Food for the Soul

The happy garden in various stages of growth. Notice the frangipani still losing summer leaves.

Winter in the garden is a restful time for me. I love how the vegetables seem to grow overnight, the hose and sprinklers stay idle as the rain waters and washes off unsuspecting ‘nasties’. The whole process of reproduction and food production goes off with barely a hitch. But I’ve felt something missing of late and it took a lady some streets from here to remind me what it was.

One afternoon I heard my husband chatting to someone as I waited for him to return with some freshly cut herbs. I listened to their conversation from inside and heard her comment how she comes past almost every day to see how my vegetables are growing but she never seems to catch me in the garden anymore. In an instant I knew what was missing. It was the human contact tending to the garden each day had given me! I have met more people in our front patch in the last 4 years than the previous 22 in our old house. I burst out the front door to say hello and we were soon chatting about what we were picking this week and how soon I would do a bed of green manure and what would follow it and how the cumquats had ripened early and….. I soon forgot the food on the stove!

A garden gives us so much more than our food. In a world where contact is now so often via the Internet and our lives too busy to walk to the shops, the part of our home that is open to the world, is our portal to the neighbours and community. This is where I learnt from the older Polish lady (who just happened to attend school in our home when it was a church and Catholic school) gave me her family recipe for dill pickles, where I have met new people to the street, where I say hello to the Nun who diligently walks past everyday to the new Catholic church, where Tessa, our dog’s ‘girlfriend’ thrusts her nose through the fence to say hi each morning. This is where I met almost all our neighbours when we first moved in and how I gauge whether I am running late for school by who has been past yet!. Our front garden is the window to our community and will remain so, even if I have to spend a few minutes a day battling the elements on cold winter mornings!

So,  back to the vegetables! This year has seen us have a bumper crop of broccolini and broccoli. Once the main heads were picked, the side shoots went crazy and from 12 plants, we have been eating every 3rd night for 8 weeks (and I am talking about a lot of broccoli)! It is my favourite winter vegetable in our garden as it just keeps producing the most beautiful stems. We blanche ours most nights, preferring it au natural and crunchy! Sometimes I add it to silverbeet and make a gratin which is just delicious.

A full bed of broccoli with kale in the foreground.

We were very lucky to be given two mature potted cumquats from family and these have gone from strength to strength, with every 1½ kilo producing 8 jars of chutney, made by my superstar friend Rosi. Next year, I shall make it as I have been promised the recipe. The cumquats were suffering a little when they first arrived, quite deficient in iron but have really changed colour 2 weeks on after a good dose of iron. 

Sad, nutrient deficient cumquat leaves before treatment.

My first cumquat harvest!

Brussel sprouts are new to the garden this year and also to me, as far as growing them. Until I researched them a few months back, I was totally ignorant of the fact that the brussel sprouts grow on the trunk above each stem! They really look so cute and photos of mature plants are going to be mindblowing in their 'weirdness'! No one seems keen on eating them in this household but I am told that if picked young, they are so delicious and not at all like the ones we buy at the supermarket. 

Healthy, happy brussel sprouts.

Sprouts growing on the trunk

What else is in the garden? Chillies, kale, basil, silverbeet and chard, lettuce, carrots, leeks, garlic (they take such a long time but we will soon harvest a whole year’s supply) and all the usual suspects as far as herbs go. Oh, gooseberries also.

The last of the beetroot were eaten 3 weeks ago.

Kale continuing to thrive

Chillies loving the wet weather.

The last large bunch of basil picked 4 weeks ago

Basil still thriving

Gooseberries

And, no bug deterrents used in the last 2 months with only 12 caterpillars, 6 snails and one huge grasshopper found. The broccoli has been free of any pests (except for 3 snails) the whole season! No idea why, maybe the resident kookaburras over the road have been helping out!

 There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling.  ~Mirabel Osler

All Systems Go!

Officially Autumn started 37 days ago. But, in my garden, the jury is still out. Thirty degrees yesterday and 35 forecast for Wednesday makes me believe that summer hasn't left. One look at my new Autumn seedlings and I know it for sure!  I waited and waited for summer to finish and just when I thought it had in the second week of March, I planted my new 'crops'. Forever fearful  of the heat returning (and now justifiably so), I have mulched and continued to use No Frills Fertilisers' Hydrofish and Seaweed Tonic in the garden regularly. Thankfully the poor darlings have only wilted at midday for a short time but bounced back by evening. 

