Harvest Monday

My first Harvest Monday for the New Year !! I hope to be a bit more organised taking photos and joining with fellow gardener's at .Daphne's sharing what's been picked, cooked or preserved from my veggie plot.

The start to the year has been very hot and so far the plants in the plot are coping, plenty of mulch and shade covers over some of the plants, this weeks temps will be up around 43C but its the wind which of course does the most damage.
Eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, cucumber and pumpkins are all loving the heat and growing each day thanks to the great rainfall we had early in Spring and a dam full of water. If it wasn't for our dam of water they would be turning up their toes as we haven't had any of our Summer rain yet.......................here's hoping !!!

                                                                            

This weeks harvest included a mini cabbage
                                                 8 Eggs
                                                 Dill, Basil and Chives
                                                 6 small Tomatoes.
                                                                                   

Some of the above  harvest went into last nights savoury tart.

And Drum Roll..............................my first trombone zucchini !!!!!!!!! picked small around 30cm.

My last Harvest wasn't edible but I though I'd add it for interest.........................
                                                                             

Wonderful native perennial grass called Kangaroo Grass, it has amazing bronze seed heads which look great moving in the breeze.......................unfortunately due to the fire risk we have slash this grass down, but before we did that I cut off heaps of the seed heads for transplanting into new areas which have been overgrazed with stock over the years. It also looks good mass planted in garden beds or under a single  Gum tree.

Happy Gardening!

A time of reflection..............

The presents have been opened, the Xmas dinner eaten, friends and family off to their particular holiday and now its time to relax...........I'm lounging on our veranda enjoying the sounds of summer, magpies warbling, a cool breeze is blowing through the trees , I can hardly keep awake !!
Over the last couple of months lots of photos have been taken for the many posts that were planned but somehow they never came to be, there were plenty of harvests from the plot and tasty meals, pickles and jams made...............

                                  The first strawberries for the season...............so sweet !
                                                                               
                                                                                
And the first tomatoes too! along with fresh basil and this season's garlic........what could be better?
                                                                               

                 Must admit the tomatoes are a little small but were enough to make a slice of bruschetta for afternoon tea. !     

 

 

What I'm really excited about this Summer is my Zucchini Tromboncino !!!!!! I planted the seeds early November under the cold frame, once the plant had a few leaves I took the cold frame off then placed a plastic sleeve around the plant creating a mini hot house........seemed to do the trick!!
It now has protection from the wind and hot sun with some shade cloth and also quite heavily mulched, over the last few days it has really taken off so this weeks job will be to build a climbing frame to support the expected growth............the packet says 100m ?
 Has anyone else tried growing this variety of Zucchini ?

Taking back stage are climbing beans, potatoes, 4 different types of eggplants, cucumbers, rock melon, watermelon, mini cabbages, and lettuce varieties.

Happy New Year to all !!!