harvesting | organised castle

In a complete turnaround from yesterday, it has been a gloriously sunny day although quite cool and windy. Miss O was delighted when she woke up to sun streaming in the window.

Apart from a trip into Maleny to go to the library and a short stint in the nearby playground, we have spent the day at home. While I have been doing some paid work, my grand-daughter has happily entertained herself with some dolls and a dolls house which I received from Freecycle a couple of years ago. There has been lots of chattering, singing and imaginative play going on.

While we were hanging out the washing, Miss O noticed some lemons on the tree and was keen to pick them. We put on our gumboots and headed downstairs to spend some time in the garden. The first stop was the chicken run to give the chickens the contents of the scrap bucket.

Next, it was time to collect the eggs. Only 2 today.

Quite a number of limes had fallen and there were a few grapefruit ripe but most of the lemons and oranges will be a bit longer before they are ready. We collected up the rotten fruit and put them in the compost bin. We took the extendable fruit picker and picked some avocadoes from high up in the tree. No words can begin to describe the squeals of delight and, “Get it, get it!” as Miss O bounded through the leaf litter, offering encouragement to me as I wielded the long-handled picker.

Finally, I took her out to the front yard where the cherry tomatoes are growing wild and flourishing. It was only a couple of weeks since I had picked 2 kg of tomatoes so I was not sure how many there would be. However, there we plenty to keep us entertained and she was quick to point out to me that you do not pick the green ones and the squishy ones are no good.

Miss O was very keen to pose with her harvest.

We put all of the produce in the bucket and used the wheelbarrow to collect some more firewood from the shed.

The clear sunny day means that the night will be cold so I will light the fire soon as the sun has just about set. We will bring the clothes in from the line and hang them on the airer in front of the fire to finish drying.

All in all, it has been another productive and successful day and it has been lovely to have a helper with whom to share the work and the harvest.

What is a weed? A plant considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially one growing where it is not wanted, as in a garden.

If the above definition is applied then my cherry tomato plants are definitely weeds. They are not particularly pretty, grow in places where I do not want them and generally get in the way. I am forever pulling the seedlings out of the ‘formal’ vegetable beds and The Duke must mow over thousands of them in the lawn.

However, we usually have a few that we leave to their own devices in areas where they are not causing harm. There is one plant which has been growing and bearing fruit for several months on the far side of the driveway in ‘no man’s land’. It has spread over a heap of mulch and has intertwined with thistles. I had not picked any fruit for about 6 weeks so I braved the thistles yesterday and was surprised to find all of these fruit just waiting for me.

There was about 3.5kg of fresh, full-flavoured cherry tomatoes. I have cleaned, rinsed and frozen 3kg of them in readiness to make more tomato sauce. I hope to do that next weekend. The remainder are spread on a tray to ripen fully and then they will grace the last of our summer salads.

Plants that are self-sown which survive and thrive will be good as they have passed the ‘survival of the fittest ‘ test. Perhaps that is why we have such success with the cherry tomatoes. Other self-sown plants which provide use with food include pumpkins and cucumbers.

Do you harvest from any fruit or vegetable plants which just appear in your garden?