To those of you who’ve been gardening for years, thank you for putting up with our excited ramblings. I know this isn’t really a big deal, but because it’s all so new for Pete and I, being able to go out and harvest all these vegetables from our garden was an incredible thrill!
As we didn’t make it to the markets last week, our vegetable crisper was decidedly empty, which made being able to wander outside to pick all these edible greens even more of a buzz. And we certainly haven’t emptied the first bed – just selectively chosen the plants that were ready, and the ones that needed pulling out to allow room for others to grow.
There was (and still is) a mountain of spinach and curly parsley growing…
We cut the sprouting broccoli (apparently you need to keep trimming it, or it flowers and dies), thinned the overcrowded carrots, and pulled a couple of baby beets to try. Pete also pulled out a perennial leek, replanting all of her babies for another day…
Finally, six small heads of lettuce came out, leaving room for the others to continue growing…
Our perfect Sunday lunch…Caesar salad, with homegrown mixed lettuce (cos, oak, butter), homemade sourdough croutons and a dressing made with Harriet’s freshly laid egg…
…and lunch today was a stir-fry of mung bean vermicelli, spinach, broccoli, teeny weeny carrots, leek and egg, seasoned with peanuts, fish sauce and lime juice. Happy days!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
There is something glorious about eating food from your own garden. Love the tiny carrots. That’s about how big ours are.
We grow a lot of our veg in pots because the soil here is adobe clay, great for making bricks, lousy for gardening.
We have had great success with artichokes, herbs, tomatoes, chili peppers and all kinds of citrus. (We have nine citrus trees, lime, lemon, orange and tangerine.) So far this year, our bell peppers are woody, carrots are tiny, and squash few and far between.
The broccoli looks amazing!
Maz
Maz, thank you! The tiny carrots only went in a few weeks ago, so I’m astounded they’ve grown at all! Pete sowed the seed, so there are way too many growing together, and we needed to think them out to let the others grow.
Nine citrus trees! That’s amazing, we only have one, a lemon tree, which is just starting to put on some new growth now it’s spring.
What a glorious bounty you have there!
The greens alone have me feeling forlorn for not planting an Autumn salad bowl!
If this is your first year , imagine how much you will have after several years of learning what grows best and where.
Are you keeping a garden diary?
Heidi, thank you, yes we are! The lesson so far as been that seeds take much longer to germinate and grow to a usable seedling size than expected. We’ve actually had to buy seedlings for the first couple of beds, as the homegrown ones just weren’t ready!
I have gone all tearful at the sight of your baby veggies – they are just lovely. Oh-oh (wipes eyes and goes in search of a hankie…)
Hehe…I was a bit the same, Jo. And very very excited at being able to use them straight away and fresh in cooking. The broccoli was especially fabulous, and we add half of the carrots just raw and unpeeled!
Happy days for sure!How wonderful it is to have all the crisp fresh greens at your doorstep!Caesar Salad is one of my favourites also…Yummo!!Your head must be buzzing with all those fresh ingredients, to create those special dishes….Yvette x
Yvette, thank you! Yes, very excited, and I have a new respect for people who grow veg. I’ve also realised what a bargain a lot of fruit and veg is, because I’ve seen how much room and time it takes to grow a little broccoli! Having said that, it probably makes a difference if you’re willing to spray your plants to bug-proof them, but we haven’t been willing to do that!
Num num num num! This was my first year gardening too – it certainly is thrilling! I was really pleased with how the poblanos did! In fact, there are about 9 more on the plant – our fall harvest :)
Sasha, look forward to seeing your photos too! We’re going to plant bell-shaped chillies and seranos – wish us luck! :)
Perennial leeks? That’s something I must explore!
Lee, Chris at Slow Living Essentials put me onto them – here’s the post she wrote. I bought mine online from Cornucopia Seeds, and they’ve been fabulous – they seem to grow at the rate of weeds, unlike regular leeks which seem to take forever to fatten up! We’ve now pulled a couple out of the garden and replanted their half a dozen or so babies for next time. They taste like regular leeks, but with a slightly more bulbous bottom – the babies bud off from the base.
Celia thats so exciting! I’m really happy for you. Those lettuce look so good. Like Heidi said, if this is your first year imagine what it will be like in a couple of years? No more markets for you.
