Pumpkin Everyday – Savoury Muffins

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Liz

According to www.thepumpkinnook.com , which bills itself as “the internet shrine and library for pumpkins”, so therefore must be a reliable source…. Pumpkins were once used as a remedy for freckles, as a treatment for snake bite and as a preventative for prostate cancer.  While I am clearly not about to recommend them for any of the above I am going to recommend them as a fabulous muffin ingredient.

Pumpkin & Feta Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 600g pumpkin – ¾ cut into 1cm dice, the remainder grated*
  • 1 onion – finely chopped
  • A handful of pumpkin seeds
  • 100 grams feta crumbled
  • ½ teaspoon soy sauce
  • 2 tspns baking powder
  • 1 egg – beaten
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 50ml & 1 tblspn olive oil
  • A knob of butter

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.  Grease a 12 muffin tray. Mix the soy sauce with the tblspn of olive oil and use to coat the diced pumpkin.  Roast the coated  pumpkin for 20 minutes or until cooked.  Allow to cool.

Turn oven up to 220 degrees.

Sweat the onions in the butter until translucent, when cooked add the grated pumpkin and stir for a minute.   Allow to cool.

Toast the pumpkin seeds.

Sift the flour and baking powder then mix in egg, milk, ½ the roasted pumpkin, ½ the seeds, ½  the feta,  all of the onion and grated pumpkin mixture, and the remaining olive oil.  Spoon mixture into baking tray and top each muffin with remaining pumpkin, feta and seeds.  Bake in a 220 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

*If you’re pumpkin is a wetter variety you may wish to reduce the amount of grated pumpkin used as some people have found these muffins a little wet in texture using this amount of grated pumpkin.  (See comments below).

Note:  You could have a good play around with the above recipe by adding other ingredients; oregano and olives come mind but anything you enjoy eating with pumpkin could work.  The other variation you could easily make is to the flour.  I like a mix of wholemeal and white in savory muffins or you could try any of your favourite flours in the above recipe.

For another great pumpkin recipe click here: http://suburbantomato.com/2011/05/pumpkin-everyday-soup

 

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Saving Seed

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Liz

I think there’s something very satisfying about producing your own seeds, of actually being able to grow something without having to pay for it at all (of course I am conveniently overlooking the money I spend on potting mix, organic fertilisers, mulch etc here but still……..).  How to save seeds very much depends on the plant you wish to save them from however there are a few basic rules that it is good to follow.

  1. Select seed from plants that you want to mimic the characteristics of.  For example if you want leaf coriander save seed from the plant that held for the longest before bolting, rather than the first to bolt.
  2. Save seed from the healthiest plant or fruit.
  3. Let the fruit fully ripen before harvesting for seed.  (For some plants you will need to let it over ripen or dry out on the plant to get the highest quality seed.  Eg tomatoes and beans )
  4. Store seed in a cool, dark place in air tight containers, or seed envelopes.
  5. Seed doesn’t last forever so use as soon as is practical.  The longevity of seeds varies from plant to plant.
  6. Harvest seed from plants when they are dry, ie usually in the middle of the day both after any dew has dried off them and before the evening dew starts to set.
  7. Always label all collected seed with name of the plant, variety and date collected.

Saving seed from Beans & Peas:   I love bean seeds they are both tactile and in some cases quite beautiful.  Beans are super easy to save seed from.  They are self pollinating so you don’t have to worry about having different varieties.  All you need to do is let good looking pods grow to full size and then dry out on the plant.  Once dry take the pods off the plant and remove the seeds from the pods.  They can then be stored for about 3 years in seed envelopes or air tight containers.  Peas seeds are harvested and stored in the same way.

Saving Seed from Chillies and Capsicums:

Chillies and capsicums are capable of cross pollination so if you have more than one variety in flower at the same time they may cross.  This is fine if you are looking to create new types of chillies (or are just happy to see what comes up) but less good if you want to continue to grow the same varieties.  If you want to be sure your varieties come true from seed and you grow more than one type you will need to bag the flowers of those plants that you wish to collect seed from.  By bagging the flowers you should ensure that insects can’t cross fertilise your plants.  The bag needs to be large enough to allow the fruit to develop inside it as well as allowing light, but not insects, through it.

To harvest the seeds: Slice open plant ripened fruit and extract seeds.  Dry on kitchen paper.  Store in seed envelopes or air tight containers.

Saving seed from Carrots:   Carrots are a bit more complex than many veggies to save seed from.  Carrots generally go to seed in their second year, although some, like the one pictured below, go to seed in their  first year (I have to say I’m not sure what the implications are of saving seed from a carrot plant that went to seed in its first year – it might be fine or it might be an undesirable characteristic).  Allowing the occasional carrot to flower is great for a few reasons; I think the flowers look great in the garden, they attract bees and you can save the seed.

