Monday, September 5, 2011

First Spring Harvest Monday

Last week my little garden helper has been following me around the garden to help with the harvest. He seems to know that our sprouting broccoli side-shoots need to be frequently cut as we have been experiencing many days above 20degree Celsius these days and wants me to follow him at that corner on the right side of this photo.
Its difficult for me to keep up with sprouting broccoli before they flower at the moment. This unusual warm weather early spring is making them flower easily. We had some tomatoes to harvest. My little helper keeps on stealing those yellow cherry tomatoes before we can snap some photos.
Our awaited Violet Sicilian cauliflower turn out to be green like broccoli (which I think it is broccoli). We freeze this "cauliflower" since we had enough for the kitchen. One red capsicum which is a treasure as it takes more than 3 months to wait for it to turn red. We harvested kohlrabi and dice it to make mini murtabak with mini cabbage. Kohlrabi was also grated for Sambal Salad with green mango.
Beetroots.
Due to warm weather our first cauliflower for this year did not form proper head, it looks very ugly and smallish. I am hoping for some rain and cool weather so the rest of our cauliflowers will have the chance to develop nice curds. The soil is so dry. Due to this not so early spring weather, I did not realised that our bonica eggplants which I have neglected this winter but let it survive by its own surprisingly produce fruits. I was pulling out a dead tomato plant beside this eggplant and by chance found some eggplants. The colour is odd though, instead of the usual dark purple. The first time, that we actually harvested an eggplant in early spring.
Our purple-podded pea plants are dying. Peas planting on our garden this year look very miserable compared with previous years. Today, we also harvested some lettuce, Florence Fennel and Snowball cauliflower.

43 comments:

Sunray Gardens said...

That is really a large amount of harvest. Looks good.
Cher Sunray Gardens

Kirsty @ Bowerbird Blue said...

I can relate to the sprouting broccoli problem we just had a big pot of broccoli soup and they're all back again

Bee Girl said...

Gorgeous harvests! And lucky you to have such a good little helper!!!

kitsapFG said...

What a darling helper you have in the garden. :)

Staying on top of the harvest of sprouting broccoli and broccoli side shoots is always a challenge. They reward with such a great continuing harvest though - that it is worth the effort.

Beautiful harvest this week. It is fun to see a garden that is in it's spring season - at the same time we are in our fall season. I look forward to watching your summer bounty when we are in our winter period.

~TastyTravels~ said...

Despite some setbacks, it looks like your garden is producing well!! Hooray!! You have a very cute garden helper. He's all ready to go with his basket! Cute!!

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Would your cute garden helper like a feline cuddle? Hmmm...Mama's gardening effort has met so many setbacks. I hope she won't give up. purrrr meow!

Mark Willis said...

When I see the amount of veggies that you produce (and the wide variety of them) I imagine your garden to be about a hectare in size!

Shawn Ann said...

I love my little helpers, you have to watch them closely or they steal everything! ;) You have a very pretty and colorful harvest with purple and red and green! Very nice!

tina said...

How lucky to have such a great helper. And he's cute too!

Phoebe said...

Great harvest! How do you water the garden to ensure such continuous cropping?

Jody said...

Such a great harvest. I really like that cauliflower and cabbage. What will you do with the cabbage?

Your helper is absolutely adorable! He looks ready to find a really big harvest.

cikmanggis said...

hehe comelnya petani cilik ni..wah banyaknya tanaman kat belakang Rayyan tu...kagum sungguh:)

africanaussie said...

all your veggies look so healthy and it is wonderful that your little helper is eating fresh tomatoes! I love those purple peas :0

rainfield61 said...

Your garden continues to supply you with some good harvests.

To no end.

Liz - Suburban Tomato said...

I had some of those green eggplants in June, but I completely forgot about them in the fridge and never cooked them. Do they taste the same?

Sue Garrett said...

What a haul for early spring! Hope we manage some broccoli next year!

Rosie Gan said...

Say Hi to Rayyan for me, won't you...he looks so prepared to help.I can't compliment you enough on your harvests. This batch looks too pretty to eat!
Rosie

kitchen flavours said...

Luckily you could not see me now, I am drooling over your harvest!! Geramnya! Your garden helper is really cute and efficient! And he is quite a magician with the cherry tomatoes too, now you see it, now you don't! Hehehe!

kitchen flavours said...

Me again! I would like to know how long do you take to harvest your garlic bulb. I pulled out one plant about two weeks ago to use the green leaves, and was surprise to see a rounded bulb instead of one oval garlic pip. I planted it again and now it has grown bigger. How do I know when to harvest the garlic bulbs? I think that it will be a small bulb, but I am excited nevertheless! :)

lena said...

can see your little helper is really excited and getting ready with his spade!

petite nyonya said...

Each time I visit you have bountiful harvest to make me so envious of your garden yet so encouraged to continue planting, altho I don't have the space for it :(. You really have amazing green hands, and a cute little garden helper too! :)

Unknown said...

Can I be your little garden helper, you have so much nice vegetable in your garden.

Malar said...

That's very good harvest!
I always don't have the chance to see brocolli head as they start bolting due to hot weather! ..sigh...

hafrawiey ozakawa said...

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Sue Catmint said...

your little helper is so sweet, and the veggies look magnificant. I am in awe of your veggie growing skills diana!

takaeko said...

My kids are also as helpful as your kid.
They like seeding, planting and harvesting vegetables but I wish they would like weeding, too, which requires much manpower.

Stephanie said...

So marvellous! Enjoy these tasty vege (I am sure they are!) you harvested ;-)

littlekarstar said...

Another amazing harvest and what a gorgeous boy :)
The broccoli shoots just keep coming don't they!!
We had a bit of spring here too...but back to freezing and rain tonight! Booooooooo!

