dilly dalley doolittle gardening

Pumpkin harvest

We finished harvesting our pumpkins mid-April. Technically after the frosts...which according to Peter Cundall is best avoided. The vines certainly died off after two nights of killer frosts and all the pumpkins were sitting there ...just sitting. No one seemed harmed. So we took the trailer down and scooped them up.

more and....

 

Where do you want these? And what are you going to do with them all?

They will be stored in the garage, which is nestled into our sloping block and is reasonably cool throughout summer. In the past, I've managed to have pumpkins get all the way through to the end of the next summer. I've never got through a whole year. Not that it matters, by the time summer is here, the spring crops are starting to feed everyone and we're all well and truly sick of pumpkin and other winter vegies.

He's tossing them. The big bloke is laughing and the photographer and all round nervous nelly is finger wagging and telling them to 'stop, it isn't funny, I planted those...'.

He did point out that he thought we had enough and if the teenager dropped one...well, damn hey. This one is waiting at the front door to be made into soup. Shssh. Don't tell him. He thinks he's being a still life with succulents.

 

Previous posts

Pumpkin bed - late Summer (April 2012)

Pumpkin bed - mid Summer (Jan 2012)

Before the 12 months is over (March 2009)

Pumpkin bed - update late Summer (Feb 2008)

Pumpkin bed - early summer (Dec 2007)

Pumpkin harvest (June 2007)

Check for frosts (April 2007)

Stumbling on melons (February 2007)

Processing tomatoes

In previous posts about growing tomatoes, I promised that I'd try and get around to showing you what we do with our bumper crop. As you know, I plant around 30 tomato plants. At this stage, in Canberra, the tomato season is done and done. The last of our crop was pretty much knocked over by the frost a couple of weeks ago.  These photos were taken early April, which was probably the last of our tomato processing for the 2011-2012 cycle. I received this tomato processor for my April birthday (perhaps around 2007?) and it was purchased at Butts n Brew in Kaleen. They have great supplies for anyone interested in home preserving, making beer or killing yourself slowly with butts (not recommended ... far better to stick with the organic tomatoes!).

Anyway, to show you what we do many times during the summer cropping season -

First, we put the tomatoes in a big pan and heat them to just below boiling. We grew a lot of cherry tomatoes this year (more by accident than design).

We attach the Italian tomato processor to the kitchen table with some bits of wood to protect the table because it does require that the device is clamped to the table. We then set up a large bowl below the device to collect the tomato puree.

 

The warmed and softened tomatoes are put in the top part of processor, in the big stainless steel bowl.

Tim then turns the handle which drives a big screw inside the device. This manages to separate the peels and seeds from the lovely tomato puree.

So tomato seeds and tomato peel are pushed out into a waste bowl. Note the steam rising from the black bowl holding the puree.

Here's the top of the processor, where the whole softened tomatoes sit. You can just get a glimpse of the screw (looks yellowish)

Tim uses a large spoon to push the tomatoes through the hole, as he turns the handle.

Seen below is one of the reasons we like cherry tomatoes. They fit very nicely down the hole and are easily squashed by the screw. Larger tomatoes sometimes need to be cut to encourage them to squeeze through the hole.

As the tomato is pushed through by the screw, there is a fine metal mesh that allows the puree and the juice to pass through but doesn't allow the seeds or skins to pass through.

When the tomato puree is all collected, we then put it back on the stove and boil it for some unspecified but 'just feels right' amount of time. This helps concentrate the puree. We don't bother putting any spices or flavourings in and we don't bother about boiling it down to a thick consistency. We just take off some of the excess moisture to concentrate the tomato puree into a 'passata like' consistency.

Seen in the cupboard is the last of our unfilled vacolas (8 of them). This processing we did in early April pretty much filled these bottles so that was enough for us this year. I didn't count but it was about the same as last year. If you don't already do this, and you'd like to try...it really is simple and rewarding.

