Summer what summer?

Very nondescript weather in Wellington this summer, this has been challenging for my garden. Virtually no raspberries or lemons and the tomatoes are very slow, just not enough sunshine. The above pic is of my thornless blackberry, it is doing very well and has the most fruit I have ever seen on it.

Most of the flowers fell of my quince and I have been left with one lonely fruit. The first pic was it flowering in October and I was very excited  to see so many. I think some gale force winds were responsible.


The chickens don't seem to think that the rhubarb leaves are poisonous as they add it to their  varied diet from  the garden. It is doing well despite them as we have had a lot of rain.

This cloche works very well as a chicken deterrent so that I do get some salad vegies to eat. The concrete tiles lift up the edges and the chickens are just a little scared to venture in  as the top is wobbly and they are timid.

My chickens are growing rapidly especially the leghorns, they amaze me. The 4 who decided to be roosters have been re homed and I now have 9 chickens. These girls are the largest of the leghorns and still not fully grown. they are about 31/2 months old now. My one remaining barnevelder is my hope for speckled brown eggs, I will have to be patient as they are known to be very slow to begin laying. She is very pretty with her golden lacing.



My backyard dinner!