Goodbye Summer Veggie Garden

The weather has definitely changed here in Tassie and I'm sad to say that Summer is well and truly over. As are my summer veggies. 

Today I've been doing a clean out of the last of the veg. Beets are one of my last things in the garden. I've already harvested several lots of them and these are the stragglers that didn't grow as quickly. 

Snip off the leaves, put them straight into a pot and boil for 20 minutes. The skins will slip right off them once cooked.

Ewan and Tina giving me a hand!

The "divas" get the leaves, nothing goes to waste. (The divas are Beyonce, Rhianna and Brittany!)

Freshly boiled beets with their skins all taken off. With this amount of beets I'm going to do a few different things. One for now, one for the next month and one that will keep for the next 12 months.

Beetroot Salad:


1 Packet of baby spinach
3 Beets cut into cubes
100g approx of goats cheese
a handful of pine nuts or walnuts lightly roasted


The dressing:
1 tsp honey, slightly warmed
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs Light olive oil


Shake all the dressing ingredients together in a jar or sealed container and pour over the salad ingredients. Then enjoy!

Beetroot Relish:


2 or 3 Beets coarsely grated
1 medium onion diced
2 tbs brown sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp cinnamon


Cook over a medium heat in a frypan until liquid reduces slightly. Put in a container in the fridge and eat within a month. Great on meat and in hamburgers.

Pickled Beetroot:

1 kg beetroot

1 to 2 cups of sugar (according to taste) 

1 litre of white vinegar 

1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder 

1 teaspoon of allspice 

12 cloves 

12 peppercorns 

1 teaspoon salt

Peel and slice the cooked beetroot and pack into sterilised jars. Combine all the other ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Allow to stand (covered) for 20 minutes if possible to allow the vinegar to cool a little and the flavours to infuse.Strain the vinegar, then pour over the beetroot slices in the jar, making sure that they are well covered with the liquid. 

Seal wit non corrosive lids.

Note: This is another Sally Wise recipe from A Year in a Bottle.

So that's the summer veggies all finished. Now to plan what to put in the winter garden....