My garden is definitely in transition at the moment – a little bit of summer mixed in with a suggestion of approaching winter and some Autumn crops in between. The brassicas are growing happily, the tomatoes are pretty much dead and the eggplants, capsicums and chillies just keep on producing. This week I harvested the first of the Listada de Gandia eggplants along with 5 or 6 Bonicas. The Listada de Gandia is the light coloured one pictured below. Thanks to Bek for the seed.
Peppers wise this week I picked: Bishops Cap, Cayenne, some more (smaller than last weeks) Padrons, Mini Mamas, and a couple of small capsicums that I can’t identify after I lost their labels.
I harvested the last of my corn crop this week. I didn’t grow much corn this year – just 8 cobs in all and I regret not having sown more. Oh for more space….
I spent a fair bit of time this week on garden clean up. The Spring Onions on the left were part of my normal harvest, the ones on the right were part of the clean up. You can’t really get a good sense of scale from these photos but the diameter of those on the right was roughly 4 times that of those on the left. I had been meaning to use them for ages but finally did this weekend. They went into a spicy Thai chicken served in lettuce cups.
I have had mixed results from my beans this year. Majestic Butter have done brilliantly, whilst Windsor Long Pod (the green ones in the photo below) haven’t been nearly as productive despite taking up a good 50% more space. This is my 2nd year growing this variety and I think it will be my last, there are too many bean varieties out there for me to bother with one which has underperformed for two years running.
My other harvests this week have been a few tomatoes and quite a lot of herbs. This week I used mint, parsley, basil, thai basil, kaffir lime leaves, Vietnamese mint, chives and tarragon. You can see a few of them in the basket below alongside one of the last (I feel like I say that every week and yet still they come…) of the cucumbers.
Time to head over to Daphne’s Dandelions and check out what others are picking this week.
I love butter beans. My beans were all pretty terrible this year. Not sure what I did wrong.
I reckon it was the season. too hot and dry perhaps.
The corn is making me drool. It is one of my all time favorite garden veggies.
It tasted pretty darn good too.
It’s all beautiful! Too bad the green beans are under-performers, I hate it when I devote scarce garden space to something that should do better. It’s one thing to take a flyer on some exotic vegetable, but when a basic veggie like green beans doesn’t earn its space is frustrating.
You’re not wrong. At the moment I seem to be having more success with the exotics than some of the basics. Climate change anyone?
I am sorry the green beans didn’t live up to expectations. Try a different variety. There are lots of them out there, and some outperform others.
So true.
I’d say those cucumbers just don’t want to give up! Which is not a bad thing at all.
No its been great – powdery mildew and general unsightliness notwithstanding.
Oh fresh corn is such a treat!! didn’t plant any this year and really missing it….but then again I have all my lovely peppers and eggplants ! I ate a whole cucumber for afternoon tea yesterday instead of an apple (i had picked 4 large that morning) i sliced it added a dash of balsamic vinegar and a dash of olive oil ! yum.( My neighbors are now smiling but saying no thanks to them)
My daughter eats the cucumbers like apples too. I do on some occasions but she has them in her school bag most days.
Wow, those eggplants are great. I’m definitely trying Bonica eggplants next year. My cucumbers are also still setting lots of fruits, which I’m most happy about!
I’m loving the eggplants I have to say. I sowed these seeds at the end of June and I will definitely sow them then again.
I too am drooling over your beautiful ear of corn. Hopefully spring will arrive soon in my part of the world. How long is your growing season?
Our growing season doesn’t actually finish as we grow what you would call Spring crops over our (comparatively mild) winter.