Each month this year I plan to write a Top 5 post about the best things in season in Melbourne gardens (well my garden anyway) in the upcoming month. This post begins this series.
February is the last month of summer here. The schools go back at the start of February and most people have returned to work after varying length breaks over Christmas and January. It’s usually pretty dry and reasonably hot in Melbourne in February (although our forecast for this week is for pretty cool weather) and its a time when our summer crops come to maturity. With this in mind this top 5 is probably exactly what you’d expect to find in a summer garden.
1. Tomatoes – Whilst tomatoes start cropping here from late December/early January if planted out in October/early November, the bulk of my crops tend to ripen in early February (or they do when they haven’t all been eaten green by rodents). This year I have Black Cherry, Yellow Boy, Tiny Tim and Broad Ripple Currant all ripening and KY1, Yugoslav, Black Krim and a couple of others about a week behind them. If I can keep the rodents at bay I should get at least a few of each to try – not the bumper crop I hoped for but at least something to salvage from a frustrating season.
2. Eggplant – I harvested my first Bonica Eggplants in January but the bulk of the crop should appear in February along with my Lebanese and hopefully a Listada de Gandia or two. I love how you suddenly get overrun with eggplant in February. It prompts me to try new recipes, make pickle and generally enjoy a crop that I tend to only eat when I grow my own. The other members of my family aren’t super keen on them but when I grow my own I figure I can indulge my own tastes a bit…
3. Capsicums (Sweet peppers)- I could have just as easily put these under March but I think I will leave that honour for chillies. I have Sweet Mama, Marconi Red, Mini Mama, Cherrytime and Hungarian Yellow Wax fruits set and reaching maturity. All of these should be harvestable in February. I may have to wait longer for the Purple Beauty though as they are only just starting to set fruit.
4. Beans – Although my Purple King plants are nearing the end I should have heaps of Majestic Butter, Windsor Long Pod, Jade and Beanette ripening through February. My favourite way to prepare beans is to French slice them. Steam them. Fry off some garlic in butter, add some black pepper and chopped tomato and the cooked beans. Really, really good!
5. Cucumbers – Cucumbers are reaching glut proportions in my garden at the moment and the plants still have a heap of fruit forming. Fortunately a cucumber glut isn’t really a glut in the true sense of the word as I happily turn any that aren’t eaten fresh into Bread and Butter Pickles. In my garden this year I have Summer Dance, Catalina Pickling, Lebanese and Lemon Cucumbers. The Lemon cucumbers seem to be slower than my other varieties and in February I should get my first harvests which will be lovely.
That is what I’m looking forward to from my garden in February. What is in season where you live? What do you have growing and what are you most looking forward to?
A fabulous top 5! I’m hitting my tomato crops just now as well as cucumbers, corn, beans, capsicums and the first of this years beetroot. I reckon my eggplants are still a good month or so away so I need to get some earlier plantings happening next year! I’m most looking forward to the solo watermelon ripening.
My corn is still a good way off – I planted very late. I shall be super impressed by your watermelon. All my attempts at melon have resulted in failure.
I’m still drooling over the cukes just like in the last post. Sometimes it is hard to wait for summer. Yesterday it snowed on us again.
Wooh, love them all! @@
I’d love to be inundated with aubergines (eggplants).
At the moment for us it is cabbage, carrot, parsnip, leeks and sprouts
Not a bad selection all things considered – most of which I’m too impatient to grow successfully.
Those would be my top five too if I were in my summer season and had such pretty examples of each item to boot!
Hi Liz!
Looking at Australian blogs this time of year makes me very wistful. Pretty much nothing is in season until next month. I’m looking forward to a big salad with lettuce, spinach, and radishes!
i’m between lettuce crops at the moment which is really bad timing on my part as your salad does sound very nice.
I feel eggplants are hardy plants to grow. I have tried every year and I don’t think I ever got anything. You have such good harvest in January. Why don’t you send me some cucumbers for my sandwiches?
I would love to send the cucumbers – I have heaps at the moment but I suspect the postal service might not be too pleased….
Dear Liz,
It’s great to see those fresh summer vegetables during our winter. Thanks for the wonderful post!
-Jay
I shall being looking forward to the same 5 veggies over Febuary too along with a few extras I have been nuturing along, lots of basil for pesto, cabbage, and a wonderful mixture of salad greens all tucked under their shade house safe from this years harsh summer sun.
My basil has been producing for a while now and I have to say I’m really really enjoying it. I must investigate growing cabbage in summer – it would be lovely to have it for Vietnamese coleslaw at the moment.
Lovely produce. That’s my all time favourite way of eating beans too – just wish I had some!
I have been growing many things but most have failed due to the extreme heat or from wallaby munching. Yesterday I completed my wallaby exclusion ( I hope) fence line and brought many plants in pots on to the verandah and I am hoping that I will finally get some produce now that the heat has also subsided…. sigh. I can always look at your produce and others blogs and salivate.
It must be hard getting used to new annoyances and frustrations. Hopefully you’ll get a nice long prduce filled autumn.
Makes me think of the delicious meals that can be made with your 5 edibles! Our cold spell broke, giving us a chance to peek under the season extension covers. Lots of things succumbed but a couple of heads of pan di zucchero chicory, some mounds of escarole, and most of the kale are still holding on — such tenacity!
It must have been lovely to find some things alive amidst the destruction, plants are amazing aren’t they?