Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Back to School and Harvesting

 I have returned to school from maternity leave almost 2 weeks now and Abby is 2 months old. Hence, disappearing for a short while again from the blogsphere. I have not come in early to school yet probably around noon as it is hard to leave Abby. But then I stay at least until 7PM. I think that is an excuse I am never a morning person (another excuse low blood pressure). The Medela freestyle breastpump has been a savior as I can do 3 things at a time breastfeed, expressing and browsing the net. 
I missed Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday last week so these are the harvest summaries for the first half month of October.
 The month of October will be continuously harvesting Western Red Carrot, Boltardy Beetroot and Golden Nugget Cape Gooseberry.
 We still have some fresh lemon grass stalks to harvest after the plants stayed dormant during cold season. Peas are reducing as the weather gets warm. Harvest the last black round Spanish radish last week. Need to start harvesting Florence Fennel regularly before they flower. We kept on finding some potatoes whenever we do some weeding in the garden.
We harvested our first small red cabbage last week. No more Bloomsdale spinach in the garden as I harvested them all as some of the plants starts to form flower stalk. The last 2 touchstone gold beetroot were harvested and I left one to flower to collect seeds.
 The harvest in the photo above were growing at the back of our backyard fence on reserve land. They got trampled by the council cleaning team. My husband was shocked when one morning he wanted to harvest some veggies at the back all the veggies were almost gone and even big plants were mowed. We managed to harvest leeks that had hair cuts because the stem were planted deep into the ground and only the top were mowed.Same with the florence fennel were severed from its roots and the leaves cut , lucky that the bulb stayed intact. For 3 years, I grew veggies back there but this is the first time happened. The spring onion flowers were left drying on the plant but it got chopped so brought them in to dry.
The previous post I mentioned that I am giving-away Australian Brown Onion and Spring Onion seeds.
Winners, please send me your address so I can post it to you (kebunkmg@gmail.com).

Aussie Brown Onion and Spring Onion Seeds Winners:

> Gardenglut author of Glut: a year in my patch

> KitsapFG (Laura) author of The Modern Victory Garden

>Joyfulhomemaker author of Fhat Farmer Chick

>Ummuaidan author of Our Simple Garden

>Malar author of My Little Garden

27 comments:

makcikmanggis said...

Lumayannya hasil tuaian diana kali ini.macam-macam ada ...Wah Abby dah kena tinggal ya...abby baby yang sangat baik kan hehe.

Aku P@aN said...

Hi Diana

I'm looking nugget cape gooseberry seed for so long.perhaps you can sell the seed. :)

Sunray Gardens said...

Fantastic harvest. Sounds like your life is very full now. With a new baby I know it can be time consuming and exhausting so congratulations on getting so much done.
Cher Sunray Gardens

Mark Willis said...

Local Councils are the same the world over! Round here they hack down any plant that "overhangs the highway" at the slightest excuse. I hope your damaged veggies survive.

Daphne Gould said...

You always have such pretty harvest baskets. I especially love the colorful first one.

gardenglut said...

Wonderful baskets of produce. Mighty carrots - wish I could get carrots like that. You seem to pick your fennel quite young - do you prefer them that way? Are they milder in flavour when they are young? I am going to have to grow cape gooseberries. And big thanks for the onion seeds, I am getting excited!

Norma Chang said...

Bountiful harvest and beautiful baskets. Sorry to learn about your plants being trampled upon.
Sure isn't easy to balance home and work. Glad you are doing well.

Enchanted Moments said...

I love that you make use of the land behind your home...why not! There should be more of it....and the chance to grow veg where ever you can...

Umm AA said...

good luck to you with yr back to school life...must be hard..but have patient ya...nice harvest too - colourful and wonderful..:)

Umm AA said...

good luck to you with yr back to school life...must be hard..but have patient ya...nice harvest too - colourful and wonderful..:)

Malar said...

It's very busy time for you i guess!
Anyway thanks for the seeds! ;)

Unknown said...

Wow! mcm mana la u juggle with your studies, kids & gardening lagi..ni mesti superwoman ni.....good luck & all the best to u...;)

Jody said...

You are the princess of exotic and variety! Thanks for the seeds. They made it! Our freezer is full of the Aussie brown you sent us last season. Your effort for us has not gone to waste at all!

Mama Pongkey said...