Congratulations! There is nothing more satisfying than going shopping in your own garden! I still remember my very first ‘everything came from the garden’ meal, with pride!
Keep up the great work :)
Brydie, thank you! I think we’ll always go to the markets – we can’t really grow mushrooms economically, nor will we ever be able to grow enough apples in Sydney. But it’s sooo nice to have almost all our greens at hand!
Amy, thank you! That’s exactly how it felt – like shopping in our garden! :)
Oh! This is very exciting, Celia! My first harvests were nothing like yours. I’m loving your baby carrots and who can’t admire that fat leek taking centre stage!! Glad to hear they are multiplying for you, well done Pete for planting out the babies!
Delicious looking dishes to turn them into, too!! Wonderful! :)
Chris, you KNOW you’re a big inspiration to us, don’t you? :) I see photos of your garden, and look excitedly towards the future!
Well done, Celia. Lovely looking greens.
Spring is attacking us here in the hills and the weeds are very quickly taking over. The mower is still away being repaired – 3 weeks now – and each time we spray it rains. Aaargh!
Amanda, thank you! I’m sorry if I have this wrong, but don’t you have chickens at home like we do? Or are you the lady with the big wolfhound? Our chooks would make short work of the weeds.. :)
So exciting. I grew my first veges last summer – amazing cucumbers and tomatoes. Herbs are beautiful too.
There is something very satisfying in taking produce from your own garden to cook in your own kitchen to eat straight away. I think its amazing. You have some beautiful produce there!
Just wanted to ask something about the baby beets – we planted some a while ago and while they look to be still alive, there doesnt seem to be any bulbs underneath. I am wondering how long they should take and how I will know when they are ready!
Just about to head out and get some new tomato plants and maybe some capsicum for the summer. Anything else you can suggest. We only have a small patch (about2.5m2)
Love your site – you have a wonderful attitude to food and sustainability. Love it!
x
Vita, thank you for sharing in our excitement! We’re still so thrilled.
I’ve just checked with Pete, and he said we planted out advanced seedlings (several inches tall) six weeks ago. In that time they’ve grown into tall plants with walnut sized bulbs. The bulbs are evident above the ground a bit – I’ve just been outside to take this photo for you…
Thanks for the pic. You are so sweet to do that! I pulled them out – they hadnt grown at all. Just planted 3 kinds of tomatoes, some cos and cucumbers. Also dug in some chook poo and compost.
Hopefully we will get some lovely produce this year!
Congratulations,
That really is an impressive first harvest.
Kind Regards
Belinda
Many thanks, Belinda! :)
Your garden is fantastic, obviously you guys have seriously ‘green thumbs’ as they say. Nothing better than just picked vegies. Very impressed.
Anna, ONE of us has a green thumb. The other one, well, she’s just bossy. :)
What a fantastic haul! I am so jealous. I live in a city so my yard is teeny tiny. But I did grow acron squash and two types of eggplant for the first time this year.
Thank you, Preppy Pink! :) Eggplants are supposed to be hard to grow, so you’ve done well – we have a couple of seedlings in. Fingers crossed! :)
How absolutely wonderful to be able to pick and use your own home grown vegetables! You and Pete definitely have green fingers. I really miss gardening and can’t wait to start when we return home next year! Think I will start with a herb garden and work my way up to veggies.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, thank you! It really is exciting! :)
That stir fry looks and sounds so good! And so right for the season too. Your eggs are so gloriously golden! I am very envious in my current chookless state.
Linda, thank you! This would never have happened without your book to guide us! The omelette in the stir fry was actually one whole egg and two yolks leftover from our marshmallow experiments, so was very yellow indeed!
How exciting! It makes you feel rich doesn’t it, having this bounty all yours for the picking? Well that’s how it makes me feel… sometimes I sneak outside before it’s dark to look and gloat and dream of all the healthy good things I can make with it all. Congratulations.
So glad you’ve joined the grow-your-own club…I had visitors from interstate on the w/e and was able to serve from the garden…roasted Nicola’s (one of which was 200gms!) a spinach pie with both spinach and eggs from outside, roasted baby beets, salad greens…followed by a lemon/almond cake with our eggs again…and of course every herb imaginable…bliss….only problem is trying to shut me up about how fabulous it all is and have a conversation about anything other than my garden!…groan.
