Let the eating stage commence!
Half the garlic is now harvested, and the rest I'm going to pull up today.
Tomatoes are coming through thick and fast. I've made one small bottle of Roma tomato sauce, and will be doing one of Red Russian and another of San Marzano today, while we're busy eating the Watermouth and the Green Zebra.
I don't think the capsicums are going to be a raving success this year. We've had a couple of ripe red ones from the plant that survived from last year, but they are TINY, as are the unripe ones on the plant. I never managed to get another seedling to germinate and survive - I have a sturdy looking seedling ready to transplant now but I think it'll be too late to get anything off it.
By yesterday I had four large scallopini, so I stuffed and baked them for dinner. They were okay, problem was that the outside skin once baked is very squeaky on your teeth, so I don't think I'll try that again.
The watermelon is still growing - 3cm since last week, but it does seem to be darkening slightly and the tendrils near it are definitely darkening. If it gets too hot this weekend I think I'll have a nice watermelon snack!
Lastly, the purple sprouting broccoli was very nice, even if it is disappointing to see it turn green when you cook it.
31 January 2009
27 January 2009
This weekend I didn't.....
1. find out what to do with the strawberry runners (in my defence, I did go through my gardening books but none of them mentioned it, and I haven't gotten around to Googling it yet). I must say the plant that's in the ground (rather than in the planters) seems to know what to do all by itself, it's busily sending out runners that are sending up shoots at presumably the right distances apart from each other, and several of them have now rooted. I'm guessing all I need to do at some point in the not-too-distant future is to cut their umbilical cords, so to speak.
2. eat any purple sprouting broccoli. I have just now cut the sprouts around half of it, plus the centre head which was started to go brown and gooey, and will be cooking the sprouts for dinner.
I did look into the scallopini issue, and it seems it depends on exactly what variety it is as to how big you should let it get - anywhere between 2 to 4 inches. The first one is now off the vine. I'm still a little bit puzzled as to the best way to (cut and) cook it, I did find a nice sounding recipe where you slice it horizontally through the middle and fill the centre with a stuffing of carrot/onion/garlic/tomato/whatever you have, then bake it. If I can get a pair of the same size I will probably give that a go.
The tomatoes are ripening up well. We've had a couple of the Watermouth (delicious) and a couple of Russian Red (as good as last year), and today I've gathered 10 Romas (enough to make a small bottle of sauce!).
2. eat any purple sprouting broccoli. I have just now cut the sprouts around half of it, plus the centre head which was started to go brown and gooey, and will be cooking the sprouts for dinner.
I did look into the scallopini issue, and it seems it depends on exactly what variety it is as to how big you should let it get - anywhere between 2 to 4 inches. The first one is now off the vine. I'm still a little bit puzzled as to the best way to (cut and) cook it, I did find a nice sounding recipe where you slice it horizontally through the middle and fill the centre with a stuffing of carrot/onion/garlic/tomato/whatever you have, then bake it. If I can get a pair of the same size I will probably give that a go.
The tomatoes are ripening up well. We've had a couple of the Watermouth (delicious) and a couple of Russian Red (as good as last year), and today I've gathered 10 Romas (enough to make a small bottle of sauce!).
23 January 2009
This weekend I must......
1. ...find out exactly what to do with strawberry runners (although I'm confident this is Not It)
2. ...find a delicious way to serve the purple sprouting broccoli and actually cut the main head (which now looks like it's going to seed) and some of the shoots
3. ...find out how I'm supposed to know when scallopini are ready for eating
2. ...find a delicious way to serve the purple sprouting broccoli and actually cut the main head (which now looks like it's going to seed) and some of the shoots
3. ...find out how I'm supposed to know when scallopini are ready for eating
Watermelon may be ready to pop
Visitors to the garden have been most amused by my one watermelon, but I'll be the one laughing soon as I think it's almost ready for eating. I've just measured it and it's 32.5cm from the stem over the top down to the point where the flower was, the half-circumference-lengthwise if you will (that doesn't sound like a standard measurement but it's the easiest bit to measure!), and I may declare it ready if it doesn't grow by Monday (public holiday, hurrah!). I also think that the tendrils are browning and the underside is more yellow than it was, but this may be my brain playing tricks on me...
A kind reader has suggested that the vine may be in need of some assisted reproductive technology. Once the current buds are flowering I shall manually introduce them to each other and see if they take each other's fancy :)
A kind reader has suggested that the vine may be in need of some assisted reproductive technology. Once the current buds are flowering I shall manually introduce them to each other and see if they take each other's fancy :)
18 January 2009
Tops and bottoms
Apparently the bigger things are above the ground, the bigger they are below the ground. Sadly this means that most of the remaining bulbs in the BBQ row will therefore be tiddly. On a brighter note, it bodes well for the garlic from the organic bulbs!
On the courgette front, my two plants can't seem to find a middle ground between underdeveloped-with-blossom-rot (I didn't see this at all last year), and marrows. No powdery mildew though, although the chances of getting through an Auckland February without it are pretty small. I made a Zucchini loaf today - this uses 1 cup of grated courgette which didn't make much of a dent in the marrow.
