Update - 2 weeks growth
 

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BOUNTY BOUNTY BOUNTY

http://cellar.org/2009/garden2009-023.jpg

We are making tomato sauce this afternoon.

Nice T! Our garden is really heavy on the green growth...

Ours is starting to come back from the lack of sunshiney days. So far we have harvested 2 little bitty tomatoes.

Nice UT! That is some phat lewt there.

wow looking good UT.

nice planters ali. What have you got planted in there?

In the first one we have snow peas, zucchini, squash, leeks, corn, rainbow silverbeet, eggplant (which may need to be transplanted to a different spot due to space restrictions.
In the second, Tomatoes, strawberries, carrots (from seed), lettuce, beetroot.
In the third, rocket, cappsicum (peppers), broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce.

So far we haven't had any 'deaths' which has surprised me. I was expecting a certain failure rate, but so far so good. The only problem with this is that I've got more plants than our garden is going to be able to cope with I think. I have some large pots I can bring out though, so that's where things like eggplants and capsicum might end up.

The lettuce looks very nice. The one I recognize besides the tomato.

Me gots tomatoes, green beans, zucchini & yellow squash, strawberries, and pumpkins ripening/picking daily. Corn's doing OK, small ears, hope they'll get bigger. Also just harvested all my carrots and onions. Need to dig my potatoes this week. Onions are drying on racks on the back porch, carrots are sliced up in the fridge awaiting a bath in the canner.

Now, the fruit! Got a few pears ripening here and there. About another week or two and it'll be peach harvest time - last year I had enough to make a dozen pints of peach preserves, and this year looks similar. Apples aren't doing much except for this one tree that's growing little 3" apples - maybe they'll be good for sauce. Two pear trees are laden; should be ready about the same time as the peaches.

And this is my real life garden. I'm addicted to Farmville on Facebook too, in which my rice will be ready to harvest tomorrow about noonish. :D

lol...you put the rest of our piddly little gardens to shame Juni. I think you've got a bit more space than we have though. I know our garden would be much bigger if we had the room for it.

Yesterday on close inspection we discovered several baby tomatoes have set and one strawberry so far. The squash and zucchini are about to throw buds out as are the snowpeas. The rocket is large enough that I'll be able to start harvesting for salads along with the beetroot tops. It's coming along very nicely.

Yay! Reports of the death of my peppers have been greatly exaggerated (by me - what a pessimist!)

They have flowered! Ridiculous plants, really.
They are supposed to dislike the wet, and yet it has rained EVERY DAY since my birthday. No, really, EVERY SINGLE DAY. But I'm happy of course.

First picture - sorry. Photography 101 - don't take a photo of a plant against the background of other plants! Gives you a general idea of their legginess.

Second pic is a close-up to show the blooms, obviously. Which I hope will become my peppers!
I think this is the jalapeno plant - I can no longer remember. The other ones are doing okay - they're like hobbits. Small and sturdy and getting on with it. But no flowers, so no photos. That'll larn 'em, life is a beauty contest!

Oh, and major congrats to the real gardeners out there
I envy your space, your commitment and your climates.

Good stuff SG. :) You'll be eating capsicum before you know it! Once the fruit have set, you need to make sure they get enough water (don't know if this is a big issue considering where you live lol) in order to grow nice big juicy ones.

B O U N T Y

http://cellar.org/2009/garden2009-024.jpg

Look ye upon 15 ripe homegrown tomatoes peeled and seeded, a 1/4 cup of homegrown basil, 1 onion, 10 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup ex. virg. olive oil, salt, pepper, a bit of dried thyme and sage.

Followed by 4.5 hours of simmer, and just 10 seconds of powerful stick blender action.

Enjoy the dirty sides of the pot, where the mix has slopped up and gradually reduced.

This will be combined with thin spaghetti and a dusting of parmesan

and it will be et in less than 1/100th of the time needed to create it.

The only controversy is whether to have garlic bread. I say we're too fat, while J says, we're too fat. If it was just the garlic and the bread, that's one thing, but the amount of rich, creamery butter needed to make the whole thing come together... can't do it.

This is why the garden thread is in food and drink.

B O U N T Y

Nice one UT. We harvested some beetroot tops and some rocket for a salad last weekend. It was very satisfying even though it was only a small thing.

In the end my peppers were quite bitter and with no heat.
I blame the rainy summer.
At least I had the excitement of watching them grow - bearing in mind they were a present, I have nothing to complain about!

Mum was mourning the loss of her baskets and pots, brightening up the front of the house. So I planted two pots up for her. The first has yellow and green painted heather in at present, but is sown with ornamental cabbages and hellebore, so I'll be moving one of the heathers when they being to grow - perhaps even both if I get a good yield. Mum's friend Maureen also adores ornamental cabbages, so if I do get plenty I'll give her some (I've sown 20 after all).

The second pot - closest to the camera - has violas and a blue painted heather. The violas should last a while, but won't really get much bigger once the frosts start, so I didn't have to allow room for growth.

All the painted heathers will return to white, but I figured there'd be a little more colour on display by then. Not as colourful as some winter plants (and certainly not as colourful as summer bedding) but I think some are quite gaudy, like a pick n mix display. It's winter, colours are supposed to be muted. I'm pleased with them anyway, even if they are a simple achievement.