Harvests amongst the Term-time Tumbleweeds

You can tell when term time begins here because the tumble weeds come back into vogue on this blog. Teaching seven tutorials in two different subjects at two different universities, with additional head tutor responsibilities, coupled with research assistant work, thesis corrections, three ear aches this year already and a new penchant for sewing meant this blog has been a little neglected of late. That's not to say I didn't think of it, I simply had little energy and time to write anything of use.

And I even missed gaining my 100th follower (hi there 100th follower!!!) Not that there have been many posts to follow. But to make up for it here are a few harvests of late, from the balcony garden:

Ok, so that's the only kind of harvest pic I have and it is not even from my own garden but from my cousin's country patch! Oooopssss. I've been eating lettuce by the bucketload, and using herbs, but do you think I could remember to photograph them on their own? Oooops. Though they do crop up in some later photos. However, here are some delicious market finds, tomatoes, delicious, gourmet, and good for the tummy.

Strawberries, $10 for 15 punnets, only two fuzzy ones in the lot!

Some food made from garden harvests and the above-mentioned market finds, from salads, to jam, to smoothies and apple and fig crumble cupcakes. If you look hard enough you can see some lettuce from the garden, and some basil on the pasta sauce. They're from my harvest! Yay.

Take some strawberries, goodness knows there are plenty left over in 15 punnets ... and some frozen yoghurt cubes, frozen mango and banana, milk, water, vanilla extract and you get smoothie heaven.

I even have some before and after shots, tomatoes before drying ...

Tomatoes after drying (and after most of them went in the pasta which was pictured earlier.) Note that I used the garlic and basil from the garden to add flavour to these while they dried.

And a curren(ish) picture of the Autumn balcony garden.

Hope that makes up for my prolonged absence. Time to start doing the question answering posts next, taking pictures of the harvest, and showing you my really inept sewing efforts.

Harvest Monday (a.k.a. Harvest Porn for those in the Northern Hemisphere)

Not only do I keep forgetting to blog (I blame the fact my thesis came back, and yet I passed, I'm almost a Dr now!) but I keep forgetting to take picturess of all the harvessa but here are the bits I did remember. There have been more tomatoes, cucumbers and a barrage of apples (ok there were about 7 apples, but that's a barrage if ever I saw one) And this is a picture of but one ...

Tomatoes galore, though I've culled the broken down vines now (the usual wilt attacked them again) The black russian tomatoes were my absolute favourites. Here is some gratuitious tomato porn for those in the snowy, cold Northern Hemisphere. See, tomato bottom!

Three of the four of these delightful tomatoes were shared with the boyfriend in our dinner. In summer, dinner for me is usually a salad plate, and I just nibble away at it. The cucumber and tomatoes came in very handy for this task.

On Australia Day (26th of Jan, a very difficult day to reconcile in Australia's past) I used up a significant portion of the basil and garlic to make a pesto pasta salad. The cucumbers and tomatoes went in too, and it was a big hit at our picnic, along with my lemon curd and kiwi fruit pavlova.

Back to the harvest ... and there is a constrant stream of chillis.

The only miss was the corn. I got a few cobs fromt he first lot, which were delicious and shared with my parents on Christmas Eve. None of the second lot pollinated properly and this was the only cob I salvaged. Isn't it the saddest looking cob of corn you have ever seen?

I culled a significant postion of the summer plant from the balcony garden yesterday, no more cucumbers, only one tomato so harvest will be down for a while. But in their place are some broccoli seedlings and some kale, so harvests shouldn't be too far away.

For more harvest funtimes head on over the Daphne's Dandelions.

Harvest Monday (on a Tuesday)

I'm a day late on my harvest Monday post, but given the harvest in here covers a few weeks I didn't think it was a problem. Before I left for my trip I was harvesting a fair amount of produce, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchinis, corn and even an apple. For a while I was eating everything with lettuce, trying to use up the cos that all ripened at once.

I'd picked up the trick in vietnamese restaurants of eating spring rolls wrapped in mint and lettuce. I did that at home and it was delicious. Then started wrapping just about anything in lettuce and mint!

Even sausages.

Greek salads were a hit for using up the tomatoes and the cucumber. I also just ate them as is!

There were yellow zukes as well as cukes.

The apple - this was the first one - was lovely. Not quite ripe, not quite properly flavoured but darn it, it was the first apple I;ve ever grown so I thought it was great. I've eaten a few more since I got back and tastes/textures have varied wildly.

Then there was the amazing harvest from my birth dad's garden - delicious carrots, onions, beans and more. I barely had time to cook it all before I left but it was greatly appreciated.

Next Harvest Monday I promise more pics of the tomatoes, in particular the huge black russian which adorned my salad plate. Because I know that is all the northern hemisphere people want, just some lovely, juicy, ripe tomatoes ... well here's a peek ...

If you are after more harvest posts head on over to Daphne's Dandelions for the harvest Monday round up.

That's a pretty fruity balcony you've got there ...

