Mid Autumn wind down

It's middle month of Autumn. In many years the first frost date has already been, but generally it's sometime this month. So it's not far off in any case.

This will be the last update before I pull all the summer crops out of the beds. I'll let the frost kill the potted ones, and I'll see if I can put a cover over maybe my 4 favourite chillis.

Here's what I've been havesting in the last few weeks:

Probably the last big capsicum harvest, although I have many poblanos and the autumn jalapenos are starting to ripen.

From top left clockwise it's sweet banana, one of my elongated "California", one chocolate beauty, hungarian wax, poblano and Jimmy Nardello. The Nardellos are the sweetest and taste great without any help from cheese. I think they'll be bigger next year when I have one per pot rather than two.

My last decent harvest of late season tomatoes, there's probably about as much fruit still on the remaining vines but they won't be getting harvested all at once and they won't all be ripe when I pull the plants.

The potato harvest. I forget the variety, they were supermarket bought. About 6kg and some huge, sorry YUGE potatoes. Very mild scab here and there. I suspect could have gotten more if I'd been able to leave it a bit longer as some of the foliage stems were still thick and green but I wanted that area back.

These were waxy type, so I have been making potato salad with them, a family favourite! Good to know they grow well in this position for next year, even if it does occupy a walkway. But I might do them in a bed next year. 

The razz is flush with new autumn fruit after having all the ripe fruit removed. I didn't capture it but there is one YUGE chilli on the other side about 3x the size of the others. I wonder if I save seeds from it it will be any bigger than others next year?

Aerial shots of the autumn garden. The spider mite infestation did its damage but seems to have subsided, maybe it's the cooler weather or something has been predating them. I didn't plant peas, so I guess I'll not have any until spring.

The tomatoes didn't do fantastically here, probably because they only get sun from one angle and were trained up a fence. So I didn't get much fruit compared to the ones in the beds.

The sweet bananas are still producing, although next year they'll need better supports than a single stake.

My first beetroots which are more than just foliage. I have three good size ones in here. It's helping teach me about thinning strong seedlings - the seedlings which aren't strong might make it, but they will rarely flourish I think. Better not to thin too early either.

Yep, the Kiwano has produced some fruit after all, I just hope they are ripe before the frosts. It's vined out all over the place, through the mint and beans and over the neighbour's fence.

Neglected my pots a bit. I think there is an ant nest in the carrots. I should probably pick that small head lettuce before it starts rotting.

You can see the quality of spring onions is much better when you don't over-plant - had some YUGE thick and dark green ones, which I am treating as cut and come again. Compared to the thin ones next to it where I overseeded and didn't properly thin.

These were onions I planted out in spring, the stems rotted at ground level and fell over. I figured they were done for, but now they are coming up again. Very cool! I hope the shallots I planted here do the same.

I still haven't harvested any of the celery - I did try it, it was stringy and firery. I don't think I'll grow it again. It'll be fine for a stew or soup though I think.

Poblano laden with fruit. I found these taste a lot better with seeds removed.

Bees really enjoy the the marjoram and oregano flowers.

It took the whole season but the prostrate rosemary is recovering. On the left is the lemon thyme that started from a single sprig cutting.

More rosemary. It's not dead but not going gangbusters either.

Autumn jalapenos are ripening, yum!

I love growing chillis and capsicums. Pests and diseases do not trouble them and they keep on giving. Looking a bit light green? Late season or maybe I should fertilise a bit more often.

Jungle corner. Lemongrass, lemon and lime, tomato, fennel I hope to harvest seed from, and a cherry tomato with a woefully undersized cage flopping over everything else.

Corn needs to be pulled. I have not even been eating the beans growing through it. I should probably pick some and freeze them. Then again maybe I'll just dig it over and leave the corn stalks and bean foliage there to break down over winter, and cover with leaves. Not enough sun to grow on this side of the fence in winter anyway.

Repotted and pruned blueberry. Probably waited a bit long as it's going to be on the small side next spring, but perhaps this will also mean it won't flower so early in winter. I plan to keep a cover over it if it starts producing flowers too early. It has some mild rust so I'm spraying it with some fungicide.

Many late season eggplants. Looking forward to eating them.

Small unripe yellow caps - sterile too with no seeds. But still tasty.

Raspberry vine is at least 3 metres in some places. Going to cut it back to the height of the tomato cage in winter.

I didn't get a bumper harvest from my second round of cucumber starts but they haven't done too badly, especially the lemon.

A last shot of the tomatoes before they come out. The basil I have left go to flower for the bees. I'm at a bit of a loss on what to do with it all outside of freezing it. I could make pesto but it seems like a lot of work and wouldn't suit many of the varieties. Next year I will be less ambitious, maybe 4 varieties instead of 8.

Thanks for visiting.