More Free Dinners

A few days ago we had rather a late lunch, so naturally didn't feel like much for dinner. So we ate corn.

The corn has done well this year, big chunky cobs with super sweet kernels.

 
A couple more cobs were grabbed from the garden, boiled for a few minutes and seasoned with salt, white pepper and paprika.

The corn's worked out exceptionally well this year, with the harvest being spread out over a few weeks so none of it's going to waste. Tonight's dinner was a salad, which included lettuce, carrot, a lone radish and yes, more corn. All collected from our magic outdoor larder.

Taterfest 2010

Today was potato harvest day, surely one of the most exciting of the year. No seriously, it's like Christmas as a 9 year-old: you get a big present to unwrap and you're not sure exactly what's in it. It could be that awesome piece of Battlestar Galactica merchandise you've been asking for, or it could be a very, very bad jumper (or cake jumper). It was exactly like that today, except I was hoping for a big load of potatoes. 

I planted the seed potatoes back in August, and showed a few progress photos as they grew. This what they looked like today:

A couple of scraggly plants were still going, most had died back.

The two varieties planted were "Royal Blue" and "King Edward". The Royal Blue potatoes were planted along the back of the bed and died back earlier, about a month ago now. The King Edwards struggled on, and except for a few small plants were pretty much gone two weeks ago. Both weren't helped by being partially overshadowed by the fig tree when it exploded back into life in late September. Anyway, to the diggings!

Royal Blue Potatoes are actually kind of purple

The Royal Blues seemed to have done well and were mostly of a decent size. What's more, I have never seen so many fat, happy wormies in my life. The combination of cow manure and suger cane mulch has made them very happy indeed. I ended up with half a bucketload of Royal Blues. Next were the King Edwards:

King Edwards have attractive pink splodges on them

These guys were a bit less consistent in their size, and obviously a bit newer, having more pale, thinner skins. I could have left them a few more weeks to harden up I guess. But they kept coming and coming..

A lot of potatoes

..until I ended up with a whole bucket of them.

In the blue bucket, weighing 2.3kg: "Royal Blue". And in the Yellow bucket, weighing 5.0kg, "King Edward".

So, in terms of yield, King Edward is the winner. Still, the Royal Blues did very well, despite the disadvantage of growing up against a wall with less space to spread its roots. It was also more exposed to wind and a little more overshadowed from the fig tree. The total potato yield was 7.3 kg, which I don't think is bad for a partially shaded 1.5 square metre bed.

But yields aside, the important part, as always, is the eating. A handful of each type were cut into pieces, parboiled until nearly done, tossed with grapeseed oil, salt, pepper and thyme from the garden, then roasted in a hot oven for about 15 minutes. They then went into our potato salad with chick peas, tuna and finely chopped boiled egg, topped with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, eschallots, thyme and chives. The result was that these were the tastiest potatoes I have ever eaten. EVER. Both had a creamy textured flesh and a nutty flavoured skin. The flesh of the Royal Blues was a bit yellower with the skin slightly thicker, which turned brown when cooked. The King Edwards kept their pink splodges.

One of the reasons I grew potatoes was to have something that would store for a while, so that if there was a glut it wouldn't go to waste. This year however, we are not going to get the chance to store them very long. They're going to be gone. Very soon.

Beets Buying Dinner

We needed a salad for dinner. So a quick trip to the garden and behold: this evening's bountiful harvest!

It consisted of a bucket of lettuce: "Royal Oakleaf", "Australian Yellow Leaf" and "Green Lollo", carrot: "Purple Dragon" and beetroot: "Burpees Golden". For the lettuce I just pruned the tops of a few plants that were starting to go to seed. The carrot is one of a number from a pack of mixed heirloom seed that are now about ready but can be picked whenever needed. The beetroot's the exciting one for me though, the first ones of the season.

Beetroot "Burpees Golden" in the ground..

...and when harvested. Look at those golden beauties!

Beetroot are super tasty when this small and fresh, and dead easy to cook. We either roast them in foil or simply boil until a skewer can be easily pushed through them. Don't cut the roots off and leave an inch or so of stems to stop them bleeding too much. When cooked the skins peel off easily and they look like this:

Golden orbs of sweetness.

All this lovely produce was assembled into a salad with some of our tasty volunteer tomatoes and some store-bought (gasp!) shallots with a honey mustard dressing. Can't get much fresher than that. Noms all round in this household.

Beans Part 1

Beans are another vegetable that's easy to grow at home, taste much better than the ones from the shop, and come in all kinds of strange varieties you would otherwise never encounter. They also grow alarmingly quickly, even without magic seeds that cost a cow or help from your friendly neighbourhood Totoro. All they need is a well drained soil with lots of organic matter, lots of sun and regular watering. Also keep an eye out for snails and slugs that just love the seedlings. Being a legume they don't need a high nitrogen fertiliser, they extract nitrogen from the air and fix it in the soil where it becomes available for other future crops. For this reason they're one of the plants that can be used as green manure.

Anyway, from the point of view of eating (which is especially important to me) beans can split up into those you grow to maturity to shell for the bean inside, and those you pick at an immature stage to eat pod and all. Today I'm talking about the latter, which may be either climbing beans or bush (dwarf) beans.

Climbing beans on a trellis and stakes, plus a few bush beans for good measure.

Climbing beans can reach 3 metres tall or more and require a tripod, trellis, stake or some other structure for support. They make more efficient use of space and are ideal for narrow garden beds alongside a wall or fence. Bush beans can just be planted in any regular garden bed without the need for a support structure.

Dwarf Beans "Bountiful Butter"

 I've grown both in my tiny garden, and while they both produce well, the climbing beans do make better use of the little space I have. Last year I grew climbing beans "Blue Lake" and "Purple King" together on a large trellis. The Purple King matured sooner and gave better yields, but perhaps the Blue Lake was out-competed and would have done better on its own. Another trick to growing productive plants is to keep picking the beans before they mature to keep the plant producing new flowers and pods. Otherwise it'll produce some beans, decide its job is done and head for an early retirement. Don't let them off that easy!

Beans "Blue Lake" and "Purple King"

 In any case I prefer the Purple King (and other non-green beans) not because I like strange purple vegetables, but because they change colour when ready to pick so are much easier to spot amongst the foliage. Interestingly, they change back to green when cooked. Both varieties tasted wonderful: succulent and sweet and not at all stringy unless picked too late. Once your beans get going you'll need to be out there picking every second day or so to keep on top of things. Yes, you'll have a LOT of beans, but trust me, when eaten fresh they are tasty enough to become the main focus of a meal, rather than just some token green boiled matter on the side of the plate. Cooking for about two minutes in boiling water seems to do it, then serve with a shallot confit and chopped, toasted macadamia nuts. Fantastique!

Bean Factoids: 
- Bush beans are preferred for large scale production as they are easier to mechanically harvest
- I do not know of any mazes made from beans or bean-related theme parks
- Jellybeans are not actual beans
- The beans in bean bags are not actual beans
- Beanies are not made of actual beans
- Mr Bean is not an actual bean