Harvest Time

Finally the day arrived to harvest the pumpkins.  I still think they were planted a little late but after saving six seeds from a particularly nice supermarket pumpkin, we have a yeild of 14 fruit.  Yes, it's a fruit, by definition because the seed is on the inside, or so I learned at school.
The walnuts are also dropping for collection and are now piling up on the terrace to join the pumpkins for storage.  The terrace was a treasure in the summer as the sun was high enough in the sky that it always provided a shady spot for a cuppa.  Just the opposite for the cooler months but that in itself is a bonus as I now have somewhere for the fruits of my labour, out of the weather but also far enough away from the rodents that sneak around in the garage.  Well at least the larger ones.  I have found a couple of tiny wee mice visiting Lacie (rabbit) on a regular basis and then clinging to the wall behind her hutch trying to hide from me, which obviously failed.  Although there is rat bait in abundance in the shed, I haven't had the heart to lay it for the tiny nose twitching visitors.  I know, I know!  They are disease carrying pests but they are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!!  Soon ok, I will lay the bait soon!

Back to the harvest.  It's my second season at trying to grow onions.  All the gardening mags say you need patience but they are easy to grow.  I say 'CRAP'!!!  The sum total of my onion harvest was an earth staggering ..................................ONE!!! but having said that, it was a very healthy one, and of generous proportions.  Another four that have played possum all summer have started to grow again.  I don't suppose it really helped that the three girls (chooks RIP ) would be in the garden scratching up whatever I had planted within moments of doing so.  For all their antics, we miss them terribly.  Houdini, Blackie and Ben are interesting and usually up to no good, but they just aren't family like our girls.  Whenever we would turn over a rock or a piece of wood, the girls would be under our fingers trying to devour whatever bugs/worms had been disturbed.  Gardening was always a delicate affair for fear of lifting the fork or shovel with a chicken impaled because she was far too nosey for her own good.  The back door had to be kept closed or all three would make a bee line for Monster's (resident feline) tucker or they would disappear into the bedroom or office for an afternoon siesta.  Although the

three new chooks, of which I include Ben, also like the cat biscuits, they don't rush me with wings flapping to enjoy the delicacy.  I could always rely on the shaking of the biscuit container to bring the girls running post haste from any direction.  They never caught on that on most occassions it was a lure back to their enclosure.  As I said, we miss them dreadfully, perhaps it was the breed.  We are contemplating getting more but first we have to wait and see if Blackie is male or female, the jury is still out.  If it's a girl, it is very aggressive so we wouldn't be able to bring in point of lay chicks for fear of them being injured or killed.  If Blackie turns out to be male, it will have to go, Ben has already taken up the position of resident rooster and practises the crow at 6 am every morning.  Unlike the rooster down the road, Ben crows at a respectable hour thankfully.

So to conclude, I can successfully grow potatoes and pumpkins without too much effort.  Everything else is still a challenge, at least it is once it leaves the windowsill.  I will let you know how I get on with the home made seed tape.