Monday 17 May 2010

From the garden ...


Fresh from our garden we have beetroot and carrots and yams kindly given by a neighbour.  I've never had yams before, in fact I have never seen yams before, so that will be something new to try tomorrow.  I'm new to growing veggies so was very pleased when everything grew this year.  We had tomatoes, runner beans, dwarf beans, peas, rocket, lettuce, courgette, beetroot, carrots and strawberries.  The only thing that really didn't grow at all was the spring onions.   The first lot of beetroot we harvested I roasted with balsamic vinegar and then mixed with local feta and mint - absolutely delicious!!!!  These beetroot are now much bigger so it'll be interesting to see how they taste.  Especially this one:


Our plum tree had lots of blossoms and lots of fruit but they took so long to ripen that the birds got them first. I think Maia was the only one of us to have a plum from our tree.  Our lemon tree was moved, ultimately for it's own good, but I don't think it liked it very much!  We've had some blossom on it since the move but no fruit yet - fingers crossed!


The other fruit tree we have is the feijoa.  This is a prolific producer but I don't really like them - luckily Craig and the girls do!  Having said that I made some delicious feijoa muffins last year and we just looked up the recipe after tea tonight.  Craig said he couldn't believe that it's been a year already since we had them last.  There's something very reassuring about celebrating different seasons with the foods and looking forward to the harvests.  I can tell you that I'm already looking forward to next January/February when we can go and pick our own blueberries again!


We've also saved some seed this year.  Don't you just love Maia's label "MAGIC BEANS MAIA APRIL 2010"?!  Being new to growing veggies I have once again been absolutely amazed at the whole process.  You take a small seed/bean etc and then they grow.  I love seeing the first shoots of green and wondering what the leaves will look like.  They then grow and,  hopefully, bear fruit and will then give you seeds to plant again the following year to bear more fruit.  I know this isn't rocket science and I know that this IS what happens but it amazes me just the same - it's just like magic!!!!

3 comments:

Charlotte Scott said...

Last summer was the first time I'd had a real garden too and the excitement of seeing things shoot and then grow hasn't left me yet!

Fresh picked carrots are the best!

I don't really like beetroot but hubby does, so I grow it anyway. I might try your recipe out and see if I like it that way.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait until next summer when I have my first garden. I love the seed saving.

Jacoline said...

For me feijoas were new as well, I love them we had already 85 kilo from our tree,The girls sell them in the weekend ad the gate.