More harvesting

It's almost getting boring, more tomatoes and more beans, as well as red onions and large robust beetroots. Planted 10 heritage Provencal pea seeds to hopefully get a crop during autumn, we will see, though we did get quite a reasonable bunch from the last sowing during late winter/early spring last year.

Here is the trophy show off photo for this weekend then

An abundance

of everything, especially the tomatoes, they continue to ripen nicely, here's the state of the plants at the moment, almost leafless

another harvest photo, they're all starting to look the same, there was also a large sack of yellow beans. :)

The aubergine plants are now up to my chin and are setting fruit on every flower, I have been 'helping' by
touching all the flowers with my fingertips to cross pollinate them. I have no idea if it really does any good or not, but I like the theory. They do seem to get pretty aphidy so I've had to give them a spray or two of pyrethrum. I have also started removing some of the laterals as the plants will end up too large, also I wonder whether any new fruit will ripen before this summer is over. Though once the flower sets they fatten up pretty quickly, and they say it's best to harvest them when they are quite small and unripe.

The fennel bulbs are looking lovely, grown from seed

and we have one shy pumpkin hiding amongst the ferns

Feijoas are ripening, gave them a dose of citrus fertilizer, sposed to be just the ticket. Hopefully we will have nice large ones.

March already!

Late summer, a summer that never really got off the ground. Seems especially mean as the long term forecast was for a long hot summer, so much for predicting anything.

The tomato plants keep ripening the fruit but they look terrible, skeletons with orange decorations, this is after I had removed most of the ripe fruit and the bad leaves

Great harvest today, had to uproot a few strategic beetroot to make way for 6 new silverbeet seedlings, all ready for shepherd's pies in the near future. Sowed seeds of Florence fennel, white onions and white forget me nots.

Love the subtle colours of the old hydrangeas

Studies of an eggplant

Picked the first one today, still small compared to the perfect ones at the vege market, but a nice firm one none the less, and fully deserving a photo or two...

Secret code was inscribed on one side, probably the answer to everything

I do like the spiky cap, looks interesting in black & white

Very summer

Total blue dome skies and burning rays the moment you were in the sun, definitely had to plan the gardening around the shady bits.
Planted another 53 Cardiff leek seedlings, all from one punnet. Put in some zucchini seeds, they say there is time for a whole new generation of new plants, in theory not as diseasy as the old ones.
The tomatoes are producing copious amounts of perfect fruit, it will be hard work making them all into sauces and chutneys.

The plants are looking fairly naked, the leaves are showing lots of yellowing so I have been pretty ruthless in removing them. The fruit don't seem to mind and are ripening well

Ugly but effective I guess.

Planted a six pack of tender stems broccoli, the type you can keep harvesting. Had to build a butterfly net cage around the though to give then a chance.

the umbrella is shielding them from the ravishes of the midday sun

Happy vegetables are good vegetables!