Backyard Harvest. Agterplaas Oes

Yes, I'm still here. The computer might've given in and the winter garden might be coming along very slowly, but I'm still here. Still interested in getting my hands in the dirt, growing some useful fruit and veggies and some random ones, and subsequently blogging about it. The massive delay in this post wasn't intentional, but sometimes technology really gets in the way rather than assisting, don't you think?

Since I'm a bit out of practice I will let the photos do most of the talking. Let me get on with it...

Cape gooseberries/appelliefies, strawberry/aarbei, pepino/boomspanspek, Sugar Ann peas/ertjies

How does that cute chocolate advert go? "I've got joy in my life..." Yes, joy, joy and more joy... my Cape gooseberry bush is producing enough for a daily snack and then some. I've even made a summery fruit salad by adding it to chopped pineapple, paw paw (papaya) and pepino. Yes, the tropical pepino bush is unbelievably producing smack-bang in the middle of winter. What did I say? Joy!

Strawberries are only starting to flower now, so I've eaten the odd one straight from the plants. I've harvested quite a few cute Sugar Ann Snap peas though. We prefer them fresh in a mixed green salad. If you have any ideas what else to do with them, let me know.

Sugar Ann Snap peas/ertjies and Little Gem lettuce/blaarslaai

After last year's disastrous attempt at growing lettuce, this year couldn't make me prouder. Just look at the scrumptious lettuce leaves in the photo above. I grew them in the proper season and in a well-composted container this time though. That might be the reason for my success this year. Maybe not "might" - more a definite. The peas are so deliciously crunchy and sweet, I will definitely plant them again next autumn. I think I will dedicate much more of the backyard veg patch to them though. The harvest wasn't nearly enough for the family. Practice makes perfect, hey?

Cape gooseberries/Appelliefies

Oh boy, I harvested 300g of Cape gooseberries (also known as Inca berries) in one go. From one bush! It was a proud moment. Silly, but proud. Did I mention this was a volunteer bush that just shot up in my backyard veg patch? The same one I gushed about in my June post on the autumn garden.

Broad beans/Boerbone

Although my broad beans aren't really ready yet, there were about ten of them waiting to be harvested. No, the wee offering in my hands isn't the sum of it, but I just had to take a photo. I've never really done anything with broad beans, so I went out on a limb and sautéed them in butter with leeks. It went quite nicely with our "boerekos" chicken, potatoes, carrots and peas. What do you guys do with broad beans? I need some ideas here, but I'm not too keen on tossing them with mint leaves as I've read online. In my house mint is something that belongs in a refreshing cooldrink like lemonade.

I promise to pop in again soon. Why don't you tell me what you've been up to in your winter garden in the meantime?

Growing Broad Beans in the Garden Route. Boerbone in die Tuinroete

Since I rediscovered my passion for gardening at the end of autumn here in the South Africa, I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. I couldn't plant autumn crops, since I missed the season. I couldn't plant most winter crops as they should've been planted in autumn, and it was way too early for spring/summer crops. What to do? 

According to some blogs I read, broad beans could be planted in winter. Bingo! I settled on broad beans as the first vegetable for my veg patch. Many other bloggers have explained the benefits of planting broad beans in a backyard garden, but mine were -

3 Reasons to plant Broad Beans in a South African garden:

1. Broad beans, as part of the legume family (that's garden geek speak for plants grown for their edible seeds or grain, incl. beans and peas), put valuable nitrogen into the soil.
2. Broad beans are the only beans which can be grown through winter.
3. Broad beans produce heavily and at a time when not much else can be harvested.

The family wasn't too keen on this broad bean idea, however. They thought it too "volksvreemd" (alien to our eating habits). Everything that doesn't fit into the neat 'rice, meat, potatoes and veg' staple of Afrikaners are sometimes deemed "volksvreemd" in my home. This was before I punched in 'broad bean' on Google Translate, and learned that it is actually plain old 'boerbone'. Oh, how smug was I when I shared this morsel of information...

Broad bean germination rate: 

Thanks to the good folks at Living Seeds I had my beans in lightning speed, planted them in the beginning of July, and this is what popped out two weeks later:

Proud moment: my first broad bean/Trotse oomblik met my eerste boerboon

I must still confess, I did feel a bit despondent after a week with no germination. Luckily, Adelaide Gardener gave me hope again (as referred to in my previous post); and a week after that - voilà! I had a germination rate of around 90%. Not too shabby hey?

Small broad bean plants:

A week and a half later (last day of July) and my little broad beans were soldiering on:

The first few broad beans (vicia faba) to have germinated

I guess only a fellow gardener or farmer can understand the joy of seeing something you've put into the soil, nurtured and spent hours thinking or worrying about doing well. I'm such a garden geek! I planted the beans quite close, as they will later support each other.

The leaves are quite beautiful when they unfurl, I think. Dark green, hardy and glossy. The stems are not as hardy, so they will have to be supported at quite an early stage. I'm one proud backyard gardener, though!  

'n Klein boerboon plantjie - een van my eerstes

Broad bean flowers:

Another five weeks on, and the broad beans are flowering in full force. Now the stress of how big my harvest will be and how well the flowers will be pollinated is weighing on me. Soveel dae, soveel sorge...