My late summer garden is bearing beautifully, bountifully, so much so that I’ve done something very unlike me and given some space over to flowers. I normally have flowers in the garden, lots of them, but they are vegetables gone to flower, soon to be seed. On the way there, they feed bees, and butterflies, and lots of predatory insects (many insect eaters are also nectar eaters – they go for a balanced diet of insects for the protein, nectar for the carbohydrates). But I don’t normally grow flowers just for flowers.
But this year, I have dahlias purely for dahlias. The root is edible but these ones are just for in a vase with fennel flowers. It’s been a good summer for food gardening here, and I’ve got my succession planting working better than I do in some years. We’re getting all our fresh food, plus some to give away from the 30m2 front yard raised beds.
I go on a picking walk most days, picking what needs to be picked, and then thinking about what to do with it (and what else I need to pick from the herbs and perennials to go with it). What’s for dinner is always led by what needs to be used. This has the useful side effect that what needs to be used is pretty nearly always what’s at the peak of its season, perfectly ripe, beautifully ready. And since humans have been doing this in kitchens all over the world for a very long time before refridgerated cargo flights, this is the basis of every cuisine.
I was thinking Malay with this lot, something like this sweet and spicy stir fry, using the Black Beauty eggplant, tromboncino, Molokhia and beans with a spicy ginger and Makrut lime sauce and home-made noodles. But it’s a full moon tonight, and we’re invited to a beach barbeque, so I’m now thinking marinated vegie kebabs based around the Rosa Bianca eggplant and tromboncino, with a sweet corn, cherry tomato and bean salad.
I’m already sowing seeds of broccolini and broad beans. I’ve called this “late summer” because my internal clock hasn’t caught up yet that it is already autumn. I will miss the eggplants and beach barbeques, so making the most of them.
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Funny. I was just thinking that I’d better drag the mini greenhouse out from the shed and start some winter seedlings.
Yes, I had a lovely day yesterday getting a whole lot of winter seeds in. Even some onions, though that’s a long shot. Bit early yet for them.
Oh Linda Thankyou for showing your garden walk. I am new to your website. But I have admired your methods for years. I love , love , loved seeing your bare feet. ( as well as the jungle).