Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Till Valentine End Summer Harvest

The cherry tomatoes did much better than the other tomato varieties this summer season. We were lucky to  be able to harvested some round eggplants last week.
We harvested our first time home-grown potato onions. Should have reduced the watering when it was ready to be harvested. But I was relying on dear hubby with the watering so I let him do whatever he wants as long as the plants were watered during peak summer.
Brought in some garlic into the kitchen that we left curing in the shed.
Challenger tomato variety but it got scorched badly by the sun. 
I was cleaning up some part of the garden last weekend because it look so shabby after the scorching weather cause during mid-summer and I was surprised to find some cucumbers. It looks misshapen but I never expected to get any cucumbers this summer. First time we harvested a broccoli in end summer that was grown/sowed from last autumn. Another unexpected surprise that the broccoli plant manage to form a curd and not bolt in hot weather. Possibly the cool weather we had a few weeks helped. We also harvested a few root vegetables; carrots, turnip, beetroots and volunteer  potatoes. Some hot red sexy chillies for valentine were harvested as well. Will be making some sambal sauce stock this afternoon with mama after we buy some lemon/lime this afternoon.
With the love valentine theme, some red harvest; strawberries, chillies, tigerella tomato, challenger and cherry tomato.
Visit Daphne's Dandelions to share and enjoy together what other gardeners has been harvesting all over the world.

38 comments:

Sunray Gardens said...

That's a lot growing there but I've never heard of potato onions. Interesting.
Cher Sunray Gardens

africanaussie said...

potato onions? they look a little like shallots. I planted those last year and have been leaving them in the ground to pick when needed. I just remove one bulb from each pair and then plant it again to produce another shoot. They seem to be doing ok that way. I love those little teardrop shaped cherry tomatoes, but they never do well here - will have to try them this year again.

cikmanggis said...

suka sangat tengok bawang putih tu.Sudah beberapa kali tanam bawang putih tapi gagal memberi sebarang hasil.Sama dengan nasib karot.

Insyallah petang nanti nak kemas kebun yang terbiar sejak beberapa bulan yang lalu kerana masalah kecederaan lutut tempohari..Alhamdulillah akan kembali pegang cangkul:)

Mary Hysong said...

small tomatoes always seem to do better in hot climates. When it gets too hot the pollen dies before the fruit sets and this seems worse on larger varieties...

Daphne Gould said...

What a beautiful summer harvest. I keep dreaming of summer. Usually I'm happy in February that not to be gardening as we are under snow and ice, but this year has been so warm I want to be outside and digging in the dirt.

rainfield61 said...

I need some tomatoes, carrots and onions for my lunch.

May I?

kitsapFG said...

Considering how hot it got there for a while - I am astounded at how productive your garden is being for you. I was expecting you to be harvesting roasted vegetables! :D

Beautiful red harvest for Valentines Day.

Malar said...

That's alot of harvest in summer! My broccoli always bolt due to hot weather!
Nice colour for valentine's day!

cookingvarieties said...

hi linda. very happy to see your garlic, wonder if they can be grown over here.. sorry about your tomatoes, but the ones in the p0ic below look very fresh.\yes, sexy red hot chili, i love it...
great to see your harvest as always..have a nice day and happy valentine's day.

Liz said...

Your tomatoes are looking great, what variety of cherry tomatoes are you growing? I'm impressed with your broccoli as well - mine all bolted so I pulled it out ages ago.

Mark Willis said...

Onions, garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, chillies - sounds like a spicy version of ratatouille is in the offing...
I've never heard of potato onions before. What is special about them?

Dani P. said...

Beautiful tomatoes ! I miss them in the winter so much ...
Happy Valentine Day, Diana !

tina said...

Happy Valentines Day! Lovely reds to celebrate the occasion. Thanks so much for your kind comment about Whitney. She was such a beautiful singer that gave the world so much pleasure.

Norma Chang said...

That's quite a harvest. How lovely and fortunate to have a shopping and cooking session with Mama.

Autumn Belle said...

Beautiful and colourful harvest today. Perhaps can make a nice dinner. Happy Valentine's Day !

kumittyi said...

I'm really glad to hear you harvested lots of vegetables such as cherry tomatoes and some cucumbers.Indeed the cucumber is a bit funny shape,but it must
be super tasty,I think.
The tigerella tomatoes are new to me.I wonder what it taste like?
Is it sweet like fruit?

Kate said...

I think your garden loves you very much! Happy St. Valentine's day to you.

Stephanie said...

That's a basketful of the sweetest, most colourful and healthiest vegetables! Your family is not only blessed with lots of love but with good nutrients also ;-D Happy gardening and have another great week!

James David said...

What a lovely picture of beautiful tomatoes.
Surely its very delicious!

Unknown said...

Thats a good harvest... good to know your volunteer tomatoes have not given up completely

shaz said...

Such a bountiful harvest even with the heat. You truly have green fingers :)

Jody said...

Sexy Peppers and Sambal sauce for Valentines Day. It sounds like you and your husband are doing great! Even if he did over water a little.

My Urban Gardens said...

What a beautiful harvest! The colors are lovely. :)

Lynn

kitchen flavours said...

Wonderful harvest, Diana! Like all your veggies, the potato onion is a new one to me! How does it taste like? Enjoy your sambal!

Kelli said...

Your veg harvest looks fantastic as always. I was thinking of giving eggplant a go this year as I have some seed. Not sure if Irish weather will suit eggplant.