I think I can see my first scallopini too!
I've had to remove a few tomatoes with blossom rot, but luckily only a few, and there's an orange tomato on nearly every plant now. This morning the nets went on the plants.
14 January 2009
Harvest indecision
Garlic - this is really confusing. Some references say to harvest once the tops fall over, but others say that's too late and you should harvest when the tops start turning brown. Not much help, especially as I have some that have now fallen over but are still green! I also hope I haven't got the watering regime all wrong, I found one reference that said they need lots of water in the last month, and another that says you shouldn't water at all in the last fortnight before harvest - I've been watering every other day for the last month. The organic bulbs have only just started to fall over the last day or so, while the bulbs from the garden centre have all been lounging around on the soil pretty much all month now:
I think tomorrow I will pull up a few from the other row (which are all pretty much brown tops now) plus a comparison bulb from the green-top row in the picture above, and see what they look like.
Watermelon - still getting bigger every day. I think these should take around 75 days, and the vine was transplanted 2 November, which brings us to 16 January, ie around now. I found these extra indicators of ripeness online - the tendrils on the stem near the melon turn brown, the surface becomes dull, rough and hard, and the surface sitting on the ground turns from green to yellow. Not sure that last one applies as mine is very pale green but lighter on the underside, and has been all along. However the surface is definitely firmer now, so I guess it's getting there. As it looks like this might be the only one I get, I don't want to harvest it too early or too late!
Purple Sprouting Broccoli - I believe the theory here is to harvest the head then leave the rest of the plant - harvesting the head encourages the individual shoots up the side, hence the "sprouting" in the name. No idea when you harvest the head though - at the moment the stalk isn't as tall as what you would see when buying a cut one, but perhaps that's leaving it too late if you want the sprouting to happen. Aaargggh!
Yes, the caterpillars do appear to be well fed, don't they? At least they appear to prefer the leaves to the pretty purple bits.
And lastly, my most exciting discovery of the day:
Roma for the win! You may notice that this is on the plant that has collapsed the most, which is why all the bunches are very close to the ground. I'll be putting some netting around that one tomorrow to keep the birds away from My Precious.
I think tomorrow I will pull up a few from the other row (which are all pretty much brown tops now) plus a comparison bulb from the green-top row in the picture above, and see what they look like.
Watermelon - still getting bigger every day. I think these should take around 75 days, and the vine was transplanted 2 November, which brings us to 16 January, ie around now. I found these extra indicators of ripeness online - the tendrils on the stem near the melon turn brown, the surface becomes dull, rough and hard, and the surface sitting on the ground turns from green to yellow. Not sure that last one applies as mine is very pale green but lighter on the underside, and has been all along. However the surface is definitely firmer now, so I guess it's getting there. As it looks like this might be the only one I get, I don't want to harvest it too early or too late!
Purple Sprouting Broccoli - I believe the theory here is to harvest the head then leave the rest of the plant - harvesting the head encourages the individual shoots up the side, hence the "sprouting" in the name. No idea when you harvest the head though - at the moment the stalk isn't as tall as what you would see when buying a cut one, but perhaps that's leaving it too late if you want the sprouting to happen. Aaargggh!
Yes, the caterpillars do appear to be well fed, don't they? At least they appear to prefer the leaves to the pretty purple bits.
And lastly, my most exciting discovery of the day:
Roma for the win! You may notice that this is on the plant that has collapsed the most, which is why all the bunches are very close to the ground. I'll be putting some netting around that one tomorrow to keep the birds away from My Precious.
08 January 2009
Update on the tomatoes
I spent a bit of time tidying up the tomatoes this morning - I have planted them a smidge too close together, they all seem to have quite vigorous foliage, and they're starting to fall backwards onto the lemon tree despite the sturdy 1.5m metal-core stakes, so the end result is one big tangled mess!
This is of course Not Good - airflow being particularly important given Auckland's humidity - so I have retied each plant to its more-firmly-bashed-in stake and cut off a lot of leaves close to the ground (and accidentally lopped off the main stem of one of the Russian Reds - still, it looked like something had been a-nibbling on the tomatoes of that stem, probably the caterpillars I found scooting their way across the soil beneath).
Variety by variety:
Green Zebra - would be around 1.5m if they would just grow straight up! One of them is growing in a complete Y shape with the fork not far from the gound, so hopefully it can support itself throughout the upcoming ripening weeks. These are very pretty so far.
Next to the pair of Green Zebras are my Russian Reds, a repeat sowing from last year. These seem to be much sturdier than last year but I think this is because I have the laterals under control. They're barely a metre tall though, so quite squat compared to the others. You can see in the photo that something's been nibbling on the leaves.
Next in line is the Watermouth. Now that I have pruned a bit I can actually see these two plants. They are very nice, 1.5m tall, and seem to behave themselves compared to the others.
