Monday, August 8, 2011

End Winter Month Harvest Monday

We entered end winter season here in Adelaide already. We have to quickly harvest some vegetables now to prevent it from flower as spring comes and the weather warms. Biennial plants like carrots or onions from last warm season will start to produce flowers. We harvested Afghanistan carrots last week and select a few big plants to produce flower and seeds. Italian sprouting broccoli plants produces many side-shoots to harvest. Our first batch snow peas plants look sickly but still managed to produce some for the kitchen. Pak choi were also harvested before it starts to bolt.
We sowed too many rainbow chard seeds last fall. Maybe because it was our first time at growing them and got too excited. Well I think 4 plants of rainbow chards should be enough for us but someone planted at least 10 plants. Shared those rainbow chard stems with my neighbour and friends. Some chillies and capsicum were harvested. Komatsuna were about to bolt so we had to harvest them. 
We had several days of 20 degree Celsius last week which made some tomatoes from self-sowed tomato plants to turn red. Some of our green tatsoi were badly munched by pest and beginning to show the sign to bolt.
We harvested our first home-grown Florence fennel last weekend. Beetroots were harvested for Rayyan since he likes the sweetness of beetroot.
Usually, we harvested our first cauliflower every year in the early month of August. But this year, I transplanted cauliflower seedlings late. So we have not harvested any cauliflower yet. Hopefully not too late for the plants to mature before the weather becomes too warm for it to produce curd.

23 comments:

kitsapFG said...

Gorgeous end of winter harvest! The beet roots are particularly nice looking as well as the broccoli. You are right about swiss chard, it is a very productive plant and it does not take many to keep a family supplied with lots of good eating.

Unknown said...

I agree with kitsapFG - what a beautiful winter harvest! I always love looking at how vibrant all your veggies look!

Jody said...

The fennel looks delicious. Please tell us what you did with it. You have a very beautiful harvest as usual.

Thomas said...

Great harvest! Your broccoli looks amazing. I just planted many of our fall greens. I can't believe our summer is coming to a close already.

tina said...

Spring already is coming? Awesome. That chard sure does look good.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

MKG dear,
Our home garden is progressing...with some hiccups (more munching incidents! and someone peed on Mama's oregano and it died!).... We're faring better at the orphanage. No marauding cats there. purrrr *giggles*

Makarimi Abdullah said...

Great harvest ;) More than enough for 1 family I think.

takaeko said...

Good harvest! Planting in containers looks successful! I wanna try your method in my home. You are having warm temperature as spring is coming while I'm in the mid of hot summer.

Barbie~ said...

Beautiful. Your carrots look like clubs!

Sue Garrett said...

20 degrees in winter - we often don't reach that in summer.

Your endless harvesting amazes me.

Liz - suburban tomato said...

Great Harvest - What do you think of the flavour of the purple carrots? I keep forgetting to sow my fennel seeds - yours looks great!

rainfield61 said...

I can smell organic.

Malar said...

Good harvest! Hope you have some cauliflowers to harvest soon!
What do you cook with fennel?

veggiegobbler said...

Fantastic!
We had great weather here in Melbourne last week too. But today it's back to miserable. I'm not so sure spring's on the way.

Kelli said...

A fab harvest, very colourful! I particurly like seeing your fennel as this on on my list to grow next year. I'm always interested to see your container gardening so I enjoyed your last post. Always interesting! P.S. Hard to believe your winter is ending already! Kelli

Daphne Gould said...

What a wonderful harvest. I hope your cauliflower head up for you soon.

Ottawa Gardener said...

I wish my winter harvest looked like an edible rainbow. Beautiful. Love the carrots with their many legs too!

michelle said...

Such a lovely colorful end of winter harvest. Chard is a wonderfully productive vegetable. I limit myself to four plants each year and usually lose at least one of them to the gophers and still end up with more than enough.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

KitsapFG~Swiss Chard and beetroot are new members in our garden. Glad that we decided to try growing them.

Allison~Thank you we were surprised ourselves this winter we had some other harvest which is not green.

Jody~I still have no idea what to do with the fennel. But for us fennel always good with fish soup.

Thomas~Good Luck with your fall greens.

Tina~Can't believe it ourselves that spring is next month!

Cat-from-Sydney~Lucky you guys have more space to grow at the balcony and at the orphanage.

Orchid de dangau~ Enough to share with neighbours and friends.

Takaeko~You will be planning to sow fall crops now I reckon.

Barbie~Hahaha...they do eh.

Sue~Last week was 20 degrees. But this week we drop to 10 degrees.

Liz~Those purple carrots are very sweet and creamy in soup or korma. They are best that way. I wouldn't want to fry it.

Rainfield61~You must seen holes that were made by small critters on our veggies.

Malar~Thanks Malar, I do hope our cauliflower will do well. You can stir-fry them or toss it into fish soup.

Veggiegobbler~yup this week keep on pouring. Where did the sun go?

Kelli~I wasn't sure whether fennel will do very well at our garden. Surprisingly it was much easier to grow compare to brassica.

Daphne~Thanks I really hope so. We have not eaten any cauliflower this year.

Ottawa gardener~I consider those many legs a bonus:).

Michelle~I agree four is enough :).

lena said...

i heard about those rainbow chards, normally how do you eat them? can they be eaten raw?

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Lena~ I usually cook them with cheese and cream or just stir-fry rainbow chards or with fried rice. Beet root young tops or thinnings which is related to rainbow chard can be eaten raw and toss in salad.

Cassy said...

That bountiful harvest of various veggies.

Cassy from Guitar Made Easy

lena said...

thanks, now i know chards and beetroot belong to the same family.