Monday Harvest – 27th Feb

It has been hot here for the last few days (temps in the high 30sC/high 90sF), the heat broke a bit today with thunderstorms and rain but really high humidity.  We’ve had a reasonable amount of rain but I am hopeful of a bit more to fill the water tank and generally give the garden a bit of relief.  The forecast for this week is a lot milder which I think the garden will appreciate it has been looking a bit sad for the last few days.  The celery and raddichio in particular look very scorched.  However none of this has stopped the harvests and I had another good week.  It has been weeks since I bought any veg other than carrots and onions, so I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself.

There – my first eggplant, a bonica – a bit on the small side but I was bored of waiting….for all my impatience I haven’t eaten it yet – silly eh.  Along with the eggplant are black cherry tomatoes, long cayenne chillies and a mixture of beans.  I’m getting more black cherry tomatoes than anything else at the moment, but I did harvest some Purple Russians, a Black Krim and some Tommy Toes.

Whilst I’m on the subject of tomatoes the plants seem to be responding well to my pruning – the Rouge de Marmande is already setting fruit on its new growth.

The cucumbers are finally slowing down a little, but I planted two new plants a few weeks ago which hopefully will start producing soon.  I will be interested to see how long I can keep cucumbers going for.

As I mentioned in my Summer of Salads post, my lettuces are doing fabulously, as are my mints, Basil and Thai Basil – this basket went into the Calamari salad.  While I’m on the topic I simply can’t get over how many people don’t like/eat calamari.  I can’t think the last time I went to a restaurant here without calamari on the menu in some form or other and I think I probably presumed the whole world loved calamari.  Evidently not…perhaps its a particularly Australian obsession, we do like weird stuff like Vegemite after all.

On the subject of leaves I did eat quite a lot of parsley this week, both in Tabouleh and in Spaghetti Puttanesca, which I have convinced the kids is their favourite pasta dish too.  I make mine with heaps of parsley and it is just delicious.

The other noteworthy harvest was of course more Passionfruit.  I think next week will be the last week I get to write about them as they’re nearly done but I have been so pleased with getting anything at all off what is a very old vine.

I suspect these are headed for the freezer because if I make another sweet dish I’m going to have to embark on one of L’s diets and I’m really not at my best when hungry.  In all seriousness though she has posted some great low fat recipes in the past week so perhaps I could eat them plus some passionfruit icing filled biscuits and some sort of equilibrium would be maintained.

For more harvests get yourself on over to Daphne’s Dandelions for edible inspiration.

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35 Responses to Monday Harvest – 27th Feb

  1. Monday’s harvest looking great Liz. Hope you get some rain for your garden this week. I wish I could send you some rain from here in Wales…we have plenty to spare…

    • Liz says:

      Ah yes, I love Wales and have been there a number of times but I can’t remember a holiday there where it didn’t rain on at least one day. Beautiful place though.

  2. It’s all a bit miserable here – sunshine and heat seem a long way away but at least the flowers are starting to shoot

  3. L says:

    Hehe. That logic sounds so much like my husband it isn’t funny! This is how I get myself into cooking for these crazy diets in the first place 🙂

    I must mention that I finally opened up and tasted my batch of your bread and butter cucumbers. http://suburbantomato.com/2012/01/bread-butter-cucumbers/ (for those readers who missed it)

    You were not kidding – those things are the best pickles I have ever tasted. P and I put them in our mouths at the same time, and we looked at each other in delighted amazement – not sure how to denote Homer Simpson’s drool sound, but we made it. Now I’m tapping my feet impatiently at my lebanese cucumber plants – produce dammit! I need more of Liz’s pickles!

    • Liz says:

      You’ve made my day – really pleased you liked them so much. I will now spend the rest of the night trying to work out how to type Homers drool noise.

  4. Daphne says:

    I hate all cephalopods. But luckily I can look past them and see the yummy salad. Passion fruit on the other hand I love so much. Sadly I found that I can’t eat it anymore. I kept getting sick when I was in the Caribbean one year. When I cut them out I was fine. So sad. They are such wonderful fruit. I guess it took me so long to find out that I don’t do well with them because up here in the North, I never see them in the market. I have to be somewhere more tropical to buy them.

  5. Norma Chang says:

    I want some homegrown tomatoes right now! I am sooooo drooling over your harvest. Will just have to be contented with growing my sprouts.

  6. kitsapFG says:

    Could you send a little of the warmth my direction?! I am ready for milder and warmer temps but I have months to go before ti actually warms up to a comfortable level. You really are getting a season of beautiful salads this year. You have the fixins for a lovely Niciose salad. Steamed green beans tossed in a light dressing, small ripe tomatoes (whole or quartered), hard boiled eggs, a little tuna if you have it, etc….all on a bed of fresh greens. Delicious!

    • Liz says:

      I do like a Nicoise salad and make them quite often for lunch, but I haven’t had one for a couple of weeks – I know what I’ll have tomorrow now.

