Strawberries are still the star fruit in my garden, but the tussle for number two is hot. There’s still a paw paw a day most days, and though the fruit fly sting most of our stone fruit, there are enough early peaches and plums on the tree to just share them with the chooks – they like the stung spot with its little grub the best. But I think number two at the moment has to go to blueberries. My bushes are young but I’m lucky enough to live in a blueberry growing region, and the season is short.
The vegetables in season in my garden have all of a sudden changed. The cabbage moths and grasshoppers of summer have arrived, ending the long broccoli season and making the silver beet less enticing. I still have some kale but not for much longer. The broad beans are all finished and it is time to let the asparagus grow out.
But the zucchini and trombochino have started to really come on in the warm weather. The first round of beans are all bearing and I have three different kinds to choose from. The annual keeping onions and garlic are all in, and I’ve just started to harvest the first of the new season potatoes, which are a real treat. We don’t treat potatoes as a staple in our household, partly because neither of us do enough of anything really physically demanding enough to use that many carbohydrates every day, but mostly because after fresh, new season potatoes, stored ones are so uninspiring. And I’m starting to pick tomatoes every day, just the Principe Borghese, Roma, and yellow cherry yet but I’m watching the Brandyvine ripen by the day.
So that’s my late November 2 and 5. I’d love to hear what yours are.
Hi,
Well here in temperate baranduda we’ve been harvesting oranges and mandarines and loquats. Otherwise just lettuces and herbs. We do have many onions in the ground i guess i should see what stage they are at. These are all self seeded/left from previous owners or this house so i hope to improve on it next year.
Jaime,
Widget Grove
http://widgetgrove.com.au/
Hi Jaime, your onions might be just about ready. When they start to look daggy and the tops are falling over is time to pick them. Mandarins are a winter crop here. The last of them are just finished.
A vege collection to die for! Fascinating purple onions – what are they exactly? Trombocino … er the crookneck kinda Zucchini fruits?
Trombochino are my new favourite vegetable. Amazingly productive, and they climb, which means I can use my vertical space on the garden fencing for them. Zucchini take up so much ground room. The purple onions are Red Brunswick. I’m liking them too.
I am growing pawpaws out here on the prairies in Illinois, and am SO looking forward to the fruit. At least another year yet I think. I am from New Zealand so i am very attracted to the tropical leaves as much as anything else, am I shallow?. I love the look of those dark red beans.. c
From where did you get those fascinating Trombochino seeds, Linda? A brief search of my favourite heritage seed-sellers doesn’t get a result. Any chance of buying a few from you? Too late in the season, perhaps?
Hi Elaine, I got mine from Diggers. I think they’re listed under zucchini. I think they’re a new thing because I’d never heard about them before last year.
Hi Cecilia, I know what Americans call papaya is what I call pawpaw, and what they call pawpaw is something quite different – a plant I’ve never seen. Kiwi that you are, I wonder which you’re growing? I would have thought they are both too tropical for the prairies, but I’m crossing my fingers for you. The big tropical leaves are one of the attractions for me too!