Raspberries!

Back in October, I planted some raspberries; not really expecting them to do much. But they have gone very well over this summer (we really have been blessed with next-to-perfect berry growing conditions!), and I have been picking berries!

Raspberries are my absolute favourite berry. They are just the right combination of sweet and tart and they taste good on their own or with almost anything else! For example, today I made delicious white chocolate and raspberry muffins, which were magnificent (and extremely dangerous!!!)

Because I didn't tie the raspberry canes, they droop down over the path, which is a bit naughty, but it does mean that the berries are hidden from birds. Next year though, when the new canes come up, I'll make sure I tie them. They have their own bed (my dad's advice, as raspberries like to send out suckers), and I'm just going to let them take over. :)

The mid-summer jungle (and harvest!)

The timing of Christmas is not the best in Australia, because the peak growing (and harvesting) time in the garden takes place when we're all busy having Christmas and New Year's and summer holidays!

So I've been doing all that, but thankfully it's also been a really good summer. We went away recently for a week and a half, which would normally spell disaster for the garden, but the weather has been wet and mild and everything is thriving! 

I'm back to work now too, which means I have to work out how to balance everything (cue the 'Sometimes Gardener' routine!), but for now, I've been pretty happy with the pickings over the last week or so:

30 cobs of delicious sweet corn.

Leeks, zucchinis, eggplants and cucumbers.

...as well as some very good-sized (and delicious!) tomatoes.

I also got some good-sized and yummy table grapes from one of my vines (the rest are still to come),

And a couple of early jalapenos:

Though I learned a valuable lesson when I heaped a chopped chilli onto my taco. They're considerably hotter than the ones I normally eat out of a jar! 

I've also continued to pick an enormous amount of blackberries; around 10 kilos to date! We've eaten them from the vine, frozen them, given them away and made jam, and we still have heaps to pick! A good year for blackberries!