July Flowers

Despite the cold, July can be a colourful month as evidenced by the photos here. A variety of edible and non-edible plants are in boom.

Alyssum

Borage

Broccoli

Camellia

German Chamomile

Daisy

Tree Marigold (Tagetes lemmonii)

Nasturtium

Peas (variety Greenfeast)

Pineapple Sage

California Poppy

Rosemary

Late Autumn in the Yard

It's getting quite cold for tomatoes at this time of year but there are still some on the vine and ripening (albeit very slowly):

Tomatoes

Joe's Long Cayenne chillies ripening:

Joe's Long Cayenne

 A tasty looking purple cauliflower almost ready for harvest:

A newly planted avocado tree in the place where a camellia tree was previously growing. Apparently they like similar conditions. This variety (Wurtz) is one of the smaller growing varieties (around 3m high):

Avocado (variety Wurtz)

Leeks looking good:

Leek

This garlic was planted one month ago. About six different varieties. It should be ready for harvest around December. Protected by netting - to prevent birds from scratching around - which I can probably take off soon:

Garlic (range of early to late varieties)

And some peas (variety Greenfeast). I've used jute string between wooden stakes for them to climb:

Peas (variety Greenfeast)

Monday Harvest – 12th March 2012

Lots of harvesting this week. Last week we had one bowl of tomatoes and this week three bowls (only two shown in the photo). The plants still have plenty of fruit ripening so there could be a couple of more weeks of harvesting ahead.

Tomatoes (varieties Tommy Toe and Amish Paste)

The capsicums are turning red. We have a typical shaped capsicum and a longer shaped Cubanelle.

Capsicum

Capsicum (variety Cubanelle)

The passionfruit vine dropped a lot of fruit this week. I found all these on the concrete:

Passionfruit

Some celery stalks. Rather than harvesting the whole plant, I just picked a few stalks:

Celery

There were a few root crops harvested this week. Some colourful carrots:

Beetroot:

And my favourite, delightfully sweet tasting parsnips:

Parsnip (variety Hollow Crown)

And the last of the onion bed:

Onion (variety Creamgold)

Monday Harvest – 5th March 2012

This week heralds the arrival of the first bulk tomato harvest:

Tomatoes

Mostly the variety is Tommy Toe but there are a couple of Amish Paste in there too. This lot was turned into a pasta sauce.

Some sweet tasting capsicums, picked green for the pasta sauce recipe but the rest on the plant will be left to ripen to red:

Capsicum (variety Cubanelle)

This is what happens when the chickens decide to lay in a new location and we eventually find a bunch of eggs:

Eggs

This overflowing bowl of thyme, harvested from a single plant, is destined for air drying:

Thyme

Sunflowers Make Me Happy

Sunflower (variety Giant Russian)

Monday Harvest – 27th Feb 2012

This update covers harvests over the last couple of weeks.

This is an interesting variety of rockmelon called Minnesota Midget. The fruit are much smaller than regular rockmelons but taste the same:

A pair of Minnesota Midgets

Minnesota Midget, cut in half

Some colourful carrots:

In additional to the Kipfler potatoes I grew a variety called Pink Eye. The overall yield and size of each potato is less than I was expecting. They are tasty though, so I'll try growing in a sunnier location next time.

Pink Eye potatoes

As part of a mixed variety of capsicums the first variety to be harvested was a deep chocolate coloured capsicum. They are not the sweetest variety though, so I'll avoid them in the future.

Capsicums, Zucchini, Beans

The first of the onions planted out on 11th November (variety Creamgold):

Onion Creamgold

Freezing your ears off

There's only so much corn you can eat at this time of year so it's time to preserve some for later.

First harvest some ears:

Make yourself a pile of husks:

Add the cobs to a pot of boiling water and boil for six minutes:

Cool in ice water for a few minutes:

Cut off the kernels with a knife:

Finally bag for freezing: