this place home it would still be perfect, exactly as it is. We have enough. The rest, the plans for all that it possibly ever could be, is just a bonus. We are lucky beyond measure to care for this piece of country and be bestowed it's gifts upon us daily. Our garden feels more home to me than the bricks and mortar ever could. Here's to many, many hours spent in its embrace over the course of this new growing year.
Oh so beautiful lovely! Thank you for sharing. Our garden line up looks very similar - minus the melons. (Also ALL the chillies for my partner haha)