Monday Harvest – Mar 4 2012

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Liz

Autumn seems to have brought some much cooler weather with it this year; cooler and wetter.  Apparently Melbourne’s had its wettest start to March in 50 years, which actually probably isn’t saying a great deal as we are only 5 days into it but still….  Despite this wet I have had quite a productive week.  I planted out leeks, spring onions, parsley & coriander.  I moved some mint, Vietnamese Mint and lemon balm into a bed.  I’m hoping they will take it over because nothing else seems to want to grow very well there.  I sowed lots more seed – lettuces, brassicas of all shapes and sizes, more parsley, more coriander and so on.  What I don’t seem to have done much of is harvest stuff.

Tomato production has slowed considerably, I’m getting a few cherries at the moment but not much else.

I harvested a few beans this week, but not many and the cucumbers are having a break as well.  One thing I did harvest lots of was lettuce, but that was mainly because the plants were bolting so I pulled them and harvested the leaves before they went bitter.

The majority of this basket was actually Cos (also known as Romaine) and I used it to make a Chicken Caesar Salad.  The kids were not impressed but I was.

This chard was also harvested when I pulled out the plants.  I have a bed which is a bit too shaded for them so I ripped them out to make way for the mints and lemon balm I mentioned above.  I used the chard to make chard and ricotta cannelloni – the kids were much happier that night.

One thing that does keep on coming are the chillies.  I harvested the first of what should be many Scotch Bonnets (well the seed was called Scotch Bonnet but it isn’t the same as the variety popular in the Caribbean – much milder), as well as more long cayenne amongst others.  I have been so pleased with my chillies this year – overwintering the plants has worked fabulously.

The other thing that is working fabulously is my old passionfruit vine, another 20 or so fruit this week.  I do like how knobbly some of the are – befitting considering the age of their parent.

A Monday Harvest post wouldn’t be the same without some herbs.  This week along with the usual suspects – parsley, mint and basil I harvested a reasonable amount of sage.

The sage was used to make Sage & Pumpkin Bread which was nice, if a little too sagey.  I like sage but I do think you can overdo it.  What I find it hard to overdo though is figs.  This was the first one from the branches in my garden (from my neighbours tree), and it tasted delicious.

To see what others picked this week click on the link: Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Posted in Autumn Harvesting, Summer Harvesting | Tagged | 15 Comments

February – The Wrap Up

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Liz

Summer’s over for another year – in Australia our seasons are aligned with calendar months, so officially summer finished at the end of February.  And weather-wise it does seemed to have finished, at least for the time being.  The last days of February were wet and so was the first of March, and the forecasts suggest there’s more to come.  Hopefully the garden will enjoy it.  I’m pretty sure my newly planted cucumbers will.  

My main cucumber plants which have been keeping me supplied all summer have slowed production considerably and I’m hoping that these will give me a late season crop.  I am growing them in a Veggie Cage which came from the same place as the Tomato Rings.  I’ll reserve judgement on the merits of the cage until the cucumbers get a bit bigger.

Whilst the cucumbers are finishing the figs are just starting.  This tree isn’t technically mine, some branches from my neighbours tree have grown under the fence.  But I’m claiming the figs, those that aren’t eaten by whatever has been nibbling at this one anyway.  I have to say whatever it is at least has table manners, unlike my son who will take a few bites out of a sandwich then move onto the next one, this creature keeps coming back to this particular fig rather than sampling the others on the tree. 

 

On the subject of fruit my new passionfruit vine seems to be establishing itself reasonably well.  My old vine is having what must be its last productive year so I am doing everything I can to encourage growth from its replacement.  I don’t imagine I’ll get fruit from it next year but I am hopeful of some the year after.

The dwarf citrus are also looking good (if you ignore the citrus leaf miner that is).  The orange – a Washington Navel has fruit on it, as does the Tahitian Lime and the Meyer Lemon.

What is looking less happy though is the garlic chives which, unfortunately, are covered with Black Aphids and not a ladybird in sight.

I just can’t seem to get rid on these annoying little pests.

Having had a reasonably warm summer has meant that the tropical plants are looking pretty happy.  Both the Turmeric and the ginger are putting up lots of shoots and are hopefully developing some lovely rhizomes beneath them.

The other crop which I am growing outside its normal comfort zone is sweet potato and again it looks pretty happy the vines are everywhere -even growing up the fence.

