It is hard to believe that we have been in New Zealand for almost 1 year now. It is December which in the Southern Hemisphere means Summer Time!!! Outside of a three-day heat wave last week, the weather has been rather pleasant with cool morning and evening and high temps in the middle of the day. All this warm weather has done wonders for our lovely garden.

Our tomato plant is more like a tree at the moment. While we have a lot of fruit none of it has happened yet…but we remain hopeful.

 

The pepper plants are finally starting show some growth. We didn’t know this at the time but apparently, peppers do well in sunny and warm weather so we should have waited until later in the Spring to plant them…live and learn right?!

Today I saw that there we have a few green bell peppers and some jalapenos coming in. No yellow or orange bell peppers yet but there are a few blooms on the plant which is an indication that peppers are on the way.

 

The lettuce bed is doing great and has thus far been the most fruitful. Unfortunately, I’ve lost a lot of the lettuce to snails. I’ve been experimenting with natural snail repellent. So far crushed up egg shells and copper tape seems to do the job pretty well. Our snow pea plant is doing well too. Today was exciting as I got to pick the first batch of snow peas.

I never thought I would be one to start a veggie garden or a garden of any kind for that matter but I must confess, it is very gratifying to cook with food you’ve grown yourself.

Have you grown any vegetables? What has been your experience?