Melbourne Late Winter Garden

Another rainy Melbourne winter is almost at an end, the bulbs are in full bloom, the buds of the stone fruit are about to burst into colour and I am finally picking some winter vegies!!

We also  put in a little fairy garden for our daughter, which she is just loving.

The snow peas this winter year have been a winner. We are picking handfuls on a daily basis and they get consumed before we even get a chance to cook them. Our little one just points at them demanding that we get her "pea, pea". 

I put in a Japanese variety this year called Yukomo (Giant Snow Pea) along our fence line. This is the largest of all the snow pea varieties i have grown and they produce a beautiful purple flower. Both tasty and ornamental but be warned, you need to have a high trestle (my peas this year grew over 2 1/2 meters high) and you will need to tie them up, to protect from any winter winds. Worth it to see the fam enjoy them !

The broccoli I usually grow is an Italian variety called De Cicco, which I find has the sweetest flavour- a favourite of mine and a surprise to our dinner guests. Once we pick the main head, the side shoots then produce for a good 4 months later (what some people call broccolini).

Here are some photos just as the broccoli was forming a few weeks back;

We will shortly post a yummy home made broccoli pasta recipe, made with a friend of ours on yet another rainy day.

The winter greens have also taken off and we have picked some chinese Kale to use in stir fries. There's also cos lettuce and plenty of raddichio and Florence fennel salads. I just love the deep red colour of the raddichio (above) we grow. I an not sure of the variety as I got the seeds off my grandfather. 

We also grow a large Mustard Giant Red (mustard green)- not to eat it as it's way too spicy (like eating raw horseradish) but can be used to spice up salads. We have used it in a potato salad. But it is just beautiful over winter and so fast growing, easy to grow and self sows in abundance (beware!).