 And finally the tomatoes – I pulled out the Broad Ripple Currant, Baby Red Pear, Sweet 100 Hybrid & one of the Tommy Toes during the course of the month.  I also pruned all the remaining plants.  The Rouge de Marmande has come back well and is starting to set fruit again.

Of the other remaining tomatoes the Black Cherry is still going well, it was one of the last ones planted and as such is behind the others not a bad thing given the other cherries are not producing at the moment.

Finally, and without an accompanying photo, I planted some of my winter crops during February.  I planted up a side bed with cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, Tuscan Kale, radicchio & some chard.  I’m not quite sure whether the bed will get enough sun for them to produce well but if I don’t try I’ll never know.

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Posted in Planning, Summer Planting | Tagged | 22 Comments

Playing with Fire

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Liz

In previous years I have made my chilli paste (or Sambal Oelek if you prefer the Indonesian name commonly used in Australia) by simply throwing chilli and salt into the food processor and then storing the resulting mix in the fridge. 

However this year I have been trying to do things a little differently.  Whilst the paste I used to make kept pretty well and was great to use in cooking, it was a little too harsh to add at the table which is where I now add chilli in deference to the kids non chilli loving palates. 

I felt I needed to find a recipe which cooked the chillies as part of the process of making the paste.  I found one on Best Recipes and adapted it a little as I was concerned that using just chillies would make it too hot.

For my first batch I used:

  • 200g chillies and capsicums (I used about 150g chillies and 50g capsicum)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tblspn vinegar (I used apple cider)
  • 1 tblspn oil

Place the water and the chillies into a saucepan.  Bring to the boil.  Cook until the water has almost evaporated.  Cool slightly.  Place into a food processor with the remaining ingredients.  Whizz until you have a paste.  Place into sterilised jars, seal and store.

The jar on the left is made using this recipe.  It tasted good, you couldn’t taste the vinegar or the sugar but both will help preserve the chillies.  I was a little concerned that the oil will cause it to go bad more quickly so for the next batch I left it out.  I also felt that although the heat in the first jar was adequate I didn’t think a little extra heat would matter too much so the next batch I made with just chillies.  I also doubled the amount of salt to help with preservation.   This is the recipe for the second batch, pictured on the right:

Sambal Oelek

  • 200g chillies (a mixture of very hot, hot & mild varieties)
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tblspn vinegar (I used apple cider)

Place the water and the chillies into a saucepan.  Bring to the boil.  Cook until the water has almost evaporated.  Cool slightly.  Place into a food processor with the remaining ingredients.  Whizz until you have a paste.  Place into sterilised jars, seal and store.

The second batch is great, hot but not unbearably so, and the cooking of the chillies means its not nearly as harsh as non cooked versions.  I don’t imagine I’ll have any problems finishing my jars before they go bad.

To see how others use their harvest click onto the Gardener of Eden.

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Posted in Chillies, Capsicum & Eggplant, Recipes | Tagged , , | 28 Comments

Top 5: Things to tell new gardeners.

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Liz

A few weeks, or was it months – time seems to drift past at the moment – Mark, of Mark’s Veg Plot posted a list of tips for new gardeners.  Here are mine:

1. Things don’t always go as planned.  In fact I still have to tell myself this, regularly.  Things die, pests eat your fruit, toddlers tip out your bean seedlings, blackbirds dig up your plants.  You can’t control everything and there’s not always a solution for everything.  Find me a method of controlling rodents which doesn’t involve cats or poison and works when traps fail and I suspect you’ll be doing well.

Sometimes you just have to accept that you will have some losses and that it’s all part of the learning curve.  The trick is to focus on all that does go right and not the couple of failures you will inevitably have each season.

2. The growing medium is key.  Other than climate, the quality of your soil is usually the biggest determining factor on the success or failure of your crops (provided you remember to water them and protect them from pests).  All those books, gardening shows, blog posts etc are right. Look after your soil and it will look after your crops.  Looking after your soil means incorporating lots and lots of organic matter into it.  Things like well rotted down manure, straw and compost are fabulous for improving soil.  The more the better in my experience.  My most productive bed at the moment is one which had a potato crop in it.  The potatoes were covered with about 20cm of pea straw and then the straw was covered with a thick layer (about 5cm) of manure (cow & chook).  I harvested the potatoes, dug in the manure and straw and then planted again – the plants (lettuce, beet root, silverbeet & celery) are looking fabulous, and I’m putting it down to all the organic matter that went into that soil.