Rounding the corner are my problem children, the three Romas. These disregard every suggestion I give them as to how they should grow, preferring instead to sag to the ground and get themselves tangled up with each other and their neighbours. They had better pass the taste test when saucing time rolls around or I'll be giving them a miss next year...
Lastly are my two San Marzano. These are tall ones as well, almost 1.5m, and are fruiting in attractive bunches. I can't wait to see if they taste good!
I don't think any of them will make the mid-January harvest time. They're getting to the right size, but no sign of any of them starting to ripen up as yet. I do need to get organised with netting of some kind now though - I'm on to you this year, birds!!
This is of course Not Good - airflow being particularly important given Auckland's humidity - so I have retied each plant to its more-firmly-bashed-in stake and cut off a lot of leaves close to the ground (and accidentally lopped off the main stem of one of the Russian Reds - still, it looked like something had been a-nibbling on the tomatoes of that stem, probably the caterpillars I found scooting their way across the soil beneath).
Variety by variety:
Green Zebra - would be around 1.5m if they would just grow straight up! One of them is growing in a complete Y shape with the fork not far from the gound, so hopefully it can support itself throughout the upcoming ripening weeks. These are very pretty so far.
Next to the pair of Green Zebras are my Russian Reds, a repeat sowing from last year. These seem to be much sturdier than last year but I think this is because I have the laterals under control. They're barely a metre tall though, so quite squat compared to the others. You can see in the photo that something's been nibbling on the leaves.
Next in line is the Watermouth. Now that I have pruned a bit I can actually see these two plants. They are very nice, 1.5m tall, and seem to behave themselves compared to the others.
Rounding the corner are my problem children, the three Romas. These disregard every suggestion I give them as to how they should grow, preferring instead to sag to the ground and get themselves tangled up with each other and their neighbours. They had better pass the taste test when saucing time rolls around or I'll be giving them a miss next year...
Lastly are my two San Marzano. These are tall ones as well, almost 1.5m, and are fruiting in attractive bunches. I can't wait to see if they taste good!
I don't think any of them will make the mid-January harvest time. They're getting to the right size, but no sign of any of them starting to ripen up as yet. I do need to get organised with netting of some kind now though - I'm on to you this year, birds!!
Watermelon progress
The watermelon seems to be doubling in size every couple of days. Pity there's only one watermelon on the vine doing anything! Several of the flowers have a baby watermelon at their base but they don't seem to be developing at all.
Five days ago:
Today:
The vine seems to attract the mosquitoes for some reason - there's always a cloud of midges that fly up if you disturb it, and there's always several sitting on the melon itself.
Five days ago:
Today:
The vine seems to attract the mosquitoes for some reason - there's always a cloud of midges that fly up if you disturb it, and there's always several sitting on the melon itself.
03 January 2009
02 January 2009
Strawberry runners
The Camarosa strawberry plants are now starting to send out runners, so I will have to research as to exactly how to make these into new plants for the coming year. The parent plants are still producing lovely berries but I will try to have more plants next year so we can have quantity as well as quality!
So far I've had two courgettes but another three have rotted on the vine. Not sure why, will have to investigate. It's actually the second plant that wasn't transplanted until mid-October that is doing better than the first, but I think this is because it's more exposed so is getting more sun and bumblebee action than the first.
The garlic is starting to keel over. Interestingly it's just the Printador garlic from the garden centre, not the organic garlic which is still standing proudly. Last week I dug up one of the garlic (where there were two stems wedged next to each other, I figured they wouldn't reach their full potential like that anyway), and there was a definite bulb but it wasn't an impressive size yet.
I've been very slow off the mark with the basil this year. So far only two seedlings have made it into the ground, but there's another two hardened off ready for transplanting today once it stops raining.
Mental note - plant less albino beetroot! It's just not as much fun once it's been bottled. I do have a recipe for beetroot dip which I'm planning to try with the albino beetroot over the next couple of days.
The rocket has shot up and been flowering vigorously for the last 10 days or so. I tried trimming it back, and have removed one plant altogether, but I think it's time for the other two plants to come out.
So far I've had two courgettes but another three have rotted on the vine. Not sure why, will have to investigate. It's actually the second plant that wasn't transplanted until mid-October that is doing better than the first, but I think this is because it's more exposed so is getting more sun and bumblebee action than the first.
The garlic is starting to keel over. Interestingly it's just the Printador garlic from the garden centre, not the organic garlic which is still standing proudly. Last week I dug up one of the garlic (where there were two stems wedged next to each other, I figured they wouldn't reach their full potential like that anyway), and there was a definite bulb but it wasn't an impressive size yet.
I've been very slow off the mark with the basil this year. So far only two seedlings have made it into the ground, but there's another two hardened off ready for transplanting today once it stops raining.
Mental note - plant less albino beetroot! It's just not as much fun once it's been bottled. I do have a recipe for beetroot dip which I'm planning to try with the albino beetroot over the next couple of days.
The rocket has shot up and been flowering vigorously for the last 10 days or so. I tried trimming it back, and have removed one plant altogether, but I think it's time for the other two plants to come out.
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