Zucchini is back in season; today is I picked my third lot so far. This morning on the NZ Vege Gardener's Facebook group a couple of ladies shared ways they like to cook them, so I decided to experiment when making lunch for myself.

Zucchini (aka Courgettes, marrows) is an incredibly versatile vegetable. In addition to today's quick cook methods, it's also good raw in a salad or as part of a platter with dip. My family loves Zucchini Slice, and Pickled Zucchinis (click titles for recipes).

First I simply washed one of the yellow zucchini, sliced it into 1.5cm slices, and fried it in some melted butter. Lightly salted it was nice, but needed a little something extra. So I added a wee bit of cottage cheese with chives to one. That was quite nice. I tried some tomato relish - pretty good. Then I tried some plain yoghurt. WOW! Delicious! The creamy tang of the yoghurt just added the right something to the flavour of the zucchini. I was glad the kids had all gone out, because I didn't want to share! Sooooo good.

While the first lot were cooking, I sliced another zucchini, a bit thinner this time, and dipped them each into flour, egg, then breadcrumbs mixed with some herbs and salt. (The flour definitely helped the rest to stick). I fried these in some butter too. They were pretty good - I liked them with tomato sauce, and if I were on a only-eat-what-I-can-grow diet and was craving a meat pie or sausage roll, these would be a pretty good substitute!

But the plain zucchini in butter with yoghurt definitely won my best-flavour for today award. Or maybe I just ate so many I was spoiled for anything else?!

What's your favourite way to eat zucchini? Leave a comment!

November turned out to be the month of digging, and digging, and digging! Not to mention lots of planting. It's also a month of enormous growth, so if you were to compare the following pics with those taken a month ago, you'd see quite a lot of differences!

This month's photos were taken quite late in the day, so apologies for shadowing; I kept forgetting to get out there with the camera!

The main vege beds - lots of growth in most of the beds, with a couple cleared and being prepped for new planting. The old brassicas are all gone now.

This first bed has been cleared of brassicas and weeds, had compost, Rok Solid, blood and bone and dolomite added. I've planted some Bright Lights Silverbeet seedlings down one side.

I also transplanted some parsley seedlings down the middle, from another bed I was clearing so my daughter could grow some veges. Parsley does not like to be transplanted, but I figured I may as well give it a go, since otherwise they were going to be tossed out. As expected, most of the existing leaves died, but new ones were sprouting from some of the transplants. A week later, after quite a bit of rain, as I'm writing this, ALL the transplanted parsley is putting up new shoots.

I have also planted two tomatoes so far in this bed - a Russian Red and a Sweet 100 bought from a church market sale. The rest of the space will shortly be filled with Tiny Tim tomatoes.

The beetroot and chickweed in this bed have grown a lot in the last month!

Spring onion flowers being enjoyed by the bees. Flowering lettuce not yet ready to be removed (for seed). Still haven't pulled out the leeks in the back half.

The three early zucchini plants I put in here are doing well, and are ready to start picking. Two turned out to be yellow zucchini; the third is green.

Behind the zucchini are some shallots growing slowly, and one broccoli plant which I'll mention again in a moment.

In the back half of the bed are broad beans, which are doing well. The spinach I planted between the rows has not done well, however - all but two have been dug up by birds or otherwise failed. A small nasturtium I put in is just starting to flower.

I've never grown broad beans before - next time I would put them somewhere they can grow around the outside of a structure that will give them plenty of support. It's also a bit of a trick learning when is the right time to harvest the beans.

Buckwheat cover crop is flowering well. I planted this as a cover crop until I need the bed for tomatoes. It is reputed to take 4 weeks from sowing to flowering in ideal conditions. It's taken closer to 6 weeks in my garden to have the flowers open, but that's just fine. I will shortly be pulling it all up, prepping the bed, then laying the pulled buckwheat back down as a mulch.

The flowers are tiny but pretty. Definitely attracting lots of pollinators.

This bed will be planted in Roma tomatoes.

The strawberry patch - comparing this photo to last month's, there has been a lot of growth. We're also enjoying yummy berries every day. The bed was originally prepped with compost, Rok Solid, blood and bone, and mulched with pine needles. A week or so ago, I sprinkled some Sulphate of Potash around the plants, mulched with compost, and watered with a horse-manure tea brew.