Sue Garrett said...

Wow what a harvest! A lovely Valentine's haul!

Sean L said...

That's a great Valentine harvest. Love the tigerella stripey tomatoes. Your garden must be doing well, despite the summer heat if you get such lovely harvest. I got to clean up my balcony garden after leaving it for too long during the CNY break, hehe. Then can start planting some of the seed you've sent me.

Cat-from-Sydney said...

MKG dear,
Mama's green with envy at the riot colours from your garden. purrr...meow!

Sue Catmint said...

I;ve never heard of potato onions either - the veg look fabulous. It must be wonderful to find unexpected surprises when tidying the garden up.

cookingvarieties said...

hi diana, i came back, silap type nama you linda pulak.. maaf ya..
i just like to see your many harvests, the beauty is that it comes from your own effort, not from the market. have a great weekend.

lena said...

i see some of the shapes of the cherry tomatoes very cute..like labu.

Wendy said...

wonderful! I would love to know how you do that sambal and how you eat it!

Lrong Lim said...

Beautiful colors from your harvests...

Bom said...

Wonderful harvest! Your blog is always inspiring with your harvest posts. My son and I are still waiting on our (first ever) tomatoes. We had a bit of a problem with white flies. Any advice for getting rid of them?

heather at wordplayhouse® said...

BEAUTIFUL homegrown vegetables. Spring—my favorite season—will be coming soon here, and your harvest makes me look forward to it even more than I possibly could have. -heather

CathJ said...

lovely harvest... :)

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Cher~I don't grow one type of veggies a lot, small numbers so I have more space to try grow other stuff.

Africanaussie~I was plannning to leave them on the ground and pick the potato onion when I need them. But the heat kill the plant.So I had to harvest them all. It nice to hear that this type of onion can grow in the tropics. I kept some to try growing at my mama place.

Cikmanggis~Oh bawang putih tak nak basah dan kering sangat tanahnya. Kalau tanah basah sangat nanti isi bawang reput.

Mary Hysong~Yes the small one seems to fare and fruit in the hot weather much better. Our cherry tomatoes look really bedraggled after the heat but now new shoots appearing at the bottom of the plant which is good so they can start to produce again for us in fall. Thats a great observation about small and big fruit pollens.

Daphne~Probably this year you have early spring weather and starts to garden earlier than usual outdoor.

Rainfiled61~Not enough supply running to the kitchen now I am fraid so;-).

KitsapFG~The weather has been cooling down now. Its time to start sow and plant cool season veggies here.

Malar~Try planning the broccoli sowing time that in 3 months of growing you are in rainy season so the weather cooler and it might persuade the broccoli to form proper hear instead of bolting.

Cookingvarieties~Cherry tomatoes really sweet eating it fresh from the garden. Don't worry about the name;-).

Liz~Our late growing cauliflower did not produce curd but all bolt in this summer. But 2 broccoli plants were successful. Those broccoli were growing in partial shade. The red cherry tomatoes, I am not sure what is the name since I bought a mix cherry tomato seeds last year. I kept their seeds last year because it was the sweetest cherry tomatoes in the garden I have grown. This year the flavour did not disappointed us and they bear fruit much better than last year. Other usual cherry tomato for us is the yellow broad ripple currant and yellow pear cherry tomatoes that volunteer each season for us.

Mark~I have not try to make ratatouille yet, although I kept several version recipes of it. At the moment I leave all the cooking to mama when she stay with us.

Dani~Your tomato seedlings look good. Not long you will harvest your own fresh tomatoes.

Tina~She was a beautiful singer.

Norma Chang~Yes it is so lovely to be pampered with mama cookings at the moment.

Autumn Belle~We enjoyed many dinner with that harvest.

Kumittyi~Finally we can break cucumber fast after harvesting that wierd looking cucumber. Don't have cucumbers in the cool season. The tigerella tomatoes taste really sweet.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Kate~I am lucky that the garden sometime still manage to give us something when we neglect them.

Stephanie~We feel really blessed. Hope I have more time to sow seeds this week. As it is the best time for sowing. You have a great week too!

James Missier~Those tomatoes were delicious!

Sri Ranjani~New tomato volunteers are popping up in our garden this month too.

Shaz~10 years before I thought I don't have green fingers at all. I think gardening is for everyone.

Jody~I still need more experience growing onions from seeds. Good Luck growing onion this year!

My Urban Gardens~It nice to harvest different variety of food from the garden.

Kitchen Flavours~After I campur-campur with the rest tak perasan pula rasa dia. But I think it is sweet. Really enjoy the sambal. My mama made 2 bottles of sambal which we eat everyday.

Kelli~Maybe you can try an early variety eggplant. Good Luck! It will be fun.

Sue~A lovely Valentine's gift from the garden.

Sean L~Hope your balcony all clean up now and you have more space to grow.

Cat-from-Sydney~Hope you mama's balcony garden is very green now and no more accidents!

Catmint~I found that volunteers are the best gift in the garden.

Lena~Ya, macam labu.

Wendy~I will try to post about the sambal one of these days.I was planning too but my mama did the sambal when I was away at school.

Lrong~Thank you.

Bom~The white flies are always a problem and they breed so fast. Try spraying them with strong water or chilli juice.

Heather~Spring must be giving you many blooms now.

CathJ~ Bolehlah makan cukup untuk sekeluarga.