Of the summer crops the last ones that are still producing large quantities are the peppers. The Bishops Cap chillies have been really prolific and I am regularly picking Purple Beauty and the occasional California Wonder capsicum.
Aside from the capsicums and chillies the majority of my harvests this week were herbs. Lots of parsley, basil and mint. I will get parsley throughout winter, mint through some it but the basil will finish soon so I am making as much use of it as I can before it goes.
Not all of this weeks harvests were plant life. This is a yabbie. For those unfamiliar with them they are a freshwater crustacean, kind of like a large prawn. As kids we used to go yabbying in dams using a bit of bacon on a string as bait. This one though was caught in my parents dam in a yabbie pot (very similar to a cray pot). I was keen to throw him back as there was only one (it’s nearing the end of the season) but Mr 3 insisted that he was cooked and eaten.
Slightly more conventional harvests came in to form of some zucchini flowers. About a month ago I hard pruned my zucchini plant but left a baby branch that I found underneath the main plant. It has since grown and started producing zucchinis although they don’t seem to be pollinating properly so I am picking them at baby stage with the flowers attached.
Todays lunch saw the flowers stuffed with a cheese and herb mix and baked in the oven. Really good.
My final harvest this week was the first of the tamarillos. The tree has about a quarter to a third of the fruits on it compared with last year. I think this is due to a combination of rodents eating some, less fruit set as a the tree took a while to recover from last years cooler winter and perhaps simply that the tree is getting older. Tamarillos have a fairly short productive life.
As always Daphne is hosting Harvest Mondays – head over to check out some great pickings this week.
31 Responses to Monday Harvest – 22nd Apr 2013