Looking at the beautiful veggies makes me hungry. :-)
Hope everything is going fine to you. Actually I am not a morning person either, so I can totally relate with going late and coming home a bit late. It must be spring-summer now over there so the days are getting longer right? So still early when you go home.
Today at the organic shop I saw what they called Horse Lettuce - which looks suspiciously like beetroot leaves or chard to me. Hehehe.
The council sounds brutal. One would think they are happy that the land is being used to grow something else instead of weeds.

Liz said...

Glad you saved some of the mowed produce. I'm enjoying Cape Gooseberries at the moment too.

kitsapFG said...

Sorry you got some of the crops mowed down - but it looks like you were able to salvage quite a bit from it. Your carrots are looking great and the beets and other items are looking tasty too. Thank you for the offer of the onion seeds. I sent you an email with info.

rainfield61 said...

Back to school, a nightmare again.

We need Brands, and your veggies.

Kate said...

Waayy back when my first daughter was born, feeding time was also time to read... books! There was no internet then. How times have changed. I feel like such an old granny saying that. I can't believe all the gardening you accomplish with 2 small children. Everything looks beautiful!

Kelli said...

Your harvests look great. I love pulling carrots this time of year. It's such a great feeling.

Lrong Lim said...

Amazing harvests, Diana...

cathy@home said...

Lokking lovely at your end of the world, good luck withe everything this is a busy time for you.

Umm AA said...

eh..tak perasan lak ada list pemenang kat bawah..wah..thanks a lot tukang kebun..heheh

Sue Garrett said...

I can't believe they mowed down your vegetables!

lena said...

it's certainly not easy to juggle between work and home and with an additional child too, hope all will be good. so do you still grow plants at the reserved land?

Anonymous said...

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nadia rashid said...

hi...may i know tukang kebun & malay kadazan girls is a same person?
love to see those carrots...berangan sudah carrots sy jd mcm tu juga...:D

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Makcikmanggis~ Abby kena duduk dengan papa Abby sementara mama Abby kat sekolah kena minum botol susu expressed breastmilk. Nasib tak de masalah hisap dari botol.

Aku P@an~ macam-macam tahu je Diana nak offer tak lama lagi...hehehe...

Cher~Receiving supports from other people really make it much more easier.

Mark~I guess its depending on which staff in the local councils care the reserve land at our backyard. We were unlucky this year.

Daphne~Thanks. I really like arranging the harvest like arranging flowers ;).

Gardenglut~ I usually harvest fennel much bigger size but this one was severed by moving machine courtesy of the local council. I have already posted the seeds this week and hope you get it soon. Cape gooseberries grows much easier than tomato for me.

Norma Chang~Oh well things happened. Maybe growing annual flowers or fast crop veggies on that site will be a more better idea.

Enchanted Moments~Yes better grow veggies than weeds on that patch.

Ummuaidan~Thanks dear...tak habis-habis pegang title student...hehehe...cuma yang untungnya ada student card dapat student diskaun walaupun dah jadi mak orang.

Malar~Busy time but I gardening is not left behind. Just less blog posting nowadays.

HangKebon~Bukan superwomen pun, garden ni sekarang dah boleh lepas tangan sikit, banyak sayur dan herba yang self-seeded jadi banyak makanan free.

Jody~I am happy to hear the Aussie brown onion is suitable for your place.

Mama Pongkey~The day is getting longer. Sometime when I look at the clock I was surprised it is already 7PM but feels like 4PM. Horse lettuce?from Cameron Highland? A blind man must have mowed the land behind my backyard. Sigh.

Liz~Its interesting to note that we are harvesting the same fruit. I only have 3 plants growing at the moment. I should have planted more.

KitsapFG~We had good spring carrot harvest this year. However, beets are smallish size this year compared to last year. I have already posted the onion seeds hope you received it soon.

Rainfield61~Bilalah nak pencen pergi sekolah ni ;P.

Kate~The kids are happy to be outside in the garden so mum get to do some gardening. The breeze is good as well now that we are getting closer to summer.

Kelli~Yeah, love the fresh smell of carrot too when pulling them out from the soil.

Lrong~ Terima kasih ada murah rezeki.

Cathy~Yes busy. Have to remind myself sometime to enjoy life and take a break.

Sue~Unlucky this time, maybe the person who mowed it does not have passion in gardening.

Lena~At the moment, I have not plant any new plants at the back because I still have many empty patch to plant around the house. Due to busy schedule, I don't plant as many as before.

Nadia~Orang yang sama ;).InsyaAllah besarlah carrot awak nanti. Carrot ni ambil masa juga nak tumbuh akarnya 4-5bulan.