A touch of sun

Photographed through a glass darkly - otherwise they wouldn't have stayed.

This year's number one lesson?

Do not put your gigantic zucchini and pumpkins in the coolroom.  They catch all manner of diseases as a result.

Remember what it looked like freshly picked?

Backyard pics

These were taken on the ipad.

Autumn chestnut

Little rays of sunshine

Roses still flowering

Salvia

Apples and quinces

This year has seen all (four) quince trees producing prolifically. Apparently there is a shortage of quinces generally, and we are getting lots of comments about how prolific the trees appear.

Different apple trees have fruited this year. Roundway magnum bonum and King of Tompkins County especially.

King of Tompkins and cydonia oblonga (quince)

King of Tompkins

Roundway magnum bonum

Roundway magnum bonum

King of Tompkins County is a large, crimson-striped, juicy and sweet apple with a greasy skin.  It is highly prized for sauce- and pie-making due to its overall flavour.

Roundway magnum bonum is an old Wiltshire apple that you might consider if you are interested in historic varieties. It is large, prominently ribbed, slightly flushed with a little russet and a remarkable and distinct pear-like taste. Best eaten fresh as it seems to lose its flavour when cooked.  Raised by Mr Joy, head gardener at Roundway Park, near Devizes, it was first brought to public notice in 1864.

Autumn harvest moon

Taken without a tripod so lots of wiggle - sort of artistic though.

 

Greening of deserts

This is one amazing video that just has to be watched if one cares about our planet.

Zucca delights

 Zucca lagenaria da pergola lunghissima on the left = 5kg and zucca lunga di Napoli on the right = 11kg.  The farm manager in the centre!

This (above) is what's in the centre of this (below).  Late zucca lunga di Napoli flowers.  Given that these plants are of southern Mediterranean extraction, they are growing magnificently in the highlands of central Victoria.

Two very large zucca lagenaria etc have formed and more fruit is still forming - the young ones are about 10cm at the moment.  Will they reach maturity? They are supposed to be late fruiting plants - but this is probably a bit late.

Click here to see how these types of plants were grown at Epcot - I started out by raising the plants from the ground - to just over a metre high - and failed miserably as they took off across the countryside.  If we manage viable seeds maybe the next few months can be spent constructing a gigantic pergola in readiness for next year's crop.