Summer Harvest: Carrots

I thought it might be time to start pulling up some carrots. I can't remember how long they've been in the ground ... 6 months? Maybe longer.
They're pretty hard to get out, that's for sure. They kept snapping off in the ground! It's very dry though; we haven't had any rain here for about 3 weeks and they are in the newer part of the garden that is still a bit clayey.

Nevertheless we managed to get a few out in one piece. I fed the broken ones to the guinea pigs; they are carrot junkies :)

Roasted with some potatoes, they made a delish side to our quiche, which incidentally was filled with tomatoes, silverbeet, zucchini and spring onions ALL home grown :)

Beans!

Beans beans everywhere! I can't stop planting them. What's not to love about beans? 

Twisting and twining over anything in their path

Beautiful buds

Bursting into pretty, petite little flowers

I've just planted some at the base of the corn

Indi planted some along her garden fence

The thing is with beans, they don't like to be too wet until they sprout or they might rot in the ground. I left half a packet in the rain the other week and they got drenched and were already starting to swell by the time I found them. I chucked them down in the space between the patio and the fence, just to see what would happen ...

They just grow anywhere! 

Summer Harvest: Purple Basil

Soon to be married to the aforementioned tomatoes ;)

I haven't had much luck with basil this year. It seemed that the garden was something of a 'real estate heaven' for bugs in the early summer, so anything that I planted was quickly demolished by the hungry little blighters. I finally managed to get a few plants going in a pot out the front door. It's strange, because basil normally grows like a weed for me. Indi and I planted some more mixed seeds down in the main vegie patch early this week so hopefully they'll get up and going before the cooler weather kicks in.

Summer Harvest: Tomatoes

Well, the 'silly season' is behind us for another year and I'm slowly finding a bit of time to sit down at the computer. There's been lots of fun stuff happening around here but let's start with the garden ...

I've had great luck with the tomatoes this year. I've been harvesting at least one or two everyday for the last few weeks. Not enough to be pushing them onto friends but enough to keep our bellies full :) And there's still heaps more ripening. These ones are 'Rouge de Marmande'.

I only planted eight plants this year but I keep finding 'volunteer' seedlings popping up from the half-rotted compost that I've spread around everywhere. This one crept it's way up through the corn and pumpkin vine and is looking very promising;

I was a little bit worried about them; soon after planting we got a LOT of rain. The plants out the back didn't seem too affected by it, but the couple out the front shot up nearly as high as my head (which isn't really all that high lol!) with soft, lush green growth. They looked lovely but in my experience tomato plants that take off so quickly and put all their energy into green growth seem to be the first ones that get attacked by the bugs! They didn't though, and apart from being bullied by some howling winds, they came through with plenty of fruit.
Next year I'll plant twice as many so I have some to give away :)