Summer is over, the crisp mornings of Autumn are here. So, how did my Summer veggie garden grow? (If you would like to see the beginnings of the summer garden, my post is here.)
I put in three tomato bushes. The fruit were really slow to develop, and in fact I thought one bush was not going to produce at all. Whitefly was a problem, even though we used yellow sticky traps. They breed so quickly that the traps need to be replaced regularly. The tomatoes were prone to the diseases the whitefly brought. We harvested some but I don’t think tomatoes are worth the effort. (Remind me of that in November, when I am raving on about planting out my tomato plants!)
The best bush of the three was Mortgage Lifter. While the fruit looked a little dodgy, the flesh was rich red, meaty and tasty.
Some of the better looking tomatoes, with an eggplant. These long skinny eggplants are great for stir fries.
(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson)
The flowers are really pretty (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson)
Broad leaves.
(Photo copyright: Anne Lawson)
The beans were an experiment — yellow beans. Next year I will go back to the other varieties I have grown. This variety was not very prolific. I also found that the stems seemed to break really easily.
Enough of the grumbling. Did anything grow well? The strawberries continued to produce luscious fruit. And the eggplants are still producing. The capsicums were good. I had a couple of varieties:
These black capsicums were a glorious glossy colour. They were grown in a pot. (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson)
Orange capsicums (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson)
By far and away the most successful was the pumpkin. As for many gardeners, the pumpkin plants arrived via the compost bin and quickly took over. I worried that the tendrils were about to attack unsuspecting people on the footpath!
Watch out strawberries! The pumpkin vine is coming! (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson)
Out onto the footpath. It would have been half way up the street in a trice if we had let it go! (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson)
Out to catch unwary passerbys! (Photo copyright: Anne Lawson)
So far we have harvested 20 pumpkins!! Yup, 20. No typo there! Pumpkin soup, roast pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin scones….. anyone know some good pumpkin recipes? Please share!!
So now we are pulling up the pumpkin vines and the tomato bushes. We will work the soil, adding compost and manure, to get the area ready for some winter vegetables. Garlic usually does well for us, as do potatoes, and silver beet likes to take over. It is always so nice to plan what is to go in. It is always an optimistic time, as everything will grow well and produce kilos of veggies! (I am such a glass half full person!)
How did your vegetable garden go this season?
Our gardening season is just beginning here in Northern California. I’m so jealous of your beautiful colorful produce. In my foggy neighborhood it’s hard to grow anything besides lemons, chard, lettuce and kale although sometimes we can coax strawberries and tomatoes to grow but getting them to turn red and ripen is a challenge.
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My impression of California is of sunny skies and warmth, where everything grows! Am I so wrong? However, don’t be too jealous of my tomatoes — they really should have been a lot better. How do you cook the kale? I am not really familiar with it.
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