March 2014 - the third meal

Third meal - potato frittata and early autumn salad

A piece of art - early autumn salad

Our summer harvest has been satisfying - few pests or problems. Lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, spring onions, spinach, lettuce - we haven't bought salad vegetables for many weeks. In fact, fruit is all we have needed to buy for a while. But it is reaching its end.

The final days of February see us roll with increasing haste to shorter days and cooler nights - a vegetable garden is a real indicator of seasonal change. The tomatoes we planted in October are no longer producing their dainty golden flowers, the original cucumber plants are wilting and looking their age and the asparagus no longer shoots up its tender spears. The lettuce and spring onions are however finding their stride.

One of the new vegetables to harvest now are potatoes. Three months ago we planted a dozen potatoes and the harvest was the basis for this month's peasant meal.

Potato frittata and early autumn salad

The early autumn salad is a palate of lime greens, bright burnt orange and sunny yellow. Peppery nasturtium flowers create a splash of colour against mini cos lettuce, mellow yellow tomatoes, Japanese cucumber and bush beans. Almost a piece of art.



The frittata
Dice 4 good sized potatoes into small chunks and steam until soft. Fry in an oiled medium sized pan with a couple of cloves of garlic until golden. Add a couple of handfuls of silverbeet and cook for a couple of minutes until wilted. Whisk together 4 egg yolks and 2 egg whites with lots of freshly cracked pepper. Pour eggs into pan with potatoes and cook over medium heat until the sides of the frittata are set - about 5 minutes. The centre will still be runny. Put under a grill for a few minutes. Sprinkle with some grated cheese and put under the grill for another couple of minutes. Cut and serve from the pan.

The art and science of growing a plant from seed

While it seems like magic that we can harvest a crop of 150g weight tomatoes from a plant that started as 3 mm seed, it really is not easy to get the whole process started. We can sometimes figure out why a seed did not germinate - too deep, too shallow, too wet, too dry - the next step of making leaves and then growing into a healthy plant proves much more difficult for our veggies. They grow leggy and weak - not enough light, not enough nutrients, not enough water? - we try to correct for all of these but it is often  unsuccessful and most frustrating.

We now have an electric propagator - let's see if this helps.

Lyrebirds and tomatoes

In February 2012 my garden journal said ' the veggie patch has been invaded by possums, lizards and caterpillars. The tomatoes, silverbeet, dill and parsley are  all eaten by pests".

It was a low point in veggie growing.

In February 2014 we have been pest free, on the whole, thanks to Cheryl's super duper cages that she has been erecting from recycled materials over the last several months.

Mellow Yellows

We have harvested more than 10kg of tomatoes since 28 Dec 2013. We have particularly enjoyed the heavy cropping Mellow Yellow which is low acid and has a firm skin and a soft flesh. Average weight per fruit is 150g. We used it in the tomato sauce for our second meal. It is a glorious golden colour all through. We have had 5 different types of tomatoes this year including cherry,  grape and medium sized Romas.

Our main challenge this month has been 2 lyrebirds - a couple of bachelor boys roaming free, loving the grubs they can find at the base of the cages. Despite their basketballer - sized feet, one has even jumped up on the pot holding the small pomegranate bush and dug up the plant in its quest for the best tasting grub. I would forgive them everything if they would just display their harp-like tails for us. But all they leave us with is a mess of holes and dirt. Still, we are very privileged to have them visit us. For a wonderful video demonstrating the sounds the lyrebird can mimic click here.

the great carrot conspiracy

The great carrot conspiracy

Did you know that carrots are the subject of a conspiracy in America?

Baby carrots made from deformed larger carrots that can't be sold - true or false?

For the (possible) answer click here.

We have met no-one who can grow carrots successfully. They end up as small shrivelled pale orange fingers, woody and completely inedible. Who grows those slender smooth carrots with their vivid colour?

My mum was never going to achieve carrot success. She pulls up seedlings from the soil to see how they were going and then nudges them back in.

Sandra has six little feathery tops - all that have survived the recent sowing.

In our opinion carrots are over rated and there are many other vegetables waiting for our tender loving care.

January 2014 - Second meal

Second meal - frittata arrotolata (omelette roll with spinach) and spaghetti with tomato sauce

A warm, balmy, long-light Friday evening. Sandra brings eggs so we can make the frittata which is based on a recipe from the kitchen of Lorenza de Medici and we served it as an entrée.

