I have been away on holidays for much of the past week so apologies for general silence on my part. Before I went away I harvested the last of the shallots.
Whilst my shallots didn’t do quite as well this year as last I was still pleased with my crop as I didn’t really given them the care, attention or position they deserved.
I also harvested all the ripe Tiny Tim Tomatoes:
As well as quite a few cucumbers which I promptly turned in to Bread and Butter Cucumbers. So far I’ve turned 1 kg into pickles – I think I’ll need to do another 4kg before I’ll have a years supply (better feed my plants….).
I also harvested all the zucchini’s on the plants and gave them to my mother.
Of course when we got back 4 days later there were many more – how did this happen in 4 days?
Also in the basket are two Catalina pickling cucumbers and one Summer Dance cucumber.
I also came back to find more ripe Tiny Tim tomatoes, a few Broad Ripple Currant, an almost ripe Yellow Boy (pickled early to elude rat attack) and that the Black Cherries and Tommy Toe, that I picked half ripe before I went, were ready to eat. I am tactically harvesting early as anything which vaguely looks like its about to change colour is getting devoured before I get to eat them. RIP Rouge de Marmande crop…
What the rats seem to be leaving alone is my rocket (which I think I will have to mow as nothing else seems to be keeping it in check…), my red onions, lettuce, the cucumbers and basil.
I have been harvesting pesto quantities of basil for the past month now – pasta with pesto is one of the few meals my whole family will eat so long may it continue.
For other harvests head over to Daphne’s. Meanwhile I’m off to pick up my partners brother and sister in law from the airport. They’re over from England – hope the heat wont prove too much for them – we are having quite a warm summer here – although Melbourne has been comparatively mild compared with much of the rest of Australia. I hope the weather isn’t too extreme whereever you are – whether that be hot or cold.
Everything looks so pretty. I so miss fresh basil. I do have some frozen, but it isn’t quite the same.
Admiring and salivating over your harvests.
Yum! All those summer crops are so sorely missed right now in our winter gardens. Cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and basil…. sigh…. really good fresh eating. I am going to start some basil indoors and grow it as a houseplant because I am missing fresh basil too much to wait til summer.
I think I might try the same – it dies off here in about June so I just need to get it through about 3 months and then it should be fine outdoors again.
Just a bit of snow here but it is just about melted now
I bought some Tiny Tim seeds for this spring sowing, so I will finally try these tomatoes, they look so cute!
Lovely harvest this week. I’ve got zucchini a plenty right now a just a few tomatoes but not much else in the way of veggies. LOL. Your baskets are beautiful.
Your climate must be pretty similar to Queensland (northern Australias) I’m guessing if you have tomatoes and zucchini ripe at the moment.
What a great welcome home from your garden – lovely harvest! I’ve got some ‘Tiny Tim’ seeds now, ready to sow in a few weeks time – can’t wait to try the tomatoes after reading about them here!
I do hope they do well for you!
It’s such a nice harvest you have there! We’re in the mid of winter so will have to wait another 6 month for fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.
Beautiful summer harvest. Just makes my dreaming of summer planting even more obsessive! My mom uses some certain herbs spread around the garden to keep rats and mice away. I hope you find something that helps!
I’ll have to try and work out which herbs work best.
Oh my, how beautiful all your harvest looks! I am glad the heat you are having down there doesn’t seem to be hurting your vegetables. It’s like getting a little slice of summer looking at your pictures.
It certainly is fun to read about summer harvests, when it’s winter in Northern California.
The zucchini certainly do like to play while one is away!
I’m so sorry to hear that the rats are still up to no good. Why do they always have to go for what is best in the garden. It really broke my heart when I had to tear out all of my strawberry plants. I have got to figure out how to rat proof a strawberry patch, I miss homegrown strawberries so much.
It has been as cold as it ever gets here for the past few days, but at least the sun is out. 🙂
Hope it cools off to more comfortable temps for you and your guests.
The weather has been lovely for the past few days which is nice. I haven’t had any strawberries this year at all – now i guess i Know what to blame! they also seem to go for the Cape Gooseberries.
Lovely pick, I especially like your cucumbers and the colour of your black cherries. Your zucchinis got out of hand quickly! Crikey – that in 4 days! And I have only picked a grand total of two viable zucchinis so far this year from my plant! It is a bad season when envy is induced by looking at zucchinis.
I am seriously on track for a cucumber harvest and will have to do your B&B pickles.
I really rate those pickles i have to say – I hope you wont be disappointed.
There’s an inch of snow on the ground as I’m sitting here looking at your bountiful harvest pictures. It’s spurring me into action to sort out my seed tin though as I know I’ve got loads of tomato varieties in there that haven’t seen the light of day. I’ll be growing cucumber for the first time this year – hope they turn out as well as yours!
Cucumber usually does pretty well for me – the only one i’m struggling with this year is lemon cucumber which has yet to set fruit. the others are producing relatively well – although I do have quite a few plants in now.
As usual, your produce looks fantastic!
My zucchini in the pot is doing well and I’ve harvested 3 with more on the way. The one in the ground is being shaded by next door’s pittosporums and by my climbing beans so I’m not holding out a lot of hope of a harvest from that one.
How long do your bread and butter cucumbers keep, Liz? Will Lebanese cucumbers work? I have a bit of a glut happening at the moment!
I’m very excited to sow the wild rocket and freckly lettuce that you sent me (hopefully tomorrow) – and the other seeds, too. I’ll reciprocate once I’ve dried some tomatoberry seeds. They are so prolific at the moment AND delicious.
The cukes keep for at least a year (I’ve never manage to not eat them within that time). I usually use Lebanese cucumbers to make it with so yes definitely! Oh yay to tomatoberry!
Oops! If I would have read the recipe more closely, I would have seen you use Lebanese!
I made a batch today and I have to say they are great, even before being left to mellow for a bit. Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
I hope you enjoy them – they are definitely my favourite pickle.
I would like to use those lovely tiny tomatoes, zucchini and shallots in warm salad for my lunch. And you do not need to apologize, everyone needs a break from blogging at some point.
The tomatoes wwent into a salad with parsley and olives, the zucchini I ate warm with pine nuts and currants and the shallots are sitting on the verandah waiting to be pickled.
I have the same problems with rats down on Phillip Island – I have been picking my tomatoes as soon as I see a tiny pit of colour other wise they are gone the next day. My dog keeps digging holes around my raised beds and sniffing like crazy, they must have set up house under them and the buggers ate every single broccoli sprout in winter last year.
They did that to my brocolli too – not this last season but the one before. They gave my garden a rest for a whole year but now they’ve definitely returned with a vengence. Under the raised beds? Not a particularly nice idea!
I miss growing all the goodies you are harvesting ;). I think I would like to have a go with shallot. The birds been helping us with sowing bird eyes chillies. Take care and keep cool against the heat.
It will be interesting to hear how you go with things that are normally associated with a cooler climate. i do like to idea of deploying the birds in seed sowing – a very positive way of looking at their eating your crops.