Roasted beets

As a family, we consume a lot of beetroot. We usually buy several tins of sliced beetroot each shopping trip and it will be added to sandwiches, wraps, burgers etc. My 5yo is a huge fan and often asks for 'beetroot sandwiches without the bread'.

I haven't had much success growing my own (though interestingly beets grown from seed have done better than store-bought seedlings) - it just doesn't get big enough. Recently though, I harvested a couple of golf-ball sized beets. Because we eat so much of the canned stuff, I thought I'd try something different. I used some to make a beetroot salad - finely chopped raw beetroot added to grated carrots and a few other ingredients for a zesty side dish.

Another beet got added to our weekly roast. Par-boiling then peeling the skin is probably the most time-consuming and messy part (some people wear gloves to prevent staining) but then it just got bunged in the oven with the rest of the veggies. The flavour was rich and earthy - very different to the tinned stuff. I think next time I'll add an onion to balance it with the rest of the meal.

Beets, carrots, potatoes and parsnips with garlic and rosemary - all from the garden - ready for roasting.

Roma wasn't grown in a day

My Black Russian tomatoes, while delicious, are proving not in the least pest resistant. Reluctant to use sprays, I'm still using the stocking method but this is quite time consuming. Consequently, I'm only harvesting a small amount of the total fruit. The rich taste is worth it though, especially for Italian red sauce such as spaghetti bolognese.

Fortunately the Roma and Tiny Tom varieties are doing well and need little pest control. I would highly recommend Tiny Tom tomatoes if you need a low maintenance plant. I've also got another cherry tomato growing that must have self-seeded from last year. The Roma tomatoes are plentiful and, while smaller than those you'd find in a store, taste delicious and are a perfect topping for cheese on toast.

Christmas in the garden

Because the weather is so unpredictable in December, we usually have turkey burgers (we have turkey roll rather than a whole turkey) for Christmas Day dinner but I forgot to buy buns and the ones I made turned out more like dinner rolls so we had a salad instead. I pulled some lettuce leaves from the garden and also harvested the first of the Black Russian tomatoes which was rich and juicy. Unfortunately the bugs also think so and I'm having a hard time keeping them off.

For Boxing Day dinner we used up the leftover turkey in this Turkey a la King recipe using a lovely green capsicum from the garden.

Here are some photos from the garden as it is currently. For some reason they are all sideways but I can't work out how to reorientate them.

Pototoes in grow bags. Have had a few early 'new' potatoes. More are ready to be harvested.

Ballerina apple

Capsicum (2nd year production)

Corner bed - tangerine, ballerina apple, dwarf pink lady, asparagus... and some flowers

Raised bed - squash, celery, turnip, tomato, zucchini and a random cucumber that self-seeded

Black Russian tomato - the stockings are an attempt to protect from pests

Christmas dessert - topped with strawberries from the garden

Sunday Roast

In an effort to expand beyond the limited range of vegetables available in the supermarket, I planted some kohlrabi a few weeks ago. Today I harvested a couple of young kohlrabi bulbs, turnips and carrots to roast along with a store-bought chook (chicken). A few early beans added some colour to the roast which was had with chips and gravy. I loosely followed this recipe for roasted kohlrabi with garlic and parmesan. It proved to be very tasty so I will definitely be planting some more as they are easy to grow from seed.

Freshly harvested veggies - washed & ready to be peeled

All the colours of the rainbow

We are getting LOTS of rain at the moment and the garden appears to be thriving. My silverbeets and spinach are looking particularly healthy and I harvested some tonight along with a couple of decent sized carrots to have in a stir fry. I added a shop bought red capsicum for some colour because my capsicums are still undersized and green.

There are lots of roma and black russian tomatoes growing - some quite large - but all are still green. I suspect that I'll be harvesting a lot of tomatoes once the sun starts shining again!

The two blueberry bushes are still yielding plenty of berries. Here's a handful I picked to add to my morning muesli yesterday:

Sewing and harvesting

Today I harvested my first garlic. Garlic is apparently very easy to grow but 2 out of my 4 plantings didn't make it. They were divided between two different beds so I'm guessing that's something to do with the soil types. It's been very interesting to see things thrive in one bed but do poorly in another.

I also pulled up a turnip the size of which almost required me to call for help from the cat, the dog, the duck (or in our case, budgie) etc. Unfortunately my camera battery is flat so you'll have to take my word for it but there seems to be a couple more doing well and hopefully I can take a snap of those. I'm thinking about making this recipe for potato and turnip patties. I have some spring onions (scallion greens) growing and might see if any potatoes are ready instead of using the store bought ones. I was also very excited to see that some asparagus crowns I planted are still doing well after I thought I'd killed them through lack of watering. They are positioned just under the edge of the eave so don't always get rainfall if the rain is being blown outwards.

Rain is forecast over the next few days so today I sewed some watermelon, cauliflower and, in an effort to try something new, kohlrabi. Also as part of the trying-new-things plan, yesterday I dished up some store-bought choko. I've read that choko is easy to grow but thought I should determine if the family would actually eat it before planting any. I tried two cooking methods - steaming and stir frying. Frying got the thumbs up and because of the texture I think it could be used instead of water chestnut in stir-fry recipes. So a second choko is currently sitting in the back of the veggie cupboard where hopefully it will sprout ready to be planted... if I can find a spot in the garden that is!

Tonight's dinner is salmon and spinach pasta bake made, of course, with homegrown spinach and the aforementioned garlic from the garden.

Lemons keep falling on my head

Yesterday I pulled out the snow peas and will improve the soil before planting some carrots and possibly some squash. I harvested what seems to be the last of the broad (fava) beans and used them, along with some carrots and thyme from the garden, to make Don Burke's potato, beans and carrots dish which was had with some crunchy herbed chicken drumsticks. The double shelling of the beans does take a bit of time but I find it therapeutic and it's something the kids enjoy helping with. The dish was simple and rustic but full of flavour.

I also made some vegetable stock concentrate using celery, carrots and herbs from the garden along with some store-bought onion, tomato and garlic (I have all these growing in the garden but they are not harvestable yet). The stock should last a few months and will be used as a base for stews, risotto and dishes like the one above.

And because I literally have lemons falling on my head, I decided to use a few of them in this lemon delicious slice recipe - they were very delicious!