Busy day

It has been a busy day in the yard today. Picked 95% of all the tomatoes. There are 2 more plants left that should get pulled out tomorrow.

The cherry tomatoes took a long time to pick as there were so many of them. Have a look at this plant.
I think I picked about 150 cherry tomatoes of it.

More potatoes were dug up for dinner as I forgot to get some at the store. I was secretly happy I forgot the store ones as these ones taste so much better.

All these delicious veggies were cooked with our dinner tonight.

And finally a picture of everything harvested today. I will really miss my tomatoes when they are all gone. At least there is always next season.

Getting hotter

I didn't have much chance to do all I needed to do in the yard today. At least the chillies in the earlier pictures have been prepared.
All the Naga's, Goatsweed, seven pots and serannos were cut up and placed on a tray in the kitchen to dry.

The Cayenne and Thai's were hung up to dry.

They will come in handy in the coming months.

Lots of Chillies

I have mentioned previously that I grow chillies. This year I did not grow too many varieties and some of the plants have been carried over from last year or even further back.
Earlier this morning I picked most of the ripe ones.

Starting from the top row, left to right there is: Naga Morich, Cayenne, Large Cayenne, Goatsweed.

Bottom row: Seven pot, Thai, Serrano.

I'll be drying them and storing for use over the coming months.

Fresh

I was having a conversation before and someone said to me.
"It all started when I had a small piece of beef I needed to use up in the fridge, then I looked up and saw the egg compartment was full".

Changing the pace today. I have got to warn you. Do not ever start making your own pasta and gnocchi or befriend anyone that does.
This stuff is more than addictive!

Fresh gnocchi in a butter sauce is heavenly and fresh pasta is a gift.

So it was extra large ravioli stuffed with beef that was slow roasted in left over tomato sauce, and the other half was stuffed with capsicum and feta cheese.

Today

Very busy day in the yard again today. Still did not get a chance to pull out any more tomatoes, or make any green tomato pickle.

Beans were picked for dinner.

Then prepared.

More of the potato patch was dug up.

Somehow there was a break in to the herb patch by interested parties. 

Not once but twice.

Of course I ate some tomatoes.

Then I noticed that the hops plant had produced some hops.

Not much smell coming of the hops yet. Perhaps they are not ready yet.

And finally.

The guardian of the hops. I have had plenty of these around during the summer months. I think it is an orb weaver but am not sure.

Another angle

..of the yard. This is down one side looking towards the main veggie patch. As you can see it is rather out of control and there will be a lot of work needed in the next couple of weekends.
In the foreground are the butternut pumpkins and you can see the rogue pumpkin rambling everywhere in the background and sides.

I'm heading out now to start a few chores. Got to mow the lawn as it is really overgrown. Yes I do have some lawn in the yard, but not by choice. If I had my own way I would be growing edibles everywhere.

Autumn

The tomato season is slowly coming to a close. I've pulled out a couple of more plants today and will probably continue tomorrow pending time. As you can see these plants are fast retiring for the season. The plant below is a Surrey Cross. It was donated to me as a seedling by a kindly grower. One thing about this plant, it produced masses of tomatoes.

Another big producer pictured below was this Koenig Humbert. I have two of these plants and estimate that I got 15 - 20 kg per plant. This one produces Roma shaped tomatoes but are smaller than regular Romas. Once again this was donated by the same grower mentioned above.

And this Sweetie Cherry plant. There was two of these as well. There's that rogue pumpkin again.

I Picked this lot this morning. As mentioned previously I don't think I will make any green tomato pickles this year. Hmmmm......see how I go for time tomorrow.

And a picture of what was used for salads at last nights dinner. The orange peppers were cooked on the BBQ. The only thing not grown in the garden in this picture is the onion.

Herbs

I try and grow as many herbs as possible around the place. I took these pictures a few days back to post. Herbs are beneficial apparently. Oh, they also add lot of flavour to different dishes.
Nothing much to see here, just pictures of green scrumptious plants.

Basil

Dill

Mint

Oregano

Parsley (Flat leand and Curly)

Rosemary

Sage

Thyme (this one is lemon)

Lemon Balm

I hope I got them all.

Old Friends

Heard from old friends yesterday and they ended up coming around for dinner. It was good to catch up as it has been a couple of years.
My, how some people have grown.

I warned them before they came over that I would be busy all afternoon in the yard as I had a lot to catch up on.
I am now at the pulling plants out stage. Cleaning of all the ripe and green tomatoes. Not sure if I will make green tomato pickles this year. Made it last year and it was a huge success with everyone that got a jar. We are not big eaters of it. I can assure you it is delicious. Just that eight 600ml Fowlers jars can get a bit much.

Pulled about five plants out and harvested a lot more ripe fruit from a few others. I know that when I made my first post I said that most of my tomato harvesting was done but I have once again underestimated.
Lots of peppers coming on that should last a few more weeks and one lonesome dried up corn that I had totally missed. I'm toying with the idea of drying it and trying to make popcorn. It may not be the right variety but what the heck.

Had a bumper cucumber crop this year. Best ever, and there are still more to come. Also still have a few potatoes hiding around the place.

And of course some eggs from my lovely girls. The chooks.

As you can see there will be more tomato salsa making in the next couple of days.

Brandywine alert bottom left hand corner.

After having a great time catching up all afternoon and having a nice dinner, old friends departed with a big bag of home grown produce. I know they will enjoy it.

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.