Autumn seems to have brought some much cooler weather with it this year; cooler and wetter. Apparently Melbourne’s had its wettest start to March in 50 years, which actually probably isn’t saying a great deal as we are only 5 days into it but still…. Despite this wet I have had quite a productive week. I planted out leeks, spring onions, parsley & coriander. I moved some mint, Vietnamese Mint and lemon balm into a bed. I’m hoping they will take it over because nothing else seems to want to grow very well there. I sowed lots more seed – lettuces, brassicas of all shapes and sizes, more parsley, more coriander and so on. What I don’t seem to have done much of is harvest stuff.
Tomato production has slowed considerably, I’m getting a few cherries at the moment but not much else.
I harvested a few beans this week, but not many and the cucumbers are having a break as well. One thing I did harvest lots of was lettuce, but that was mainly because the plants were bolting so I pulled them and harvested the leaves before they went bitter.
The majority of this basket was actually Cos (also known as Romaine) and I used it to make a Chicken Caesar Salad. The kids were not impressed but I was.
This chard was also harvested when I pulled out the plants. I have a bed which is a bit too shaded for them so I ripped them out to make way for the mints and lemon balm I mentioned above. I used the chard to make chard and ricotta cannelloni – the kids were much happier that night.
One thing that does keep on coming are the chillies. I harvested the first of what should be many Scotch Bonnets (well the seed was called Scotch Bonnet but it isn’t the same as the variety popular in the Caribbean – much milder), as well as more long cayenne amongst others. I have been so pleased with my chillies this year – overwintering the plants has worked fabulously.
The other thing that is working fabulously is my old passionfruit vine, another 20 or so fruit this week. I do like how knobbly some of the are – befitting considering the age of their parent.
A Monday Harvest post wouldn’t be the same without some herbs. This week along with the usual suspects – parsley, mint and basil I harvested a reasonable amount of sage.
The sage was used to make Sage & Pumpkin Bread which was nice, if a little too sagey. I like sage but I do think you can overdo it. What I find it hard to overdo though is figs. This was the first one from the branches in my garden (from my neighbours tree), and it tasted delicious.
To see what others picked this week click on the link: Daphne’s Dandelions.
Awesome harvest. I am sorry about all the rain. 🙂
A fig the mystery diner didn’t get at!
The diner is getting them all at the moment and frankly I’m not too happy.
Mmm…chard and ricotta cannelloni would get my thumbs up too!
Great looking harvest-it all looks so good…
Looks like you have heaps, I have given up on mine for the time being, but I will get out there soon and do some work. Would love to have more lettuce. I might do what you have done and plant some seeds.
I do appreciate the lettuce – I think its one of the most worthwhile things to grow and now is a good time to be planting it as it shouldn’t bolt too quickly.
Lovely passion fruits. Those tomatoes sure look delicious.
Hope you enjoyed the rain as much as we did and your garden and veggies didn’t suffer too much.Wow your chillies have been very productive and certainly worth the effort .Very jealous of your passionfruit vine, i have tried about 5 plants over the years but the frost always gets them so iv’e given up.
They do seem to be quite difficult to establish – I’m on my second attempt to establish a replacement for this vine.
Nice harvest! The sage and pumpkin bread sounds yummy. Enjoy that fig, all your passion fruit and peppers!
What a great harvest! Don’t know if I could grow passion fruit here; we dip down into the teens sometimes though this winter we were hardly to 22 (F)
I suspect it might get a bit cold – they don’t like the frost much, although sometimes they can survive it.
Hard to believe your season’s winding down, I always thought summer was endless there… I like the idea of sage turning pumpkin bread into something more savory.
Unfortunately its not endless, we have winter, but not one anywhere near as cold as yours.
Nice leaves, herbs and fruits you got this week. I almost never took our herb harvest because they look wilted by the time I remembered to take pic of them. Yours always look fresh.