Monday Harvest – Oct 1st 2012

Its pretty slim pickings in my garden at the moment.  Except for lettuce that is – I have a lot of lettuce.  The leaves in the below basket are Cos.  Also pictured is some of the last of the broccoli.  I pulled a few plants today to make way for summer crops – I have left a couple of broccoli plants in but I’m not altogether convinced they will produce much more.

Also still producing, albeit while bolting, is the parsley.  I have pulled some of the parsley but still have a few monsters in the ground.  As you can see its at least the same height as the broad beans.

Also bolting, or at least some of the plants are, is my coriander.  I harvested this bunch to for both guacamole and to garnish a curry.

Another spring bolter is my Swiss Chard (silver beet) I am happily chopping off the flower stalks to keep it going as long as possible.  This lot went into a Chard & Ricotta cannelloni.

I harvested the first of my winter grown potatoes this week.  I got 600g from a 40cm pot which isn’t anything like what I get in Spring (about double to triple that) but was still better than both the Summer and Autumn harvests.  This is a mix of Cranberry Red and Dutch Cream.

My final harvest this week (other than herbs and spring onions which I didn’t photograph) was some green garlic.  I planted up a few pots with very closely planted cloves with the intention of harvesting it green.  The dreaded black aphids attacked one of the pots so these are a few very weak specimens but they tasted good nonetheless.

Incidentally the only thing I’ve found to be effective against black aphids is pyrethrum.  Spraying them with water just seems to make the problem worse – they like damp conditions.  Squishing them works reasonably well although I always seem to miss a few and they return pretty quickly (also if you forget to wear gloves you get purple fingers).  Pyrethrum which I don’t like to use unless everything else has failed has proved really effective against the ones in my garden – I have got rid of populations on both my garlic and garlic chives.

As usual this post forms part of Daphne’s wonderful Harvest Mondays – head over and see what else is hitting the harvest basket.

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37 Responses to Monday Harvest – Oct 1st 2012

  1. Nina says:

    You call that slim pickings?? I can’t wait to see your glut!

    Being a little further south than you and in a valley, my parsley and silverbeet isn’t looking like bolting just yet but it won’t be too long. I see some parsley soup in your future!

    I harvested some green garlic recently, too. It’s in a pot and I think got waterlogged (with all this rain) so wasn’t looking too flash. The ones in the ground are doing fairly well, though.

    I’m excited about my potatoes in the grow bags. They look very lush right now and I can’t wait to see what will come of them.

    Oh, and thanks for advising me to persevere with my chillies. The Jalepeno and an ‘Inferno’ are still producing (they are against a brick wall) and I’m majorly impressed. I reckon I’ll get another season out of them.

    • Liz says:

      Really pleased for your chillies. My parsley and silverbeet seem to be on some sort of date related clock – they bolt in September every year (seemingly regardless of climate) I should note the date and see how close they get each time.

  2. I hate squishing things – too squeamish – but I do manage to rub aphids off with a paper towel. You are right though just leave one and they return in force. It doesn’t help that many give birth to pregnant young who can reproduce themselves in a matter of a fortnight – no male necessary! If each aphid can produce about 80 young in a week they could soon take over the world if we didn’t squish.

  3. Jodie says:

    Damm aphids are everywhere in Melbourne this year! Thankfully they are leaving my garlic alone for now…. guess they are too busy with the cabbages!

    • Liz says:

      I get the greeny grey ones on my brassicas and the black ones on the alliums. I tend to find the former easier to remove – spraying with water often works pretty well with them, not so black ones which seem to multiply at the first water bath.

  4. Louise says:

    Thanks for the tip on the black aphids. I agree, with Nina, this doesn’t look too slim at all.
    That is enormous parsley.

  5. Mark Willis says:

    The garlic you grew for “green garlic”: is it just the same type as you would use for “normal” garlic? Yours looks like Spring Onions – though presumably with a strong garlic taste?

    • Liz says:

      They are pretty much exactly the same size and shape as spring onions at the moment, although I pick them larger as well. Yes to the strong garlic taste and yes to the same type I would use for normal garlic although I tend to use the smaller cloves that might not produce particularly large heads if used for ‘normal’. I also plant them way closer than I would for my main garlic crop.

  6. Patsy says:

    Very beautiful harvest! It is so nice to see gardens gearing up into summer in your part of the world while up here they are winding down. Your chard looks wonderful!