It is important to feed the soil around heavy-producers as the season goes on, if you want production to continue well.

My garlic and experimental broccoli plants. I put the broccoli seedlings (obtained free from a supplier) into this bed because 3/4 of my garlic failed (my own fault) and I wanted to test the theory that brassicas planted following garlic wouldn't suffer from white butterfly. I figured there were still garlic cloves in the soil from the failed planting (along with a few that has sprouted) as well as the 1/4 that is growing well, so when I got the free plants I figured I may as well pop them in and see what happens. Normally I CANNOT grow brassicas at all in summer here.

Results so far: The plants are noticeably thriving - the ones in this bed are much, much bigger than the "control plant" put in another bed (behind the zucchini). They are just starting to form heads. I have discovered only 2 or 3 white butterfly caterpillars on them so far, in the entire bed, (which I squished). So not completely free of them, but not overwhelming numbers like I've dealt with in the past. There have been small populations of aphids and whitefly on the leaves - I simply "rub them out" with my gloved hands. It looks like, a few pests aside, I might actually succeed in growing broccoli for summer eating this year!

I cleared this bed of gone-to-seed silverbeet and celery, and am in the process of prepping it for more Roma tomatoes. What WAS very fascinating what the huge array of bugs I found on even just one silverbeet plant. I took pics and identified most of them. I will post about that separately. Even a single plant can be a fascinating eco-system in it's own right, and avoiding sprays and chemicals, as well as planting to attract beneficials and attending to soil (and therefore plant) health, helps keep everything in a healthy balance, with both the environment AND the gardener winning!

This bed is planted in three variety of tomatoes (Money maker, Cocktail, and a Russian heritage called Silvery Fir), underplanted with dwarf green beans, and surrounded by marigolds.

I forgot to write down exactly how I did this (you always think you'll remember these things, but then never do!), but this bed was either prepped with, or the tomatoes had added to their planting holes: compost, Rok Solid, sheep pellets, blood and bone, and Dolomite. Dried, crushed egg shells were later sprinkled under each tomato plant on the soil surface too. Everything looking good so far. I've written more about growing tomatoes HERE, and will also post more as the season progresses.

This bed has been given over to my 16yo daughter (the same one who nominated me for NZ Gardener of the Year, and who claimed she hates gardening lol). So far she has planted a zucchini, an Italian parsley, a chive, several celery, one gherkin, two peas, some carrot seed, and there are some parsley plants at the back I left in the bed. The cycle rims act as a trellis to the peas and gherkin. She has sown flower seeds in the greenhouse and wants to add calendula, cornflowers and asters to any available spaces.

After prepping and planting her bed, she came and told me maybe gardening is kind of fun after all. ;-)

Peas are coming to their natural end. A huge sow thistle (puha) has grown up in the middle of the tepee, but I left it there as it's supporting quite a few of the pea plants.

The rosemary at the front is due to be moved. I also learned recently that they should be regularly pruned, so avoid them becoming too woody (it's the fresh green growth that is used in cooking etc). So I will move it and prune it. It's not flowering right now, so it's probably a good time to do this.

I never did get around to thinning the carrots. Now I'm simply harvesting the biggest ones first, and leaving more room for the smaller ones to develop. Oh well, they don't seem to mind too much.

And boy, they taste good!!

Raspberries and boysenberries developing well - a bird netting cover high on the do-it-soon priority list!

The bees have been absolutely LOVING the flowers of the berries - raspberries, boysenberries, blackberries and strawberries. Strictly speaking, berries don't NEED bees for pollination (they are self-fertile and can be wind pollinated), but bees do improve pollination. In some ways, I think the bees need the berries more than the berries need the bees, and for this reason I would recommend planting a berry patch to all gardeners, even if they don't want berries for themselves. (Though who doesn't love fresh summer berries??)

One of the new beds created this past month - we dug a strip along this fence, then edged all sides with old brick sunk into the group. This helps to prevent the roots of couch grass and creeping buttercup from moving into the bed from under the fence or the garden path. After tossing in some compost, I planted out 3 borage seedlings I had started in the greenhouse, and sowed the rest with some sunflower seeds I had been given (variety unknown). The fence should help give them some support in the wind, as well as reflecting more heat (it faces north). I need to thin the sunflower seedlings, and then I'll just let them do their thing. They are for the bees and food seed.

