Chilli’rrific News

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Liz

Hmmm this post title sounded better than it looks……Anyway I’m very excited because all my chilli plants made in through the Melbourne winter.  (For a couple of them it was their second winter.)  YAY!!!!  What is even more exciting is that I also have my first chilli of the season – a Birds Eye.  It may be small but to me it looks perfect.

It interesting that all my plants survived, we didn’t have a particularly cold winter but it didn’t feel particularly warm either.  I think chillies must be more cold tolerant than I thought.  I don’t protect the chillis at all, but then we don’t get frost either.  I found that the ones that are at the best stage now – ie lots of nice new growth and flower buds are all ones that I pruned in July.  Interestingly though I also have 2 capsicums (bell peppers) that seem to have made it through winter and the one of these thats doing better is the one I didn’t prune.  It might just be a co-incidence though….

I’m not sure what the below chilli varieties are.  Never again will I buy a seed mix as I am finding it very irritating not knowing what is what so to speak.  Its bad enough my toddler taking the labels out of things but not knowing in the first place I find even worse…..control freak anyone???  When they fruit I will spend a bit of time trying to identify them.

 

I do know what this next one is though.  In Australia this goes by the name of Scotch Bonnet- it isn’t the same as what I knew of as Scotch Bonnet in the UK.  There I used to buy the chillies from a West Indian grocer and they were a slightly different shape and considerably hotter.  I have yet to find that particular variety in Melbourne though.

My neighbour has a few plants of something very similar to this one growing in his front garden and they have been there the four years we’ve lived here so I think the variety must be reasonably long lived.  My understanding is that there is quite a bit of variation in the longevity of the different chilli varieties but all are perennial (unless a particularly cold climate kills them off that is….).

I have also sown chilli seed – irrationally it is more Hot chilli mix – it will be interesting to compare the yields between the different plants.  At the moment all my chillies are in pots but I’m just thinking about the merits of adding more edibles to my (currently mainly ornamental natives) front garden.  Food for thought – and hot food at that!

Share
Posted in Autumn Harvesting, Chillies, Capsicum & Eggplant, Spring Harvesting, Spring Planting, Summer Harvesting | Tagged | 9 Comments

Monday Harvest – 17th Oct 2011

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Liz

The weather forecast for this week is fabulous so I am a very happy gardener indeed!  Hopefully it will speed along the growth of new and exciting crops.  In the meantime my harvests were more of the same really.

Quite a few carrots – this bunch the kids munched while watching Octonauts.

I pulled out the last of the main bed broccoli plants, this came with it and I honestly can’t remember what happened to it.  I’m thinking that maybe it went into a veggie fortified Nasi Goreng.

These spring onions, celery & coriander certainly did go into the Nasi Goreng.

I harvested quite a bit of beetroot this week.  I really like this variety, its called Cylindrical and is a great shape for cooking with.  The flavour’s fabulous as well.  Here is some of it which was used in a beetroot & apple relish to go with Pork.  In fact I harvested so much Beetroot this week that I also made a Beetroot & Date Chutney that I will post on later in the week.

I harvested quite a lot of herbs this week – most of which went straight into the pot.  However in recognition of all the mint I ate and drank I have this series of shots (my Parsley has gone to seed and I have barely enough for the occasional nibble let along photos….).

First up Illegal Mint, or mint in a toy sprinkler (illegal because such things are banned under our current water restrictions).  Also Girly Mint – self explanatory I think….

 

And finally this last series came about as a result of a post by Shaheen at Allotment to Kitchen .  Not only had she come up with an interesting recipe for Kohlrabi fritters but she had photographed them on album covers!  I know! Very cool!  It did get me thinking that; a.  I should grow some Kohlrabi to try those fritters and b. how much longer albums would come with covers so to speak.  So in honour of Shaheen’s inspiration and what may well be a dying art here we have Mint on Album Covers (well actually these are CD covers but the point remains…).

 

 

If you know what any/all of them are then let me know and please feel free to bask in a self satisfied glow for the rest of the day.

For other fabulous harvests please rock on over to Daphne’s Dandelions.

Share
Posted in Spring Harvesting | Tagged | 13 Comments

Get Ready, Get Set, Almost go – Broad Beans

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Liz

Ever since L at 500m2 posted about shelling broad beans being great entertainment for preschoolers I have been anxiously awaiting my crop.

I sowed my broad beans seeds in mid May this year.  Anytime in Autumn is fine to sow them in Melbourne.  That way they mature over the winter months and should be ready for harvest in about September/October/November.  The seeds germinated within a month and I applied some sulphate of potash to the ground around the seedlings.  About a week later I mulched with pea straw.

By July they looked like this.

And 6 weeks later, in September mine looked like this, you can see that they have started to flower:

By the start of October the plants were huge and pods were just starting to form.  I put some chicken wire around the outside of the clump for support.  Bees have been buzzing around the plants so I am fairly confident of a good harvest.

Last week the pods were this size.

I pinched out the tips of half the plants to see if that would hasten the growth of the pods with excellent results so today I pinched out the remaining tips.  I stir fried the tips last week and this week had them steamed with butter and lemon – they have a slightly pea like taste.

