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 - Florence fennel

I have only relatively recently come to love fennel. I guess as a kid it was never part of my diet, indeed, it was never seen in the green grocers.  But gradually over time and I guess because of welcome Italian influence to Australia, fennel has come into my life and into my vegetable garden. It is now a regular plant in the patch.

I've been harvesting a few lately, mostly as quite young bulbs - welcome additions to winter meals.

I find them very easy to grow. I grow them from seed planted directly into the patch and find that they come out of the ground pretty easily.

Early on in their growth, I do find that they need a little support by gently mounding a little soil up so that the thicker bit if the stem - the bit that will eventually be your bulb - sits just on top of the soil with any lower stalk covered up.

I find them very hardy too tolerating  both hot and dry summers and cold winters but if you can spare water in summer, the more water, the thicker and juicier the bulbs.

I harvest bulbs both at a slim 'baby' stage and at a fat 'mature' stage.When I harvest them, I cut them off their root at soil level.

After a little while, new baby  fennel plants start developing on the outer edge of the cut root.

Here is one I cut a few weeks ago now - 5 new little fennel are sprouting - I will remove some so there is room for the others to grow.

I love fennel with fish and pork, bacon and potato, with fennel seeds and tomatoes and in salads with lemon juice and olive oil.

I am contributing this to Liz's Saturday Spotlight. Take a look at her blog to see what produce others are spotlighting.

Harvest Monday - 24th June '13

It's been a good week for pickings despite the days being short and the mornings very frosty. It's also been a good time to hunker down inside and cook. This last week the pickings have been:

Fennel
Two lovely bulbs. These will be eaten tonight in a wild pork loin dish.

The tops of the fennel were huge - it seems such a waste not to use the tops, but I have never used them before, have you? And if so what for?

I tried offering them to my chickens but they don't eat them.

I cut my fennel bulbs off at ground level leaving the roots in the soil. I find that the roots re-shoot with more baby fennel and that these ones grow on pretty quickly as their roots are big and deep.

Parsley
There has been lots of parsley too, so much so that parsley now features in one of my vases.

Chillies
The frosty mornings have pretty much nipped back my chilli plants and I suspect it wont be long before the plants are knocked out completely. I have been picking chillies - green and red - to make sure I get the most of the produce. Still, when you think about it, it is pretty good to have chillies survive into late June when I live in a frosty mountain area.

Wombok and spring onions
Wombok and spring onions are featuring in many meals, mostly stir-fried and in Asian-style dishes.

What's coming up soon? Purple cauliflower - they are looking so pretty.

How are your pickings?

I am contributing this to Daphne's Harvest Monday.  Soon her blog will feature pickings from around the world.

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 - Roots and shoots

In this the fourth  and last instalment of my garden in mid-April, I will focus on the roots and shoots I have in my patch this autumn / winter growing season.

My seed bed: L-R  - Radish, Rocket, Beetroot

Roots
Parsnips
I fell in love with the parsnip when living in Blighty. They were a different vegetable in Britain  sweet and tender and we ate them regularly but back in Australia I didn't find them as appealing.

This is the very first time I am attempting parsnips. I  never wanted to try when I was living in Sydney believing that a good frost was probably necessary to really make them deliciously sweet. So now we are living in the bush in a place that will definitely get a frost, I thought it was time to take the plunge and try my hand.

I am trying Hollow Crown from seed and have had no trouble in raising two rows. They seem to be growing well at least above the ground, but I suspect that my soil isn't good enough yet, or deep enough to get a great result.  Still I am happy with their progress so far.  When there is a little more room in the patch, I will be putting another row or two in.

Beetroot
I love beetroot.  I love the plant and love the root and eat it pickled, baked, boiled, grated and I find them so easy to grow.  This year I have had more difficulty than usual. You see it seems that Wallabies love beetroot too and as a result they grazed off two of my plantings of beetroot. The plants miraculously survived and I am now gradually pulling the roots that developed.

Radish
Radish were another favourite of the Wallaby and over summer we had hardly any of the crop. With the Wallaby excluded now I have a row that is being picked  and grazed on by us and some other creature why is taking off some of the red skin making them a bit spotty.

Fennel
Yes, I know, not really a root more a swollen leaf base, but not sure where else to put it.  Not everyone's favourite, I have grown fennel for many years now and love them best from the garden.  I probably have about 30 in the patch at three different stages.

Here are two little fellas growing side by side - I obviously missed thinning it out.

Notice something missing?  "What, no carrots!", I hear you say. Yes, it is true, another vegetable I have never really managed to grow...

Shoots
Rocket
It's another of the things that are just so encouraging to grow because they are so simple. I have also discovered that the chooky girls like to graze on the rocket thru the veggie garden fence which is fine by me.

L-R: Muriel and Mavis being distracted from the rocket

Try as I might though, I couldn't get a photo with them actually pecking it, they must have found a bug in the grass.

Snow peas
One of my all time favourite things to grow and eat, my snow peas this year are a little disappointing  I suspect its the soil - it is still pretty average.  Nonetheless I am getting a pick.

Sugar snap peas
I am trying these this year for the first time.  I was inspired by Daphne's haul of sugar snaps and had to give them a go.

They are only just starting to produce now - I have had a small pick which, when combined with the snow peas, was enough for greens for two for a meal - early days yet.

So that's more or less my garden in mid-April. How is yours going?

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.