I seem to have coloured coded my first few photos this week. Here we have the reds – still more chillies, a few cherry tomatoes from my Tiny Tim plant which is still going strong in a pot and some tamarillos.
Next the greens (or more accurately a single green) – I have been harvesting a fair bit of basil lately and making pesto for the freezer. My plants are still growing but we’ve probably only got a few more weeks left before the weather gets a bit colder and they start looking very sad and sorry for themselves.
Now for the oranges – the colour not the fruit (I do have some fruit developing but they are small and very green at the moment). I have really enjoyed growing Sweet Potatoes this year – I will write a separate post about it soon – but this harvest of a kg worth came from one of the plants which I removed after layering some of its stems. I am hoping the layered segments will get through the winter and start growing again in Spring.
I have yet to cook these but the weather is screaming soup at me so I suspect that’s what they will become.
These next few bits look a little pathetic. I dug a small Kipfler potato plant from my side bed and found these few spuds – summer potato plantings really don’t seem to be worth the trouble here. I have been harvesting a handful of beans every few days – this looks like one of the smaller harvests but it is the only one that made it in front of the camera. For the record they were Jade and I ate them stir fried.
This final harvest isn’t something I grew myself, I found them on the footpath as I walked to the shops, in fact I’ve found a few of these everyday I’ve walked down my road in the last couple of weeks. What are they? They are feijoas. Feijoas, for those unfamiliar with them, are a South American fruit which are particularly popular in New Zealand and to a lesser extent here in Australia. Interestingly when I lived in London I got a weekly Fruit box from Abel & Cole and feijoas featured in that on at least one occasion, so I presume that they must be grown in or near the UK as well. The plants are often grown here as hedging but the fruit is edible as well. I really like them they taste a bit like a guava, a slightly perfumey taste with a lightly acidic feel. If you don’t like guava’s you probably wont like feijoas either, but if you do I think they are definitely worth a try if you can find them.
It will be interesting to see how many more weeks I’ll be able to include colours other than green in my harvest – a few at least but come June it may become more and more difficult (at least until the cauliflowers are ready).
For more vegetable ogling head over to Daphnes Dandelions.
I don’t think feijoas are grown in the UK anywhere. The only place I have seen them is in the south of France. Most of the Abel and Cole stuff is locally produced, but they do include plenty of stuff from abroad – e.g. avocadoes, bananas etc.
Are the ones in your photo ripe, or do they turn colour on ripening?
They are a little bit underripe but almost there. They change colour slightly browning a little but they are still pretty green even when ripe. They do soften a little to touch though. I think the plants are frost hardy so perhaps you could become the UK’s first feijoa grower Mark.
Probably imported from far away – must admit I’ve never spotted any here
I’m not so sure – apparently they can withstand temps down to -10C so they might have been UK grown….the Channel islands perhaps?
I have a young Feijoa (or Pineapple Guava) that I planted this year. I’ve got an even smaller Strawberry one, as well. I have no idea if they will be successful but I bought them locally (and I naively think that if it’s sold locally, it will grow locally but sadly that’s not always the case) so I live in hope that they will do something, eventually! I garden in the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland.
Ah now I remember where you garden – thanks for the prompt. They seem to do really well in Melbourne. A friend of mine gardens in Geelong though and hers have refused to fruit but I understand that some varieties are like that. I think they are pretty hardy so climate wise you shouldn’t have a problem but some varieties are a little tempermental apparently. Not having grown one though i have no idea how long you have to wait for them to get their act together. I ate a strawberry guava for the first time recently. I like them too, I would love to plant both a Feijoa and a strawberry guava but I am rapidly running out of space.
Beautiful harvest! I’ve never had feijoas but I do like guavas, so I’d probably enjoy them. I also just remembered that I forgot to start my Tiny Tim seeds. 🙁
Glad I could be of assistance.
Your harvest photos are just beautiful! I am dying for some fresh basil! And those sweet potatos look wonderful.
Thankyou I appreciate the feedback.
I’ve never heard of feijoas before, interesting that you had them in the UK. I wouldn’t say that I’m very adventurous really when it comes to food so there’s lots of things I’ve never tasted.
I will happily eat any kind of fruit or vegetable but when it comes to animal products I get a lot more conservative about what I will put in my mouth so I can sympathise.
Never heard of feijoas before – learn something new every day!
Your harvest is quite colorful this week, and very tasty looking too. 😀
I have a a friend from New Zealand who has introduced me to a lot of these things, They seem to grow a lot of South American fruits in New Zealand for some reason.
Those sweet potatoes look fantastic, i can see them in soup with a bit of cumin and garlic, Yum ! I dug up my capsicums today(they have a couple of tiny fruits) and are going to try to overwinter them,(see you have inspired me) also gave them a good soak with worm juice. Any special hints to keep them alive over winter?
I grew mine in pots and left them in the same pots to overwinter and that worked. Not sure how they will go having been moved but I will be interested to find out.
I’m going to have to check into fejoi, love the sweet potatoes, that’s another thing I’m hoping will be decently successful here this year, we shall see.
I think feijoa are worth a look – a lot of people grow them for the plants sake alone – which I guess is why I am able to find fruit on the footpath.
I’ve been avoiding pasta lately and thus none of my lovely basil has ended up on my plate (except minced in this dish or that). Thanks for reminding me that I can make the pesto and freeze it! I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!
I’ve only started freezing it myself relatively recently but it does seem to work well.
The feijoas sound interesting. I couldn’t grow them here as it gets to -20C. There are so many plants I wish I could grow, but can’t due to the weather. I’m just hoping the figs can produce here as they are barely hardy and last year they died back to the ground.
That will be interesting to see how the figs do. -20C is ridiculously cold by the way, here we think its cold if the temperature drops below 10.
You have introduced me to yet another fruit.. feijoas.. I need to start a list of exotic fruits to try. Love your color coded harvest! I was just rummaging through my freezer and saw quiet a bit of pesto from last year.. need to work on that before the new basil plants need harvesting.
I find ‘lost’ things in my freezer all the time – and even more in my fridge and pantry – I have been making a concerted effort sot try and use up food but then I buy more and….I think you know the rest.
I love guavas so I would definitely want to try these feijoas if I get here. So what are you making with sweet potatoes?
I think soup, I really like sweet potato and parsnip soup – and I know dad has some parsnips ready and I’m visiting tomorrow.
Lovely reds and sweet potatoes, I was given a feijoa plant last year, unfortunately it didn’t make it through the winter here ><"
Shame about the feijoa. I think I will have to get myself one – there are only so many you can collect off the footpath…
Your sweet potatoes look wonderful! I think I may have missed the opportunity to grow some of my own this year. Ah well…there’s always next year! Enjoy a couple of bites for me, will you? 😉
I love that about gardening – your absolutely right there is always next year.
Oooh, look at your sweet potatoes!
I know – I feel like a proud parent….
Until the rhubarb matures, all we have are the greens… thanks for the treat of color!
Oh I have just received some feijoas but have not bite onto it yet. Your sweet potatoes harvest is very good. Well done! I am happy to hear you enjoy growing them.
I have to say growing sweet potatoes has been a lot of fun – I tend to like growing tubers best – the excitement of the harvest and all that.