Gorgeous Long Weekend

Well, the long weekend is here and I just finished the first show of season 4 for The Weekend Gardener! What a lot of fun.. my guests were fantastic (so knowledgeable!), and we had some great questions from callers.. thanks so much! In a few days, I'll post on my guests/topics for next weekend's show.. it will be a good one with some giveaways! (hint 1 - one of my favourite gardening books of this year. hint 2 - I've posted on it several times in recent months! hint 3 - get your calls in to the show so you have a chance to win!)

Now, it's time to play in the garden! I did (finally) pick up a new camera yesterday and really appreciate all the advice on what to buy. We did go with a Canon Xli and I took a few test shots yesterday and they look fantastic! I'll need to get my butt in gear and start downloading them to the blog to show you the progression of the garden over the past week! It's amazing what a little rain can do. The nice steady rain that we had 4 days ago just made everything double in size overnight! Here are a few shots though from my sad old camera.. I'm sure you get the idea though!

All is coming so well.. and in just under 2 weeks, the first photoshoot for my book takes place - fingers crossed that the deer don't knock down the fence and munch all the veggies the night before the photoshoot!

The beans in the top photo are purple podded pole beans - a family favourite. They're vigorous, tasty, deep purple in colour (turning to green when cooked) and so pretty dangling from the vines - like amethyst jewels!

I think we must have a purple theme this year (which is what happens when you let a 5 year old pick out so many of the crops!), because we also have purple chieftain potatoes too! They're coming along nicely, as you can tell from this photo.. if only we had more space! I'd love to plant a huge variety of heirloom potatoes.. maybe next year?!

Also, the radishes are doing very well.. we're on our 2nd crop now and have been enjoying 'Sparkler White Tip', 'French Breakfast' and 'Easter Egg'. Every few days, I scratch a bit more radish seed into some empty patch of soil. Usually within 3 weeks we have a fresh crop of tangy radishes.

I hope you get out and enjoy the spring sunshine.. at 24 C, it feels more like summer!

Happy Gardening!