Autumn in the rental vegie patch

I've left my run a bit late! The cold weather we've had (3oC last night) has got the beans sitting still, not growing, almost as if they're just waiting for the frost to knock them dead for the season. And since Dave pulled out some of the useless stuff that obviously wasn't going to be productive, I rediscovered the carrots and beetroot that I'd forgotten. Poor things managed to germinate, but probably thanks to being overrun by rampant self-sown pumpkin vines, lack of watering, and cool weather, they're still barely past seedling size.

The powdery mildew hit the apple cucumbers first, then the blackjack zucchinis (only got 2 off the plant - seeds went in rather late though), but the golden zucchini is still powering on despite being almost white with mildew! The golden zucchini had been my star performer in the old garden, it must be that it grows better in cooler weather. Genetics??

Here's a photo of the teeny rental vegie patch in its prime, though. At this size and resolution all readers of this blog can probably see is a bit of green leafy stuff with a pumpkin in the middle, but let me assure you that it has been productive enough to have been worth the effort. We've had several kilos each of beans and golden zucchinis, a handful or two of peas, a couple of large bunches each of silverbeet and pak choi, a variety of herbs, a dozen apple cucumbers, a couple of blackjack zucchinis, a couple of dozen radishes, squillions of freckles lettuce (they last few are setting seed heads atm).

PLUS in the last two weeks we've just begun harvesting ripe tomatoes, mostly tommy toes (or something else small - some are self sown, the rest aren't labelled) AND the pumpkins that are dotted around the yard are beefing up and looking forward to becoming soup! I planted an order of about 50 shallot bulbs in two different spots, and once the greenery dies back I'll be harvesting those to add to the pumpkin soup. Yummo!!