To save the seed:

  • Try and save it from the first of the umbels to shoot up as they will contain the best quality seed.
  • If you have more than one type of carrot in the garden be aware that they will cross pollinate (but only if they are in flower at the same time) and so you may end up with something you weren’t expecting.
  • Be careful if you are growing F1 hybrids it may be that the seed isn’t viable or the resulting plant doesn’t come true (ie isn’t the same as its parent) from the seed and you are left with unappetising carrots .
  • Let the flowers go to seed and then leave the umbels on the plant until they have dried out.
  • Cut off the plant and place upside down in a paper bag to dry completely.
  • Once completely dry shake the seed free from the umbels.
  • The resulting seed is hairy.  If you want to remove the hairs simply rub the seed between your hands and the hairs will fall off.  This is not essential, although they do take up less storage space with the hairs removed.
  • Store in seed envelopes or in an air tight container for up to 3 years.

 

Saving seed from Lettuce, Dill, Coriander, Lemongrass, Chervil, Celery:

There are a great many plants where harvesting seed is a simple process of waiting for the plant to flower, waiting for the flower to finish and for seeds to form and finally for the seeds to brown whilst still on the plant.  Flower heads should then be placed upside down in paper bags to complete the drying process.  The seeds can then be separated from the chaff, either by hand or by sieving depending on the type of seed.  Seeds can then be stored in seed envelopes or air tight containers

Saving seed from Tomatoes:

Tomatoes are capable of cross pollination so like capsicums you either need to grow one type or bag any flowers that you wish to collect seed from.  Fruits that you wish to collect seed from should be left on the plant until over ripe.  It is advisable to do this fairly early in the season as those fruit are less likely to have picked up diseases and should be of a better quality.  If you wish to select for early fruiting collect seed from the first plants to fruit.

Seed is harvested by cutting into the tomato, extracting the seeds with jelly attracted, and placing the jelly and seeds in a bowl of water to ferment for a couple of days.  This fermentation should perform dual functions of; making the jelly easier to remove, getting rid of any germination inhibitors present on the coating of the seed and finally it may help control seed borne diseases.  After your seeds have fermented for a couple of days then wash off the jelly and dry out on kitchen paper.  Seeds can be stored after drying in seed envelopes or air tight containers.

Note: I have copied this post into the Planting notes page for easy reference.

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And then there were 4….

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Liz

The plant:

I love tamarillos, they represent the perfect fruit in my world.   Beautiful little red parcels with a taste reminiscent of both tomato and passionfruit but unlike either.  Fabulous.  The only problem is that this year something stole all but 4 of my fruit.

Tamarillos

In Melbourne tamarillos flower in mid – late spring with fruit developing throughout December and January.   In late January I counted over 150 fruit on my tree.  Then we went away for a couple of weeks in February.  When we returned all but 7 of the fruit had gone.  I could account for about 30 on the ground under the tree but the rest had vanished.  I suspect fruit bats as I don’t think rats would carry away that many and I haven’t seen any other signs of possums.  I have seen fruit bats though – I wouldn’t have thought they would be interested in unripe tamarillos but perhaps there isn’t much else around in February.  Anyway, of the remaining 7 fruit a further 3 have subsequently disappeared leaving me with 4 still on the tree.  They are not quite ripe yet – another week or two should be enough for the most ripe and perhaps late June for the least ripe.  The ones pictured above are somewhere in between, they probably need another 3 weeks to a month.

How I grow it:

Tamarillos are vigorous, I grew mine from seed, sown 3 years ago and I pruned it last week as it was rapidly eating our washing line.

I collected the seed for this plant from a tamarillo a friend had picked from her neighbours tree.  Her neighbour likes the tree but hates the fruit – a good neighbour to have.  You can save the seed from any tamarillo, just scoop them out of the fruit, remove as much of the flesh as possible from the seeds and dry them on kitchen paper.  Seeds can then be sown, ideally in Spring.  Tamarillos can sometimes have a little hard lump in a small section of their flesh.  Try and avoid saving seed from fruits with this lump as you may increase the likelihood of your plant having similar fruits.  Having said that if you do get fruit with lumps in them its not the worst thing in the world as they are only small and there only seems to be one per fruit.

