Food Gardening

[manticle]

The rounds are delicious though Bribie. Sweeter than usual garlic. Mine have closed flowers - waiting for them to open before harvesting.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

One row of spuds down four to go, just wish we could grow them all year round.

Dwarf beans almost ready, not sure how the runner beans will go after the hot windy day I noticed all the flowers had dropped off them, just hope they were all pollinated.

The tomatoes are all going well started harvesting them, beef steak and cherry


Got lots of these little beauties

All the fruit going well this year, peaches, plums, nectarines, apples, pears, kiwi fruit and the lemon tree has been responding to some TLC one lemon last year and quite a few this year.

 

[Bribie G]

New crop of Amaranth coming on nicely. I bought seedlings from a seedling stall at a market as it's so bloody slow to grow from seed. I think they may be more the decorative variety or even "love lies bleeding" but that's ok, all edible including the flower sprays.

Ten plants should do me, they grow chest high and very bushy if pinched out regularly for the steamer.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Do you not let it go to seed Bribie? Supposed to be very nutritious as a seed, looks a bit like Trill.

 

[Bribie G]

I'm more into Amaranth as a leafy green, not so interested in the seeds. The couple of times that plants have fully seeded they go woody and the leaf production slows right down, a bit like Basil and other seed producers seem to do.
Also I'm feeding them more nitrogen to keep the leaves coming on, as opposed to limiting nitrogen to force fruiting (as per tomatoes, cucumbers etc).

I don't really like Silverbeet as it gives a nasty furry coating to the teeth - surprisingly I don't get that with beetroot tops.

The flower sprays can be picked off and cooked in with the leaves, yum. With the red varieties, you get a beetroot coloured "gravy" oozing out of the cooked spinach that looks quite alarming - if I had chooks I'd feed them the red varieties and see how the eggs turned out.

The problem with Amaranth is that, initially, it's quite slow-developing crop compared to spinaches, silverbeet and other chards so I only get to pick once a week at the moment to keep it coming on, but it is a very long lasting crop.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Well I read up on the Amaranth leaf and it has got a lot going for it, as for spinach I am not keen on it but my wife prefers spinach to lettuce I have got some summer spinach on the go but was wondering about the climbing spinach which is popular in east Asia has anyone grown it? I believe it is perennial.

 

[LiquidGold]

As in water spinach or Kang Kong? I've grown it but didn't find it very tasty, never tried cooking the leaves though.

 

[Bribie G]

When I lived on Bribie Island there used to be a fair few Vietnamese ladies running stalls at the Caboolture Sunday Markets (probably the biggest markets of their type in Australia) selling all sorts of home grown stuff like duck eggs, galangal etc and they all had massive bunches of all sorts of Asian Greens including the Kangkong that cooks up nicely. I found it to be a bit stringy, and preferred Malabar Spinach.

I tried to grow the Malabar Spinach last year but probably didn't keep enough water up to it as it failed miserably. It's good cooked very quickly in stir fries, but is mucilaginous a bit like Okra and not really a silverbeet sub.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Kang Kong is the one I have seen, must admit it didn't look very appetizing. I remember your post on that spinach Bribie, pity about the outcome, duck eggs, when I went to UK a couple of years ago I had them every morning for breakfast, they were blue with a very rich orange yolk the ones I have bought here from the Vietnamese are pallid, or the other options are the ones with chicks inside them or salted.
I don't mind the silver-beet so I think I will stick with that.

 

[Mardoo]

Definitely agree on the stringyness of kangkong. A bit too much intestinal fortitude for my taste, but ferociously green in flavour. Sweet potato leaves are quite nice. I used to eat those in Bali all the time at the rural retreat centre I frequented. Not sure which species are edible, but damn they were good.

 

[Camo6]

Picked a nice little haul from the garden today. The pumpkin is from last year and is just starting to go mouldy on the base.
Might commit a bit more space to corn next year and have a go at getting more than one or two ears per plant.



Got the chook pen sorted too and picked up a few ex cage hens for a few bucks each. Averaging a couple of eggs a day even in that hot spell so can't complain considering they're second year birds. Will be nice when they get all their feathers back. The kids and I named one each : Goldie, Hotdog and Colonel Sanders who we call KFC for short.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

And how did the Brussel sprouts go Camo?

 

[Camo6]

And how did the Brussel sprouts go Camo?

They're coming along Weal. Starting to drop their leaves and sprouts are about marble size atm. Been a battle keeping the cabbage moth away but should be able to get a fair few off them.

 

[Curly79]

Logan berries. I think? Absolutely delicious. Especially with ice cream. Havnt bothered netting them this year and the birds have left them alone luckily.

If you can wait until they are black they are sensational. Little bit red is ok though.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I have got a full hedge of Jostaberry was confident of a return this year they are big and bushy, one flower last year and that has been it, not even a flower this year so they will be coming out over winter.

I thought those sprouts were going to cause a few tears Camo, as far as I have got them is the marble size then they just flower up, especially in the hot weather.

 

[wynnum1]

I have got a full hedge of Jostaberry was confident of a return this year they are big and bushy, one flower last year and that has been it, not even a flower this year so they will be coming out over winter.

I thought those sprouts were going to cause a few tears Camo, as far as I have got them is the marble size then they just flower up, especially in the hot weather.

What climate do you need Jostaberry could it be too hot.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

No not to hot ,I went to a berry farm close by and they had jostaberries, I initially thought it may be the heat but theirs get as much sun as mine.

 

[Camo6]

I thought those sprouts were going to cause a few tears Camo, as far as I have got them is the marble size then they just flower up, especially in the hot weather.

Haha, no tears here. I haven't cried over Brussel sprouts for at least thirty years.

 

[drsmurto]

Logan berries. I think? Absolutely delicious. Especially with ice cream. Havnt bothered netting them this year and the birds have left them alone luckily.

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1484114841.663812.jpg

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1484114871.494062.jpg
If you can wait until they are black they are sensational. Little bit red is ok though.

Both the plant and the fruit look like boysenberries. So much nicer than raspberries as they have a little bit of tartness to them.

No need to net as the plants are thorny like blackberries so the birds can't land on them. Bugs are a completely different story.

Edit - picked a bowl full for my breakfast this morning. Covered in yoghurt. Yum!

 

[wynnum1]

No not to hot ,I went to a berry farm close by and they had jostaberries, I initially thought it may be the heat but theirs get as much sun as mine.

How long have they been growing going by what others say air layering produces fruit quicker then cuttings producing some new plants and Guerrilla gardening may be worth trying.