There is a Marge Piercy poem that I think perfectly sums up zucchini called Attack of the Squash People. I think of it every year around this time. I learned some time ago to plant just a couple of zucchini seeds at a time, but then I discovered tromboncino.
The grapes are hanging thick and heavy in our pergola. Such a useful plant. In winter the bare vines let the north western afternoon sun stream onto the verandah, warming the floor and creating a nice spot for proving bread or sitting with a book. In spring the fresh, delicate leaves make dolmades, wonderful lunch or picnic or party food. In summer the vines are thick with leaves blocking the…
In my kitchen is …
My pickings today loaded up my kitchen bench. Mangoes are biennial, and this is a mango year, so I’ve been making smoothies and cakes and pickles and chutney and sorbet, and giving lots away. The spring this year was wet enough for the pomegranates to fruit well – often our springs are too dry – and the tamarillos are all ripening at once. I’m back to growing enough tomatoes to…
I love this time of year, when everything I harvest is the most magnificent colour. I ate the first of many mangoes for the season today. Mangoes are biennial but not every second year is good. It’s a complex mix of rain and heat at the right time that makes this kind of luck.
The paw paws have been prolific this year. We’re eating one a day most days, but they’re starting to slow down from now on. The strawberries weren’t as good this year as last year, mostly because I got too busy in winter to plant out a new bed or mulch up and compost the old one, so they were a bit neglected and they paid out on me for it.…
The first of the season trombochino, just picked and went into a Green Green Polenta. The first of the season cherry tomatoes, just picked and into soft boiled egg and tomato on toast for breakfast. The first of the season capsicums – these ones are Hungarian Wax.