Freshly Minted

In the cold and gloom of last winter I desperately wanted the fresh taste of mint to enliven a meal. No mint in the garden. No mint in the one supermarket in this country town, not even any gluten-free mint sauce. I did without the mint until a local shop that only opens on three days a week was able to supply some mint jelly, gluten-free.

Subsequently, I promised myself to plant more mint so I had enough to harvest to make my own mint sauce. Today, with three thriving pots of mint around the garden, I harvested most of the stems and made sauce. Here's how.

Cut and wash your mint, shake it dry.
Pluck leaves from the stems, discarding any blemished ones.
Roughly chop the mint; it doesn't need to be too finely chopped.

I ended up with two cups of  moderately firmly packed chopped mint.

For each cup of mint you need:
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar

I decided to use two separate saucepans and combine one cup of mint with brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and the other with castor sugar and white wine vinegar. Malt vinegar, as is used in most commercial products, contains gluten so is not suitable if you want a gluten-free product.

Combine sugar and water and bring to the boil while stirring. Keep at a rolling simmer for a few minutes. Add vinegar and mint and return mixture to the boil. Boil for a minute, then remove from heat. Leave to stand for five minutes before pouring into clean bottles. I used bottles from bought salad dressing, which I save for this and similar purposes.

In the end, I had enough sauce for one bottle each of mint sauce and balsamic mint sauce. There was a little of each sauce left so I combined them in a separate bottle, which gave me half a bottle of the combo.

You could get by with less mint, say 2/3 of a cup instead of a full cup, but I like to really taste the mint.

The mint in the pots will regrow and later in the summer I'll be able to make some more sauce. Maybe next winter I won't run out. 

Funny Little Blocks of Peat

Last year I had great success with seeds sown in Jiffy pots so I've just done it again. These funny little blocks of compressed cocopeat expand to many times their size when placed in water. The seeds are pushed into the top of the pot, where there is a natural dimple. I used an orange stick (as found in packs of emery boards) to deepen the holes a little for larger seeds, and then pushed the damp peat over the seeds with the orange stick.

A major problem with seeds sown indoors or in a hothouse is damping off of the tiny seedlings. When I was a beginner at this gardening game, I lost a lot of seedlings this way, until I developed a seed-planting strategy that has worked successfully ever since.

Whether using peat pots or seed-raising medium, I soak the medium in room-temperature chamomile tea made with boiled water. Chamomile is mildly anti-fungal. All equipment must be scrupulously clean, no leftover soil particles from the last time you used the propagator or pots.

The pots or punnets containing the seeds are placed in a clean cat litter tray and covered with a plastic cover until the seeds germinate. This time, I used margarine containers inside the tray to separate pots of different vegie seeds. All subsequent watering is with room-temperature boiled water and every second watering I use chamomile tea again. I tip the water/tea into the bottom of the tray or margarine container so it soaks gradually upwards into the medium.

Once the seeds have germinated, those pots or punnets are take out of the propagator and put into a tray without a lid, but are still kept inside until they are growing strongly, about the four-leaf stage. Then they are gradually put outside in a sheltered spot for longer and longer periods. Once they go outside, the medium must be kept damp so check every day, or several times a day if the weather is hot. At this stage, I water my seedlings every few days with a weak solution of seaweed emulsion, which is both a tonic and anti-fungal.


For many years I varied this and put the punnets into a polystyrene box covered with a sheet of plastic, which I put outside near a north-facing stone wall. Now I prefer to keep the pots inside to begin with as it makes it easier for me to check progress regularly, without having to go out in the cold/rain/wind.

I've made a late start (first week in September) with seed planting this year, but will still have plants ready to go in the ground by late October, by which time the soil should be warm enough so the plants get off to a good start. With the Jiffy pots you avoid the possibility of set-backs because of transplant shock, as the whole pot is planted into the soil.

I should stress that this method is used for seeds sown indoors or in any other warm moist environment that favours fungal growth. When sowing at other times of year, or straight into the soil, there is no need for this fussiness.

Foiling The Fruit Fly

Fruit flies are on the move, spreading into new areas and destroying backyard fruit crops. The damage these little flies cause has to be seen to be believed. Anyone with fruit trees in their garden needs to give some thought now to how they intend to control this devastating pest.

If you or your neighbours had this problem last year, be prepared for a repeat of the same, unless you take measures to prevent it.

