Madagascan Morsels

The first Madagascar Beans have matured. Only a couple so far, but aren't they pretty?

The pods are green and a little but hairy when growing, then dry to a nice velvety texture.

Barring any unforeseen fires, cyclones or rattie invasions, we should get enough to star in numerous soups and salads throughout the coming Winter. Yum.

What's Going On?

This time of year is always a bit unpredictable. I'm always wary of planting Winter vegies too early in case they get fried into brown crispyness by one final heatwave. As a result they usually end up getting planted too late. This year I'm also seriously thinking that now may be the right time to reorganise the garden beds, or rather the whole garden actually. I'd better decide soon as there are things to plant!

Anyway, right now there's not too much activity, just a few things maturing and being picked as needed.

There are a couple of carrots left from the disappointingly small number that came up (too hot when I sowed them). I picked a few this week for the hot pot, and although a little past their prime, were still pretty tasty. We've had a few very pretty eggplant although the plants haven't been very productive. Since this is my first attempt, and they did go in quite late, I'm not too concerned.

There's still quite a few beetroot as well. They're an heirloom mix, which may go some way towards explaining why they grow at such vastly different rates.

We harvested the first ones months ago and there are still some too small to pick now. We let one of them get quite large but it had a disappointing mealy texture to it so we'll only take the babies from now on.

I pulled out the Tuscan Black Kale a while back. The exploding aphid population had been joined by these sinister shiny green flies that gave me nasty looks whenever I walked by. This has freed up some space and allowed some much needed light and space for the Rainbow Chard to bounce back.

Some of the tomatoes have bounced back after dying off from the excessive rain and humidity. In the past I've let them grow back late in the season but never got any more fruit off them. This year they're looking good for a modest second crop so long as the weather and bugs are kind to me.

 I've also discovered that we have yet another tomato lover in our midst. It seems there is a little rattie that occasionally frequents the front yard farm, harvesting the occasional tomato. I recently went out to pick some, only to find the ripest ones missing. A few remaining ones had obviously been tested with little rattie toothies and rejected! I'm not sure where they've been taken as there's no sign of them being consumed on site..

However, the dominant feature of the garden at the moment is the massive WALL OF BEANS installation.

Previously populated by Purple King and Blue Lake climbing beans, the bean trellis has since been overtaken by the Madagascar beans. This has worked out really well since they really took off in late Summer just as the others were finishing.

Being a tropical species, they loved the humidity and have now overrun the poor lemongrass and chilli tree. It's looking like we may get a good crop off them as well.


After a slow start the radishes have grown huge and we need to pick them before they explode.