Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Summer Veggies Continue...

Oppss...who was lazy leaving the eggplant at the partial shade corner not stake?
I did.

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So when I finally attempt to stake the branches that were on the ground last weekend, I found 2 bonica eggplants hiding beneath foxglove foliage. One of the eggplants were bigger than my palm and very heavy for an eggplant. We had very warm days a few days ago which causes our eggplants that were growing in sunny position has wrinkle skin and not growing much. So I have to harvest them when the fruits are tiny or they stop production/flowering. Lebanese and early long eggplants are not usually bitter but due to the weather causes them to be bitter. There were many angled luffa female flower last week but not a single male around for successful fruit.

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Some alpine strawberry fruits ripening in the garden this month.
The only photo taken.
They are fresh snack in the garden so photos of them are very rare.

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Our first soy bean harvest from a plant.
This is my second year attempt trying to grow them.
Not easy to grow here because of dry hot weather in summer.
Soy bean like heat and humidity I think.
I tried growing them in different season and location in the garden with not much success.
How did I get them to produce this time?
I sowed soy bean seeds in the container which I prepared for a sweet potato plant.
I think the sweet potato plant crawling veins help keep the soil moist and act as a natural mulch.
Boiled the beans in salted water for snacking.

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Sweet potato shoots.
Cleared up sweet potato plants that were growing in one corner in our garden.
It has been mice sanctuary.
Most of the sweet potatoes were eaten not much left for us.

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We harvested spaghetti squashes before the rain comes. Left them curing naturally outside for a long time until the whole plant has actually dried off. A very tiny watermelon and cucumber were also harvested last weekend.

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Cleared up the neglected patches along our driveway shared with neighbours, got some spring onions. Some capsicum were also harvested last weekend.

22 comments:

Sue Garrett said...

We have lots of alpine strawberries which you really need if you are to harvest any sort of amount. I bet your boys love spotting the ripe ones.

Cristy said...

I love spaghetti squash. I would love to plant some. Maybe in the fall.

tina said...

Such a pretty harvest! I love surprises under the plants!

~TastyTravels~ said...

Nice harvest still!! I haven't been successful growing edamame here in Oregon either. You've done well!!

Norma Chang said...

That's quite a harvest, glad you finally got soy beans. Do you eat your sweet potato vines?

ejaMaria said...

wahhh... banyak nya hasil... seronok lihat... lebih-lebih lagi watermelon tu... nampak sedap sangat... ;p

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

You have such a great variety in your harvests.
I'd never seen a soy bean pod before. They're fuzzy!
I understand about eating the berries in the garden. Happens here too.

Mary Hysong said...

Oh your strawberries look so good; you have such lovely harvests, can't wait for my eggplants to get going and since it was 96F today I don't think it will take as long as it usually does!

Unknown said...

Great harvest.... You strawberries look gorgeous. Somehow my strawberries turn magenta instead of red on ripening. Mine belongs to a different variety I guess. Great looking peppers too. My banana pepper seeds are yet to germinate

rainfield61 said...

Among your list, straberry is my favorite.

Mark Willis said...

Diana, your posts about veggies are an inspiration! I try hard to produce a good range of crops, but I can't compete with the sheer diversity of your output.
My Aubergine (Eggplant) plants are still developing very slowly (insufficient heat and sunshine is to blame, I'm sure), so I will have plenty of time to pick up all the useful tips that you publish about growing them.

Daphne Gould said...

We usually just eat the alpine strawberries out of hand too. I think they must be camera shy.

kitsapFG said...

It is a rare event to get berries photographed - let alone weighed at our house too. They always just get gobbled up in the garden!

You had a great harvest week (as usual) and I love how much variety you regularly get from your garden. It's a really good kitchen garden because it seems to provide lots of options for interesting meal preparations.

Bee Girl said...

Wonderful harvest this week! So many beautiful colors and varieties!

Thanks for the info about the soybeans...I've just planted my first soybeans ever and have no idea how they'll do here with our hot, dry weather...I might consider planting some more somewhere that they'll get some relief from the sun, just as you did :-)

Mac said...

I haven't planted soy beans for a while, but I'm rooting some sweet potato leaves to use for the summer greens.
Thanks for the kangkong growing info, I'll keep trying because they don't sell it here.

Malar said...

The strawberries look yummy! Are they sweet? Here in C.H, it's sour a bit....
Nice harvest!

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Wonderful harvest !! you can even plant soy beans, amazing..oh, the strawberry can make strawbeey mousse cake ler..

kumittyi said...

Your harvest and pictures are prize.Straberry fruits do look sweet.I had been growing them for years,but lots of slugs increased explosively in my garden three or so years ago,they had eaten up all red ones.
Do you have a slug in your garden?

lena said...

nice harvest! That eggplant is big!! is that green chilli in your last picture? they look rather plump!

Jennifer said...

The soy bean pods are kind of neat with all their furry exterior. It must be nice to pick strawberries right out of the garden and eat them. I have a few plants started, but it is too early to tell if they will prosper, let alone produce fruit.
P.S. Good luck with your chapter revisions!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Sue~My boys will definitely have so much fun picking your strawberries. Since we don't have that much, they have learn to divide them. But the youngest Rayyan if he has the first pick, he select the biggest one for himself.

Crafty Cristy~Hope you get some spaghetti squash planted in fall.

Tina~Surprises in the garden is really fun.Look forward to the garden each time.

Holly~Sigh we finally had some edamame to enjoy...hehehe...they don't like our dry weather here. So I think the best time to sow for us is mid-summer when its still warm for them to grow and when its close for the pods to appear we have some humidity in fall together with some milder warm weather. I guess its all about timing.

Norma Chang~We do eat the sweet potato vines but not often if we have other veggies to quickly finish off.

EjaMaria~Watermelon ni nak kena banyak air pastu panas untuk dia cepat membesar kalau tak terbantut. Pokok kita ni asyik wrong timing je bila buah cuaca minggu tu pulak sejuk.

Gardener on Sherlock Street~I never realised that soy beans are so fuzzy too. Since the only soy beans I have seen before are already boiled.

Mary Hysong~Hope you get constant warm weather there so your eggplants will grow smoothly.

Sri Ranjani~Probably different variety. But isn't it interesting to get a different colour must be very special.

Rainfield61~Favourite here too.

Mark~I found eggplants grow very slowly in weather not warm enough for them yet. But eggplants are very heat-tolerant! I don't even need to water them everyday. Good Luck growing your first eggplants. Hope you have much fun.

Daphne~The alpine strawberries really camera-shy. The fruit disappear quickly in front of the lens.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

KitsapFG~I always plant different varieties because the weather here is not the same each year in the same month. A lot safer I guess. Some work out some don't. But we do have some to pick.

Bee Girl~I hope you have a bountiful soybean harvest. Good Luck:).

Mac~I hope your kangkung will grow very well for you this year! After 3 years growing them, we finally saw a bloom from one of our kangkung yesterday. We were really surprised.

Malar~The alpine strawberries are really tiny. But they are sweeter than the big ones. Before my kids know how to judge things by size. They prefer the alpine strawberries more and left me with the big variety types.

Sonia~Your stawberry mouse cake look so good!

Kumittyi~We do have slugs in the garden. Slugs in our garden like strawberries too.

Lena~Oh itu chocolate capsicum. But I could not wait for them to turn brown. Harvested earlier.

Jennifer~Thanks. Hope you have fresh strawberries in your garden this summer.