Time

...is of the essence when the crop comes in fast. Harvest at the right time and the rewards are great. I really had to rush around earlier this evening harvesting this lot. As you can see they are ready to be eaten. As I will be very busy the next two to three days it had be done immediately or there was the risk of loss. It is very bad losing any part of your crop after months of hard work.

This is most of what I harvested today. There are about 7 different varieties in this photo. Way too much for us to eat in the next few days. So about half of it was blended up to be prepared for freezing tomorrow.

Brandywine alert bottom left hand corner in the above photo. Top left hand corner in the photo below.

I quickly cleaned and chopped the ones to be blended.

I believe this one is a Red Pear.

The Brandywine did not escape but was munched away. Here it is below.

And finally ended up with a lot of tomato goodness for processing tomorrow morning.

As you can see I really love tomatoes.

Pumpkins

I grew some butternuts for the first time this year. Actually it is the first time I have tried to grow pumpkins in my short time I have been gardening.
I put in 6 seedlings I grew from seed and I have been rewarded with 6 butternut pumpkins. I'm not sure if each plant produced one or if two grew on the one plant. These things can ramble in the garden.
One was taken by someone and cooked in the oven with a roast before I could take a picture.
I can assure you it was absolutely delicious.
If I had the room I would grow lots of pumpkins. It has crossed my mind to grow them across the lawn in the front yard next season. I think I may as it would be fantastic to get a stockpile of yummy pumpkins.

As mentioned in a previous post there have also been a couple of self sown pumpkin plants this year. Gigantically flowing ramblers they are and have had to be checked a few times as they tend to grow over/into anything in their path. This part of it is covering a lot of chillies in pots.

At least the rambler has finally produced something. Two of them this size. Maybe more, It is still very overgrown in some parts of the vege garden and surprises pop up every now and then.

Capsicums

Had to pick these quickly as I am just running out the door. Could only take one picture as someone was in a hurry to chop them up for a stir-fry.
The red I believe is a Gourmet and I'm not sure what the orangey coloured one is due to my poor record keeping skills. Or is that the other way around?

Hopefully my record keeping skills will improve.

Hot stuff

I have enjoyed growing quite a few chillies over the last few years. Especially this Naga Morich plant which is in it's third year of life.

It does not seem to be producing as much fruit this year as the previous two years and the fruit does not seem as hot . Maybe I have become used to the intense heat. There are a few larger green pods on it that look promising.

Even one of these small pods was enough to numb my mouth when I tested it yesterday. Not that I make a habit of munching on one of the worlds hottest chillies regularly. But the taste test must be done.

Bonus harvest

I was preparing a previous potato bed for some future crops earlier today when up popped these lovelies. I thought I had salvaged them all but obviously not.
These are Nicola potatoes and have featured a couple of times before in our garden.

They are so good either steamed or baked then topped with sour cream, chives/spring onion and shredded cheese. Or top them with anything you fancy. Plain butter and a bit of salt is so delicious.

It is hard to describe to people just how good a fresh home grown potato is.

Green

This pumpkin is self sown and has nearly been pulled out a few times now as it takes up a lot of space. It has finally produced 2 good size pumpkins so hopefully I will get to eat some of it. It is spilling out of the main vege bed in this picture.

And another picture of tomatoes of course.

One of my all time favourites. Brandywine. Just picked these 3 not long ago.

Todays Lunch

Here is what we had for lunch today.

The tomatoes are from top left. Arbuznyi, under that is red pear and the last one is an unknown beefsteak variety that has been grown in a backyard in the inner city for at least the last twenty years.

The cucumber are burpless and Lebanese. They are rather overgrown as it is getting towards the end of the season. Still good eating. Nice and crunchy when freshly picked.

The peppers are Jimmy Nardello and the smaller orange one is an unknown sweet variety that was donated to me. It is unknown because I lost my paperwork. Maybe now I have a blog I will keep better records.

Our family is by no means vegetarian. This was just a light lunch with produce we had on hand. There is a good chance that you will see pictures of giant meat cook ups in the future.

Frozen tomatoes

All my excess tomatoes are made into a sauce and put into the freezer for later use. Nothing beats the flavour of your own produce.
I am thinking of purchasing a pressure canner so I can make proper sauce.

Currently the tomatoes are blended into liquid and simmered till reduced by about half. After they cool down they are bagged and frozen.