Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Hoping you make it...

It is middle of autumn now and the weather is getting colder and colder each week. The warm season vegetable is almost end of their season now. It is time to clear them up and make way for new plants that tolerates cooler condition much better. However, we are still getting a few surprises in the garden.This is lebanese eggplant that I have treated as perennial going through its second autumn. I thought it was time to say farewell to this plant earlier this month but it surprise us with blooms that actually develop some eggplants. Some eggplants for the kitchen perhaps next week. Not sure whether the new bloom will drop or give fruit now this week. I did got a question how did my eggplants survive through winter ~  This plant was growing in pot during its first summer and was moved against the brick wall which received a lot of sun during winter. I transplanted this plant on the veggie patch next spring and it grow much taller and bear more fruit in its second year. I think this eggplant was really annoyed with me because it was grown in medium size pot in the first year, a bit to small and crowded for the roots.
Capsicum, another perennial in front of the kitchen window probably will have less sun now as it is getting shady this area as winter comes near. It has been more than 2 months to wait for it to turn red, although you see it red from the front, the back are still green. Since it is growing on the patch instead of pot, I cannot alternate turn the plant to face the sun like the ones growing in container.

Mammoth sunflower has develop bud. Will the sunflower show its face in this cold weather?

Ilhan's sweet corn sowed in March has already shown its male and female organ for pollination to occur. Hopefully there will be more sweet corn on the kitchen table and some to freeze.
Waiting for these chilies to mature. This is a new plant sowed from home-saved seeds. I don't know what the variety is because it was chosen for its taste and nice smell. Under chili plants are lettuce seedlings.
This plant does not look good since it has experience a couple of 40+degree Celcius during summer and was very stressed with lack of water growing on sandy-loam soil. But it does give some long sweet capsicum to harvest. Some of the capsicum does look rather odd but food is food, cosmetic is a different matter. I think I am going to let this plant grow through winter if it survived we might have early capsicum to harvest come next warm season. So I planted 4 sprouting broccoli seedlings around this plant to protect it or blanket it from chilling wind in winter, creating a micro-climate for this capsicum plant.
Hope the weather behaves this month and prolong summer vegetable plants production for the kitchen table. Actually I feel rather guilty because I know some other temperate region or closest to us in Adelaide Hills already experience their first frost. While we near the city and coast still has summer vegetables to enjoy. Next month is another story.

17 comments:

Kelli said...

I enjoyed reading your post and sunflower photo is really nice. Great you have so many peppers on the plant, hope I get good results like that. Kelli

tina said...

I always find it so neat that you all in Australia are preparing for winter while we are preparing for summer. It sure gives us a garden bloggers a great perspective to see both sides of the coin at one time! That red pepper looks hot!

Your comment this morning brought a smile to my face:) Thanks.

cikmanggis said...

bagusnya tak putus-putus bekalan sayur Diana.Cm rasa agak kecewa dgn tanaman timun kali ini kerana banyak musuh.Begitu juga dengan Markisa kerana kerengga buat sarang.habis daun bergulung-gulung....bercucuk tanam ni mengajar kita agar lebih bersabar.....

Daphne Gould said...

That eggplant looks so beautiful. Mine don't get nearly as tall. With our weather we are happy to get harvests at all.

Nadirah Izan said...

suke lawat blog saudara jauh ni :)
like that cute mammoth sunflower!

shaz said...

Wow! You got lots of eggplants! I only harvested one :) My mini-capsicums is flowering though, hoping it sets fruit. We are lucky our weather is pretty coastal and we haven't had any frost since we've been here, but it also means it's not cool enough for certain things to grow. Win some, lose some. Looking forward to seeing what fruits/blooms in your garden.

meemsnyc said...

The eggplant looks awesome! I hope I will have that many eggplants on my plants.

Phoebe said...

I was thinking about keeping my eggplants over winter because of what you have done with yours and they looked so healthy, but I was too hungry for space to leave them!
The capsicums look great!

miruku said...

Hey Diana! Thank you so much for the seeds! (I danced in the office when i received them today, haha). I received 6 packs, not 10 as stated. I hope it is correct and no one find it too tempting and stole on the way here, haha. Thank you so so so so much!!

My Mammoths are growing HUGE hehe but not as tall as expected, only 6 feet :( Sowing more Evening Sun from my own saved seeds- all thanks to you for giving me the first seed to 'recycle' them :)

James David said...

Beautiful delicious vegetables.
Hope they all mature just in time.

takaeko said...

While the weather in your region is getting cooler as autumn is coming to you, that in Osaka, which I live in, is getting hotter as if summer would already have come! Now I'm busy in watering everyday,,,,,

Hazel said...

I do not like reading your posts. Your garden is so bountiful and varied it makes me feel like a second class gardener! :-)

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden said...

I hope the warm weather continues a bit longer for you. The corn is looking impressive as are your peppers. I look forward to seeing pictures of the sunflower in bloom.

littlekarstar said...

Diana, I'm so envious of your garden! Wish we could grow vegies this late into Autumn!

i amsterdam said...

Sukanya tengok terung dan capsicum !!! I love terung !!!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Kelli~ Hope you will have many peppers this year. Your place is so pretty with colouful spring blooms.

Tina~Yes, it is time for us to foces on the greens preparing for winter so we have something to harvest early spring. It is interesting to watch North Hemisphere gardeners hardening their summer vegetables seedlings now.

CikMangis~ Cuba letuk serbuk kunyit dekat keliling bawah batang markisa tu. Kerengga lalu ke tidak?

Daphne~ I found that the little finger eggplants tolerate cooler temperature more than the big ones. Interesting as we have problem with hot weather close to 40+degree Celcius the eggplants bloom will shrivel and we usually don't have eggplants much later in the autumn when the weather are cooler.

Nadirah Izan~ Selamat Datang!

Shaz~ Hope your mini-capsicum will bear fruits. We have problem with them taking a long time to turn red or yellow. Waiting more than 2 months now!

meemsnyc~ What variety of eggplants are you growing? Hope it will provide you abundant harvest.

Phoebe~ Yes, eggplant do take a lot of space. I am only going to try leaving one which is still new plants or the ones growing in the pots. The old ones will be farewell. Plan to plant some garlic cloves after that one finish.

Milka~ Glad that the seeds have arrived although some were lost on their way. Hopefully we can see some mammoth sunflower blooms in your garden soon.

James~ I truely hope so.

Takaeko~ Oh my hot summer this year in Osaka. Usually it is still pretty cold and you still have to wear jacket in May there. Hopefully your seedling will establish fast and you don't need to worry about them that much. How about growing sweet corn end of summer which is more cooler.

Hazel~You will be harvesting the cooler season crop earlier than me;-). I am so late this year because most of the veggie patch is still with summer veggies. I have not even finish planting our garlic cloves just managed 20% than what we plan.

Jennifer~I hope your new veggie bed will be very productive. Can't wait to see them.

Mrs Bok~You have cooler summer than us. We start late with summer harvest because nothing set fruits well during middle of summer for us.

I amsterdam~ Terung sambal goreng sedap....

cikmanggis said...

terima kasih untuk petua ini.Petang nnt nak tabur serbuk kunyit kat keliling pokok markisa:)thanks!