Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween Harvest Monday

Today I got back from school before the sun set and decided to do a quick direct-sowing on the most sunny patch before it gets dark. With seeds and a trowel in hand, I was on my way to that patch when adorable little girls wearing cute Halloween costume walking in our driveway for trick or treat. I should have thought of cutting them flowers too instead of just some chocolates. I hope gardeners from Northern hemisphere which have sudden snow storm in autumn  that their plants survived. Leeks and root vegetables like parsnip and carrot must be much more sweeter now after frost? 
Komatsuna planted early spring starting to flower so we harvested them. We had many self-sowed lettuce this  spring growing as they please which delights the gardener. I made another one mistake this spring, I  grow potato on a patch which previously sweet potato grown in it and I dug in all the unwanted part of the harvested sweet potato plants back to the patch at least 20cm deep.  Then planted seed potato on it. After 6 weeks, potato plant growth were stunted and started to wilt. However, hardy was those sweet potato veins that they manage to grow so many shoots again after being buried deep into the soil as the weather gets warmer here. Since the potato plants were stunted, we pulled out 3 potato plants that were growing there. So of course only a few potatoes were there for a 2 months old plant.
These are cauliflowers and florence fennels that were harvested from our patch that was growing in shade during fall/winter.We made cauliflower soup. Rayyan likes soup very much. I never made cauliflower soup even after growing them for 3 years each cool season. So this is the first. We frozen a few bag of the cauliflower soup. Florence fennel grow in shade will be tall and lanky. But they do grow and takes a bit longer than sunny places.
Spinach are starting to flower as well so had to harvest them.
Spring onions producing buds now. Trying to decide whether I should eat them or collect seeds.
We harvested our first beans for this spring from Redland Pioneer variety.
While tidying up a patch yesterday, we harvested a whole rainbow chard plant, leeks, florence fennels and Italian parsley.

29 comments:

Liz said...

My kids love soup too. Before I had children I would never have said that kids liked soup...funny isn't it....I had to look up what Komatsuna was. How do you cook it?

cikmanggis said...

banyaknya hasil kebun Diana:)bila lihat hasil yang begini terasa nak berkebun balik setelah lama berehat .

Sunray Gardens said...

Nice harvest to come home to.
Cher Sunray Gardens

kitsapFG said...

Beautiful harvest as usual! You really get a lot of variety from your garden which is great. Soups tend to be more of a fall/winter thing for us and we are now in that season so I have made several soups in just the past two weeks alone. They are a great way to use the fall/winter root crops and greens.

rainfield61 said...

Your garden is very productive in terms of space usage.

You are a god gardener.

tina said...

Bummer on the potatoes. I have a problem with white potatoes coming up from this past spring's planting and have been diligently removing them. It seems those spuds just keep coming sometimes. I'm not planting them again in my garden due to that fact.

Kelli said...

Your harvest looks amazing, especially the fennel. What an amazing garden! I also really like how you have grown kale and flowers together in your last post. Very striking combination. All the best, Kelli.

Norma Chang said...

Lovely variety of vegetables.
I have no luck with growing cauliflower, tried 2 years in a row, ready to give up.

petite nyonya said...

I tried sowing cauliflower so many times but always fail to grow. I think our M'sian weather is not suitable for it. I can only admire yours for now :)

Barbie~ said...

Amazing variety coming now. Soon you'll be back to melons and summer veggies. :-)

Bee Girl said...

What wonderful harvests! Congratulations! I haven't grown cauliflower yet, but would like to try...maybe next year since this winter's beds are all full! Would you mind sharing your recipe for cauliflower soup?

Mr. H. said...

Happy Halloween.:) Your weekly display of vegetables never ceases to impress me. I have got to give fennel a try again next year, I kind of gave up on it a couple years ago after not being very successful at growing it...time to try again.

Sue Garrett said...

Snow? - none here yet thank goodness.

We are mainly on to root vegetables and brassicas now. I've never tried cauliflower soup either

Mark Willis said...

With that fantastic array of mixed veg you will be able to make someting like Minestrone, or even "Harvest Vegetable" soup. I enjoy Cauliflower soup made with blue cheese, like Stilton.