Indeed my balcony garden is so fruity, the apples grow upside down! If you recall a post a long while back - I decided to 'fruity' up my balcony in order to skimp on buying soil all the time. It worked a little - or maybe it just cluttered the balcony up even more - but either way the 6 fruit trees are here to stay, and it looks like this summer they are earning their keep. For those who aren't in the know, the balcony garden houses six fruit trees - they are (in order of entrance into the BG world)

A Lemon Tree (gifted by my dear friend the not-so-stinking Hippy G, probably Meyer, was kind of sickly, but seems to be happier now)
A Nectarzee (gifted by my birth mother, has issues with leaf curl but holding on)
A Tahitian Lime (gifted by me, to me, because, well, I wanted my friends to have G and Ts with style)
A Golden Delicious Apple (a me-gift again, but I love this apple, it's my favourite kind)
A Granny Smith (because every good apple tree needs a companion)
A Fig (gifted by the lovely Ms M for my 30th)

So how are they faring overall? The lemon tree has always struggled, but a larger pot, some care and careful fertilising and a prime position means it is covered in little lemons this season. When I say covered, I mean about 10-12, but when a usual crop is lucky to have more than one this is a total blessing.

The lime is less successful, no doubt because of its youth, the way-too-small pot, and lack of adequate fertilisation. He'll be my next care and repair task. At least he keeps on flowering, in the faint hope he will fruit, which smells divine.

The apples are amazing! They're still young but they're fruiting and unlike other growers who let their trees mature, I'm letting it fruit. I don't care what anyone says and how much they say this'll hurt the tree. I'm a free range gardener and if my younguns wanna let loose and fruit then so be it. I thinned the fruit back though, and they still look happy and healthy and I can't wait to try an apple in the later summer/autumn months.

Mr fig twig - he aint no twig anymore - and he is fruiting happily and well. Rust is still an issue, mostly because I keep not attending to it!

The nectarzee (that's a dwarf nectarine for the uninitiated) had huge problems with leaf curl, at least it did in the past. While one branch was affected this year the rest of the tree came away unscathed. I am loathe to spray for it, and seems my little fighter fended for himself. There are two nectarines ripening this year, so cannot wait to nibble on them both.

Spiders are a problem with all the fruit trees, they seem to have made themselves at home. Not a problem in a large garden, with large trees, but for an arachnaphobe with a balcony garden of small trees it can be a bit of a problem. At the moment we are in a pretend-ignorant coexistance, but it is an uneasy truce. I'll keep you posted if arachnowar goes down.

So what fruit trees do you grow? Any tips?

Springtime for Mister Balcony Garden

Yes it has been a while, a very long while. Spurts of writing here and there but when you have cranked out 100 000 words on man's darker side you tend not to want to write much at all. Slowly I managed to start reading again (non-work books) and teaching took me away from Nazis, but still I couldn't muster the word-power to get back on this blog. But hopefully the winds of change are in town, and the inept balcony gardener can write once more. But just because I haven't written doesn't mean I haven't been gardening! Just take a look at the pic above, and you will see the balcony garden is going very well indeed. No camera cord yet (blame laziness and forgetfulness) so the pics in today's post are brought to you by my trusty little Motorola. Not bad either, if you ask me.

Above is most of the balcony at the end weeks of Spring. It is green, full of spiders and snails and vegetables and fruits are on their way. The flowers of spring have mostly died off, but I plan on adding a few pockets of annual colour here and there, mostly to attract some more bees. The abutilons are attracting birds (much to my delighted surprise) and the lemon and lime blossom works a treat on the bees but you can never have too much wildlife. Speaking of wildlife my neighbour's cat has discovered how to climb the fence, so he is an occasional visitor when I'm lucky.

But what about my pretties? The apples ... they're fruiting amazingly (I almost shed a tear thinning these)

Both the golden delicious and the granny smith have a few fruit left on them. I'm intrigued to see how well they grow.

Tomatoes are also thriving, some planted earlier than others. I'm trying a few varieties to see if they can outrun the early death. No hardcore boring hybrids this year with germ resistance. Instead I planted what I wanted, whether it is a softie and falls down dead at the hint of blight, or is a trusty old workhorse. I chose for flavour, variety, and what was in the shop at the time!!! Two green zebras, a lemon drop, a red tumbler and a black russian round out this year's contenders. I also planted a mortgage lifter in my friend's garden in the hope that it'll grow and she can supply the tomato crack. Here's a pic of the flowering and fruiting red tumbler.

There are also pumpkins (I'll do a whole post of them later) in a pot with corn and beans. Ok when I say pot, I mean mega pot, and yes, I'll post on it all very soon. I actually have two mega pots! There are also figs (just a pic of a bit of Mr Fig Twig below, but there are little fruits growing), nectarines (no pics), lemons (might be more than one this year!!!) and more. Garlic, mint (2 kinds, well 1 in a hanging basket and 1 that's been ravaged by the snails) lettuce, basil and so much more.

Right now we are getting a Spring shower, and the temperature has dropped. It makes me want to go sit in the Garden with a cuppa tea (or a long island version) and take in the Springy goodness. Instead it is back to first year essays! Until next time (and trust me, it won't be so long between posts.)