3. Tomatoes are both the best and worst plants to grow.  If there is one plant that justifies its space in the garden it’s the tomato.  They taste much better than ones you buy elsewhere (especially when just picked and warm from the sun).  They can be used in a huge variety of dishes and it is far cheaper to grow them than buy them.  Of course all this fabulousness doesn’t necessarily come in an easy to grow package.  There are a lot of diseases that tomatoes can succumb too.  They can be quite temperamental about climate, not too hot, not too cold.  They are fussy about how much water they get and finally when they start to die back they look pretty unattractive in the garden.  But in the end when you get to bite into a warm perfectly ripe Rouge de Marmande it makes it all worth it, just don’t expect getting there to be trouble free.

4. Read the seed packet but not too closely.  Whenever you buy seeds they come with a handy set of instructions on the packet.  Definitely read them but that doesn’t mean you should always follow them to the letter.  Different things do well in different gardens, boundaries can be pushed and the climate is getting warmer after all.  Experimenting in the garden can be a lot of fun.  Try sowing the tomatoes early and the celery late – the worst thing that can happen is a few wasted seeds and the best is that you get an early or late crop of something you really like eating.  The instructions are usually written to try and get the best out of that individual plant, not get the best out of your garden.  For instance instructions on plant spacing will allow for the plant to reach maximum size and then some, but you might be quite happy for it to reach 3/4 size if it means you can also plant 3 other things with them in the bed.

5. Have fun.  Gardening shouldn’t be a chore, and if its becoming one work out which aspects of it you resent and change them.  If you hate watering get a drip system.  If you get frustrated by slow germination times then buy seedlings.  If you don’t enjoy eating Kohlrabi then don’t grow it.  Its your garden, your time, enjoy it.

For a fabulous food related post: Top 5 Daggy Dinners head over to The New Goodlife, good fun!

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Posted in Planning, Top 5 | 11 Comments

Monday Harvest – 27th Feb

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Liz

It has been hot here for the last few days (temps in the high 30sC/high 90sF), the heat broke a bit today with thunderstorms and rain but really high humidity.  We’ve had a reasonable amount of rain but I am hopeful of a bit more to fill the water tank and generally give the garden a bit of relief.  The forecast for this week is a lot milder which I think the garden will appreciate it has been looking a bit sad for the last few days.  The celery and raddichio in particular look very scorched.  However none of this has stopped the harvests and I had another good week.  It has been weeks since I bought any veg other than carrots and onions, so I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself.

There – my first eggplant, a bonica – a bit on the small side but I was bored of waiting….for all my impatience I haven’t eaten it yet – silly eh.  Along with the eggplant are black cherry tomatoes, long cayenne chillies and a mixture of beans.  I’m getting more black cherry tomatoes than anything else at the moment, but I did harvest some Purple Russians, a Black Krim and some Tommy Toes.

Whilst I’m on the subject of tomatoes the plants seem to be responding well to my pruning – the Rouge de Marmande is already setting fruit on its new growth.

The cucumbers are finally slowing down a little, but I planted two new plants a few weeks ago which hopefully will start producing soon.  I will be interested to see how long I can keep cucumbers going for.

As I mentioned in my Summer of Salads post, my lettuces are doing fabulously, as are my mints, Basil and Thai Basil – this basket went into the Calamari salad.  While I’m on the topic I simply can’t get over how many people don’t like/eat calamari.  I can’t think the last time I went to a restaurant here without calamari on the menu in some form or other and I think I probably presumed the whole world loved calamari.  Evidently not…perhaps its a particularly Australian obsession, we do like weird stuff like Vegemite after all.

On the subject of leaves I did eat quite a lot of parsley this week, both in Tabouleh and in Spaghetti Puttanesca, which I have convinced the kids is their favourite pasta dish too.  I make mine with heaps of parsley and it is just delicious.

The other noteworthy harvest was of course more Passionfruit.  I think next week will be the last week I get to write about them as they’re nearly done but I have been so pleased with getting anything at all off what is a very old vine.

I suspect these are headed for the freezer because if I make another sweet dish I’m going to have to embark on one of L’s diets and I’m really not at my best when hungry.  In all seriousness though she has posted some great low fat recipes in the past week so perhaps I could eat them plus some passionfruit icing filled biscuits and some sort of equilibrium would be maintained.

For more harvests get yourself on over to Daphne’s Dandelions for edible inspiration.

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Posted in Summer Harvesting | Tagged | 35 Comments