Frittata arrotolata
Cook 600g of silverbeet in boiling water (only takes a minute). Drain well, squeeze dry and chop.
Warm 2 tbspns butter in a frying pan over low heat. Cook a small chopped onion and garlic clove until soft. Add spinach and cook for 3 minutes. Add pinch of freshly ground nutmeg and 60g of grated parmesan cheese and generous amount of cracked black pepper. Stir well and remove from heat.
Beat 6 eggs in a bowl and season. Heat 1 tbspn oil a large frypan and cook eggs as an omelette.
Slide the omelette onto a work surface and spread the spinach mixture in a layer about 1 cm thick leaving an uncovered border of 2 cm around the entire edge. Roll up the omelette. Place seam side down in an oven proof dish and put in an oven heated to 180 degrees for 10 minutes - till heated through. Cut into slices and serve. (serves 3 - 4)

 

 Spaghetti with tomato sauce

Sauce is a golden because we used 'mellow yellow' tomatoes

Cook up 2 cloves of garlic and a medium sized chopped onion in a generous splash of olive oil. The oil makes a silky sauce that coats the spaghetti so don't be stingy. Cook slowly until onion is soft. Add 1 kg of chopped tomatoes and a red chilli. Cook very slowly until sauce has reduced and thickened - up to an hour. Check regularly. Season. Bush basil was added at the end for its spicy punch. Put chopped parsley through spaghetti and then mix the sauce through. (makes 2 generous serves or fine for 3 ladies with a glass of Australian cabernet sauvignon.

How does our garden grow? And growing chillies.

Our first edible garden
The  veggie garden began as one 2.4m x 2.4m raised garden bed using old railway sleepers to contain layers of newspaper, compost, cow manure and sugar cane straw. We used Esther Dean's No Dig Gardening method as our guide. We quickly learnt that 'No Dig' is not quite an accurate description of the process - not for our situation anyway. In addition to this bed we currently have a 3 smaller beds and two of a similar size.

We live on bushland and the veggie garden is on a rock platform with shallow soil. All the beds are raised about 30 cm. The beds do not receive sun all day and are exposed to the westerly winds. Despite this we are happy with what we produce.

Many gardening experts say that vegetable gardening is a fairly no fuss and easy pastime. Don't believe them! It is enjoyable and satisfying and educational but it is also hard physical work at times and requires regular attention to get the most out of it. One missed day of vigilance and the caterpillars of the dainty white cabbage moth can strip the broccoli of its leaves. One failure to see a small hole in the wire netting can mean a brigade of possums instigate a night time raid on the tomatoes. One evening of not watering the newly planted spinach seedlings will see them wilt and perish. In our experience most vegetables are very needy and demand your loving undivided attention.

Using spaces in the rest of the yard for growing food
As well as our vegetable garden we grow a lot of edible plants around our house - such as the chilli. We have 4 different types. The one in the picture I know as Thai chilli. It has fruit that is white, orange, purple and red.

Growing tips:  chillies
The chilli seems to be tough little plant.
1. try growing them against a brick wall which retains heat - ours get morning sun only
2. they seem to tolerate pretty poor quality soil but like good drainage
3. they readily self seed and are easily transplanted when about 10cm high
4. protect them from possums - our local possums eat the leaves, flowers and hot fruit - we put discarded bird cages over the plants so the possums get whatever grows outside the cage and we get the rest.

Now - what to do with an abundance of chillies?

January 2014 - First meal

First meal: omelette with garden greens
Sunday breakfast on the last day of our Christmas holidays. It is a warm, blue sky morning noisy with shrill cicada song. The cicadas have been at full volume since October. It is now the time of the Black Prince chorus - a single high pitched note is all that is in their repertoire. Empty cicada shells look like they are marching up the trees as the big bumbling creatures, released from their underground armour, take flight. This picture is of the cicada called a green grocer on a tree burnt in our recent bushfires.

Recipe for the omelette
Whisk 6 eggs (ours were laid by the Australorp chooks- thanks girls). Add chopped chives, parsley. Pour into cast iron pan (Sandra melted some ghee in the pan to stop sticking). Cook over low heat until ready. Simple and delicious.

 

Future blogs

Sandra's garden - as seen by Gracie, the goat
Microgreens - are they really a vegetable?