A Tale of 3 Mints

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Liz

I was out in the garden the other day with my kids.  We were having a look at the plants when I noticed my mint plants.  I lined them up in order to take a couple of pictures.  All the while my 5 year old moaned, with the sort of tone that I had previously thought was reserved for teenagers but I now know can afflict children of all ages; “do you haaaave to do thaat?”.  Meanwhile my almost 2 year old was asking “Help mummy?  Help mummy?” in a very appealing voice.  Appealing can be deceptive of course, the day before ‘help’ resulted in: one broken bowl whilst washing up, egg on the wall whilst making pancakes and the demise of some coriander seedlings while potting up.  I refused the help, ‘gently’ requested that my 5 year old stop whinging and proceeded to take my photos.  This is one of them:

The two mints on the outside are ones I potted up last month.  The middle one I have neglected.  The mint on the left was one I divided before potting up and the one on the right I potted from a smaller pot and left its root system intact.  I actually think the differences in growth is even more dramatic now than it was a week ago when I took this photo.  If I had given it much thought I probably would have predicted that I would get the best growth out of the plant with the intact root system but the space to think is limited when one has preschoolers….  What I do think is interesting is the extent to which removing part of the root system retards growth but that a lack of food (the middle plant’s potting mix must be fairly old now) and TLC retards it considerably more.  Further justification for spending even more time in the garden perhaps?  If only something could be done about my kids….

 

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Posted in Herbs & Spices | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Boiled Chocolate & Beetroot Cake

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Liz

When I lived in the UK I was addicted to the English (some would say superior) version  of Masterchef.  In particular I loved the judges (John Torode & Greg Wallace) who basically said the same thing over and over again, episode after episode (this seems to be a common Masterchef problem).   For a synthesised version of their brilliance check out this YouTube clip.

Repetition in their food critique was hardly surprising as every second contestant seemed to be cooking them scallops with some sort of puree.  Anyway, aside from overcooked scallops one of the things the judges were always upset by was contestants adding ingredients for shock value rather than their contribution to the dish.  I remember one particular episode in which they were very displeased with a contestant who added beetroot to their chocolate brownie mix.  Well John & Greg I think you are marvellous in so many ways but on this you were wrong.  Beetroot does work with chocolate and in my view makes for a moister cake.  Not only is this cake delicious and incredibly easy but it’s also lactose free.  So there!

Boiled Beetroot & Chocolate Cake or cakes

  •  1 cup water
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
  • 2 tblspns cocoa
  • 125g butter (either salted or if unsalted add a pinch of salt)
  • 2 eggs – beaten
  • 1.5 cups flour (either self raising or plain plus 2 tsp baking powder)
  • 50g dark chocolate (check ingredients if you need the cake to be lactose free)
  • 1 medium/large beetroot finely grated

Heat oven to 180 degrees C.  Place all ingredients except flour, bicarb & eggs into a large saucepan.  Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.  Simmer 3 minutes.  Allow to cool a bit and then add remaining ingredients.  Mix together.  Pour into a greased 20cm cake tin or patty pans if making cup cakes.  Bake in a 180 degree Celcius oven for 50 minutes for large cake.  Less if you are making cup cakes.

Ice with your favourite chocolate icing.

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Posted in Greens - Lettuce, Spinach, Beets, Recipes | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Peter Cundall & More Potato Experiments

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Liz

I occasionally buy Organic Gardener magazine. There is an article by Peter Cundall in  this months issue about growing beans, carrots, and pivotally for this post, potatoes.  I love Peter Cundall – he is definitely one of my heroes.  For anyone unfamiliar with him, Peter Cundall is 84, a former host of the TV show Gardening Australia, and a political activist with a long history of campaigning on environmental issues.  Currently his highest profile campaign is against the Gunns pulp mill in the Tamar Valley in Tasmania.   He also writes interesting articles about growing potatoes in the Organic Gardner magazine.

Anyway one of the methods he espouses in the article involves converting part of your lawn into a potato patch and I had just persuaded my partner that I NEEDED more growing area so……

He recommends mowing the grass hard, I did this but I also pulled up as much of the top layer of grass as I could – we have a particularly invasive type of couch grass and I wanted to make sure it didn’t just grow up through the potato mulch.  You then place the seed potatoes on top of the soil/cut grass.

