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?

December 2013 - the idea

The idea
Dec 2013: Our friend Sandra has had a great idea. We are going to share regular meals over the next year with ingredients sourced primarily from our gardens.

This blog will follow what we do, share food growing ideas and recipes.

We are not professional growers or cooks but love our gardens which are in the lower Blue Mountains of NSW in Australia.

Sandra has a garden established around 30 years ago based on permaculture principles. Over that time, her forested shady block has become dominated by a 10 metre high macadamia nut tree. Other notable trees are the grapefruit (are they meant to reach 6 metres high and 4 metres wide?), tamarillos, limes and lemons. She has 5 laying chickens (Australorps), a family of ducks (pictured), a goat called Gracie (her genteel name somewhat belies her assertive personality) and her faithful dog, Bill (oh - and dear Harry the long haired ginger cat). It is a dense garden where nearly all the space is being used for food production (when Gracie allows).  More about the garden and the animals in future blogs.

Our organic veggie garden (pictured) has been going for about 10 years. In comparison to Sandra's, it is small and neat and dedicated mainly to seasonal vegetable growing. We share our bush block with brush tailed possums, swamp wallabies, blue tongue lizards and many little marsupials. Our vegetable plants are in wire compounds because our animal visitors are not very good at sharing.