Tamarillo seedlings need to be potted up regularly before planting out in a sheltered warm position when they are about 30-40cm.  The plant will need to be staked and sheltered from winds as they are not particularly strong and can easily be blown over and snap.   Once the tamarillo is about a metre high you should pinch out the growing tip to encourage branching, after that all they need is a light prune each year after fruiting.  Tamarillos fruit on new growth, so you want to encourage as much new growth as possible.  I fertilise my tamarillo once a year in Spring, just after the fruit have set with a mulch of well composted manure and I water it regularly to ensure it doesn’t dry out.  Tamarillos are fairly shallow rooted so you do need to keep the water up to them and mulch them well.

Pests:

Aphids seem to love Tamarillos and I have found ants farming aphids on its leaves.  Now that the plant is mature I deal with the aphids but blasting them off with water but when the plant was younger I did use Pyrethrum to kill them as I felt the blasting technique may harm the juvenile leaves.  This year I plan to net the tree to keep the bats off it (if it is bats that are to blame).

How I use Tamarillos:

I eat them. Yum.

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Lettuce Sing, fresh fruit and veggies…..

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Liz

The Plant:

Damn those Wiggles, whenever I think of the word lettuce all I can think about is Anthony (the blue Wiggle) singing “Let us sing, Let us sing, Fresh fruit and veggies, let us sing…..”  Let us – Lettuce get it?  Arrrgh.  Fortunately the experience of growing lettuce and indeed eating lettuce is far less irritating.  I am self suffient in lettuce, however it can be slightly time consuming to ensure you have a constant supply.  This is because lettuce has a tendency to bolt during much of the year, particularly during the warmer months (and by warmer I mean temps above 20).  Lettuce tends to go very bitter after it has bolted and I generally remove the plant at this point, unless I want to save the seed.

How I grow it:

I grow lettuce from seed.  I generally sow a lettuce seed mix but occasionally sow an individual variety (usually iceberg or Cos).  I sow the mixes primarily because I generally do want to be growing a mix of types and don’t mind too much which they are as long as they include some loose leave types as these tend to be best to be used as pick and come again plants.  By that I mean pick a few leaves off the plant but leave the plant in the ground in order to come again and pick leaves another day.   You can pick and come again with head lettuce (for example iceberg) but only while the plants are young and yet to form their ‘head’.

I sow seed in punnets on a monthly basis (sometimes fortnightly at the height of summer).   While this may seem like a lot it is the best way that I have found to ensure a constant supply of leaves particularly during summer months when the plants are particularly susceptible to bolting.   Lettuce germinates fairly quickly, the below picture was taken three weeks after seed had been sown.

At about this stage I tend to prick out the seedlings and pot up the lettuce.  I pot the seedlings into 7.5cm pots.

The plants will then be grown on until they are ready to be planted out.   The lettuce in the picture below is ready to be planted out.  Lettuce is fabulous to use to fill gaps in the garden as in summer it grows well in shade (in winter it does need some sun),  it is also  great in pots if there is no space in the garden beds.

How I use it:

I have to admit to not being particularly innovative in my use of lettuce.  I love it in sandwiches and use it heaps in salads but haven’t experimented much beyond that.  Regardless though it is one of the things I use most frequently from the garden, largely because it is a integral part of my favourite ‘From the Garden’ lunch.

‘From the Garden’ Salad

Take any seasonal salad vegetables for example: Carrots, Radishes, Cucumber and cut into small dice.  Add finely choppped bunches of parsley and mint.  Combine with shredded lettuce.  Toast some day old sour dough bread and rip it into bite sized pieces.  Add to the salad.  Sprinkle with zaatar.  Dress with olive oil and lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper.  Perfect!

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April – The Wrap Up.

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Liz

I thought it would be interesting to record what I did in the garden on a daily basis and also what I used that had been produced in the garden.  The below link is the record of activity for April.  I will also be adding monthly ‘Things to do in the garden’ to the Planting notes pages of the blog, May should be up by the end of the week.

April 2011

In a nutshell I was self sufficient for the following veggies and herbs in April:

Garlic, Celery, Parsley, Lettuce, Mint, Pumpkin, Leeks, Basil, Spring Onions, Oregano, Thyme, Beans, Chillies, Cucumber, Silver beet, Beetroot and Eggplant.

I resorted to other sources (mostly raiding my parents garden) for: Tomatoes, capsicum, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, onions and potatoes, although I did produce some tomatoes, carrots and potatoes during the month.  I have no great desire to be self sufficient in either carrots or onions as it is fairly easy to find good quality produce from other sources and to be self sufficient would take up too much of my available planting space.  I only had cauliflower and broccoli once during the course of the month so I am not too concerned about these.  It is the tomatoes, capsicum and potatoes that I plan to work on this year to ensure a better crop of all three.

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