zucchini zucchini zucchini

I have a lot of zucchini love this week. I missed last weeks post on zucchini love so I have a few dishes this week which make the zucchini the hero of the dish.

But first I am finally down to just one zucchini plant.  The first one I broke which was very sad as I had a brilliant supply from that plant. This week I had to pull another plant out as it was rotting away because it was being smothered by 3 pumpkins and another zucchini (yes they were planted far to close together). So I am down to 1 which I hope will still provide the family.

Come on little babies

 So I have been a bit busy trying out new zucchini recipes and they are pretty nice such as:

Zucchini and Basil soup (at least the basil is from the garden had to buy green zuchs in as my crop was doing quite so well). Check out the recipe and sexier photos of the soup at www.gourmettraveller.com.au/zucchini-and-basil-soup

Next up were some roasted courgettes. I sprinkled cayenne pepper, seasoned and topped off with mozzarella.  Threw them in the oven for about 20min @ 180 C. They were a nice accompaniment to dinner.

And finally Italian agrodolce zucchini with mint and chilli by Belinda Jefferies. These were really nice but I do find raw garlic a little overpowering so I think next time I will use less.

* Slice 1kg zucchini into thin lengths. Bbq them or chargrill them to get some colour on them.
* In a bowl add:
 3 garlic cloves finely chopped, 
A big handful of shredded mint, 
1 Tbs juice of a lemon
2-3 Tbs cider vinegar
Half a lemons zest
1-2 chilli
Salt and pepper
* Stir the zucchini through the vinegar mix and leave to soak in for 5 mins.

Pretty tasty and a great addition with the mint.

Rats, aphids and ants

Hooray I found a new cord and even managed to get other fancy bits and pieces that can upload onto the I-pad. And am now trying to manage this through the blogger app. I expect all you very clever people out there might be clever enough to have sorted this all out. But I figure I spend time working in the garden and a lot less time on computers.... Let me know if you use the app and if you find it easier or a hinderance.

Anyhow despite a range of blogs I had hope to talk about last week I thought I would discuss my corn instead.

Doesn't it look lovely? Well the rats, aphids and ants thought so. So in a bed 1700 x 2000 mm I managed to get 7, yes 7 cobs to take inside. The rats ate about 60% of the crop while the aphids attacked the rest. I have stripped the corn the rats started with and plan on giving them to the neighbours chickens who I am happy to let eat. I can only hope the rats starve now (wishful thinking).

I do hope your corn is doing a thousand times better than my patch at the moment. A least I now have a new patch to plant up in which is greatly exciting as I have much to add that might be pest unfriendly.

camera cord fail

Eek I can't find my camera cord to connect to the computer. And I have so much to show and tell. Soon I hope to be back to delight you

Zucchini Tuesday

Well I have a sad confession to make this week. I killed my best zucchini supplier. I didn't mean to it just happened to be hoovering over the lawn and didn't cope very well when I gently moved it aside. Now I really don't think I was that rough despite my mothers words 'you are a like a bull in a china shop'.  In fact I thought at first it was those rats. But then I remembered that in my haste to get the lawn mowed I picked up the offending overhanging branches up off the grass and it would seem I snapped it.

There was not much left to save once the growing and fruit part had no roots left. So I now have a gap. Not a very big one especially once the pumpkin takes hold.

At least there is another zucchini behind 

Thankfully I did many a small harvest or two yesterday.

