Inspired by our recent garden forage, Pete went out hunting for greens again for the salad bowl. It was a dark, stormy day, but he still managed to find a colander of treasure. He asked me to show you what our almost-winter garden is still providing us with.
There’s a little mesclun lettuce…
Pete’s current favourite – chickweed! It’s not a weed in our garden though – Pete has deliberately planted it and is carefully cultivating the little patch to ensure we have a supply of winter greens. As I don’t have any nettles, I’ve been thinking of using these to make a version of Joanna’s gnocchi…
The basil plants are still producing happily, although I suspect the recent cold weather might do them in soon…
A little purslane – the plants took a bit of a beating recently when Bob the dog gamboled over them…
Our sea of nasturtiums has returned, just as the other greens in the garden are disappearing. Below is a photo of the patch from last year – it looks almost exactly the same again now!
My lovely friend Ian gave me some of his wild rocket seeds, and I can now go outside with a pair of scissors and snip off leaves as needed…
And finally, an assortment of herbs – young spearmint, continental parsley, with a few garlic chives hidden in there as well!
It all made for a delicious bowl of salad!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Lovely selection of greenery! I’ve just planted nastursiums, forgetting they were edible. I’ll have to remember to try them later on in the summer.
I have to say, dark and stormy doesn’t fit my picture of your part of the world, even at this time of year!
Suelle, they’re a lovely green to have in the dead of winter, when all the other salad veg are gone. They make a very nice pesto too!
It really does get dark and stormy here, although we can’t compare to the temps you get in the UK!
Have you tried valerian? It is called valeriana here and winter lettuce in Germany. It is delicious. Your leaves look very good, can I come for dinner?
Deb, no I’ve never tried it, but I think you I’ve seen valerian in herbal teas? Thanks, I’ll look out for it. And you are absolutely always welcome for dinner! :)
A real treasure trove indeed. Didn’t get to see all of the photos, but the ones showing look so vibrant. We’re still waiting for some greens to appear or at least to grow to something worth picking. Even weedy chickweed is only just making an appearance.
Choc, Pete is sooo enjoying the chickweed. He came in an announced that we should grow it all over the garden. We’re not going to, of course, but it’s nice when he’s so enthusiastic. I’ll be posting photos of the garden soon – the sun came out and I was able to go outside with my camera!
Lovely salads and I am sure you could make a multitude of glovely gnocchi with all those leaves and herbs. Such riches! Which ones do you like best?
Joanna darling, I’m besotted with Ian’s rocket. I love bitter leaves, but the boys won’t touch them. The young nasturtium leaves and the chickweed is very nice too – Small Man loves the chickweed!
Yet another beautiful harvest!
Thanks Claire! :)
Awesome, have you tried or know if it is easy to grow samphire, thats something I am thinking about. Tell Pete to get real and get out at night. A dark and stormy night – works better don’t you think? :-)
Dave, I know nothing about samphire, but I suspect it needs a colder climate – aren’t they growing it in Tassie? I’ll make sure to send Pete out with a headlamp on his head next time. :)
I’m always amazed at what I can find in the garden. No doubt there’s some dandelion around too.
Linda, absolutely. As I mentioned to Choc above, I’ve been out taking garden photos – will be posting them up soon!
Oh I have green garden envy. My pots are looking so very despondent at the moment.
Brydie, I’m sorry. You’re welcome to come and share all our edible “weeds” with us! :)
A colander of treaures to be sure – the sweet basil is one of summer’s delights and nasturtiums add that wonderful brush of colour in a summer salads.
“Adelaide and Beyond”
Dianne, thank you! Basil has had an amazing run this year – it’s still going strong even as the temperatures are falling!
Beautiful selection of greens, Celia. We have rocket growing wild in our yard from a couple of plants which went to seed. It has a very strong flavour, though, and I can’t get the kids to eat it.
A, you and I both – the wild rocket is so delicious, but I’m the only one who’ll eat it!
You are gardening marvels!
I love seeing your produce- anytime of the year.
Heidi, thank you, not really gardening marvels – life has been hectic and the garden has suffered a bit. We’re kind of living off the generosity of the land at the moment..
Nasturtiums, I recently grabbed a couple of plants from our local creek to go around the pond. I thought the frogs might like hiding in them. I have a few question though… The area around the pond is small (my blog has a photo) and I am concerned it will get out of control. Is it one of those plants that once established you can’t get rid of? Also at the creek it had access to plenty of water. My pond is plastic lined so the plant will only be able to smell and see the water unless it knows how to use a straw. Does it require a lot of water and will it survive through summer?
Jason, purely from our experience from last year – the nasturtiums are like a weed and they try to take over, but we like eating them and need the ground cover, so they’re fine for us. The chooks like them too. They’re very easy to pull out if they get too much though.
The patch we have them planted in actually doesn’t get watered much, and they’re still doing fine. We didn’t plant any at all this year, and the whole bed is completely full. They’re a cooler weather plant and tend to die off a bit in the heat of summer. If it gets too dry they’ll die off completely, but they drop a lot of seeds, so they always seem to come back.
Your pond looks great! For what it’s worth – our pond has a plastic liner too, and the plants and fish in there are fine. In fact the fish are reproducing and growing really well! We have native rainbow fish. No frogs yet. Here’s a murky photo of our fish!
Gorgeous salad! So interesting!
Mrs Bok, thank you! Chook photos coming next! :)
“colander of treasure” – love that! I can see your picture of your herbs as the cover of a herb book.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, thank you! The herbs have been a treat in the garden – they’ve grown better than everything else!
Winter greens have never looked so good! I think putting the chickweed in the gnocchi would be lovely too.
I was inspired by your gorgeous naturstiums to plant my own this year and it’s incredible how much they spread around the yard shedding a little glow of happiness with their flower jewels dotted here and there through the green.
Becca, I hope you enjoy playing with them – we made nasturtium capers last year that have been delicious in salads!
I’ve planted the first vegetable patch that I’ve had in five years and I’m so excited each day when I go out and everything has grown a little bit more! I spend an unusual amount of time sitting out the back, talking to the plants…but look at what it reaps!
Spring is right around the corner! We have all our summer tomatoes coming in. We’ll pass the good weather back to you in a few months. :-)
I don’t have to tell you how much I would have to pay for that bounty here in NYC. So jealous…LOL
Ahh, how wonderful to be able to pick greenery at your leisure. Wild rocket is a most wonderful addition to your patch.. I must really sow some. Great pictures, Celia!
What a gorgeous lot of salad greens and the nasturtiums just dressed it up to kill. It all looks so incredibly & good for you too, nothing like from the garden to plate foods is there, they taste a treat because they are :)