Frozen water - Autumn in the community garden

It has been a cold May here in Canberra - the ski fields are open after all. Usually the June Queen's birthday weekend comes and goes without any snow but, no, this year there's tons of the stuff up there. We have snow depth charts up in our house that go back thirty years and you can see that thirty years ago June often had snow, but over the last 10 years or so, no snow in June - until this year, when there's snow in May. None of which changes my thinking on climate change - as one of the predictors of climate change, so the scientists tell us, is climate variability. All I can say is bring on the price on carbon. The sooner we face it, the better chance we have.

So what is happening here? Frozen water in my water gauge, broken plastic hose attachments, and despite it being a very dry month of May, I haven't been able to water in the mornings. The water in the hoses is frozen and so, until that thaws out, I can't water and by the time I leave the garden in the morning it hasn't thawed enough. There isn't a lot to water at present - but the winter vegies would like some water and I'd like to make sure I get the green manure in and watered pretty soon.

You can see the frost on the cabbages below. Those little white grains that make the cabbages look sandy are in fact, frozen beads of moisture. You'll also notice the bug damage I'm getting from the cabbage moth caterpillars. I was fascinated to discover that they freeze stiff into a tiny little green stick. But when the sun comes out and warms the leaves, and melts the frozen drops of water it also allows the caterpillar to thaw. Imagine being able to survive being frozen overnight, only to be removed by the gardener?

Foggy morning

I've been working on the asparagus beds, cutting down the stalks and piling them onto the compost bed.

The last week has been icy cold in the mornings and this morning was foggy and cold. Seems like we skipped over Autumn and went straight into Winter in May. I'm thinking it will bounce back and become a bit more mild, it just feels way too early to have frozen water pipes.

This bed grew potatoes over summer. I'll now build a compost pile, which will be left for six months. 

Looking across the garden towards the large Eucalypts on the boundary you'll notice the misty, foggy view and the sense of hunkering down. Beds are being tidied up. Lots of gardeners choose to do very little over winter.  I still have loads of tasks to go before I'm ready to hibernate for the winter mornings. I've got to finish weeding the asparagus beds, mulch them, dig over last summer's tomato and pumpkin and zuccini beds, plant out the green manure and do something about those pesky cabbage caterpillars. I've been trying to deal with the cabbage caterpillars by hand - but I'm loosing patience (and too many growing leaves) and so may resort to Dipel, which is allowed under Organic principles, though many like to use it as a last resort method.

Autumn jobs in the garden - Asparagus

As the Autumn is now moving earnestly into Winter, it seems time to cut down the asparagus stalks, mulch the beds, and leave the plants to rest until Spring. When there is little to eat in the garden - early Spring is the barest of times for me - I eat a lot of asparagus. I have planted the ends of four of my eight beds with asparagus plants.

Now in mid-May, the asparagus plants have changed colour from green to yellow and you can see from the bottom right-hand corner of the photo, I've begun to cut them and stack them. I will add these stalks to the compost heap. It usually takes me a couple of days to get through the task of cutting, stacking, weeding out the bed, and then mulching. If I get a chance, I'll update my progress as I go along.

If you're interested, here's a photo from a similar angle, taken a few months ago when the asparagus plants were green and bushy.

 

Leek and potato soup

I grew these leeks from seed and here they are sitting in my kitchen, waiting patiently. If you recall, I suggested they were not yet leek and potato soup back here. Well now they are.

I used a recipe from Anna Thomas' beautiful soup cookbook, Love Soup. And while it calls for Yukon Gold potatoes, which I did not grow, I did use my own home grown potatoes...Nicola potatoes which have a yellowish flesh.

I love the colours of the leeks in the pot.

 

After sweating the leeks down slowly in some olive oil and butter, I added the cubed potatoes, some with skins left on. Then, I added a mix of vegetable stock (following the Love Soup stock recipe) and some water. Let it simmer gently for an unrecorded amount of time and then I blended and added just a smidgen of sour cream. Just enough to lighten it. It was very popular. On the nights when we have soup for dinner, I try and have some hot crusty bread, a salad and some kind of dessert - on this occasion we had a bread pudding which used up a decent number of duck's eggs.

The snow peas are up

If you recall, I planted the snow peas a little while ago, in early April. They have come through quite thickly but aren't tall enough yet to warrant winding them on to the frame.

