Hugh said he would come around and help me make some headway with turning the jungle from winter into an oasis for summer.So I suggested Wednesday afternoon, after gardening at Sally's because every Wednesday I devote entirely to gardening.
Here is what we started with.... still some things to harvest and a lot of potential for seed drying but as I have soooooooo many beautiful seedlings given to me by the seedsavers group that need immediate planting I decided to ignore my usual advice and go for the "Rip it out, dig it up, add compost and replant" technique.
I find it painful to pull out plants that have seeds developing..... so I got Hugh to do it! 
So as not to disrupt the life cycle of too many beneficial insects that live in all this chaos, we only removed the centre aisle, leaving the front and back for some other time. You can see Hugh at the far end of the row, at right, having pulled out most of the vegetables between him and the camera.
Then we dug it to a fork's depth, careful not to turn it over, just to shake it through the fork to aerate it a bit. Six wheelbarrow loads of my compost were dug in......it is a big area.....and it was beginning to look so good you could eat it!
It was quite hot work so after a nice, long iced coffee, we decided to rest a while and pick the broad beans...here, the Egyptian ones, which are a very small variety.
Feeling re-invigorated we started building the next compost heap. Here, the new compost heap is nearly finished, after Hugh ferociously chopped up all the stuff we had removed from the garden!
Then it was off to the kitchen.....Hugh had brought some ingredients to cook dinner for us! Jamie Oliver's ricotta patties with tomato salsa, warm potato and lettuce salad with a scrumptious dressing, olive and rosemary bread, olives etc
It was very nice to spend an afternoon gardening and chatting with Hugh and then to be able to sit down at the kitchen bench, with a limoncello, and watch him cook. The meal was a perfect end to another magic Wednesday! Thanks Hugh! Have a good trip back from Sydney on the One and All....see you in a few weeks.
There are more photos here.
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4 comments:
It's great to garden and cook with the younger generation, isn't it? Especially when they cook for you! The Egyptian broad beans look lovely - I think these must be the variety they use for foules mesdames, what do you do with them? Hope you enjoyed the limoncello!
Good to see you back in the garden Kate.
Hugh's recipes sound good, which Jamie Oliver book does he use?
It was a lovely jungle and I look forward to see the next veggie crop.
We still have tomatoes for you.
Most of our little garden is planted up now, but I would like to maintain monthly plantings if I can.
Really special, wish I was there
Are the recipes from that Jamie at Home book? I'm still clutching it to my chest on a daily basis. Perhaps I should actually cook from it now!
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