I think I will be able to harvest the first beans in about a week or two, and hopefully the remainder not too late into November.   I have some seedlings anxiously awaiting bed space.  Broad Beans fix nitrogen into the soil so they are probably best followed by leafy greens but I need the space for capsicums & eggplants and hopefully they too will benefit from the rich soil.

Share
Posted in Autumn Planting, Beans, Spring Harvesting | Tagged | 11 Comments

Progress on the Potato Experiments

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Liz

Melbourne’s spring seems to be the perfect climate for growing potatoes (well mine look lovely and healthy anyway!)  Previously I have posted on my Peter Cundall inspired no dig potato bed  which I planted on 5th September and my potatoes in pots which were planted at various times in August.  I thought it was about time for an update.  I am very happy to report that both lots are doing well.  (Yes I am deliberating adopting the kind of language one uses to describe a mother with a new born baby – actually I think I’m more obsessed with my potato plants growth than I was either of my childrens’…..).

No dig bed:

The photo below gives an indication of the size of the plants in my bed as of last week.  All the plants so far are at the East end of the bed.  The potatoes in the west end of the bed have only just pushed through to the surface – I suspect this is because the mulch is deeper at that end rather than anything more sinister.    Note the Pea shoots coming up from the straw layer – I will leave them in for their nitrogen value.

Pot grown potatoes

Today I put the last layer of potting mix into the pot grown potatoes.  They will need a layer of mulch over the top once they have grown a bit bigger.  I am really pleased with how they look.  I am also very glad I stuck labels on the sides of the pots as I know what each pot is.  Unlike in the main bed where stupidly I didn’t map out what I planted where.

These are my pot potatoes:

The first variety is called Cranberry Red and it does have a red tinge to the veins of its leaves making it fairly recognisable (amongst my varieties).  Unfortuantely this is the only plant I have as I only got one tuber from my dad.  Suited to salad making Cranberry Red is described as; having red flesh, an earthy buttery flavour, and a fine moist texture.  I haven’t tried it before so I am looking forward to harvesting these.

I have 3 pots of Kipfler and it is these I am trialling the different pot methods on.  Looking at the plants alone I would struggle to seperate Kipfler from Dutch Cream or Pink Fir Apple.  Kipfler is a great salad potato, yellow skinned and fleshed with a buttery taste.  I grew this variety last year and was really happy with both the flavour and yield.

Dutch Cream is a more all purpose potato being good mashed or roasted, as well as being nice in salads.

Finally Pink Fir Apple is a lovely salad potato (yes I do enjoy potato salad as my varietal choices attest), a bit knobbly it can adopt strange shapes as Mark shows in his Veg Plot.  It is more common in the UK than here but it does seem to be turning up at Farmers Markets and seed potato suppliers in Australia (in Melbourne CERES stocked the seed potatoes, but they had run out when I went last week).  The stems on the plant look a bit more delicate than the Kipflers or Dutch Cream but the foliage on all three is near identical so I think the only way I’m going to find out whats under that straw is at harvest time.  Hopefully it will be bountiful.

Share
Posted in Potatoes | Tagged | 6 Comments

Dill & Walnut Tarator Sauce

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Liz

When I posted about growing dill last week I had a deluge of responses from people who suggested they didn’t eat dill because they didn’t like or eat fish.  Well, actually 2 (very nice) people said that but many more may have been thinking it……So, to please the multitudes of non fish eaters out there I bring you a vegetarian (and a not so vegetarian) use for dill.

I had a lot of trouble photographing this dish as my almost 2 year old son insisted on trying to eat it as I photographed it.  This resulted in a very messy face, a very messy tablecloth, some very well licked cauliflower and the need to edit all kinds of detritus out of the shots.  Still I was very happy he liked the sauce…..

I am very partial to nut sauces, especially as they are often a great vehicle for herbs.  Tarator is a fabulous, pesto like sauce which is made throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans.  It takes different forms in different places and this particular version is more Turkish in inspiration than anything else.  I have added dill to  what is a basic walnut Tarator recipe.  The result is a kind of dill pesto.  When I first tasted this I didn’t think the dill flavour was strong enough but after a second go I quite enjoyed its subtlety.  I enjoyed it both; as a dressing for poached chicken (which then became a sandwich filling) and as a dipping sauce for some Roast Cauliflower (as shown above).

Dill & Walnut Tarator Sauce

  •  1 cup walnuts – chopped
  • 2 cups chopped dill
  • 1 clove garlic – finely chopped
  • 1 large slice sourdough bread (or any country style bread will do) crust removed
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Soak the bread in the water.  Then place all ingredients including the breads soaking water into a food processor.  Process until smooth.  If you want a thinner sauce then add more water or oil.

Note: To roast Cauliflower  – separate it into florets, coat in olive oil and roast in a 180 degree oven for about 30 minutes (or a bit more) depending on the size of the florets.  Season with salt and pepper.

Share
Posted in Herbs & Spices, Recipes | Tagged , | 3 Comments