Borage is apparently the ideal companion for strawberries, greatly increasing their yield. I didn't know that when I planted my strawberry patch, and anyway they grow so big they wouldn't have fitted under the netting I have over the patch. In this bed is as close as I can plant them to the strawberries, so hopefully they will do some good there anyway.

My gooseberry (pictured) and red currant bushes are doing better than I've ever seen them - they're really thriving and growing this year, and have their first fruit in small numbers. The bees have been enjoying the lavender. I plan to take cuttings from the lavender and start more plants  - it's something you can't have too much of, I reckon. It's good to plant (along with rosemary) around the chicken house as a pest deterrent, can be used to make hair rinses and other herbal things, smells great and both are SO good for the bees and other beneficials.

I noticed last year that my red currant LOATHES tap water - hoping to only water it with rainwater this year.

A combo of bee-pleasers - blackberry in the corner tyre, a tractor tyre full of cosmos, phacelia and zinnia which are just starting to flower, and lavender.

Last summer, as regular readers will know, was my first attempt at the vege garden. I saw very few honey bees all summer, but quite a lot of bumble bees (which pollinated my pumpkins, zucchini etc). So I started thinking about how to help and attract more bees (as well as other beneficial insects for pest control), and what to plant for that purpose. I started seeing more bees in June, when the red hot pokers in the paddock came into flower, followed by the lilacs. Shortly after, some of my brassicas went to seed, and I left them for the bees as I know they love those flowers. That seemed to get the ball rolling and they were visiting my garden looking for food. I had rosemary in flower over winter too. Meanwhile I started planting other things for the bees, and now I'm seeing a lot of honey bees and native bees, as well as bumble bees in my garden. Flowering right now I have blackberries (raspberries and boysenberries have just about finished), buckwheat, lavender, cosmos, phacelia, zinnia, marigolds, nasturtium, calendula, cucumbers, zucchini just getting going, potatoes, tomatoes, buk choy, spring onions, chives, lettuce, broad beans (peas have just finished), parsley, comfrey, borage is just starting, roses, lemon, geraniums, Sweet William, impatiens, and then other things that are coming along and will flower soon. In terms of pollination AND pest control, there is nothing so important as making room in your vege garden for some flowering plants! Ideally, you want a variety of plants flowering at all times, year round. I'm still learning how to plan for that, but it is my aim.

Another new creation - the beginnings of my "wild corner." Dug up and edged with some lumps of concrete moved from another area we were digging, this has been planted in a bit of a random assortment which will mostly be left to do their own thing. There are four white "maori" corn (stalks left behind shelter ladybirds over winter), a damson plum I was given (turns out they are ideal for a small garden - don't grow too big, don't need pruning, suffer no pests or diseases, self fertile), a pumpkin to wander the lawn in front of this bed, some celery (just because this is a spot they will have cool roots and sun on their leaves), dill, a few cornflowers and cineraria, a packet of mixed wildflowers.

November's biggest new addition, thanks almost entirely to the hard work of my eldest daughter. This area was dug over, which included digging up and removing three enormous concrete blocks we hadn't known were there (suspect they once supported a water tower), then edged with pieces of corrugate iron, sunk half into the soil to keep back the roots of the couch and buttercup. We removed some rotten iron from the fence, used the hole to shovel through a couple of trailer loads of compost/top soil mix, then replaced the iron with some clear-light offcuts to allow a bit more light through the fence.

Along the fence I planted black currants, with mixed green and bright-lights silverbeet in between. Along the front are planted a mixture of green and yellow zucchini, and at this end are planted leek seedlings - I'm going to let that spot become a "perpetual bed" for the leeks.

I'm going to either underplant with red clover as a living mulch, or mulch the bed with some other materials - yet to be decided.

I've started work on this area - which ultimately will have a pagola-type structure with a seat under it where I can sit an enjoy my garden, as well as various plantings. Because I hadn't quite decided what and how, it's been left to grow weeds up until now, but this last week I started work on it. Originally, this was the site of an old, ugly greenhouse which we removed some years ago. Last year I covered it in newspaper, compost and sawdust and grew an almighty crop of zucchini in that no-dig bed, which I edged with what I had to hand - a steel chimney and two long fence posts.