Garden One - 4 weeks ago and just planted

The biggest threat has actually come from neighbourhood cats and slaters. The nocturnal activities of the cats were pretty  easy to spot - craters filled with fresh poo and the newly planted garlic bulbs, dug up and resting nearby. Small scratch marks were also visible where they'd tried to cover the evidence. I haven't had trouble with felines since my last neighbour gave me a spray bottle of water which she'd said I was quite welcome to spray at her cat any time she (the cat, not my neighbour), set foot in the vege patch. Two separate 'christenings' and she never returned. However, there is a new cat on the block nowadays, so I am constantly vigilant and desperate to give him a squirt or two. Cats seem to have good memories regarding water so it should do the trick. 

Beware the green eyed garden wrecker

If you have a cat problem and the above doesn't work, there are a few non-toxic sprays on the market. Just ask at local pet shops. When googling for advice I came on one site where a writer had suggested 53 ways of keeping them out! I have decided to mention a few leaving out the more radical or slightly questionable (I have tried none of these but will do so if spraying doesn't work on the latest marauder). I must add that one of their methods was putting garlic cloves around but it obviously didn't work in our garden as this is where kitty cat pooped last time - right in the freshly planted garlic! Anyway, here are some to try: sprinkled black pepper, aluminium foil  (I am assuming you leave small balls of it), recycled wood pulp, cedar compost, cinnamon (expensive?), citrus peels and sprays, fresh unbrewed coffee grounds ( I don't like to waste my brew of choice so don't think I'll try this one), citrus essential oils, lavender, motion sensor sprinklers (you'd have to have a serious problem to go to this expense I think!), rose bush clippings and vinegar sprayed where they roam. Oh, dogs are a great deterrent but our pooch has too stay out of this area most of the time due to his addiction to baby tomatoes and smelly manure!

I also lost two new brocolli seedlings overnight to slaters and presently they attacking the stems of Swiss chard and silverbeet. They are quite efficient killing machines.

Slaters attacking the base of stems of Swiss chard. Damage can be seen on left hand stems.

Some hastily prepared orange juice gave me 8 intact half orange skins which I placed around the garden. See below for what happened next!

Orange half scooped of pulp ready enticing slaters

A day later and a good reward for me in the 'trap' as well as amongst the mulch

So, what have I planted? In other years I have gone for anything and everything believing the rest of the family would enjoy parsnips and artichokes as much as my husband and I. Finally got it right after a few seasons and I now plant in Autumn what we really love and what I can 'keep on top off' pest wise. Broccolini and brocolli have almost a bed to themselves, shared with Marigolds which attract pests away from the veges. Hopefully the moths will lay their eggs amongst the flowers. Cayenne pepper sprinkled on the brocolli leaves is a good deterrent but the best way is to be vigilant and pick off any caterpillars as you see them. Beetroot is under-planted with leeks  and a few kale completing this bed. This year I will be making heaps of Kale chips courtesy of my friend Cathy who has promised to tutor me on the use of the borrowed dehydrator. I am calling her classes  "Dehydrating for Dummies'.

Garden One 4 weeks after planting. Gap in line of broccoli on right is where I lost one to slaters.
You can see the new one planted in its place.

The second garden contains half a bed of garlic with  some onion chives. Garlic takes up to 8 months to mature so place it where you don't need to rotate cops in a few months (don't forget when planting the separated garlic cloves...pointy end up!) The other end contains the last of the summer malabar, silverbeet, basil and a few carrots. Onion was planned but I ran out of room.

Garden Two with garlic in back half, and assortment of others in foreground.

The third garden is now free of eggplant but capsicum still grows abundantly so have planted around them with lettuce, more silverbeet, brussel sprouts and a few herbs. 

 

Garden Three with newly planted brussel sprouts on right and assortment of other vegetables and herbs.
Large capsicum is at far end and small one on foreground.