I planted Dutch Cream, Pink Fir Apple & Kipfler at about 30cm intervals.  Straw is then laid on top of the potatoes.  I don’t think I managed quite the recommended 50cm but I can always build it up a bit after the plants come up .

This mulch should then be weighed down with a 20cm layer of sheep or cow manure followed by another 5cm of chook poo.  I managed about 5cm of manure before running out of bags but as with the straw I reckon I can always add more later.  The final stage is to give it a good watering in.  For this I employed my 23 month old as watering has a large novelty value for him thus he had the patience to stand there for long enough for the water to permeate all that mulch.

Apparently when the potatoes are ready for harvest all you need to do is lift the mulch layer and there they are.  Sounds fabulous and also a good way of getting some organic matter into this new bed as I plan to dig this lot in once the spuds have finished.  Hopefully this will all result a fine crop and yet another reason to love Peter Cundall.

P.S: In a moment of serendipity Bowerbird Blue also wrote of her love for Peter Cundall last night and she too is trialling this potato growing method.  For more potato and Peter Cundall love visit Bowerbird Blue immediately. 

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Posted in Autumn Planting, Potatoes, Spring Planting, Summer Planting, Winter Planting | Tagged | 13 Comments

Monday Harvest – 5th Sept 2011

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Liz

I have to admit that harvest hasn’t really been my focus this week.  This is largely because it was my daughter’s 5th birthday on Wednesday and on Saturday we had a party for her at our house.  What this meant was that I felt obliged to actually clean and tidy the house – which  constitutes a major time investment as my day to day standards are frankly not as high as they should be…..

Anyway I did manage a small harvest on Wednesday to prepare her requested birthday dinner – a Vietnamese style noodle soup.  As a result this weeks harvest is heavy on the aromatics and herbs: Lemongrass, Kaffir Lime leaves, Vietnamese mint, Coriander, Spring Onions, Mint & Chillies.  I really enjoy herby aromatic soups so I was more than happy to devote a bit of time to making it.

For other Monday Harvests visit Daphne’s Dandelions.

 

 

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Posted in Uncategorized, Winter Harvesting | Tagged | 12 Comments

August – The Wrap Up

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Liz

I could use this post to show some more gratuitous tomato seedling shots, but I wont……………………………………………………………………………………well perhaps just one.

I quite enjoyed August when all is said and planted.  I think this is more to do with the comparatively mild weather than anything else, well that and the stunning development of my tomato seedlings………..oh god I’m starting to bore myself……

I did have a really productive August.  I sowed all my Spring seed, potted up my chillies from last year, planted spuds and generally got my garden organised (now if only I could say the same about my houses interior)….. I also ate a lot of cauliflower.

Here is one of the chillies I have just potted up after nursing (well, left it in the pot to see what happened) it through winter.  I pruned this one at the start of July and it has good new growth on it and flower buds – it will be interesting to see when it sets chillies.

Earlier in the month I posted about a silver beet plant that I thought was bolting – it was and I nipped out the bolting stem – this is what happened: Lots of new leaves  – all smaller than they look in this picture – all surrounding what look like other potential flower stems.  I  think I will continue to nip out the bolting bits and keep going.  Meanwhile I have sowed some new seed.

Aside from the aforementioned cauliflower and my watercress which just keeps growing my most productive plant this month was parsley.  I love parsley, I am passionate about parsley, not quite as much as about tomatoes, but its close!  I especially like this parsley which is happily growing away in a part of the garden which has been in total shade all winter and there it is producing happily.  YAY for parsley!  Note: if you look carefully at this photo you will see a sandpit in the background.  This sandpit is a new addition to our garden.  We cleverly located it right next to the backdoor thus ensuring I am never bored – there’s always a constant supply of sand to sweep out of our living room……Note to self: Next time engage brain then build….

Onwards to September and the start of the purple sprouting broccoli.  I seem to be harvesting a brassica a month at the moment.

To see my gardening activity this month click here: August 2011

 

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Posted in Brassicas, Chillies, Capsicum & Eggplant, Planning, Spring Planting, Winter Harvesting | Tagged | 6 Comments