After a week of absolutely beautiful weather (ie low 20s and sunny all week) it has suddenly got all wintry on us. Today felt cold to me and I’m already regretting not spending all last week in the garden as I still have quite a bit to do to prepare for the winter growing season.
I did find some time for some harvesting though.
This years crop of tamarillos is significantly smaller than last year. I think because the tree is aging and last year’s winter was colder than the few previous but mostly I think it is because small furry things keep eating them. Arrrrgh.
In contrast my chilli harvests continue unabated. In the basket are Bishops Cap, Tobago Seasoning, Birdseye, Cayenne, a Purple Beauty Capsicum and a few Padrons.
More mundane but no less tasty were these Spring Onions which I used to make Nina’s Spring Onion and Potato Bhaji – more of which later in the week.
I harvested a lot of Spring Onions this week. Here are some more along with some parsley and a watermelon radish. These all went into a salad along with some carrots, tomato, pita bread and lots of zaatar.
This next harvest I have yet to use but with the change in weather I think the bigger Sweet Potatoes are almost certainly destined to become soup.
I will save the smaller ones and see if they shoot – hopefully they will give me some slips for next seasons crop.
Finally for this week are some more finger limes. I’ve been really pleased with these first few finger lime harvests. I have a couple more fruit on the plant and then I guess I will have to wait for next year for some more. I am kind of hoping the plant will give me year round crops like lemons can, I guess I will just have to wait and see. So far my favourite way to eat them is on top of avocado. Just delicious.
For more harvests head over to Daphne’s for a virtual feast of veg.
Hmmm, sweet potato soup… sounds lovely to me…
The Onion and Potato Bhaji sounds interesting. Potatoes and onions are a classic combination. German fried potatoes come to mind for me, since they are popular in my area.
German fried potatoes sound fab. We don’t have much northern European food in Australia, I do remember eating sensational potatoes in Austria though.
Looks great. The seasons always seem to creep up on me before I am ready! Sorry about the furry critters getting your harvest before you. It is so frustrating I know!
I have to say I’m really over those rats – I noticed today that all my newly planted potatoes which had all sprouted are now no longer there. Arrgggh!!!
Do you have frost?
Sometime I cut some sweet potato shoots and then put them in water until I get long roots growing.
Then re-pot them and put in a sunny window. Like this will have an early start to grow sweet potato.
Nice size of watermelon radish you have there.
Oh wow your peppers still going strong.
No we don’t get frost. I propagated my sweet potatoes that way too – I found one shooting in the cupboard and broke the shoots off and put them in water. Great way to do it. I am experimenting with putting some of the smaller tuber in dirt in the cold frame and see if they sprout.
We’re trying to grow sweet potatoes for the first time this year but they will stay iin the greenhouse.
Oh good luck – they seem to need quite an extended warm period so hopefully you have a lovely summer and an extended Indian one.
I am amazed at the number of peppers you continue to harvest each week. You either have very prolific plants or a heck of a lot of them! (or maybe both?) The sweet potatoes look delicious. They would be a real frustrating plant to try and grow in my cool and damp area so I don’t even try, but I like to eat them and wish I could sometimes.
I think both – the Bishops Cap I have two plants of but they are really prolific but I also have a lot of other varieties which produce less albeit on much smaller plants. Shame you can’t grow sweet potatoes I find them quite fun.
Oooh, finger lime poppers on avocado, sounds wonderful! I love any citrus with avocado. I definitely have got to find a spot for a finger lime in my garden.
I’m very taken with them I have to say. I think there are some things that you just have to grow because they are fun.
See now you’re going to make soup of your sweet potatoes, and my hubby was making fun of me for putting them in a savory dish (he liked it btw) LOL. Ah, now I’m interested in this soup. But, it’s HOT here already so it would be a long while before soup time.
I posted on the soup a while ago – the link is here. I have never cooked a sweet sweet potato dish – should I?
Another gorgeous harvest of chilies. They are so colorful. What kind of soup do you make with your sweet potatoes?
I usually roast them with some parsnips, onions and carrots plus some cumin seeds, chilli and salt then puree the lot with some stock. Works really well and you could definitely leave out the chilli.
In awe of your very glamorous harvest as usual, it looks so colourful and wonderful! Definitely a tad cool for ripening chillies here in the Cotswolds although our woods are wonderful places for wild garlic at the moment.
Wild garlic sounds divine whereas given the amount of chillies I have at the moment they are definitely a little on the passé side.
Beautiful and varied harvest as always, sweet potato soup sounds yummy!
I got some Bishop’s Cap peppers started, don’t know there’s enough time for them to fruit in our region, keeping my fingers crossed.
They are pretty slow to fruit I find. Mine always fruit earlier in their second year but the seed I sowed last July still hasn’t got many fruit on it let alone ripe fruit.
Spring onion and potato bhaji, yes please!
I know – it was great! Hopefully I will get a window to post on it on Thursday.
Another week, another great looking harvest. I’m beginning to suspect that even when it’s high summer here and winter in Melbourne, your harvests will still be much more interesting than mine!
I think that probably depends on how much you like parsley, we do definitely have a lot of weeks where silver beet and parsley are pretty much it. Come back in July/August and I reckon you’ll feel much better about your produce.
It has nipped off here too – seriously! And yesterday all my firewood got wet as we are still waiting for our wood shed to be finished! Sigh, oh well, the rain was welcome.
Lovely harvest, love the sweet potatoes.
I have started picking my finger limes too – or rather thy come off in my hand when I inspect them. Like the idea of them on avocado , personally I want them with oysters, but that’s unlikely out here!
Wet firewood isn’t fun. I found out my finger limes were ready that way too. Do you know I have an irrational fear of oysters – I’ve never tried one (except cooked but I don’t think that counts), I feel like I should but wherever the opportunity arises I get all scared and chicken out.
Amazing pepper harvest as usual, even if they are getting passé. The finger limes are new to me. Tamarillos are common around here since they are a South American fruit and used in South American and Carribean cuisine. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the limes when I am (rarely) in one of the more upscale produce stores.
Interesting that Tamarillos are common there. They have been grown here for years but very much as a backyard rather than commercial crop.
Your chilli harvest is phenomenol. Is that lime sweet or sour? When shall summer come here and we will have harvest like that?
The limes are pretty sour.