A late cauli glut

Right now I am in the middle of a cauliflower glut. The caulis I am harvesting now are my second planting of caulis - planted around Easter I think? This was the little stash from recent pickings I had in my fridge this evening. Clearly something needed to be done with them.

What to do with so many cauliflower?  Tonight I made Cauliflower Fritters and they were very good.

The recipe was stuck in my recipe folder and had obviously come from a newspaper or one of those newspaper magazines. I can't credit it better than that I am afraid, it was cut out in some dim and distant past.

The recipe calls for three eggs and parsley as well - all of which came from my chickens and my patch.

The fritters were shallow fried and were brilliant with a little Brinjal pickle.

Thankfully there is an excuse to have this again tomorrow night as there is plenty of batter left over and of course plenty of cauli still to be used up.

Winter wrap

How can it be nearly  two weeks since I last blogged? I guess it is because with spring everything is coming in a flurry and I have been busy flurrying. There has been action on a shed, visitors past and impending, trips to Canberra, new fencing, weeds, weeds and weeds, and lambs, lambs and lambs and there has been frantic seed raising activity for the vegetable patch.

But before blogging on spring progress it's time to reflect on the season just past.

Weather
Our first winter at Highfield was remarkably productive considering we didn't really know what to expect weather wise. Here in the Lower Snowy Mountains we had frosts  around the house and the vegetable garden but many fewer and much less severe that I had anticipated.  I suspect that  was due not to the weather around here, but really clever positioning of the house. You see the house and veg garden sits on a small ridge and the real frostiness seems to drain off the ridge on both sides. The frost that we did get  was not very serious, just nipping the tips of the citrus occasionally. I got to the point where I stopped even covering them on the cold nights.

But just as last summer was determined as the hottest on record across Australia, the winter here we considered warm -  an anomaly or a sign of things to come climate change wise?

Produce
Despite the under developed soils and  raids of the patch by chooks and sheep the produce has been quite spectacular. I have bought very few vegetables all winter. Here is a little more detail on the pick. It does focus rather heavily on brassicas - the veg that grows best here in winter.

Wombok Mini
Wow - this is the first time I have grown any wombok and I am in love. They come out of the ground quickly and easily, grow fast and taste great. I even liked the mini version. This little brassica I will grow again and I will grow more of them spaced thru the colder season.

Calabrese broccoli
Good sized heads initially followed by a huge number of side shoots. Really worth the space they take up.

Purple broccoli
Loved these. They grew well and easily and the purple was such a pleasure in the garden. The only downside is the weird colour they turn on cooking.

Cabbage - Savoy
This is an old favourite of mine but this year they were less successful than in the past and I am not sure why. They seemed to do not much for a long time and then bolt to seed... disappointing, but nevertheless I got some
good specimens.

Cauliflower Mini
I got some nice heads of little white tight-curded cauli but in the future I wont grow the mini version.

Romaneso broccoli
Mad lime green spirals and also spirals of purple tinged lime green  - pretty crazy things. I am not sure why they are called broccoli - the plants grow like caulis and despite their greeness (or purpleness) they taste like cauli.  I will grow them again.

Cabbage - Mini
I actually got very little from this crop and not just because they were a mini variety. They took a long time to develop and then bolted. I wont grow these again

Cabbage - Red drum
Gosh - these look beautiful in the patch but have not headed very well at all and have taken so long... I probably wont grow these again.

Florence fennelWhat can I say - these have been fabulous and are likely to be the veg that tales me thru the hungry gap. I have picked them young and slim and now I am picking them fat and juicy. They will always be part of my patch.

Spring onions
An ever-reliable little crop, these have done well this year. I just wished I had had more in the patch early on in the cooler season.

Garlic
There is a big statement about to come here - I have had my BEST garlic season ever this year ( if that can be said before a bulb has been pulled?). I planted Monaro Purple bulbs  which were recommended by my neighbour and they have done really well. The garlic patch is full of thick stemmed garlic which must be building great bulbs below the surface? I cant wait to pull and plait.

Leeks
As with the garlic - I haven't really picked any leeks yet but they seem to be growing really well. I am looking forward to leek risotto.

