Give Yourself a Treat

Get a big mug of tea or coffee and check out Kitchen Gardeners International  link again today.

Barbara Damrosch is talking about the last pickings of her garden and winter approaching.

She mentions a French web site: called L,Atelier Vert and it is a real treat to see the French gardens.

I particularly like The Vertical garden and the vehicle at the bottom of this article. The vertical garden at the Musée du Quai Branly

All vege gardeners should have a van like this!

So find some french music and read on and enjoy!

Alice's Kitchen

I have just met Linda and had a look around her garden and watched her cooking in her kitchen. She has written a book called 'Alice's Kitchen: Traditional Lebanese Cooking'.
Just when you think you have enough vege's planted for summer you think of other dishes you would like to cook in summer and of course their will be more plants you will need to put in the garden.

Lucky for us Diana and Jen's passion for different plants has been already thought of and we can head of to the Farmer's market to purchase their 'babies'.
Check out the Kitchen Gardeners International link to see a video of Linda's Lebanese kitchen garden and another blog, called 'Cooking Up a Story', that you will want to visit .

Mr McGregor's garden

"Visit Mr. McGregor's garden at Carrick Hill to view the work in progress and admire the scarecrows... you might just spy Peter Rabbit"

This is taken from the Tasting Australia website for an event called EAT UP YOUR GREENS. Primary school kids have created a veggie patch which is open to the public. It is on this Saturday from 10 to 4:30 and costs a gold coin donation.

Since my baby Peter has the middle name Robert, he is often (affectionately) called Peter Rabbit. We're going to take him there to see if he can have his photo taken with his "nicknamesake" and see what the kids have done.

Here's the website
Eat Up Your Greens

Tasting Australia For Children

 

Elder Park was all set up last weekend for Feast For The Senses and besides all the crowds of people eating and drinking there were events for school children.

There were cooking classes for younger children and cooking demonstrations presented by  secondary students.

My favourite was the Kids Grow Competition where lots of schools brought along vege's and herbs they had grown at their school.

Here are some photos of the whole event.   

 

To see more photos click on Photos under links.

SEED FRAME UPGRADE

Yesterday I went up to Deb's to pick up these blocks of foam she had retrieved from the demolition of the freezer section of a local supermarket. I had previously said I could use them and today I did just that.

The idea was to make the top sloping and of foam for a few reasons: 1. I had discovered that when it rains (and it does, every now and then) the water pools and eventually the plastic cover on the top gives way and all those lovely seeds get washed out and 2. This will help to angle the sun in better, in winter and 3. You can't cut besser blocks with anything I have and I couldn't believe my luck when Deb offered me this foam.

Few of you, but all of my family, would know that I have terrible trouble with spacial comprehension, so doing Roger's trick and drawing up a plan is not much help - I need to get out there, with the foam and the knife and get into it. Luckily I had plenty so a few bits cut the wrong way wouldn't matter.

Well, here it is. I only cut myself a few times and discovered that foam doesn't soak up blood at all well it just smears everywhere. It is sort of like writing your name in wet concrete - there is my DNA imprinted onto that foam.

I got some pieces of very kinky fencing wire (not what you are thinking) from the shed and made upside down-U shaped 'pegs' to hold it in place. Very cool.

Now all I need to do is make up a frame so the piece of plastic becomes a lid and then I will make another lid that is covered in cloth, for those times when you need to keep the heat out, not in.
All very skippity-doo really!

ps Yesterday, after leaving Deb's I went and bought some of that milk and cream that is for animal consumption only and on the way back I bought 2 punnets of strawberries (not organic, but local ) from the Mylor store. So what? Well tonight I am going to make pavlova with the 9 eggwhites leftover from making custard a few days ago, and we will have it smothered in strawberries, red currants and that cream that is only for animal consumption ! See Maggie's recipe. ....yummmmmmmm....

OUR OWN TV STAR

If anyone watched 'Rain Shadow' this week they would have seen a grave digger resting on his shovel and rolling a cigarette. This was none other than Deb's husband Quentin. So we have a movie star in our midst. OK, OK, this is just the beginning but from little things big things grow.

Great stuff Quentin. We will have to get your autograph next !

THE WORLD OF BEANS

Today I worked on my beans and I did something I haven't done before - I put the name tags for them at head height. Normally I don't label any of my plants, instead choosing to write their location in my garden diary, so I can refer to it next year, or whenever. Now I seem to have so many different things I can't even remember what they are long enough to get inside and write them down, in the evening !
Barb's labels are always so beautifully written so I thought maybe I could make lovely ones too. Well, so much for that but mine are very creative, if nothing else. I wrote with pencil - it stays readable - on the back of some old labels from Diana. I then cut a slot downwards into a piece of the bamboo that Christie gave me and inserted the label. I then tied it, at head height, to the stake holding the bean frame. I now have a nice little row of these that say Borlotti, Barb's Snake, Tony Scarfo's Black Turtle and some bush beans - Romano.


Barb's snake beans were transplanted from my seed frame because I sowed them there so I wouldn't lose them and have to tell Barb I didn't know which they were!

The seed raising area is getting to breaking point with a second sowing about to begin.

Soon I will have room in the garden to plant some more of them out.

Usually the broad beans aren't ready until Nov. but this year they are early and we have begun eating them already. I think they are best briefly thrown into boiling water, then tossed with a little olive oil, lemon juice and some freshly ground pepper. We had them at room temperature, tossed together with the last of the sugar-snap peas and yet more asparagus. Even a little dill chopped over is nice. Only the olive oil didn't come from our garden but at least it came from Willunga.

The second crop of fennel is as good as the first but is so overgrown I can hardly get to it.




The Californian poppies are gorgeous now, and flower for months.

(I think I almost have the hang of this 'insert photo' thing. Finally it has succumbed to my wishes!)



Some other poppies showing us the beautiful detail of nature.