Uses of silverbeet

We grow a lot of silverbeet, mostly just because it's easy. I actually prefer Kale as a green vegetable to accompany dinner. I've written about my love for Dwarf Green Kale. But, as silverbeet is so hardy, and self seeds, and is good for you, it's helpful to have uses for it.

We have recently taken to washing the silverbeet, steaming it lightly, chopping it up and then freezing it in ice cube trays. When frozen they come out of the ice cube trays and are stored in a box in the freezer. Perfect portions for breakfast.

We also keep ducks. At present we have two drakes (not a good idea) and 4 ducks. The duck in the banner photo we refer to as Mummy Duck. She's the one who manages to hatch out a brood every year - the others are not always so successful. In the past few years, we have had more failed nests than successful ones. This last season, the 2010-11 season, we had three nest attempts by two different ducks with only two ducklings hatched. Again, you've heard these tales.

At about this time of year, ducks are laying daily but are not hiding their eggs or trying to sit on them, so, we have loads of eggs. For breakfast, I use one of these egg steamer pans and cook a duck egg, a few cherry tomatoes and one ice-cube-tray-sized portion of silverbeet.

If you are familiar with these pans, you'll know that water goes in the bottom part. These black inserts are removable and a glass lid sits on top. Steam rises up through the holes in the tray and steams the egg and its companions.

 

The winter vegetables are in

This bed had been a compost pile six months ago. It is now planted out with cauliflowers, cabbages, broccoli, and spinach seedlings. We limed the soil about a week before planting. At this stage, I haven't mulched the surface but I will do so - if only to stop weeds. Usually mulching is critical in our hot, dry, drought ridden climate but this years' La Nina, which has brought so much flooding to Australia, has not really required mulching of the exposed soil. But we have habits and it does limit weeding. So we'll do it.

The petunias are left over from a summer planting and ruby red stems of the volunteer silverbeet are very pretty.

Would you like to see more self-seeded silverbeet?

How funny. Its everywhere. This is a view of the summer's compost heap and in the path between the two beds a little forest of self-seeded silverbeets has blossomed. We'll be freezing that.

More on the potato harvest

As mentioned, I began the potato harvest a bit late. The tops had died down about a month ago. Its not wise to leave them underground too long. Bugs will get at them, they could rot or resprout, so I was a bit worried when first I started pulling back the straw and compost and dirt. And yes, there were signs of neglect and at first I was worried I wouldn't have a very good harvest. My impressions are that this is not as good a harvest as in previous years, but having said that I've never been very methodical in the past. I've always planted in some sort of order but just harvested into a big potato sack and then used them as I like. And I've never been bothered weighing my harvest.

This year, my husband asked me to keep track of where I planted each type of potato and also asked me to store them separately so we'd know which is which. So, in the spirit of being methodical - this is the order of planting, reporting and photographing...nicola, coliban, desiree, pontiac, sebago....

Each year I buy a mix of seed potatoes. I've used Diggers club mixes, Eden Seeds and now in 2010 for the 2011 harvest -  New Gippsland seed potatoes. They are often sold as "Gourmet Seed Potato mix". I planted 4 Nicola, 4 Coliban, 4 Desiree, 4 Pontiac, 20 Sebago on the 27th September 2010. Here are the harvest statistics:

: 

• Nicola - 2 kilos (note nibbles by bugs)
• Coliban - 1.7 kilos
• Desiree - 1.9 kilos
• Pontiac - 5.3 kilos
• Sebago - 6.6 kilos
• Total harvest - 17.5 kilos

• Nicola: yellow/white: mashing, baking, boiling, salads
• Coliban: white: mashing, baking, boiling,
• Desiree: red: baking, boiling, gnocchi
• Pontiac: red: baking, boiling, grating
• Sebago: white: mashing, baking, boiling, frying.

So - white potatoes are good for mashing, all potatoes are good for baking (ain't that the truth) and each one (except the Coliban) has a speciality (salads, gnocchi, grating and frying). I love potato salad but I've never made gnocchi, I don't do much grating and frying - well - who wouldn't love that but you know the drill. Moderation.

And then here's the potato bed finished harvesting.