  7. Wilderness says:

    Nice harvest Liz. I do like you logic on how to have your sweets balanced with good food so it is OK to eat them

  8. Bee Girl says:

    Absolutely amazing! Everything looks gorgeous and delicious, but I think I’m most jealous of the cucumbers right now! I have just been craving a good cucumber like nobody’s business!

    • Liz says:

      I have really been enjoying them but the are definitely finishing. I hope my new plants start fruiting soon, I really don’t want to be without them.

  9. Barbie says:

    I <3 calamari. To eat or to fish with! *teehee* Lovely basket this week.

  10. Rick says:

    Okay for the first week in a long time I’m not envious of your weather. 90’s and 100 F is hot!! We only have about a 3 week patch in August where we even come close to 100 but we do see a lot of 90’s.

    Your harvest looks great, I had to laugh when you said the only thing you were buying were carrots and onions. That’s the only thing we are not buying, we have carrots and onions running out of our ears!!

    • Liz says:

      I am planning on planting heaps of onions this winter as I really appreciated the few I grew last year. Carrots I think I will always buy – I struggle with growing them, their cheap in the shops and if I’m honest the ones I buy taste nicer than any I’ve ever grown.

  11. Bumble Lush says:

    I grew Black Krims last year and all of them seemed to crack. That didn’t happen to any of my other tomatoes, so I wonder if I was inconsistent in my watering with just the Black Krims.

    Your harvest this week is great! We’re about to enter spring where I am, and looking at your photos is making me anxious to get more seeds planted. 🙂

    • Liz says:

      I have heard that the variety is susceptable to cracking. We’ve had a far bit of rain here in the past few days so I suspect I’m about to find out….

  12. michelle says:

    Ooh, you know those young eggplants are the best, no seeds! My eggplant harvests are such a long ways off, I haven’t even sown any seeds for summer veggies yet.

    I love calamari, especially the tentacles. I can’t understand why some people will eat the rings but not touch the tentacles. Oh well, more calamari for me. 🙂

  13. Dave says:

    I like calamari too, but Vegemite – not so much! Lovely harvest you have there.

  14. KL says:

    You can eat the passionfruit raw, can’t you? What’s vegetamite? Oh! by the way, I found out that NYC has lots and lots of Australian restaurants. I was very surprised. So, one day I have to check those out to get that Australian sweetdish – Pavlova or whatever you all call it. Your harvest looks very nice. How hot are the chillies? Pretty soon we in the N.Hemisphere will be having harvest like yours 😀

    • Liz says:

      I’ve never cooked passionfruit – I always eat it raw. Vegemite is a salty brown substance which is a by-product of the brewing process it is made from yeast extract. It is eaten on toast or in sandwiches, pretty much every Australian kid grows up eating heaps of the stuff. It is something of an acquired taste though….. They chillies are hot without being ridiculously so – a nice useful heat.

  15. mac says:

    Love love love calamarie. Drooling over your bountiful harvest, can’t wait to start summer veg seeds , the herb basket is beautiful.

  16. It’s a relief to get the rain isn’t it. I’m glad to hear you’ve planted new cucumbers. I put mine in late and I was wondering if it was too late but sounds like there may be some hope for me.

  17. Gardenglut says:

    Hot and humid in Sydney today too! And thunderstorms forecast soon – enough rain to make our main dam overflow… very different to a few scant years ago when we were all on water restrictions and comissioning de-sal plants.

    Oh I do like YOUR long cayene! and what a lovely plump looking eggplant. I agree with Michelle, young eggplant are the best with few seeds. Just try to make sure they are ripe enough cause if you pick then when they are still green inside, that’s not great either.

    How do I know when they are ripe? I am not sure really – when they are still tight skinned but when there is a little give in them when you give them a squeeze.

    • Liz says:

      It is ridiculous how much variation there is in climatic conditions at the moment. We’ve had a pretty dry summer here so I really appreciate the 30mm we’ve had in the last couple of days.

  18. Liz says:

    Barbie, Michelle, Mac, Dave – Yay for fellow calamari lovers!

  19. becky3086 says:

    The only time I have seen squid here is in a dish at one Chinese restaurant we have here and they don’t have it in that dish all the time. My sister would not eat it but I thought it was pretty good.
    Very nice harvest. I can’t wait until we have tomatoes again.

  20. maryhysong says:

    What a lovely harvest! Can’t wait for warmer weather and lots of goodies!

  21. Diana says:

    The rain just visited us this morning which is really what we need. Congratulation on your first bonica eggplant! I wonder how black cherry taste like. I am glad that pruning tomatoes help. Our new shoots from pruning is also starting to produce again.

  22. Andrea says:

    Purple Russians, Parsley, Puttanesca, Pruning, and Passionfruits …….perfect

  23. Hi, just wanted to let you know that I am linking up to your post for my Harvest Monday post (tomorrow). I want to let everyone who reads my blog know how great it is to read yours. 🙂

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