scenes from a garden

[tielan]

Fully into the early fruit season for my trees. This is mostly peaches and nectarines at this point, although there were some scarlet eggplants (which I decided not to keep after all) and a cherry (or two). And I need to eat the cabbages before something else decides to eat them...

This year I jumped straight into processing the fruit off the tree.

Six jars of nectarines and three jars of peaches:




I picked the last of the nectarines off the back tree last week. This week will probably see the last of the white peaches, next week will be a handful of golden peaches, and then there'll be no more peaches until the China Doll peaches (donut peaches) come good in, oh, February-ish, I think.

I didn't dry many nectarines this year, and haven't dried any peaches. I've mostly been bottling them and swapping them.

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BEHOLD! The entirety of my cherry harvest!



Yes, two cherries - and then I left one on the tree too long and it turned to mush and moulded over in the humidity. *sigh* The cherry tree needs more dedicated watering and feeding in July-August-September, and I didn't really give it that this year.

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So I planted a bunch of eggplant seedlings last year, thinking they were finger eggplants or maybe the Italian stripey kind, but they turned out to be scarlet ones. They did okay at the end of the season - a couple of fruits, but I left them in over winter and when spring came, they really started producing!



Except that the type of eggplant they are is unusual and kind of bitter. Apparently it's a type which is basically used as a filler in food, not really for eating.

Also, they've gone a bit mutant - each eggplant appears to be growing another eggplant (or several) inside it. So in spite of them looking terribly pretty, I'm pulling them out and replacing them with other plants...including an eggplant that I really do want to eat!

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A water lily in my bathtub pond:



A new wicking bed:


A cabbage head that should probably be harvested this week:


Oh and a question!



Everyone says this is a cabbage, but the little nubbins above the leaves suggest to me that it's a brussels sprout:


Thoughts?

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A bed full of tomatoes (and a tomatillo):


Not sure how this will pull through over summer, though. Firstly, I'm counting on the mulching system to reduce the amount of water needed because the watering system in this bed is nearly non-existent. Secondly, any time the chooks get out, they love to ravage this bed. So...I'm kind of iffy about the prospects of the tomatoes in it...

Maybe I should move them to the wicking bed instead?

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Speaking of the chooks, here they are in their summer pen:


Shady enough so they won't over heat, fenced in, with dust baths and the neighbours throwing them vegie scraps, and a compost pile that I turned on Sunday.

Except that it's already hit 70C! And you're supposed to turn it at that temperature!



My arms still ache from all the compost turning and building I've been doing lately. I'm not sure that I can do another turning so soon, but if I don't, the middle of the compost will just end up as ash...

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This magnificent specimen is an "orchid cream" nasturtium. Frankly, I'd have called it a Bloody Mary.



I got a bunch of seeds from a seed company here in Australia, and sowed them and this is what resulted. Unfortunately, it got caught up in the heatwave of early November and died without producing any seeds. I think there's another one in the garden somewhere, but I suspect the chooks dug that one up. :(

Pity. It was really stunning and different!

Comments

[unicornduke]

Cabbage and brussel sprouts are the same species, just selected to prioritize different parts of the plant for eating so it could be a cross pollinated accident or it could be a funky cabbage. The plant looks too tall to be a proper heading cabbage so depending on where you got the seed, I'd say a cross pollination accident or a mislabeled packet.

That water lilly is beautiful! and that basket of peaches looks amazing!

[boxofdelights]

I agree with unicornduke that the tall cabbage is most likely a cross pollination accident. It looks like a kalette, which puts up a tall stalk like a Brussels sprout, but grows a tiny leafy kale plant at each leaf axil, instead of a curled-up Brussels sprout.

Anyway, the big leaves on your brassica look too tough to eat unless you remove the stems and cook the leaves thoroughly, but I bet whatever sprouts in the leaf axils will be delicious.

[loligo]

I just had brussel sprout leaves tonight and they were delicious! This week was the first time I'd ever seen them at the farmers market.

[moonhare]

Lovely pics- thanks for the share! The peaches are indeed amazing.

[loligo]

What a cool nasturtium! And how I envy your fruit production - there are only a few tiny spots in my yard that get enough sun for fruit, and they are devoted to potted fig trees. I really need to learn more about optimal pruning and fertilizing so I can maximize their output.

[timespirt]

Garden is looking good hon. That flower is beautiful. It looks like a Brussels sprout
to me.

[mdehners]

It's on my Seed order!
Cheers,
Pat