Celia, as someone with a black thumb, I am not only excited about your harvest I am applauding it wholeheartedly! It’s fantastic!
Congratulations on your first harvest. I’m looking at the last of our vegetables here – just the chard left, although i’m not very good at making the most of the garden yet!
It looks as if you have a much longer growing season than we do in the UK, if you are already harvesting at the beginning of spring. The start of spring is when we sow seeds (apart from a few things which overwinter to get off to an early start) so that we can harvest during the summer and autumn. It should really help towards self sufficiency if you can grow almost all all the year round.
Celia, I’m in awe and soo jealous!! The minute I saw this I gawked and said WOW so cool, to honey! Fantastic way that you’ve used them and you must be so proud and happy of your 1st harvest. I need to remember to keep picking my broccoli, thanks for the tip.
soy
Ah, first time parents! They are always such skites!
Chef, thank you! That’s exactly right – it makes me feel rich. It’s lovely how many things other than money can do that these days!
Wendy, your garden is absolutely gorgeous. I would happily listen to you talk about it for hours.. :)
Lorraine, thank you! I’m sure you don’t really have a black thumb, I’ve seen everything else you can do! :)
Suelle, thank you! We’re three weeks into spring, and it’s already quite lovely and warm during the days. We started the seedlings off in a little converted fish tank, which gave them a bit of a head start. But yes, we do have a very temperate clime, and no frosts in Sydney, so things do grow for much longer.
Soy, it’s just such a buzz! It’s only the sprouting broccoli that needs to keep being picked, I think the regular one you’re supposed to wait until the head is quite big. Although I think Chris said that if you leave the plant after you’ve taken off the main head, you’ll still get more offshoots.
J Cosmo, thanks for indulging us…it really IS like being new parents! :)
I always feel so good when the majority of a meal is homegrown and or homemade. I feel very proud of myself. Wait till I get those bees to add to the mix!!!!
Very impressive harvest! Do you feel a twinge of sadness to eat the produce? I love growing stuff…and adore seeing lush garden beds brimming with produce (and lust after them anytime I see one)….but must admit to a rather strange reluctance to actually cut/harvest and eat anything that I have grown (apart from herbs, carefully and gently picked). I think I grow too attached to the plants and feel bad to eat them. I have the same twinge of reclutance when it comes to eating our chooks eggs too….even though I love them.
Odd, I know….
What a wonderful post, I am green with envy, but it’s “good envy” ;-)
on a side note, I finally baked your butterscotch brownies yesterday, and brought them for a lab meeting this afternoon, if the pictures turned out good, I’ll blog about them
they are VERY tasty….
Chris, can’t wait for that! :)
SG, I’m not reluctant to harvest, but I do get upset when something is wasted – particularly an egg. As I mentioned in a previous snippet, I was so distressed when I accidentally broke and egg that I had to go outside and apologise to the girls!
Sally, that’s fabulous, thanks for letting me know. So glad you enjoyed them!
How I do envy you the harvest. Wow. We’re fading away here–all hard winter squashes and the last of the melons. Spring? A distant memory.
Hehe…Mark, I remember feeling the same way about your posts six months ago. Thanks for stopping by! :)
I’m so jealous, Celia. What a wonderful first harvest.
This is a beautiful fresh post! I wish I had this fruitful garden.
The stir fried bowl looks very delicious :)
Wink and Tes, thank you! Tes, I’m completely besotted with mung bean (glass) noodles – I’d eat them every day if I could! :)
Congratulations Celia. Please don’t stop your excited ramblings. The thrill of growing your own never goes away and it’s always interesting to see how others are doing.
Thanks so much for the encouragement, Choc! It’s reassuring to know that people like you who’ve been doing it for years still find it exciting! :)
Growing your own – fantastic Celia. Next year….I will plant, I have my seeds already :-). Take care
Thanks Oz! Can’t wait to see what comes up on your side of the world! :)
Celia that first harvest is very impressive – you’ve got so much variety growing already! I really must get some sprouting broccoli, I do love the stalkier (is that a word) kind of broccoli but have only seen the full big headed broccoli when I’ve thought of planting it previously. I love seeing other people’s veggie gardens!