JGH said...

Wow - so colorful! I'm enchanted by the color of that kohlrabi- I bet it looks great in a salad!

Joyce Wyld said...

Hello-I stumbled on your blog looking for gardening info in adelaide and boy was I excited to read that you're kadazan! I'm Joyce, sino-kadazan from Kota kinabalu, living at Modbury North, in the north eastern suburbs of Adelaide, and just started my own vegie patch!Mum to a toddler and newborn. Is it too forward to ask if I could see your garden and make a new friend?

Autumn Belle said...

You are having a good spring harvest. When cute little helper grows more muscles, he can help mom with the garden chores. Happy Spring!

Tokanpuakajoran® Cikgu Budr said...

Sangat seronok melihat hasil yang segar gitu...

Thomas said...

Your harvest is beautiful. And so is the little guy. How cute is he! Don't you just get a warm feeling in your heart whenever he goes to pick something? If only all children were as lucky.

Interesting to see your garden taking off while ours is slowing down. You're making me look forward to sprouting broccoli next year.

cookingvarieties said...

hi, your kebun really looks great enough to me. you seem to have plenty of harvests here. congrats, an effort paid off..
looks like i am already tempted to start planting some veggies. i start with red spinach ha ha. next week

Unknown said...

Beautiful harvest...& comelnya ur little garden helper tu..:)

Unknown said...

& Salam Aidilfitri to u n ur family...:)

Makarimi Abdullah said...

You got very cute helper ;) Congrats for good spring harvest....memang berbaloi ;)

Rita said...

The closest harvest I came to is pineapple harvest...err but that's some time ago... :-)

Love the feel of harvesting own crop tho' in my case was just 1 small pineapple :-D

fer said...

your little helper looks so cute and happy. And those vegetables look delicious

Kelli said...

What a lovely post and super looking veg. You're always an inspiration! Kelli

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Cher~ Hoping the garden well provide some more.

Kirsty~Yes. They do coming back really fast this month those sprouting broccoli. But the unexpected warm weather make the sprouts smaller than usual.

Bee Girl~An extra hands to carry more basket:).

KitsapFG~Your broccoli plants for fall do grow very fast, surprised me when I visited your garden:).

Holly~The garden has been neglected and many of our lettuces are bolting.

Cat-from-Sydney~Rayyan love feline! He will be very happy to receive a cuddle. It takes a while to set up a garden. Good Luck!

Mark~Just a small garden. That is why we don't space our veggies that much all are squeeze together.

Shawn Ann~My little helpers like to pull few week old carrots which we have to keep on a close eye :). Or we never have any carrot roots to harvest from the garden.

Tina~Our helper can be a cheeky monkey.

Phoebe~We usually water them only in the evening when we have no rain for long time. By watering can.

Jody~Since it was just a mini cabbage it was mixed together with fried rice/noodles and mini murtabak.

Cikmanggis~Semalam pertama kali Rayyan tanam jagung, bean dan labu.

Africanaussie~Sadly those purple beans died too early for us to enjoy it much much more. But it was fun to harvest purple podded peas.

Rainfield61~Hopefully when heat waves comes it won't cause our food supply from our garden to stop. It hard to know each year how well will the garden goes with each season.

Liz~I was so happy to harvest eggplants early spring that whatever it taste won't overcome the excitement;-). But I think it tasted allright.

Sue~Good Luck with your broccoli!

Rosie~Thanks Rosie.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Joyce~It will depend on what type garlic it is, the hardneck garlic bulb much faster than softneck ones. However softneck ones keep much longer than hardneck. Usually it will be ready to be harvested in 6-8months time.When the garlic plants are half bending and yellowish it is already indication of ready to be harvested.

Lena~Him holding a spade is a dangerous situation. He just dig everything out;-).

Petite Nyonya~Container gardening has helped a lot in giving us more space to grow. So many vegetables can fit in persquare/metre.

Ellada~We welcome extra helping hands.

Malar~If you plan them to get ready to develop head during monsoon season. You might see some miracle.

Hafrawiey ozakawa~Thank you for visiting us :).

Catmint~I might consider us to be lucky than skill though;-) since it only been less than 3 years since we started vegetable gardening.

Takaeko~I hope my children can be more helpful in the garden like yours. Our small helpers are still beginners.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Stephanie~Thanks. I hope these veggies make me recover much faster from the cold that I got.

Mrs. Bok~Can't keep up with those broccoli shoots nowadays. Took time to harvest them. Raining starts today here too.

JGH~I like to mix kohlrabi with green mango salad.

Joyce Wyld~Yes, it will be really great if we can be friends. Of course you can visit our small garden. Send me an email so we can get together.

Autumn Belle~Spring harvest this year is unexpectedly different from previous year which made it much more fun in the garden.

Tokan~ Hijau-hijau tu bagi pulih semangat dan motivasi.

Thomas~It feel sad if you know a child thinks that vegetables come out from freezer or on the market rack. Hopefully more schools will promote many school garden at school for children who does not have the opportunity to be exposed in growing own food.

Cookingvariety~Good Luck with growing veggies. Red spinach is good start. Best of Luck!

HangKebon~Little garden tu kena supervise nanti semua dikoreknya...hehehe...Salam Aidilfitri to you too.

Orchid de dangau~Berbaloilah juga sebab dapat jimat duit dan masa tak payah pergi ke kedai. Pastu boleh bersenaman sikit keluarkan peluh.

Rita~Pineapple is a big achievement since it takes lots of patience to grow it. Our more than 2 years old pineapple plant is still not fruiting for us. Forever wondering when;-).

Fer~Your balcony garden harvest were beautiful Fer!

Kelli~ You inspire me to try own flower suit for cottage garden! I enjoy looking at your bloom very much.