  7. Daphne says:

    Lovely harvests. I’ve yet to grow garlic to just pick green. And I can’t bear to dig up my fall planted garlic. I really ought to try it one day.

    • Liz says:

      I tend to use any really little cloves I have for green garlic – it does work well and given these were planted way too close to give anything other than green garlic I don’t feel sad about their demise before bulbing.

  8. kitsapFG says:

    Aphids are usually a fall problem in my garden. Luckily I have not seen them much this year, but if I had, I would also be resorting to a pyretherin solution because I also have found it is about the only thing that actually works on them.

  9. Norma Chang says:

    I should get going with planting my garlic soon before the ground freezes and it is too late. Your harvest does not look like slim picking to me.
    Insects, critters and diseases, the challenges we gardeners face.

    • Liz says:

      You’re right about the challenges, fortunately freezing ground is one I really don’t have to worry about. Hope you get your garlic in.

  10. Bee Girl says:

    Those pickings don’t look slim to me! Man, if I could grow the variety you do in the spring I’d be beside myself with joy! Your potatoes look absolutely perfect and your parsley is huge! I’ve never seen parsley that big before (though I’ve not yet grown it myself)!

    • Liz says:

      Parsley starts out pretty small and tame and then near to flowering it seems to turn into a giant triffid and take over the garden.

  11. Wow Liz, I have never had parsley that tall!! I only wish…

    Lovely to hear how you are building up for your Summer…meanwhile back in the ‘old country’ it’s raining…just for a change…

    • Liz says:

      Rain, in the UK? Never! Actually do you know I didn’t really notice the rain much when I lived there. Not sure why but I am far more conscious of it here – perhaps something to with the drought and being glad of anything we got for awhile there.

  12. Shawn Ann says:

    I think it looks like a great spring harvest. The cars go really great with your cilantro! And the potatoes are beautiful.

  13. Wilderness says:

    Wow that is some size lettuce. Potatoes look great also. I love being able to figure out the amount of your harvest now.

  14. Katie says:

    That is a monster parsley! I like them better for their flowers than their foliage. They smell so good in bloom.

    • Liz says:

      I tend to let a few go to all the way to flowering and then hopefully seed in, the rest though will have to come out before they get to that point as I need the space in my beds.

  15. Jenny says:

    Beautiful harvest! I’m a bit jealous that your season is just starting while we’re wraping up for the year.

  16. Michelle says:

    The nasty black aphids hit my chives and scallions this spring. I was doing the purple fingers thing with them and then just gave up after cutting my chives to the ground which was the initial and worst infestation. Guess what, they disappeared without any further intervention on my part. I think it was beneficial insects that did most of the work, the aphids disappeared after my alyssum and coriander burst into full bloom and attracted droves of good bugs to the garden. Mmm, that green garlic looks so good, I didn’t grow any this year and really missed it. Lovely harvests even if they seem to be slim pickings.

    • Liz says:

      I do like the idea of cutting the chives off at ground level – I didn’t think of that before they decimated my plant last year.

  17. Sarah says:

    I like the look of your green garlic – is the flavour as strong as fully grown garlic?

    • Liz says:

      No its generally milder but it does depend on how green you pick it, the earlier the milder it tends to be in my experience.

  18. zentMRS says:

    Lovely and colorful harvest!

  19. Barbara Good says:

    Good collection as always Liz. Not sure why but my silverbeet is still going strong, and no sign of bolting – same the the parsley actually. The coriander is long gone though and my attempt at growing it was once again pathetic.

    I totally agree with the pyrethrum spray and the aphids, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t do it earlier as it really disturbed the growth of the main bed of my garlic. Perhaps I should cut my loses and pick them green – what do you do with green garlic again?

    • Liz says:

      I use green garlic in most things that I would use fresh garlic, stir fries, salad dressings, veg dishes etc. It is milder than ‘normal’ garlic but otherwise is fairly similar – the biggest difference is that textural as its much like a spring onion in texture.

  20. maryhysong says:

    ah shoot you’ve reminded me…. I just got in a $120 seed order and totally forgot to get favas ;-( Your garden and harvests are looking lovely!

  21. mac says:

    Beautiful harvest photos as always, hate aphids, they love my okra, consequently I only get to harvest very few here and there.

  22. Diana says:

    I am thinking of harvesting the volunteer garlic as green garlic as well since I doubt it will produce big bulb. Looking forward to your broad bean harvest. Nice potato there.

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