Chilli glut saved from the rats

Oven dried (perhaps a bit too long as I forgot about them overnight)

Hope you have been enjoying your zucchini glut. Pop over to Louise's place and see what she is up to this week with her zucchini

Rain

Gosh isn't rain a gorgeous thing after such a long dry? Rain helps re-charge the garden and the gardener. It clears out the cobwebs. You can almost hear the garden sigh with appreciation. Hope the weather is kind to you wherever you are.

zucchini Tuesday/Wednesday

Darn holidays they confuse me into thinking it is different day. So sorry I am a day late with the zucchini post hosted by the lovely Louise. This week I have made Moorish Vegetables, which was given to me by a lady I studied with many years ago. It is a meal I like to use if I have lots of other things to do when I get home.  I am also sure there are many different versions out there of this.  And the best part is I got to use at least 2 different veg from the garden :o)

Such as these eggplants. I am not greatly happy with them. If you look at my last post you will see that all the leaves have been eaten by something (I strongly suspect those ladybirds, which have far too many spots for my liking). Some of the bottoms were hard but the tops were ok. I have a new plant in the front garden which I have great hopes for but these will do for now.

So recipe for Moorish Vegetables

Cut vegetables into even sized pieces so it cooks more evenly. I used:
* 4 very small eggplants, 3 yellow zucchini, a handful of mushrooms, 1 carrot, 2 red onion, 3 garlic, 2 red pepper and half green pepper

* Add oil, salt, pepper, 2 tbs ground coriander, 1 Tbs ground cumin, 1 Tbs fennel
* Roast in oven at around 200 Celsius for 40 mins or until the veggies have a golden tinge to them
* Add 1 jar of tomato passata or a couple of tins of tomatoes. Plus a rinsed can of chickpeas. Then throw it back into the oven for 25 mins or until it is all soft.
* I throw cubes of Haloumi cheese into a frying pan to brown off with lemon juice.
* Chop up a bunch of coriander.
* Scoop out the moorish veg into a bowl, top with Haloumi and herb. Serve with quinoa or rice or crusty bread or nothing. It's up to you.
* Enjoy

It is a great use of zucchini and other veg you might have in the garden

Vegetable garden low

Last summer was warm but no-one could really say it was hot. As I am constantly outside working on gardens I was pretty pleased to say the least. Many of my friends and family (who work indoors) complained that we really didn't have much heat and felt it was a bit more like an English summer. This year is quite a different story. We have had very little rain and the temperatures have broken records.  

While my loved ones have had to listen to me complain about working (and nearly dying) with the heat it is nothing compared to the poor suffering garden. While I have added compost, peat, manure, mulch and surfactants by the bucket load I am on sandstone, with very sandy soils. My plants have gulped any water they get but they are becoming more hydro-phobic as the extended summer goes on. I also live in high forest country so I am grateful the fires that are burning around the country have not been started in our area. Here are a few plants after our hottest day on record.

The chilli colasped while the basil thrives

I have re-planted the rhubarb in part shade of  the front garden, of course it is not the time for transplants so I cross my fingers it survives past February

I had only just taken some beautiful photos of the Eucomis for bloom day

The vegetable garden has suffered the most and like Liz it seems I also have a rat problem to top it off. The cucumber and beans have not only lost their get up and go but any flowers have been munched back to sticks and seem to have given up the will to carry on. I should have taken a photo before I left for the weekend but forgot.

The cucumber flowering and fruiting happily in it's early days

The pumpkin is threatening to take over and have a flower or two but I am yet to discover anything else. The zucchini I think is working with the pumpkin (ie veggie patch domination) and seems to have eased on fruit production. 

My biggest battle is with the eggplant. I have to say they started life in the front under the liquidambar where they didn't grow at all in the 3-4 weeks until they took up residence in the new vegie plot. They are completely covered in holes. I thought at first it might be caterpillar but I have searched and there is no sign of them or even any poo. They are however completely covered in ladybugs and their larvae.

Does anyone know if these guys are good or bad?

Holey leaves

There is some fruit production but they have green bottoms and are quite small. I have yet to try them so I don't know if they are worth it.  I wonder if I should simply pull them out re-fertilised and start again.  I expect there is still going to months of hot weather ahead.

On a more positive note the corn is charging on and I don't expect it will be too long before we are happily munching away on them. How are your gardens coping with the weather conditions at your place?