Beetroot
These have been pretty unsuccessful this year but I suspect  that is because almost all beetroot were grazed off at least twice by the resident wallaby. They have tended to be too woody and too slow to develop. I will
however persist with beetroot because I love eating them. Provided I can keep the wallabies off, I think I can get a good root.

Parsnip
Lovely. This is the first time I have attempted parsnips and I Love them. The Hollow Crown variety have survived the hot summer and have developed well despite the new soil they are in. They have been small but deliciously creamy. There is still more in the ground and I am hoping that with the thinning I have done, I might get some decent -sized roots soon.

Celery
Probably the best celery crop I have ever grown.The plants are massive  and tasty.  I must pick more and juice them stems to get the best of the crop before they do the spring bolt.

Parsley
I have only had curled parley so far producing and these have been incredible. They have really enjoyed the wettish winter we have had and have been a feature of many of our meals and many of my vases. I have made many, many dishes with Salsa Verde.

Peas
Fail... complete fail. I cannot remember a winter without home grown snow peas. Alas this winter I was without these little slips of heaven - the chooks got them.

Brussels Sprouts
This is the first year I have tried Brussels and they haven't really been a good one for me. The little sprouts haven't really turned into tight little balls of delight at all, just flabby, leafy little puffs! I am not sure that I like Brussels enough to persist with them next year.

Special moments

• making cheese - quark and feta
• assisting a sheep with the birth of her lamb
• mist in the mountains
• the steamy grassy breath of our cow and the lick of her raspy tongue
• baby lambs struggling to their little hooves
• baby lambs bouncing
• rain in the gauge
• lichens on  wet wood

Saturday Spotlight: Romanesco Broccoli

It's my first year growing Romanesco Broccoli. I confess I was tempted by its mad, lime-green, fractal-like spiralling curds. I raised them from seed and popped them in the patch in early April (I think). They grew well with a little lime to sweeten the soil and today I harvested my first decent-sized beauty.

While they are called a broccoli, I found their growth form to be much more like a cauliflower. Certainly their leaves were much more like a cauli. I haven't tasted them yet - I have a back log of purple cauli that should be eaten first.

 I  found them one of the last of my brassicas to produce. This year my brassicas produced in this order:

• Wombok - Mini
• Broccoli  - Calabrese
• Cauliflower - Purple
• Cabbage  - Savoy
• Broccoli - Romanesco

Still to come:

• Cabbage - Mini
• Cabbage - Red Drumhead

Despite the fact that they have grown quite well, I will harvest only a few of those I put in because they were raided...you see yesterday my heavily pregnant ewes that had been let into the House yard to eat the luscious grass around the house down  decided they wanted to sup on something else. They broke into one of my temporary beds and devoured three Broccoli Romanesco plants.

My big fat sheepy mothers ate most of the leaves of three of my Broccoli Romanesco - perhaps it was one of those pregnant cravings?

While they ate the leaves they left  the underdeveloped hearts which I harvested. Here are the tiny babies munched off in their prime ( in my hand and in the background).

They did take a munch of one of the undeveloped heads - naughty sheep!

(Eek, look at my rough farmer's hands!)

While I am yet to taste them, I will probably grow them again, in part because I have more seeds and in part because I am still fascinated by the green spirals - next time I  must keep the sheep off!

I am contributing this post to Liz's Saturday Spotlight. Pop over to hers to see other varieties of vegetables highlighted.

Cauliflower ears

I am up to my ears in cauliflower! Well not quite but still I do have a lot coming on.Yesterday I picked 4 beautiful cauliflowers.

Three white ones and a purple cauli. The white caulis are a 'mini ' variety, even so they are not that 'mini', they are actually quite a decent handful.

I guess I could have let it grown on a little further too, but I like my curds tight.

Here is a closer shot of the purple cauli.  I love how the colour is made up of a darker purple surrounding a lighter purple curd centre.

The chookies always enjoy the picking of a brassica - they get the leaves.

There are more cauli to come too - several more, I am sure they will be the main vegetable eaten over the next couple of weeks.  Do you have a favourite cauliflower  recipe, I think I am going to need options!

Saturday Spotlight - Purple cauliflower

I am eagerly awaiting my first purple cauliflower.

This is the first time I have attempted a purple cauli.  I have grown white cauli for several years with mixed results. This year I couldn't resist the purple variety. I raised them from seed in February and it is just now that the first one is big enough to admire - still a while to picking time.