Beautiful capsicums in abundance still thriving in Garden Three.

The two small gardens contain lettuce and basil which I am still using for pesto. Once a month I manage to make 7-10 containers of the yummy green stuff. And the last garden contains masses of mint and potted herbs as well as a compost bin.

A mass of pesto ready to divide and freeze.

Basil Garden

Lettuce Garden

What I call the 'Last Garden'

Two big mistakes this year - I put in beans and forget to protect them with crushed eggshells around the bases. By morning the damage had been done and it was slaters - 4 / me - nil. Overnight they had stripped the out skin off the bush bean trunks and although the beans continued to grow and start to produce beans, they were also slowly dying and I eventually pulled them out as nothing could be done. My mourning is still continuing and I think I will wait a few weeks before planting more. 

The other error was that my desire for vegetables was too big for the space and I had too drastically reduce the number of seedlings I had intended buying.  Once we get 'that' acreage, I'll be fine!

So, apart from periodic replanting of lettuce, some fertilising, daily checking for pests, water and a little conversation, all I need to do now is wait. Winter gardens and a little sun are the perfect companions for a good book, cup of tea or a warm red. I just wish the heat would disappear so I could practise what a I preach! 

I sit in my garden, gazing upon a beauty that cannot gaze upon itself.  And I find sufficient purpose for my day.  
~Robert Brault

The Waiting Game

The waiting is almost over with the long hot summer every now and then giving us a glimpse of cooler days. I'm full of anticipation and have been busy planning the autumn/winter garden. I even have a jacket ready, should the 5:30 start with the dog prove to be a tad cold. But for now, I need to wait just a little longer.

There is nothing quite like the joy of arriving at the garden centre, all primed to buy for the new season, consulting the list, seeking out the most handsome and sturdy of plants, indulging in impulse buying of other seedlings because like clothing, they looked pretty at the time, smiling as I pay a small fortune for them, all the while reminding myself that we will save  money on grocery bills and they will taste so much earthier and nicer than store bought ones. Into the car they go, snug together like jigsaw pieces  so they don't become damaged goods before even having a chance to procreate. Finally the seedling trays will be all lined up waiting to be........oh, that's right, realisation hits! I actually have to manually plant each and every one and that anticipated 1/2 hour it takes to get the new crop in, turns into more like 4 or 5 hours. The gin and tonic that was the 'carrot on the stick' , seemingly moves further away as I start to curse the earlier enthusiasm and question why this all had to happen in one day!

Thankfully for me, the above scenario is now a thing of the past as I have realised that a little at a time is the way to go when planting.  I have waited and waited for the hot weather to bid farewell, so much so that the garden is looking rather bare as the last of the summer vegetables move into their twilight weeks and days. Last year, I couldn't wait to fill the garden up again and made the mistake of not allowing it to rest, recuperate and replenish. So this year, I have been patient. The beds have lain almost empty for some weeks now (month old crops of malabar stand centrally in two beds)  and I've spent my time clearing them of old root systems (love the big pitchfork I bought), and given them a much needed boost of compost. My home compost pile is not ready yet so I bought an old favourite, Piggypost, from Dsatco and turned it over, letting the sun and worms do the rest.

Malabar transplanted last month after it self seeded in the 'wrong spot'.

Meanwhile we still eat from the plants continuing to produce, such as eggplant (aubergine), malabar (climbing spinach), capsicum (peppers) and cucumber.

Newly planted lettuce resides in one of the two smaller beds which receives the least sun at this time of year.I removed our last lot of lettuce over  6 weeks ago when the heat here in Perth became just too much (record 20 days straight over 37 degrees celcius is not fun for anything). We are now eating beautiful baby lettuce leaves barely 2 weeks from when I planted it. Now that is quick! Our Cape Gooseberry, courtesy of friends John and Margaret, has adjusted well, doubling in size in the month it has been with us and this morning I spied a gooseberry forming!

One of our newest plants - a Cape Gooseberry

I picked another basket of basil yesterday and now have 18 containers of pesto in the freezer. I'm looking forward to using it on toast, in pasta, baked onto chicken and numerous other ways. Such an easy plant to grow in warm weather and so versatile.

