Monday Harvest – Mar 19th 2012

I’ve just gotten back from a long weekend on the Bellarine Peninsula, staying in Queenscliffe.  We had a lovely time; paddling in the sea, exploring rock pools, eating fish and chips and generally enjoying what the weather people say might be the last warm weather for a while.  The few days away meant I didn’t harvest as much as usual, except that is for chillies – I harvested a fair few of them.

As you can see in the above photo I am also still harvesting passionfruits.  The kids & I eat them as quickly as they arrive so I haven’t made anything new with them for a while.  My fig thief seems to have moved on so I am enjoying a few figs at the moment, I haven’t been doing anything more exciting than simply eating them either.  I harvested another eggplant and have quite a number of the bushes almost ready, including some of the Lebanese type which I will probably include next week.  The final item in the basket is a capsicum from the second round of fruit from one of my 2 year old plants.

After the assault on the eyes of my first harvest I thought the second I wrote about should be a soothing green.  These spring onions, mint and chilli went into a mint relish I served alongside a chicken curry.

As you may have noticed in my previous post I am harvesting rainbow chard at the moment.  This bunch went into a smoked trout quiche that I managed to overcook and thus it wasn’t nearly as delicious as it should have been.

I am continuing to harvest cherry tomatoes.  I have slicing tomatoes forming but none are ready to harvest at the moment.  The Black Cherry, Tommy Toe and another cherry variety are still bearing fruit – most of which gets eaten straight off the plants by the kids.

Also in the bowl are a fig, a passionfruit, one of the few strawberries not to be eaten on sight and a tomatillo.  The first tomatillo I’ve ever grown in fact.  I’m not really sure what to do with it.  I’m presuming it is ripe, the outside casing went all papery like a Cape Gooseberry does, but it seems quite hard to me.  Perhaps I’ll look at it for a while and eventually taste it.

My final harvest I forgot to photograph (actually I often forget to photograph things but this I remembered I’d forgotten earlier than usual) so I photographed what it made.  Basil pesto on spaghetti.

  

To have a look at other harvests from around the world hop on over to Daphne’s Dandelions.

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35 Responses to Monday Harvest – Mar 19th 2012

  1. Gardenglut says:

    Oh I do like a basket of chillies, esp your long cayene. And I am so glad you are getting some figs!

  2. Lucky, lucky you being able to have fresh figs…perhaps one day my fig will produce more than just leaves…I live in hope…more than expectation…

    • Liz says:

      I have a cardamon plant that I have very similar feelings about – all lovely green leaves but no flowers and with that no seeds.

  3. First time on your space… =)

    ahhh your chillis look amazing. mine have started to grow and I am already excited what they ll look like (no idea what type of chillis my sister in law planted).

  4. Vickie says:

    That Swiss Chard looks so good. I miss that. Can’t wait to go plant it.

  5. Dave says:

    Lovely harvests – even with you being gone part of the time. Is your cardamom planted in the ground? I grew one in a pot that never did bloom for me.

    • Liz says:

      Yeah its pot grown too. I have heard that you can use the leaves so I may investigate that before giving up. My climate really isn;t warm enough for it I suspect.

  6. Bee Girl says:

    Figs, passionfruit and strawberries would be eaten on sight here, too 🙂 Tomatillos make a good salsa, though you’d need more than just one. I’m going to attempt to grow them again this year…last year was my first attempt and it was an epic fail.

    • Liz says:

      Mine should have been a much bigger success than they have been – loads of flowers but very few fruit and the plant keeps drying out as the pot is too small.

  7. kitsapFG says:

    The pasta with pesto looks delicious – actually all your harvests look delicious – but this one in particular is calling to me! What a nice variety of items too. I am not a big tomatillo fan so not going to be much help with info. I grew some years ago and it all went into green salsa, but otherwise we do not enjoy the flavor very much.

    • Liz says:

      I don’t think you’re alone in that – when I showed my dad he said what are you growing them for???? He tried a couple fo years ago and decreed them disgusting…we shall see what I think.

  8. Barbie says:

    MMMmmmm fig…. it’s been a while for a fresh fig here. LOL. I’m drooling and my fig ‘tree’ (it’s about 18″ tall) leafed out this week – I’m extatic waiting for it. I have a L~O~N~G wait and this didn’t help. 😀 Beautiful.
    Slice in half and roast the tomatillo just a touch, it will bring the sweetness and soften it since you’ve never had one. The first one can be strange on your tongue eaten by itself. Once you get used to it you can use it a lot like any tomato.

    • Liz says:

      Thanks for the advice!!! – I will do exactly as you suggest, perhaps tomorrow when they are forecasting cool – roasting type weather.

  9. mac says:

    Colorful harvest, I didn’t get any fig from our tree last year, the birds and critters got them, maybe they’ll leave one or two for me this year.

    • Liz says:

      Something was eating mine but it appears to have stopped – either its found a better food source or met an untimely death – who knows which.

  10. Sometimes the very best thing to do with freshly picked fruit is just to eat it as it is! You can cook and fiddle if you have more than you can eat but otherwise enjoy!

  11. Julie says:

    Love your color coded harvests! Enjoy the fresh figs and passionfruit and I’m amazed that strawberry survived long enough to have its portrait taken! Your pesto pasta also looks tasty.

  12. L says:

    The chillies look amazing again. How many plants do you have?
    I’m always in awe of your green leafy veggies. Mine suffer from lack of planning and attention. Must get organised enough to grow spring onions!

    • Liz says:

      I have about 10 plants in all but a couple haven’t produced much (they don’t get enough sun and I haven’t bothered to move their pots). This week came from two plants – a long cayenne and a scotch bonnet.

  13. maryhysong says:

    oh would love some figs this, year, but I haven’t planted any trees yet! LoL. Will be doing that next spring; it’ll take all year to really get the soil in shape for tree planting!

    • Liz says:

      I have to say I am enjoying my figs, especially as I’m nopt really looking after tham at all as they are from my neighbours plant.

  14. Amber says:

    A smoked trout and trout quiche? You must do a post on this 🙂

  15. Veggiegobbler says:

    Enjoying your post while eating a fiery lunch of veggies with chilli from the garden. My lips are burning! Good to read another Melbourne blogger cos then I know I’m on the right track with my veggies. I was just thinking my eggplants were put in too late- they’ve produced a couple of great ones but there’s loads still to come. Do you leave your eggplants in for the following year like your capsicum? I’m debating what to do with mine.

    • Liz says:

      I think I put my eggplants in a bit too late too as they are at much the same stage as yours….this year I’ll get it right. I tried to get my eggplants through last winter – I grew them in pots last year, but none of them made it. I did get fruit from til about the end of May though so I’ll definitely leave mine in the ground til then and then pull them and plant broad beans in their place.

  16. Diana says:

    Very hot stuff there! RED and GREEN gorgeous harvest!

  17. Norma Chang says:

    My fig tree is still in the garage, we are having summer like weather and I am tempted to wheel it out but that is taking a big chance since it is still March. Lovely harvest.

  18. leduesorelle says:

    Ditto Barbie on roasting the tomatillos — make sure to rinse them well first, throw in some garlic and your lovely chilies to caramelize alongside. Throw the lot into a blender with some warm spices like cumin and coriander, some lime juice and a pinch of sugar, to make a sauce. From there it can be used as the base for a pork or chicken stew, also really good on any egg dish!

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