Firstly apologies for my lack of Saturday Spotlight this weekend, I have a lot on at the moment so my posts might be a little sporadic over the next few weeks. Dave at Our Happy Acres did do a spotlight though so head over and read all about Tasty Jade Cucumbers.
Winter has definitely hit Melbourne, bringing with it cold but beautifully clear sunny days and cold (almost) frosty nights. We had frost on our nature strip this morning but my back garden, where I grow my veg, has remained frost free. Nonetheless some of the over wintering chillies are looking pretty sad and sorry for themselves.
The harvests this week look pretty wintry compared with my recent baskets. Some spring onions, garlic chives and, pictured below, one of a few handfuls of calabrese broccoli shoots.
My most noteworthy harvest though came in the form of this lovely celeriac. I have to admit to being pretty proud of it. I have another 3 still growing in the garden but I chose to harvest the biggest one this week. Annoyingly I forgot to weigh it but it was a decent size. I used half of it in a Stephanie Alexander celeriac and lentils dish and the other half I plan to mash with potato later this week.
Otherwise my harvests this week were mostly unphotographed green leaves: silver beet, sorrel, mint and parsley.
I will try to get out the camera more this week and hopefully will have some more things to show next Monday. In the meantime head over to Daphne’s to check out some fabulous produce.
Well done on theceleriac
That is a pretty one. I’ve never grown them and haven’t a clue what they taste like (though I’m guessing celery to an extent). I think I might get my first head of broccoli this week. I can’t wait.
Yeah celery but with a root veg texture.
I see now the full significance of the comment you made about the Celeriac I saw in Budapest! It is certainly hard to understand how commercial growers manage to produce Celeriac as big as footballs!
BTW: your photos all appear to me to be squashed. Any idea why this might be?
Weird re the photos – they are showing fine for me on both my laptop and desk top.
Midsummer’s day here and our weather sounds a lot like yours – except you have the sun! Your celeriac looks good, I tried growing it once and failed miserably – is there a secret to success?
Patience I think…. Not sure as this is my first experience in growing it. I sowed seed in spring, planted it out in summer and am harvesting it in winter so it has been a presence in my garden for what seems like ages.
You have every right to be proud of your celeriac — well done! The combination with lentils sounds delicious, then again I seem to be fixating on lentils lately… Thought of you as we passed our summer solstice, and realized how opposite your season must be now.
I’m glad our days are lengthening again, although warm weather is still a long long way off.
I’ve found celeriac tricky, mine were tiny although tasty so well done. Seems funny after getting used to all your exotic sun-drenched harvests to think you’re coming into winter just as it’s actually getting a bit summery here. My tomatoes are even flowering – but I’m a long way off a glut. The glut is of very English (I think?) gooseberries at the moment.
I associate them with England so even if they aren’t originally I think you can definitely claim them – in much the same way the Italians claim tomatoes.
How cold has it been? I am glad that it is mostly overnight. That is great to hear that the back yard is mainly frost free. I’ve looking out each morning and seeing the top of studio covered in white frost.
Hi Liz,
Got your email. Thanks. Will post it before spring so you will make it on time to grow them.
How long did you grow the celeriac?
I never eaten them.
One of the plants I would like to try growing in the future.
But probably will be best for me to wait wet season. The haze is really bad here at our place at the moment.
I’m quite green with envy (guffaw) at your broccoli. I have one in on my balcony given to me by a co-worker. The leaves have been eaten by caterpillars and as soon as the broccoli “popped” it flowered. Fail!
That is annoying.
I am jealous of your celeriac. I did manage to grow some small ones last year but they took ages. I am not sure I have the patience to try again. What I did discover though is that using a few of the stems and leaves when making chicken stock adds a lovely additional flavour to the stock. My broccoli is just about ready to harvest; I am hoping to have our first meal tomorrow.
These have taken ages too. I put them somewhere out of the way and the basically forgot about them and that technique seems to have worked well.
Great hint about the stalks too.
Your celeriac is very pretty with that hint of purple in the stalks, I’ve never seen that in any of the varieties that I grow. I just potted up my celeriac seedlings so I’ve got a long long way to go before I get to harvest any again. Your broccoli looks so perfect, and free of aphids, unlike mine…
Fortunately the cold is keeping the aphids at bay at the moment.
I have found celeriac to be rather hard to grow successfully – so you should definitely be proud of yourself with that beauty. Been hopping busy around our homestead lately too. Totally understand about blog updates that get put off as I have been doing that quite a lot lately.
I was pretty happy with it. The others are coming along OK too although they are noticeably smaller.
I can’t say that I’ve ever eaten celeriac…I’m guessing it’s delicious if you’re growing it, though! Congrats!
It tastes like celery but with the texture of turnips or potatoes.