Yesterday was spent putting in the first of the Fordhook silverbeet and leeks (although I now realise the heat is back again with a vengeance and I might have 'jumped the gun'). However, the rock dust is helping the roots settle in, they were planted in the cooler evening and soon will be heavily mulched. So, what else is going in? The list isn't huge as we have made a few mistakes in the past, planting vegetables that are either impractical for the size of our garden or just not enjoyed as much.  The main three gardens will contain  runner and bush beans, lettuce, spinach, broad beans, garlic (using bulbs from last year's crop), carrots, onion, malabar (which is still growing from summer), broccoli, broccolini, kale and beetroot. The two smaller gardens will continue to have the basil and lettuce as well as some extra chard. The rest of the front garden area will stay as is with pots supplying various herbs (marjoram, sage, mint, coriander, parsley, thyme, tarragon, oregano, chives, rosemary), flowering plants to assist pollination, blueberries, gooseberries, chillies, curry and bay leaves.

Not a fan of chillies, I grow these for
one daughter who uses them on everything

Walking home from the dog park early yesterday, I spied these beautiful blossoms with a bee busily collecting nectar. This tree only seems to have the blossoms for a few weeks a year but when it decides to flower, it really is beautiful and I constantly want to take photos of it.

 A little further on is a bee hive in the hole in the trunk of another street tree and I am reminded of our friends who have their own amazing bee hive, chooks and vege garden. We came home from their place on the weekend with half a watermelon and a papaya and some weeks ago, their own honey flavoured by a dozen fruit and native trees on their suburban block. Time for a guest spot on here I think! With the bee population in the world declining, perhaps a lesson on beekeeping is in order. For us unforunately, the hive will have to wait until we have our very own Winnie the Pooh style 'Hundred Acre Wood'. Which reminds me, I must go buy my Lotto ticket!

'It is good to be alone in a garden at dawn or dark so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought.'   

~ James Douglas, Down Shoe Lane

Breadcrumbed Zucchini

The inspiration for this recipe came from Donna Hay's 'Instant Entertaining'. You can use my amounts as a guide but most times I just use whatever I happen to have. I also throw in slices of squash and am thinking of using pumpkin as well!

Breadcrumbed Zucchini

1 large zucchini sliced lengthways (0.5cm to 1cm thick) or small ones sliced in half lengthways

1-1.5 cups of bread pieces from the inside of a loaf, roughly broken

80-100 grams parmesan cheese

1-2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

2-4 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Step One

Place sliced zucchini in a single layer in a baking dish (mine is non stick so no lining of oil or paper was used)

Step Two

Cover with thinly sliced parmesan cheese 

Step Three

Mix bread pieces, parsley and salt and pepper together and scatter over the cheese

Step Four

Drizzle with olive oil

Step Five

Bake in a moderate oven (180 Celsius) for 30 minutes or browned on top. Serve hot.

Zucchini Slice Recipe

 I am picking a zucchini almost daily so in order to keep my family interested in eating them, I need to come up with tasty recipes. This latest one is a combination of many on the internet and I have just about got it the way I like it!

Zucchini Slice

400g zucchini

1 brown onion

100-150g bacon

2 tablespoons butter

90g grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup self raising flour (I use gluten free)

5 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

Makes one 20x20cm dish. Serves 4-6

NB. My pictures show the recipe doubled due to an excess amount of zucchinis in the garden!

Step One

Peel and chop onion and place in a pan with the butter. Fry for a few minutes until translucent and then add chopped bacon and cook for another two minutes.

Step Two

Spread onto a plate to cool and place in the refrigerator.

Grate the unpeeled zucchini.

Step Three

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs. In this recipe I have doubled the whole mixture although I was one egg short. Having larger than usual eggs, it made no difference.

Step Four

Add eggs to the zucchini mixture (you may like to squeeze a little of the excess moisture from it first) and then stir in the flour.

Step Five

Now add the eggs, cheese (reserve a little for the topping) and bacon/onion mix as well as salt and pepper. 

Step Six

Place in a lined dish and pop in the oven for roughly 30 minutes on 180 Celsius. I use fan forced. My double mixture took two dishes, each about 20cm x 20cm.

