Fall Harvest 2010

Carrots from the ground

Its been some time now since my last post and I thought I'd restart with a snapshot of how my garden has been doing this year. Despite the unpredictable, sun-less summer that we've experienced, my plants didn't fare too bad. The best ones to harvest were the carrots, arugula, golden beets, strawberries and blueberries.

I made a lovely carrot salad using carrots, cilantro and green chillies and lemon juice. The added zing makes them so much more delectable than just eating baby carrots with a dip.

 We had an amazing batch of strawberries and blueberries. The plants just kept on giving generously. I still have some frozen which I'm saving for those dreary winter days for a fresh crumble.

Arugula - A perfect addition to anything.

 I loved the arugula batch this year. It was perfect for adding to pesto, sauces and since I have a high intolerance to spinach, this becomes my go to green.

Golden Beet

The beauty on the right is a golden beet which was simply dying to be eaten :) It was honorably highlighted by roasting at a high temperature which brought out its natural sugars.

A red tomato, green chillies and green bea

ns

 

The ones which fared the worst were green thai chillies, eggplant and tomatoes. It just wasn't hot enough for the chillies to pick up the heat and not enough sunshine for ripening the tomatoes :( However green tomatoes are okay too. As they can be easily used in preparing any soups, stews or curry. Just make sure you cook em' and not eat them raw like actual red tomatoes. Otherwise, beware of stomach aches.

The trio on the left was used to make a 'rava upma'.

 These green beauties are unripened tomatoes. Not tomatillos, but unripened green tomatoes. As I said, you can easily make the substitution and made a green tomato dal or use it as a layer in a lasagna.

 I had some luck with eggplant and harvested about four lovely fruits. Unusually low for the season. They were used in an eggplant pulav and eggplant sambhar.

Green bell peppers remained mini peppers and didn't have time to become full grown :( 

This was the SOLO apple that our garden's 'Golden Sentinel Columnar Tree' harvested :) A singular soldier who made the tree proud. It was eaten raw as it should be and was simply amazing!!!!!