Gardens & Harvests mid September

turntables & tomatoes. two of my greatest loves 

perty flowers & brassicas  

loads of peppers on my plants. had to cover them from frost warnings last night, but they are looking pretty happy in the sun today  

artichokes plants are growing well. they didn't produce much of anything except pretty leaves this season, but i can always hope & plan for future years  

sunflowers unfurling 

gorgeous purple cabbages starting to develop its fruit 

yellow beans creating bean seed 

basil survived the frost!! 

loads of chocolate peppers. hoping they will ripen before we get a frost. 

yay, finally big harvests of tomatoes! 

picked before frost warnings  

cucumbers. probably the last main harvest 

picked most of my basil because of the frost warnings 

greens & lettuce growing seeds

beet seeds growing 

red romaine bolting, will flower soon & create seeds 

mustard seed pods about to fill with seeds 

coriander putting out lots of seeds 

drunken frizzy headed woman lettuce putting out tonnes of flowers from which will come lots of seed

speckled lettuce bolting & creating seeds

harvest/canning season

peach jalapeno salsa

fresh peach jalapeno salsa pre-cooking

wasabi pickled beans!  

pickles! 

white cucumbers with apple cider vinegar, pepper grounds, hots peppers & dill seed 

tomato salsa 

coloured beans before being pickled 

preparations 

beans sitting in brine before hot water bath canning 

sealed and ready to be hot water bathed 

cucumbers getting washed up & ready for pickle making 

pickle prepping 

Saving Tomato Seeds

select fresh ripe heirloom tomatoes 

gather like varieties (they will need to be grown in isolation for true purity). they need to fully ripe and can even be over ripe. cut in half & squeeze the seeds and "goo" into a jar. 

lablel! you can set aside the unused tomatoes for salsa, sauce or whatever you like :) 

fermented seeds; fill jars with water. viable seeds sink, mould & gross floats :) 

after jars are filled with water, and mould poured off the top for the third time, the water starts to get much clearer

fermented seeds filled with the water for the second time.

rinse off seeds 

let dry on a screen in a cool dark place 

late summer in the seed and community garden - harvests!

tomatoes & other goodies are finally starting to ripen in bulk!  

just a taste of the many colourful beets & carrots i can pick soon

i have been wanting to grow this beautiful plant, romanesco for years, i finally have one tiny head :)

cucumber & squash galore  

beans a plenty 

wasn't the best light for this shot, but I can't help take pics of my beautiful produce

just add vinegar, and beets & cucumbers are extra delicious 

lovely lift lock community garden on a september's eve 

carrots & beets straight from the ground! 

i love the colour contrast of these eva purple ball tomatoes with the lemon cucumbers

plants are loaded with jalapenos, just a few more warm weeks & they should be all ripened up  

 seed garden is super full of lovely blooming flowers

carrots & beets all washed up & shining 

found this lovely little guy just hanging out on my bulgarian carrot hot pepper, he was quite content to pose for a series of photos  

haven't seen too many dragonflies this summer, nice to catch a glimpse

pretty produce in evening sunshine