Although I have been picking a few things here and there - like a few leaves off the lettuce, some herbs and a few capsicums (sweet peppers) - I haven't really thought of it as harvesting because these have been few and far between - apart from the herbs. But today I have to say that I did a mini-harvest on my (sadly) quite neglected vegie plot. Wedding and honeymoon now out of the way - I planted the sweet potato that was sprouting hidden in the bottom of the pantry and harvested the two Golden Nugget pumpkins that survived on the vine and ripped the withering vine out - discovering the cucumbers I planted about 2 months ago have now got fruit on them! They've been mostly hidden by the pumpkin. I can't wait to pick some of those! Here are the 2 good sized pumpkins we ended up with below:
I also managed to pick a few beans that were ready and a few passionfruit! The passionfruit vine has been here since we moved in. We got back from honeymoon and found that the neighbours, who have been landscaping their front yard have cut back what was growing on their side. Shame because it was growing so well ... I guess I will try and trellis it across the fence and keep it trimmed on our side. There is also a mango tree which was also growing when we bought here. It's shot up so much in one year - it's grown about 60-70cms and becoming quite leafy. I can just imagine sitting under it's shade in the next few years.
My Valencia Orange looked to be dead a few months ago - all the leaves fell off one by one it seemed and the branches turned brown. I thought I would be digging it up and replacing it and pondered whether it was the colony of strange white bottomed ants that were quite obviously living under the roots that had caused it's demise (every time I gave the orange a drink they would swarm out in quite alarming numbers trying to escape the water). However, below the graft (a grafted variety - not sure what the root stock is) - a few sprouts came up. They have since grown strongly and more have popped up. Although I realise that the root stock is generally a variety that doesn't fruit as well - I'm willing to give the poor thing a chance. It will get at least a year to prove it's viability before I consider replacing it with another tree.
I could tell winter was on it's way - all the leaves have dropped off the frangipani stalk I have. It's still growing but no leaves alas - it just looks like a stick stuck into the ground. At least my gardenias are still strong and green and the strawberry - although nibbled on - is still growing strongly.
I'm looking into what I should plant this month - I have seeds, mostly supermarket varieties but am considering ordering some organic seeds or buying seedlings. We're quite busy getting the house back into order so not sure I will have the energies or time to devote to coaxing seedlings into life.
