Garden Update and a Preserving (canning) bargain

just for the fun of it, heres my veg patch not long ago when id only just started it!

 My little veggie patch is thriving all the more now that the sun is warming it more each day. I spend so much time out there pottering about and just sitting, dreaming of how it will look when it all gets bigger.
Its all quickly growing right before my very eyes and most days I discover something new.
There is a steady supply of new shoots (loads of self seeded tomatoes), fruit tree coming out of their winter sleep and beginning to grow new buds, leaves or blossom.

Ive been thinning out my first planting of carrots as I went a bit over the top with them, not knowing how many would sprout. It was nice to pull out the excess and see what growth had been happening underground. Now all the excess shoots have their very own uncrowded beds and plenty of room to grow.

 These are the first potatoes I planted.
 I planted them in a deep hole and only partly filled it until they had shoots. Each time they shot up I filled it a little more and now they are above ground level already. Ive planted quite a few potato plants since so i should have a nice sized crop to harvest in a few months time.

 These two beds of broad beans are doing well and I've changed the shapes of the garden beds to allow just a little more planting space.
The bed up the top has lots of little basil seeds that have sprouted and are making me so excited for pesto in the not too far off future. I LOVE basil!
I keep sneaking in more seeds into every spare garden space because I cant resist the thought of abundant delicious basil to dry, freeze and use all year long! Besides, it makes me so happy to walk past and smell it in the garden.

 Behind our back fence is a vacant block and it has a huge fig tree (you can see it in the back ground here, when it was dormant)
Its a nice big old tree, all wild and untamed.
Best of all, were welcome to whatever fruit we can save from the birds! Hopefully that's at least some

Here's my latest thrifting bargain! Ive been looking into preserving (canning) jars for a little while to have around in the hope of having excess food from the garden to put away for later. I also want to use the jars for storage of all sorts of things in the kitchen etc.
The two main sorts available in Australia seem to be Aussie made Fowlers Vacola and U.S made Mason.

Mason jars have screw top lids which would be easy to use for storing things (other that preserving/canning) But their lids contain BPA and they have to be imported. There still affordable but I prefer to get things made locally to reduce carbon footprint.

Fowlers Vacola jar lids need a clip to keep them on if not used for preserving but I can get stainless steel lids with a rubber seal on the outside of the jar so chemical safety wise they are a winner.

I think ill end up with a mixture, using different ones for different things.

My mind was certainly made up what to get first when I ran into this lot of Fowlers Vacola  at two of my favourite thrift shops. I found lots of jars for $1.50each at the first place and was rather excited at my bargain.... I then headed to another place and got some 20c jars and a $5 steriliser! Yay!

The most expensive part was the stainless steel lids, clips and rubber sealing rings which i got new but still, I'm very happy with it all! Ill be doing a trial run soon with some cheap bought fruit or veg to make sure I've gotten the hang of it before I use my beautiful home grown produce. Oh and because I'm not patient enough to wait to try it all:)
Some jars of pears and apples will be going to my parents. My dad was telling me how when he was little they lived on a farm and didn't go into town often for shopping.
His mum (my Ma) used to preserve apples and pears from their trees and they were a treat over custard in the middle of winter