Spring is almost here and I have to admit to feeling quite excited. This winter has been pretty cold and damp, in Melbourne terms anyway, and so I am very excited about the idea of warmer days. For those of you who are a little dubious about the start of Spring bringing significantly warmer weather need look no further than our weather forecast for Sunday and Monday which is for 19 & 21 degrees respectively and sunny on both days. Can’t wait! The plants on the other hand seem to be responding as if Spring has already arrived – by bolting – as a result I’m harvesting quite a lot of greens. Like this Cavolo Nero (or Tuscan Kale) which went into a Kale and bacon quiche.
Also putting up flower heads is the silver beet. This went into a curry (as usual I hear some say…but in my defence the kids eat it happily in that form…).
My final photo of the week is of Broccoli, half of this rather decent sized basket full was stir fried with oyster sauce. The remainder is sitting in the fridge awaiting further inspiration.
I am still harvesting other things but sadly this week none of the potatoes, spring onions, mint, parsley, coriander, chervil, chillies or lettuce made it in front of the camera. That’s what happens when you decide to cook things at the last minute after its either dark, or immediately after your camera battery has died…
Ah well there’s always plenty of veg that has made it in front of the camera lens over at Daphne’s – go and have a look.
Oh dear – spring for you means … for us but maybe autumn will be warmer than summer this year?
I do hope it is!
I want to eat a bowl of the broccoli with oyster sauce….
I highly recommend it – delicious and virtuous (if you ignore the high salt content anyway…..).
Like you, some things never make it in front of the camera before they get cooked or eaten, but I did manage to snap a shot of the cooked results before attacking it with a fork and knife! I anticipate the days when my cavolo nero seeds will sprout….anytime soon now!
I’m always impressed with myself when I remember to photograph something before I eat it – although I see nothing wrong with shots of half eaten plates of food.
I had my scale batteries die this last week. I had to run down to the drugstore to pick up more. Luckily for me it is just a few blocks away. That broccoli looks lovely. I’m really hoping mine sends out more side shoots. I miss eating broccoli every other night.
I always struggle to have the camera handy too. Your broccoli looks gorgeous!
My Cavolo Nero is growing rapidly now – which of course I associate with the advent of Autumn. I’m just beginning to think about Winter veg, like parsnips, leeks, sprouts, Swede etc, and digging out the soup recipes!
Leeks? Don’t talk to me about leeks! My autumn planted leeks are still less than 1cm in diameter – they really are the most ridiculously slow things in the world…
I am glad to hear others do that too… not getting harvests pictured or weighed because they were picked on short notice and often in the dark. Your arrival of spring is coinciding with our arrival of fall. It is definitely in the air and we are moving into the big end of season garden harvests. I love having garden blogger friends on the other side of the world though, because while we go into our dark days of winter, we can all enjoy your spring and summer through your posts. 😀
I have to say I’ve enjoyed all the lovely summer pics from the Northern Hemisphere this winter.
I envy you on the cust of spring, only colder days to look forward to here. It wouldn’t be quite so bad if we’d had any sort of summer. Your broccoli looks delicious, one of my favourite veg.
Perhaps its just late- fingers crossed….
what a lovely harvest! I had a similar kale last winter but it never got very big. My lettuce was great but the kale (3 different kinds) never really did take off.
For me the success of my plants has been how well established they were before winter hit – the most recently planted ones have sulked through winter but the larger earlier planted ones have been great.
ahhh spring. My most anticipated time of the year! I am already planning spring and it isn’t even fall here yet! 😉 Sorry your stuff is bolting, looks nice though!
I do that – plan about 2 seasons ahead and then forget everything i’ve planned – oh well….
I love spring – my favorite time of the year!
Lucky you, getting ready for spring as we’re wrapping the year off and getting ready for fall. Harvest looks very lovely.
Broccoli with oyster sauce, one of my childhood favorites!
My kids really like it too – I reckon its the saltiness.
If the kids like the chard in a curry then I would go for it too! It takes tons of garlic for my wife to like it, but that works for me too as I can hardly ever have too much garlic in a dish.
I’m looking forward to the fall kale here. The Tuscan kale has been missing for several months, and I have missed it. It wasn’t my favorite until I grew it myself and got some that was really good. When people say they don’t like greens, I always ask where they came from. The homegrown ones taste so much sweeter and fresher to my taste buds.
I too much prefer freshly harvested greens – I think that storage must increase their bitterness or something, or perhaps its a variety thing. Tooo much garlic?- Never enough.
What kind of broccoli do you have there? Looks lovely.
Most of that basket is “Calabrese – Green Sprouting” Broccoli. I like it – I tend to prefer the looser headed varieties.
You have better harvest in winter than I have in the summer… Those brocollinis looks so beautiful. I can imagine it in my pasta salad… 🙂
Pasta salad – now there’s something I haven’t had for awhile and now I really want to eat immediately.
If it’s spring for you then why isn’t it cooling off yet for me!! I will gladly send you some of my hot weather!!
Your harvest looks great, I love the broccoli. I’m looking forward to our fall broccoli crop, it’s well on it’s way, I hope to be harvesting it in about 6 weeks or so!!
Yay, its a fairly versatile plant isn’t it – if it grows well in both our winter and your summer…
I’m wishing some of our warmth your way!
Thankyou!
My triple-dwarf kale is still a sore point. So I won’t mention that. Though I guess I just did.
I’m excited that the broadbeans are starting to flower! I must remember to stake them and wind around some twine (as demonstrated by Mark). Seedlings in the Bunnings Special are popping up and I ‘hilled-up’ some of the potatoes in the grow-bags for the first time. Spring is just around the corner, I can smell it!
Do you plant more silverbeet as soon as it bolts? It seems to go all year round and is so satisfying to grow, isn’t it?
Oh dear! Michelle mentioned you can eat the flower heads to if its version of doing something is bolting at least you’ll have the flower heads…. I sowed silverbeet seed about a month ago – I tend to as soon as I start to see signs of bolting and then I wish I’d done it a bit earlier…I reckon though by nipping out the bolting shoots I can extend the harvest long enough to let the new plants catch up.
I love Cavolo Nero, my seedlings for my fall/winter harvests are well on their way. The only problem with it is that it is the first thing to bolt in the spring. But did you know that the flower shoots can be harvested like sprouting broccoli, so long as the aphids don’t beat you to it.
I didn’t know I could eat the flower shoots so I will definitely give them a try – I should have quite a few soon.
That tuscan kale looks ravishing. I’ll bet the quiche you made with it came out fantastic!