Lee said...

Hi, wow! You there summer and all its fresh vegetables.
We halloween tonight and snow coming soon.
Love your pics, well taken.
You have a nice day, and keep a song in your heart.
Lee.

Emily said...

Lovely harvests! The broccoli shoots that are remaining in my garden are sweeter after the cold and snow ;)

cookingvarieties said...

hi malay kadazan girl, wow! so many harvest before winter. the florence fennel looks so healthy and tempting my taste buds.

Stephanie said...

So admirable! Wow that fennel is really something. Btw, next year your boys can give some flowers to those girls ;-)

Cat-from-Sydney said...

MKG dear,
Hmmm...mintak sup semangkuk, boleh? purrr...meow!

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Lovely harvest ! So nice to eat home grown fruits and vegetables. And healthy !

CathJ said...

Beautiful harvest... So fresh... :)

Jody said...

You work so hard! Great harvest. Your cauliflower looks great. I know you'll enjoy it.

Daphne Gould said...

Beautiful harvest.

Mary Hysong said...

I found you through Daphne's Harvest Monday. I went on vacation just as the potatoes started to make tubers and my helper didn't realize how much water they needed when the temps hit 100 F. Needless to say I pulled them out when I got home and planted fall crops.

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden said...

I like the idea of offering children flowers instead of candy. Most would choose the candy, but the odd child might actually like flowers instead. I tried to grow fennel this summer with no success. I hope that you are right about carrots being sweeter after a frost. I still have a row of carrots to harvest. Do you ever grow vegetables in a cold frame or is it always mild there? I have another blogger doing a guest post on cold frames tomorrow, if you are interested.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Liz~ Me, too. When I was a kid I did not enjoyed soup that much. But my kids love soup. Sometimes we stir-fried komatsuna with minced garlic and ginger.

Cikmanggis~Hehehe...bolehlah mula buat batas baru.

Cher~ Harvesting does takes a lot of time, cos sometime we multi-task by weeding and pruning.

KitsapFG~Soups does warm the body in cold season. Especially that it can be frozen as well which is convenient.

Rainfield61~The lights here are more enough for the plants that it won't really mind to be crowded. This way help to reduce lost of moisture in the soil as well.

Tina~Those white sweet potatoes surprised me as well. Never thought that they can be so determined and stubborn.

Kelli~We had beginner luck with the fennel. Never realised that it suits to grow fennel in our micro-climate here.

Norma~ Maybe trying different variety of cauliflower?

Petite Nyonya~It will probably depend on the variety. Probably best to avoid growing them during dry season.

Barbie~Hope the melons will make a nice come back.

Bee Girl~I will try to post a cauliflower soup recipe in the future.

Mr. H~Good Luck with the fennel. Maybe try to grow them in different location than previous place that you tried growing them.

Sue~I was wondering whether you grow colourful cauliflowers again this year.

Mark~I have to look up for recipe for that dish you mentioned.

Uncle Lee~Hope you stay warm and had a good time in halloween night.

Emily~That is good to hear!

Cookingvarieties~ Florence fennel will look good mix with other ulam-ulaman I reckon.

Stephanie~The fennel leaves look nice in the garden.

Cat-from-Sydney~ Oh ada lagi satu mangkuk for you. Wish that in this world we already have a machine that can deliver stuff by teleporting.

Sonia~It does save a lot of time from shopping fresh vegetables.

CathJ~ Fresh vegetables is the best.

Jody~Your cauliflowers looks good. How did you prepare them usually?

Daphne~ Your juicy Asian greens are still imprinted in my memory.

Mary Hysong~Hope your fall crops are growing speedily now.

Jennifer~Our winter is very mild considering with other areas. I think our micro-climate plays and important part. We also very close to the beach. Root vegetables are usually much sweeter during cold season.

lena said...

i just had fennel bulb yesterday, first time eating it..okay..i wouldnt say i love them a lot..it'a a new taste for me.

Sue Garrett said...

We're not sure yet Diana - still have to get round to browsing the seed lists.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

you bagus gardener. I watch Oz masterchef, and see they use fennel.