fresh

i know we're in the middle of winter, but i'm enjoying the vegetables and herbs from the garden now. i put parsley in at the beginning of spring, so i've had a pretty good run, but most of the others were only planted (from seed) about two months ago. the radishes, as were expected, were ready; this is the first time i've planted radishes and they are fast and gratifying. i've had one a day. i keep forgetting to have them with a bit of butter and salt as the french do, and have them au naturel, which isn't bad. i can't say radishes are a favourite vegetable, but they certainly taste better when they're homegrown. other vegetables and herbs i've planted are lettuce, sugar snap peas, regular peas, sorrel, mexican corriander, spring onions, chives, garlic chives, tarragon, greek basil.....buk choy and chillies. not a small list, eh? and to top it off, everything's in pots, save the greek basil. the soil here is very poor; i'm virtually next to the garigal forest, so it's quite bushy and only australian natives seem to thrive here, but that's not going to stop me.
anyway, because i'm only harvesting little bits of everything, i'm just making salad....nothing like it.

peas interrupted

i've just been outside doing a bit of gardening (in my pots); planted more radishes, lettuce, bok choy, peas and sugar snap peas. i planted some about a month ago, and only the radishes are ready to be eaten.
i'm so tempted to eat the pea sprouts - they are just delicious. i found that out by default - one spout snapped and i didn't want it to go to waste so i ate it - it was one of the most delicious things i've ever had in my life. yesterday, i snapped one off on purpose and can you believe i exclaimed "yum" out loud in the garden? is that a sign of madness? if pea flowers down hurry up and pop out, they won't have a chance - i will have eaten the plants! i've had commercially grown pea sprouts, but they are just nothing compared to these ones i've grown - in fact after buying them once, i couldn't buy them again - they were so tough and stringy. needless to say, i have put down a whole pile of seeds, hoping that they'll serve to provide more sprouts and, hopefully, peas. i'm also looking for somewhere where i can buy the seeds in bulk; that way, i'll be able eat all the sprouts my little heart desires. since the sugar snap pea sprouts are the most delicious, that's the way i'm going.
the pea plants i have are now over a metre high, and still very good to eat....i want to know whether they'll ever make it to the pea production stage....

my pumpkins

we've been in this house for just over a year now and i know with some people, they would have made 36932 changes to the house and have the whole place liveable and have alot to show for it. me? sigh....

so what, you ask, has this to do with my pumpkins? well, in this year just gone, i grew eight pumpkins in my garden. i'd say in this year past, i have eight pumpkins to show for the year....sort of...i had eight pumpkins, and now have only two left to show you. i wish i had taken photos when i had all eight, but i didn't even think about it. now i have just two, i thought i had better get my act together. so i have a photo of the two remaining ...with an egg so you can see it in perspective....