Unfortunately not from my garden. Things aren't looking too good out there:
but I take comfort in the fact that at least this year it's taken two extra months before all my plants die on me. That's progress, right?!The massive zucchini, cucumbers and the Italian parsley are from a colleague at work who was saying she was overwhelmed by giant zucchini and masses of parsley and seemed quite surprised that I offered to take any she didn't want. Until I explained that I had a very good distribution system worked out and that they should end up feeding 5 households and I could probably get her lemons and plums in return if she needed them. Which she seemed quite excited about.
These really are giant zucchini.
They make last year's delivery look like a dwarf variety...The cherry tomatoes are from J&M and were swapped for zucchini #1 (not shown).
I'm loving this too-ing and fro-ing of free produce and have been incubating a mad plan to set up a Fruit tree register in Canberra (if there isn't one already). You've heard of Freecycle (where people offer stuff they no longer want for free and other people who need it take it): I'm thinking of Fruitcycle where people with trees (or crops) they can't or won't use can register and be matched up with people who will use the produce that would otherwise go to waste, perhaps supplying the tree owner with jam, chutney or preserves in return.
I'm sure there are issues I haven't even considered which means it won't float: if I fall out of your tree while picking your fruit are you liable? If you eat my chutney and get sick can you sue me? Could some unscrupulous person use the info to work out who's elderly and lives alone with nasty consequences?
While I think about that you'll find me searching through my recipes to find something that uses a rather large amount of zucchini. Preferably without needing a beater or blender: still broken, alas...
Oh, and if you're at a loose end tomorrow morning you might like to tune in to ABC 666 around 10:40am. Just saying.
Just outside the back door is a trough which I planted with parsley, coriander and mint last year. They all died (a combination of too much sun and no water while I was away cruising) but the mint has sprung back to life this year. Just looking at it makes me want to make couscous tabbouleh...
They got eaten, and not by me. It was quite funny really. The one on the left went first. One evening it was there, all 10 cm of it and the next morning *poof* it was gone! The one on the right lasted almost a week longer. I was confident it was safe and then, again, one morning I looked outside and it had disappeared overnight...
The tomato plants are growing slowly but there are no sign of any tomatoes so far.
My back-from-the-dead
Whatever was eating the herbs when they were first planted appears to have stopped (I'm guessing they discovered the zucchini plants) but the coriander obviously couldn't cope with the stress and has bolted before I could pick any. I must check to see if that's normal for this time of the year...
Also spotted in the garden:
5. And, according to my mother, the reason I didn't see any pea seedlings at the garden centre wasn't because it's the wrong time of the year to plant them but because you have to grow them from seed.