Today was the sort of day that makes Melbourne people say things like ‘oh, this is why Melbourne is wonderful’, forgetting the rest of the year for the sake of one decent autumn day. Clear, sunny, a cooling wind, but not cold.

An excellent gardening day. I pulled out another tomato plant (the huge, mutant type that The Squeeze found so worrying), and picked as many cherry tomatoes as I could find. Once again the eggplants gave me an itchy, prickly rash and I was yellow from tomato sap. But The Squeeze is happy again - new bubs in (another row of beans, because he loves them and theyÂ’re nitrogen fixing), space cleared for spinach, the baby carrots carefully stepped over.

There are bubba eggplants growing on the bushes and they are the most beautiful fruit you could hope to grow. Gorgeous, smooth dark purple skins, a spikey green skirt round their necks, lavender flowers. Itchy, prickly rash. DoesnÂ’t seem to affect The Squeeze, only me. Eggplant allergies are common, but at least I can eat the bastards.

I pulled off a million more beans, inspected the compost (still full. Goddamn tomatoes), fussed over my herbs.

IÂ’ll post some pics of the veggies soon though they look a bit dull. Some things dying off, some big patches sitting quietly under mulch. AutumnÂ’s here, and weÂ’re slow with the next round of stuff.

IÂ’ve plans for an uber herb garden in the front yard. A big, ornamental thing all around that pathetic, slimey-caterpillar infested little tree in the middle of the dead grass. We donÂ’t like the front yard - too exposed. But thereÂ’s no room left out the back, now weÂ’re pretending weÂ’re on The Good Life.

So I figure a herb gardenÂ’s a good idea. We ordered some seeds from eden seeds - marshmallow, thai basil, comfrey, coriander, thyme some other things I canÂ’t remember. I pine for anise, but itÂ’s an annual. IÂ’ll get seeding annuals later in the year, once my perennials and hardier things are in. IÂ’m pushing for mostly annuals at the moment, so I can establish some long term things. Damn. Forgot rosemary. Oh well, will have to take cuttings off the back plant. The plan is to dig it up now, let it sit under the mulch over winter while we get some seedlings going. Will be cheaper and more reliable than buying plants. I think we might need to think about a greenhouse arrangement, but The Squeeze isnÂ’t keen. Just wait til he tries germinating these seeds outside in Melbourne winter. I reckon IÂ’m up for the plan. WeÂ’ve got some old wire drawers in the shed, and IÂ’ll just buy some clear plastic from the hardware shop. Oop-ah! Greenhouse.< /p>

IÂ’m going to use my four types of mint from the back, chives, etc that we have seed for already. ItÂ’ll be top stuff. Especially since that front yard is so goddamn ugly these days. Very scorched earth. But thereÂ’s something odd about the dirt out there oh well, our north facing advantage should stand us in good stead

Gardening is nice. ItÂ’s so satisfying to grow your own stuff. I love having a decent herb garden, and growing a bigger herb garden that I can experiment with tea herbs will be really nice.

We are dirty hippies.

But cheerfully so.