Perfecto!

Z is for Zucchini

When people say they are coming round to look at my garden, at this time of year they often hear me say, 'Oh, wait till it is cooler, there is not much in right now'. Although we eat freshly picked produce 6 days out of 7, I feel it all looks a bit barren. This year the summer has been particularly hot and the plants have suffered. Two years ago, I grew lettuce all summer long. I pulled this years cop out 6 weeks ago. I've tried umbrellas but coming home from an outing and seeing them speared in the garden next door, doesn't suggest it is a good idea at a time when the Easterlies can be pretty strong.

So, I've stuck with those that I know can survive - not exactly drought proof plants, but as near to cacti without the thorns -basil, malabar (climbing spinach), eggplant, peppers (sweet banana, green and chillies), tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, squash, herbs and flowers (I have multiples of each). And then there are the gaps where I have left the soil to recover before planting the autumn/winter vegetables once the other summer crops are finished. No pretty rows of perky veges lined up, just an assortment of stayers in various stages of development, like barflies before 'time' is called in a bar.

View from ground level bed across all three large raised beds

Ground level bed mainly containing pots.

Beds two and three.

One of two smaller beds against front wall of house.

Which takes me to that  hardy stayer that is known as a courgette or zucchini. These prickly stemmed plants produce quickly and prolifically  (the more you pick, the more that grow). Back in my uni days, I thought I knew every way of cooking them...you either steamed, fried or bread-crumbed and fried! Today I have masses of recipes and it has become a staple in our diet.  Easy to grow, it really only seems to have two problems, one being mould which I dealt with in Know Your Enemy and misshapen fruit or fruit that completely fails to grow at all. This season has seen about 30% of my missiles fail to launch. Initially I thought it was due to lack of water but on further reading I discovered another cause is a lack of pollinators.

Apparently there is a shortage of bees world wide, thought to be due to insecticides, a decline in flowering plants, air pollution and a spread of pests worldwide. Without bees and other insects to  pollinate the female flowers using the pollen from the males, the plant decides that the fruit is not viable and the result is misshapen or small fruit (thank you Sarah for being brave enough to keep bees, just sorry your suburb is a little too far from our garden)!

Female flowers now closed and fruit growing well.
Male stems can be seen with flowers closed.

Examples of underdeveloped zucchini

The plants need to be pollinated by multiple insects and the more that visit, the better the shape of the fruit. However, each flower is open for only one day, typically in the early morning (I even have photographic evidence to prove it!). So if the insects don't get their act together, the window of opportunity is literally closed.

I have had my fair share of odd looking fruit but luckily in the last two weeks, a bee hive has set up one street away in a hollow tree branch and I'd like to believe they are the cause of my new, perfectly shaped zucchinis.

Bee pollinating a female flower
- male flowers are in the background unopened

However, if you are suffering from dead fruits a couple of inches long, try to pollinate them yourself using a cotton bud. Having assisted in the mating of a stallion and mare back in my teenage years,  this process is a helluva lot easier and pleasanter to perform!

So, how to do it? Wait till the sun is shining and the flowers are open. Use a cotton bud to transfer pollen from the male flowers (they have the long skinny stem) to the females (short stubby stems). Or, pick off a male flower, remove the petals and then dab the centre onto the female stigma.

Finally, almost all you need to know about growing zucchini can be found on the Internet and in the smorgasboard of magazine offerings available but remember to read the 'fine print' such as :

1. Zucchini leaf stems contain zillions of fine hairlike translucent prickles so wear gloves when handling
2. The larger the fruit, the less flavour so winning the local prize for a supernaturally sized fruit doesn't mean it has a taste to match
3. Healthy coloured but misshapen fruit usually taste as good as the 'handsome' ones
4. Cut ripe fruit from the vine rather than breaking them off
5. Always water at ground level as damp leaves can cause powdery mildew (see Know Your Enemy post).

In the following weeks I will be sharing the following zucchini recipe ideas: Breadcrumbed Zucchini, Zucchini Slice and Zucchini Spaghetti.

Don't wear perfume in the garden - unless you want to be pollinated by bees. 

~Anne Raver