THE EDIBLE POND AND BOG

See this link for plants and info http://www.pfaf.org/leaflets/edibpond.php

Epazote (Chenopodium ambrosioides)

Another plant we have grown this year is Epazote.
We bought it from Nickolas (who sells his plants at the Rare Fruit Society), there next meeting will be on Tuesday the 15th of January at Burnside Community Centre (next to Burnside library) at 7:30 .
They have a website so you can check the details there. This month will be question time. They are going to have groups with different interests and experts in each group. There are people who come from all over the State to these meetings and in particular many fruit growers, so supper is always little bowls of unusual fruits to try.
One of my favourite talks last year was on caper bush growing by Brian Noone. There are always a few good stories from Harry Harrison the president and lots of interesting plants to buy at the end of the meeting.
Back to Epazote it is a tall plant over 1 metre and the leaves are harvested as soon as the plant is large enough. It is used in Mexico and the fresh or dried leaves are used to flavour bean, fish vegetable dishes and mushroom dishes. Adding the leaves to beans dishes reduces flatulence. It also makes a pleasant tasting tea, often called Mexican tea. Mexicans boil the leaves add a little sugar drink it to relieve stomach aches.

Scarecrow's garden

I just found a fantastic website for an impressive garden called "Scarecrow's garden".

She says:
"We live in the dry Mid North of South Australia on a half acre town block. Now the children have left home hubby (Doc) and I enjoy a simple lifestyle growing our own food and eating the results...."

http://scarecrowsgarden.blogspot.com/

The blog is a wealth of information. If you haven't already seen it, check it out!

New Year Garden

With the mad rush of Christmas berries behind me ,harvest continues at a more relaxed pace, the raspberries are all but over but I noticed the autumn raspberries are beginning to ripen & I’m already picking mulberries which are normally ready late Jan/Feb.
Yesterday it was cool enough to get the pumpkin patch weeded. It was easier than I thought , the mainly grasses were easy to pull out and start their new life as mulch. The pumpkins are doing well, especially the ones grown from Brett’s Butternut seeds BUT they don’t look like butternuts. The commercial butternut seeds that I planted are growing much slower with no fruit at this stage. So Brett what did your butternuts cross with?

During the hot spells I’ve got all the garlic braided & hung up all round the kitchen.

I’ve also started sorting out the latest seed harvests & been busy making sorbets mainly from citrus which makes such refreshing deserts. The peels are out in the sun drying to be used as fire lighters over winter.

gardening in Spain

Happy New Year all Seedsavers.

Talking to Kate & Bernard who live up the road & play petanque with us ,I found out Bernard's brother lives a self sufficient lifestyle in Spain. He gives them his latest book for Christmas each year, this year on fruit growing.
Clodagh & Dick Handscome have a website worth checking out and adding to our international list.

The cool, cool, cool breeze of early morning...

This is a picture of our garden with a delightful variety of happy plants and dogs.
Wow what a relief when that cool breeze came last night.
After 43 and 39 degrees it is now a cool 20 degrees.
The temperature will rise again today but for the moment its cool.
Hopefully our slightly wilted plants will have had time to refresh themselves .
I have a large new mosquito net (bought last year from the op shop) with the plan to hang it up outside somewhere and dry things inside the net on the old wooden potting table.
Besides my 2 Hills hoists in the back yard I also have a brand new fold down wall mounted Hills clothes line, someone gave me so I shall be looking for a place to put that and make another shade house for summer and maybe put plastic over it for a hot house for seedlings in winter.
My neighbors will be so pleased that in a street filled with imitation Tuscan town houses there will be a little green Tuscan vegetable garden.
What shall I dry, well chillies and herbs to start with, maybe some tomatoes and peppers!
Just as well I don't live in an area in the USA where it is illegal to even dry your clothes outside, because I guess outside food drying under a mosquito net would be a no no!
I am sure the Mexicans dried their corn and chillies out in the sun. And I know all those wonderful spices and pappadams we get from India are sun dried.
Kath and Deb produce wonderful dried foods using a dehydrator and the flavour is great, maybe I shall buy one.
Any way enjoy your day. Chill out and stay COOL!
Actually I came on line to introduce you to 2 blogs you might like to read.
The first is Christy at her blog Farm Dreams
The second will make you laugh as you read Chile's Christmas poems, My Twelve Days of canning plus the Final Christmas Rhyme. They start dated December the 14th.
You will find the second blog at Chili Chews

AQUAPONICS - A 2008 PROJECT

I have read a lot about aquaponics and seen it working on Landline. It could be a great way for urbanites to garden and provide fish for themselves, in a small space without soil or in areas with difficult soil / water conditions. I would love to try it as an extra to the regular vegetable garden.

Aquaponics is the creation of a complete cycle of symbiotic relationships where the fish help plants and the plants help fish.
Aquaponics uses no chemicals, requires one tenth of the water needed for field plant production and only a fraction of the water that is used for fish culture. (Aquaculture)
This is truly a remarkable system, because it works so well. The fish actually supply nutrients to a bed of plants, (called Grow Beds) and plants clean up the water that the fish live in, making a mutual beneficial environment for both. The only external input to the system is food for the fish. The plants grow in a Grow Bed.

Read more at: Aquaponics

At left - a system in progress at Linda's house

I have added a link to this under local and Australian links too as I think it deserves ongoing consideration.