Now the chimney has been replaced with some concrete house-piles that were in the chicken run, and topped with large (heavy!) rocks that had been in the front garden, awaiting me figuring out how to make use of them. This is, obviously, a work in progress. My plan is to finish clearing it, plant a hedge of NZ Cranberry (Chilean Guava) - fragrant and delicious - right behind the rocks, create a path across the area behind that, and then put in the structure and seat, with a stauntonia climbing it, some peas against the fence behind, and a lemon verbena in the corner where those plastic chair are sitting, as there is a much-used gate to the paddock right there, and brushing against the lemon verbena will release it's gorgeous fragrance. I'm going to replace the two fence-post edgings with more concrete piles (as soon as another useful teenager or young man is available to shift them for me), and use the posts as part of the framework for the shelter/structure (don't really know what to call it) I plan to build. Add a few potted plants, and I think this is going to look great in time! Watch this space.

Another patch of flowers for the bees and beneficials. Cosmos, phacelia, and zinna all now flowering. This bed also has small feijoas in it which are growing well. This bed borders a path, and forms one boundary of what will be the pond area in time.

My first compost pile is almost finished, and will soon be spread on a garden bed. The second pile (in the third bin) is due to be turned. The grapevine is absolutely loaded with developing grapes; clearly I did manage to figure out the right way to prune it last winter. :-)

My three pallet beds have been growing well, and we're eating salads out of them most days. Since the rain just before the end of the month, the bok choy in the closest pallet has all bolted, though the plants are still small. I've decided bok choy is pretty much a waste of time, unless you harvest and eat when only finger size. On the other hand, it's fast and easy to grow, and produces flowers very quickly. Bad for me, but the bees LOVE brassica flowers. So I've decided from now on I'll just scatter some bok choy seed in out of the way places and let it do it's thing - the bees will appreciate it, and if we get a feed or two, that's a bonus.

Yet another new development this month - this area was grass lawn. We've dug it over, created a series of squares with free bricks down one side (each will be planted with one of the herbs I use most often, as this is just inside the gate that separates the house from the vege garden), and the middle has been planted with my yacon crowns, and underplanted with buckwheat. This photo was taken only a week after planting - as you can see the buckwheat has already sprouted and is growing strong. There are 10 yacon plants; they should yield a good amount of tubers in autumn.

Right behind the brick squares I have sown a long strip of carrot seed, edged with young chive plants. Chives keep carrot fly away, and when this all grows in time, I think it will look really cool!

The potato plants are growing tremendously! Planted on Oct 24th, they were barely showing above the ground on Nov 9th. Two weeks later they are big and lush, and starting to flower. They seem to have responded well to the goodies I put under each seed as it was planted - Rok Solid, Neem, dolomite, gypsum and sheep pellets.

I'm hoping what's going on under the soil is as productive as what's happening above! The plants have been mounded up well once; I'm going to need to add mulch or similar soon to increase the mounding.

I have positioned my two choko vines, still in their pots, next to fences where they can grow - one here near the potato patch, and the other in the chicken run where it can grow over the enclosed run and provide summer shade to the chickens.

All the plants I planted last month under the newly constructed fences are doing well. This side has 5 gherkins - the middle one was one I raised from seed while the other four were purchased seedlings. There is a HUGE difference between them (now, a week later, even more so). The marigolds are expanding, the nasturtium is growing (first time I've had any success with them), the cosmos if flowering, the alyssum is expanding, and the celery looks happy too.

On the other fence (not pictured) my climbing rose is producing shoots, impatiens are flowering vigorously, and more parsley transplants are doing very well.

This is the current view from the back corner of my garden. Another month or two, and it will have changed significantly.  It's already utterly different from how it was a year ago.

My greenhouse still has a lot of plants that will be planted out soon, and I have lots of seeds waiting to go in. More digging to do in preparation!

The total produce harvested from my garden in November weighed 43.353 kg, brining the total year-to-date to 730.226 kg! (That's 1610 lbs)

November's harvest included:

7.245 kg strawberries

46g herbs (parsley, chives etc)

16.438 kg silverbeet

1.91 kg peas

4.476 kg mixed brassicas (broccoli, purple cauli, cabbage, brussel sprouts)

5.14 kg celery

48g raspberries

2.914 kg lettuce

3.816 kg carrots

1.32 kg leeks