A winning pumpkin and harvesting Chillies

Two of our largest pumpkins were stolen before the Auckland Community Gardens Pumpkin Growing Competition but hiding in the grass...

...was the winning pumpkin! 

Trevor proudly showing the winning pumpkin

 It's not a beautiful specimen with its knobbly crocodile like skin but apparently this Italian heritage pumpkin variety Marina di Chioggia is really good eating.   

Trevor and Bev nurtured the pumpkins from seeds to harvest day. They did add manure and watered with a seaweed tea, but apart from that left them to grow in what was a waste area of the gardens.   Luckily this area wasn't weeded because if it had been,  the winning pumpkin might have been taken like the others growing up on the wire fence. 

This photo was taken just days before it was taken

It's always interesting to see what other members of the garden grow in their plots.  Long time plotholders Ramesh and Latika have their plot dominated with Thai chilli varieties and in February I happened to be visiting the gardens when they were doing their first harvest.

 

 Latika and Ramesh originally came from Fiji and Ramesh has a farming background so he is a great source of information especially on the subject of chillies.  Latika likes them to be as hot as possible but Ramesh prefers to grow Thai chilli varieties because they are hot but easier on the stomach.

Here's a selection of the chillis being harvested.

I have recently discovered that contrary to popular belief the seeds are not the hottest part of a chilli, its the white membrane called the placenta that holds the seeds that has the heat.

Latika let me know her method of preserving the chillies.  They freeze a lot of them but also preserve them in sterilised jars.  Nothing looks more inviting than those glorious coloured chillies in a glass jar.

First of all Latika heats a pan with some oil and fries some Fenugreek and mustard seeds - not for long - just until you can smell the aroma.  You could use other combinations of spices but these two she likes with chillis.  Next she adds the juice of lemons - enough to fill your jar.  Boil the lemon juice to sterilize.  Pack your sterilised jars with freshly harvested chillis and then fill to the rim with the lemon juice and spices.   Make sure there are no air bubbles left and seal your jar.  It can look pretty on your shelf and when winter arrives you can spice up your food with the heat of summer.

I will definitely be keen to grow a couple of chilli plants next summer in our plot.  I am very proud of the few peppers we have managed to grow from seed this year.  Only one has gone the full distance and become red but to grow peppers outside is a real treat for southerners like us.

I think Brian and Christine grew these wonderful peppers.  They certainly know the secret to growing them successfully so I'll be looking for some hints for my pepper efforts next summer.

I enjoy taking photos of the different flower combinations.

Here Richard has Dahlias growing with Red Amaranth - a striking duo as you enter the gardens.  Amaranth is eaten as a leaf vegetable when small in spring and come late summer and early autumn the seeds are harvested and used as cereal.  Amaranth is rich in protein and as it grows like a weed and produces up to half a million seeds in a head then its a good food source.  It's a plant you might also find in flower gardens.  Richard is letting the Amaranth grow like this not for decorative purposes but to ensure he will have plenty of seedlings to grow for next year.

If you are keen to try this in your plot I am sure Richard would only be too happy to give seedlings.

The herb garden we have begun to plant out with many other plants and seeds being propagated in the greenhouse.  And parsley, one of the most used of the culinary herbs we will have plenty of for all the plotholders to use with seedlings already planted out and covered over with sticks to keep the bunnies over Easter away from our young parsleys.

More on the herb garden next posting.