Just ten days or so ago this very cauli looked like this. They do start off looking white with a purplish tinge and as they mature the purple intensifies.

There is only a hint of the purple on the very edge of the leaves.

Caulis are generally tricky to grow and to get a head that in any way resembles the kind of heads one might buy from the greengrocers. I am not sure that the purple variety is any different. Still this one is looking pretty fantastic as it is. Let's see if it develops some size.I will report on it's performance.

As I haven't harvested any of these yet, I can't tell you if they stay purple on cooking. I hope they do.

I am contributing this to Liz's Saturday Spotlight.

May all your caulis grow and form tight white or purple curds!

Harvest Monday - 10th June '13

This week the winter produce has started to come in.  It's a great feeling. The pickings have been broccoli, chillies and some tiny capsicums picked green to beat the frost.

A little fennel - this bulb was picked as a baby fennel lightly sautéed to accompany a meal.

LOADS of parsley, loads and loads  - parsley with everything. At present I only have curled parsley.

More broccoli and the first of the cauliflower,

a rather pathetically small cauli, sigh!

A wonderful wombok,

much admired by Muriel the chicken,

Rocket, loads of rocket and a little rosemary. This rocket made a salad of rocket, shaved pecorino, garlic oil and lemon juice. It was fantastic.

It feels great to finally have so much produce. As a result, I have decided I don't need to buy any greens at all for the foreseeable. I have this produce and more coming thru. Finally after a horribly hard summer with almost no produce at all, this little pile of produce feels like true bounty.

How is your produce going? I am contributing this to Daphne's  Harvest Monday, pop over and see  the produce of others - there will be a little list of links to others' growings when the world turns a little more.

The garden in mid-April - Broccoli and Cauli

Recently I gave an overview of the cabbages I am growing this autumn / winter, promising to also profile the other brassicas I have in - broccoli and cauli.

Broccoli
I have grown broccoli for many years now - they were the first brassicas I ever attempted and now they are on my must plant list. In the past I have only grown Calabrese-style broccoli but  I have three varieties in this year.

Calabrese
I bought these in a punnet - I had space in the bed before I had raised seed so took the modest plunge. Only 5 of the 6 survived the transplant but they 5 are ripping along and looking great.  Again, no cabbage moth grub attack at all.

Romanesco
These I have raised from seed. I am looking forward to their bizarre lime green spirals, but in the meantime I am enjoying their growth. Their leaves are much pointier aren't they?

Green sprouting
These too I have raised from seed, but they were surprisingly slow to develop. They are still very small and sitting inside a protective milk bottle sleeve to stop nibblers.  I am not sure why it has taken me so long to grow this variety which is well suited to Asian-style cooking.

Cauliflower
Caulis were the second attempt I made at growing brassicas after having success with broccoli. I guess I have grown caulis three years now? I usually buy punnets of these too, but this year I have raised both the varieties from seed. Here is what I have in.

Cauli Mini
This is the standard cauli, you know white curds, but this is a mini version.


Cauli Purple
I can't wait for this one. I love the idea of purple curds. But does anyone know -  do they change colour on cooking or do they stay purple?

These caulis seem to grow quite tall very quickly as you can see. I might spend a little time supporting the stems with additional soil / manure / straw.  Looks like they need a little weeding as well.

So that's my broccoli and cauli selection for the season, hopefully the different stages of development of the plants will mean there is always something on offer.

What brassicas are you growing this southern autumn /winter. Northerners, do you grow a brassica or two over summer? Which type?

What brassica should I really try next year that you have had success with?

Thinking of winter

When it's 30c plus in February, it's pretty hard to think of seed raising for winter. Still over the last couple of weeks that's exactly what I have been doing. Some things have gone into the ground but most are being raised on the verandah away from tip nippers and Wallabies.

Here is what I have recently put in or will put in soon.

Beetroot - Crimson Globe
Love, love, love beetroot. I already have a few rows in but they have been pretty decimated by the Wallaby who seems especially drawn to the leaves. Now that the Wallaby has pretty much been excluded, I will put some more rows in.

Broad Beans
I will wait a while before I put these into the bed but I will be planting two types - Crimson Flowered and Aquadulce. Most years I have used broad beans as a green manure only, this year I might also harvest some to eat (a little good oil, some lemon rind, black pepper and parmesan I think).

