Monday Harvest – 20th Dec 2011

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Liz

We got back to Melbourne on Sunday after 2 weeks camping holiday to find the garden thriving but a little on the wild side.  Thanks to my parents for sorting out a few watering issues (it turns out that it is a good idea to replace batteries in timers for sprinkling systems before going on holidays……).  Today is my day for sorting out the garden but I did a quick harvest upon our return on Sunday.

This is the second last cabbage – I will probably harvest the last one next week.  The beans and the cucumbers are the first of the new season harvest.  I’m particularly pleased with the beans – this is the first time I have grown Majestic Butter – a bush variety which have produced quickly and abundantly as well as tasting good in a pesto and pasta dish.

Most of broccoli plants were in flower and quickly pulled but I did find one which had some decent non flowering heads.  I will be interested to see how many bugs they contain…..

Other than the veg I also harvested some herbs; some mint – photographed below and some basil which I failed to snap in focus in my rush to make pesto for some ravenous pre-schoolers…..

My other major harvest was the rest of my garlic, which was fabulous – at least 50% larger than the ones I pulled 2 weeks ago: which just proves any number of old adages: patience is a virtue, plants thrive on neglect, a watched pot never boils (or bulbs….) etc etc etc.

And finally I did have one other very small harvest which was popped into my mouth quicker than you can say tomato – my first one was a broad ripple currant and very nice it was too.

For other harvests from around the world discover Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Monday Harvest – 5th Dec 2011

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Liz

This is a bit of mini harvest post – brought to you by the wonders of WordPresses scheduled publishing facility.  I am (hopefully enjoying myself) in Sydney at the moment on a camping holiday – unfortunately, and possibly typically, Melbourne’s weather forecast for this week is divine and Sydney’s is pretty average but I am hopeful of enough non weather dependent activities to keep everyone entertained.  It had better be nicer next week when we hit the beach on the NSW south coast though……

I did harvest a fair bit (about 80 heads) of garlic before I left  – a couple that I initially pulled had started to get a bit mouldy – I think this may have been aphid weakening the stalk more than the bulb rotting per se but I’m speculating.  The majority were pretty good though, albeit variable in size.  I do think they would have probably benefited from being left in the ground a little longer though.  Here is a sample:

As well as growing garlic in the ground – I also planted some in polystyrene boxes – I harvested from the last box this week.  I was pretty pleased with the results – decent and pretty uniform bulb size.

I still have about 20 garlic plants growing so it will be very interesting to compare and see if they suffer, or benefit, from the extra time in the ground.

The only other thing I managed to photograph in this – a shortened harvesting week – was this plate of salad ingredients:

In fact I harvested this same combination quite a few times this week.  This particular mix went under some fried haloumi for lunch.

I’m not sure if our campsite has WIFI so I may be very quiet for the next couple of weeks.  If so normal service will be resumed in a fortnight.

In the meantime though there are fabulous harvests to be viewed if you head over to Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Posted in Alliums - Onions, Leeks, Garlic, Spring Harvesting | Tagged | 18 Comments

November – The Wrap Up

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Liz

The garden is looking great at the moment – and I’m enjoying it before the hot weather comes and turns it all a bit brown and unsightly.

  

Fruits are fruiting:  The tamarillo has flowers all over it, some of which are starting to set fruit, the fig has figs forming and my old passionfruit looks like it wants to produce again this year.  All these are very exciting but its the passionfruit I am most pleased about as the one I planted out recently isn’t putting on as much new growth as I would like….

     

They aren’t the only things fruiting.  Tomatoes are being set, beans developed, cucumbers forming and capsicums are growing.  Those capsicums are on a plant that I brought through the winter and as a result I am very proud of it (not that I did much other than not pulling it up out of its pot last May).  Both my capsicums made it through winter (along with all my chillies) – only one is fruiting so far but both have flowers on them.  The slower one was the one I pruned and I have to say the pepper plants that weren’t pruned or were pruned in mid Spring are now the ones that are the most vigorous.

 

 

Elsewhere in the garden the shallots look like they might be starting to form bulbs.

The drying beans are flowering:

But less good is that there’s something wrong with one of my pots of potatoes:

Diagnosis and cure would be gratefully accepted.

And that was November – the attached doc shows what I sowed and planted and when I did it.  November 2011

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Posted in Spring Planting, Summer Harvesting | Tagged | 28 Comments

Harvest Monday – 28th Nov 2011

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Liz

I seem to have excelled at photographing small amounts of things this week.  A bunch a mint for the Lemon & Mint Cordial, a handful of thyme for some stock, a lone Cape Gooseberry that the potato beetles missed and my first basil harvest of the season – lovely in a tomato salad.

 

  

I haven’t only harvested things in handfuls – I did harvest a cabbage which we have been eating in salads ever since.

Some garlic was pulled and hung up to dry but some other heads were eaten – the most noteworthy dish we ate this evening – chorizo & potato with lots of fried garlic ( I’ve just been back to the pan and eaten any garlic bits I missed earlier- just delicious).

  

And what sort of chard grower would I be if i let a week go by without harvesting some:  this week I made chard and ricotta gnocchi, I served it as a side with salmon and thinly sliced it and added it to soup.  I only photographed it twice though.

 

I find that as it gets closer and closer to summer I am eating more and more salad and that means more and more lettuce:

(Note to the eagle eyed: – yes that is paint on the table, yes I should have paid closer attention to what Mr 2 was doing – he was also painting his tongue – and yes I should have cleaned it up before it dried…..oh well we live and learn…)

And finally what salad would be complete without a few spring onions chopped through it.

For other harvests from around the globe venture into the world of Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Posted in Spring Harvesting | Tagged | 27 Comments

Photo-Vember: Navel Gazing

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Liz

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Posted in Fruits | Tagged , | 5 Comments