The cooler days are encouraging some things to produce more but it is inhibiting the growth of others.
I have removed all the tomatoes from the greenhouse, even though they were beginning to produce more foliage and flowers I don’t think there is enough time for them to ripen. Even the few tomatoes that are still being produced outside don’t have the same flavour and I think they will be pulled out next week too. Most of the cuttings I took from the tomatoes at the end of last month did root but it is something I need to do much earlier. I will try again next year at the end of June or certainly by mid-July so that I can plant strong new plants when the first cropping ones are becoming tired from over producing.
Peppers, aubergines and chillies are still producing reasonable crops, I was able to make one last Mediterranean roast vegetables last week. Basil and Thai basil need to be cut ruthlessly otherwise they flower and this in the end will stop them producing the best leaves.
Red pepper outside, with more green ones that may or may not turn red!
These yellow ones are in the greenhouse
A smaller variety of aubergine that I grew from seed
In this very narrow bed, I squeezed, auberines, chillies, chard and celary
Mediterranean roast vegetables
I am harvesting huge quantities of Dwarf green beans; yesterday there must have been 3 kg. too many at once, but that’s the problem with dwarf beans, it meant I was able to give masses to the guy who helps me in the garden, I don’t freeze them, really I grow vegetables to eat seasonal vegetables, I have been better at successional planting of the beans this year and I have some more plants growing now, hopefully there will be time for them to flower and produce some beans before the weather becomes too cold; yesterday I sowed a few more in the greenhouse just to see it they will grow there and perhaps give me fresh beans up until Christmas. I also sowed spinach in the greenhouse and in the garden, plus some Bok choi outside.
A few of the beans from last week; yesterday this washing up bowl was almost full!
I harvested the last of the Barlotti beans – these were amazing this year as from one sowing I had three harvests, some as fresh beans and some as dried, I’m looking forward to soups made with these and just cooked with new olive oil drizzled over them when we harvest the olives and make oil.
I’m picking small quantities of strawberries and raspberries, just enough for a taste of summer. Pomegranates and quinces are about ready to harvest.
Just a few raspberries almost every day
The splitting Pomegranate tells me it is ready to pick
My quinces are pear shaped the apple-shaped form is “the golden apple” from the garden of the Hesperides, from which inspiration this blog takes its name
The wild rocket, arugula, has lots of nice strong tasting new foliage now and the pretty yellow flowers can also be added to salads. The ‘cresto di gallo’ another wild leaf that I use in salads has produced hundreds of new baby plants all over the Slope so that editing and eating the very first new leaves will help the other plants have more space.
I picked one last cucumber last week, and zucchini are giving me a meal every couple of days but are nearly finished, most of the leaves have died back so I don’t expect many more.
New winter vegetables are ready to take over. I’ve already eaten a ’pointy’ cabbage and several others are ready, red cabbages are hearting-up and broccoli are just beginning to form heads. Some fennel bulbs are a reasonable size so I’ll use them soon, I might put some plants in the greenhouse to have a little later in the year; I love raw sliced fennel with sliced oranges, a few black olives and a drizzle of olive oil as a refreshing winter salad.
A caterpillar of a Swallowtail butterfly was hiding on its favourite food supply – fennel.
All of these brassicas are nearly ready to eat
Delicious pointy cabbage (a little eaten around the edges
There are lots of lemons and limes, I would like to make marmalade from them this year; if anyone has a reliable recipe they use for lime marmalade do please let me know.
Lemons
Limes
I’m joining The Gardening Blog for their Harvest day meme. Visit them to see what they’re harvesting in spring.
What a great range you are still harvesting; you would hardly know it is autumn from your crops! Our dwarf beans have been very disappointing this year, no gluts here, though the runners have been more reliable.
Oh your lemons and limes, how fantastic – lime marmalade sounds wonderful.
I hadsome climbing beans too but the crop was very small. The purple ones had a fabulous flavour and texture so I will try them again and hope it was theexceptionally hot summer that stopped them cropping well. Christina
Your garden bounty is a feast for the reader.
Thank you
What a fantastic selection you have, does this make up for your summer weather?!
Quite a lot of ours have rotted away in all the rain, but at least the runner beans have been very good. Our one courgette tasted delightful!!
We didn’t have the usual glut of courettes either, too hot and dry. Theveg garden has produced reasonably well all summer as it receives a lot of irrigation! The raspberries now are the whole season’s crop, it was much too dry earlier even with irrigation! The weather is now perfect for gardening, warm (high 20′s low 30′s during the day and cool early morning and evening). Christina
I love Pomegranate like yours,but I can’t choose it when is ripe.
Hi Nadezda, when they are on the tree you can tell they are ripe because they begin to split, like the one in the photo. Usually when one is ripe all the others will soon be ripe too. Christina
The idea of taking cuttings from tomatoes is fascinating although I havent grown any I would want to take cuttings from. And how wonderful to grow pomegranates
The cuttings were the internodal shoots that one normally removes, they produce plants quite quickly, but I was too late for them to be capable of producing fruit this year. Christina
You have such a variety of fruit and vegetables! They all look so delicious and healthy despite having come through such a hot dry summer. The Mediterranean vegetables were were tempting!
The roasted Mediterranean vegetables recipe is Delia Smith from the summer collection. I thought I’d put the recipe in the recipe section but it seems not – I’ll add it soon, it’s like roasted ratatouille. Christina
as always a wonderful harvest Christina, you’re nearly selfsufficent with your veg, how I would like a ‘guy who helps me in the garden’ sigh …….. Frances
What can I say! C
What a fabulous harvest ..such variety and those roasted veggies are my favorite…I just sowed some more greens, beets and kale for a later harvest under cover.
Oh Wow Christina! What a great harvest. The peppers and the aubergine look absolutely fantastic! I really need to plant a few more things.
Christina, your fruit and veg looks so much healthier than mine – what we lack here in the UK is the strength of sunlight that you enjoy. My veg seems to grow despite the weather, not because of it! I always wondered how you tell when a Pomegranate is ready to pick – now I know.
Yes, light levels make a huge difference, even in winter when it is cold (sometimes as low as minus 10°C – but not usually for very long) the sun is higher in the sky. I think this is why Lavender grows from ‘old wood’ as does Leylandii. But you can grow beans!!!!!!! Christina
What a lovely variety of fruits and veggies – love the raspberries!! They all look so healthy! I find my Brassicas always get eaten. I practice companion planting but I see you have fennel in between – does this help?
The brassicas maybe protect the fennel from the swallowtail, but it is the wasps that eat the cabbage white butterfly eggs and catterpillars.
Love it! This is my dream veggie garden – I need to work on mine! You rock lady!
What a fabulous harvest Christina. I’ll look forward to seeing how you get on growing veg in the greenhouse to extend the season. I have been wondering about trying to grow a lime tree here, it is so much more mild, I would love to be able to use the leaves in cooking, and the fruit in G&T… Enough for marmalade would be pushing it here, I think!
I’ll have an update about a new lime, coming soon. Christina
I am doing a little catching up with your blog, your garden always look fantastic but this post about the veggie garden really made stop and stare! I am so envious of all the varieties you grow and how nice they look! When did you plant all the brassicas? I did it very late, I guess, but august was too hot and dry for new plants!
Hi Alberto, I always plant the brassicas in the beds that had oinions and garlic so I think it was in late August. If I do it late they don’t really grow until spring but mine are all ready to harvest now, which is early and I’m not sure what I’ll have during winter! Christina