Broccoli - Green Sprouting and Romanesco
I have never tried the Romanesco but they look amazing, all that crazy lime green spiralling.

Cabbage -  Red Drumhead, Mini
Must get some seeds of my favourite cabbage - Savoy.

Cauliflower - Purple and Mini
Never tried purple cauliflower before either...

Celery - 'Normal' and Chinese
The 'Normal' celery was a punnet I bought, the Chinese Celery seeds were provided by Kebun Malay Kadazan Girls -  thank you, they are coming up nicely.

Chinese cabbages - Red Bok Choi and Mini Wombok.

Fennel -  Florence
I have put some seeds directly into the patch and others in seed raising pots.

Leek -  Jaune Du Poitou

Lettuce - Cos
I'll be putting more lettuce in at some stage, not sure which type.

Spring onions - Ishikura and some provided by Kebun Malay Kadazan Girls -  thank you!

Parsley - Curlina and Continental
I find that curly parsley is more suited to dry conditions (thus my new patch) than Continental, but I like to have both types of parsley in the garden.

Parsnip  -  Hollow Crown
These I have put straight into the soil and they have come up quite well. This is the first time I have tried parsnip. I am really hopeful that they will thrive. We get enough frost here to make them sweet like they are in the UK.

Peas - Snow Climbing
I always have snow peas in the patch, they are one of my favourite things to grow and eat. I will also be putting in some climbing sugar snap at some point. I was so impressed by Daphne's sugar snaps that I have to give them a go.

What am I missing?  I will get frosts here but no snow, have I planned on something that just wont work?  I don't have any micro climates to take advantage of at the moment...that will change eventually as things get growing.

What are you putting in nowish for winter? Those in the northern hemisphere, what are you getting excited about?

Take a look at Suburban Tomato to see what she has recently put in.

Spring sum up

It has become a habit of mine to do an end of season sum up.  This is really so that I can work out what the successes were so I can plan for the next season. Also to note things I have learnt. Here is my spring sum up.

Pickings
The early spring pickings were:

• cauliflower
• broccoli
• cabbage
• snowpeas
• celery

These were really my late winter crops maturing in early spring. All these were second or third plantings. The caulis were smaller than earlier in the year and also a little yellowish. The broccoli heads, with the warmer weather I guess, matured faster that the earlier planting, meaning that if you didn't keep an eye on them, they quickly developed past my preferred stage - tight flowers. The cabbage were wonderful and arguably more flavoursome that the earlier season ones? And the snow peas - well they were fabulous and trouble free - but I always find them that way.  I realised I planted far more celery than I needed and as a consequence many went on to seed before I really got to them.

In later spring these crops were coming on:

• radish 
• beetroot 
• fennel

I love the look of all these vegetables - the fat red-purple of beetroot, the bright red orbs of a baby radish and thick green-white bulbs of fennel.

Pests

• stink bugs -  I got onto these quite early , while they were still at their green and orange stage and thus they caused limited damage only
• aphids - these were a bit of a problem on the late broccoli
• snails - hiding in between pots they had regular might feats on my lettuce

What I learnt

• attack your stink bugs early and you will win
• attack them well protected
• fennel, if  harvested by cutting off at the roots, re-sprouts and yields multiple heads of the one root mass
• your brassicas that you plant early and the ones you plant later really do perform quite differently
• transporting plants in the back tray of a ute is not a great idea
• what wind burn looks like
• eggplants aren't as tough as they look
• zucchinis are tougher than they look
• Currawongs are very amusing birds

Special pleasures

• Currawongs - everything they do, even their tanties
• Holbrook poppies
• bright new radish
• blueberries

Big changes
This spring was the last season in my Sydney patch. This small patch has provided such joy. It has been my solace, my quiet time, my distraction and excuse, my place to get dirty, my refuge after a long day at work and the first place I went to after being away from home. A place of secrets, a ritual of forgetting and the occasional tear. Thank you my Sydney garden.

Late this spring we moved to our new patch in the bush.  It will bring so many new challenges - tackling new vegetables, fruit beyond citrus and nuts. There will be things to learn about the land and the very special plants in our protected box grassland. Exciting and daunting at the same time.