Pineapple

Remember those pineapples we had growing?
Well one was well and truly ready to pick the other day.

The same day we bought ourselves a juicer, and SMD was going to use this in his first experiment!
We were all thankful that I stopped him, as it was probably the most delicious pineapple we have ever eaten.  A pale buttery yellow it was sweet but smooth, a 'rounder' flavour than the shop bought ones, not as acidic.
I think it was due to two things - being left to fully ripen in the sun, on the plant, and being devoured within a few hours of being picked.
They take a while to grow & produce fruit, but they are well worth planting (and easy, just sit the top of your pineapple on the soil & let it go).  They can be quite decorative too.
Yum!
Ravs.

All by itself!

I leave the garden for 9 days of cycling - and this is what I come back to!

The 

The Kangaroo Paws are in full flower.  I haven't managed to get a photo that really does them justice - they are really gorgeous.  I want to put some more plants in - especially of the 'original' green & red variety.  This sunny well drained spot seems perfect for them.

I also picked (for us just starting out) a heap of produce.  The potatoes are sebagos - just one plant's worth.  There's BokChoy, Calendula leaves & flowers, the last of the Sugar Snap peas, two types of carrot (still just thinning them out), and a beetroot.

The boys had the peas as a snack immediately.  We had the smaller potatoes, the bok choy & carrots for dinner within two hours of picking them - delicious!

The next day, last Sunday, I made a salad for a BBQ consisting of mixed salad leaves (from the supermarket), calendula leaves & petals (above), grated raw beetroot (above), and boiled eggs from our chooks.  I was very please with the result.

Planted a heap more potatoes after looking in the box and realising all my seed potatoes had sprouted.  They are probably too crowded but nevermind - we'll just see what happens.  Hopefully I won't disturb them too much when I harvest the remaining older plants in that bed!

I might go & see what I can harvest for dinner tonight!

Ravs.