I’ll give you a choice of several strategies you can use to prevent infestation this year. There a number of baits and traps commercially available. Last year, after having to sacrifice almost the whole fruit crop after fruit flies infested my peaches and plums, I bought a trap called Cera Trap. This consists of jars containing a liquid that attracts and kills both Queensland and Mediterranean fruit flies. With several of these hung around the garden, there was very little infestation in the summer tomato crop. Those tomatoes in which there were larvae developing were solarised, as above.

This year, I have the traps ready to hang as soon as new fruit begins to form, which will be very soon as I have peach and nectarine trees in blossom right now. With luck, and cooperative neighbours, I’ll prevent a recurrence of last year’s disaster. I bought these traps through an organic gardening mail order company called Green Harvest. They also sell exclusion bags to cover the fruit and another bait product, which works similarly to the Yates product described below (www.greenharvest.com.au or ph: 1800-681-014). I know there are people who are happy to use the exclusion bags, and covering the fruit this way would probably keep the pests off (you have to be careful not to leave any gap for the flies to enter). However, to me they seem like a lot of fiddle, and what happens with the fruit you can’t reach to put the covers on?

Yates Nature’s Way Fruit Fly Control has the advantage of being readily available. You can probably get it at most garden supply shops. It is made from spinosad and a protein and sugar-based bait. Spinosad is an insecticide made from naturally occurring beneficial soil bacteria; this kills the fruit flies after they have been attracted by the bait, which the flies can detect from several metres away. This product is applied to the trunk and lower foliage of the trees.

When using a product such as that described above, you need to put out several traps around the fruit trees NOW, to monitor for the presence of the flies and know when to apply the bait/insecticide. There are numerous homemade traps and baits, I’ll only give the bait recipe suggested on the Yates website: 1 litre water, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon yeast, 1 tablespoon Vegemite, ½ cup cloudy ammonia. Combine well and put a small amount into a several plastic bottles hung from the fruit trees. The bottles need to have small holes or a flap to allow the flies to enter.

Both methods described are suitable for use in organic gardens.

Garden hygiene is paramount throughout the spring and summer. During and at the end of the fruit harvest each year remove all fallen and mummified fruit and solarise it or dispose of it in the rubbish bin, not the compost. To solarise infected fruits, or weeds for that matter, place them in a sturdy black plastic bag and leave it in the sun for up to six weeks (during the summer). By this time any pests will be cooked and the rotten fruit can safely be added to the compost. Do not use the biodegradable bags as these will break down when exposed to sunshine for lengthy periods and you will end up with a mess of small bits of plastic and rotten fruit.  

Alternatively, if you have poultry, feed them the infected fruit, just make sure it is all eaten.

As a general aid to control of fruit flies and numerous other pests, plant trees and shrubs to attract insect-eating birds, keep soil and plants healthy by using organic fertilisers and always remove fallen fruit as soon as possible. 

Fruit fly control products do cost money, but if you don’t use them you will lose the fruit and be responsible for the spread of these pests into nearby gardens. Having seen the destruction first-hand, I am now hesitant to recommend that anyone rely on homemade traps/baits to control them, except for monitoring. If you are not willing or able to take appropriate care of your backyard fruit trees to prevent the spread of fruit flies, for goodness sake get rid of them altogether and replace them with non-fruiting trees or shrubs. Do it now.  

Best Ever Broccoli Soup

Though I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen these days, I do enjoy the challenge of combining fresh, home-grown vegies from the garden with whatever is in the pantry and fridge. At the moment, broccoli is producing in abundance, both in my tank beds and Rodney's aquaponics system. We have eaten broccoli pasta, broccoli frittata and boiled broccoli as a side vegie. Today I decided to make broccoli soup for lunch. It is quite possibly the best soup I've ever made.

Also available from the garden were parsley, green capsicums and celery.

This is how I combined them with a few other ingredients to make this super soup.  

I tend not to use stock very often: homemade stock is very time-consuming to make, and I've already told you I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen any more, and bought stock is horrendously high in salt, even the so-called salt-reduced varieties. However, this time I had a small amount, about half a cup, of very full-flavoured chicken stock (actually the cooking juices) leftover from a chicken dish we had a few days ago. Apart from this, the bulk of the liquid I used was milk, Zymil because of lactose problems. I'm sure soy or rice milk would be fine, and almond milk would add its own unique flavour for those who enjoy it. In fact, I nearly used it instead of Zymil.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 large heads of broccoli: separate the thick stalks from the top sections and chop them roughly,
break the heads into florets, keeping both parts separate
6 (smallish) stalks celery, sliced thinly: keep a few of the leafy tops and chop them roughly
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green capsicum, chopped
2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
1 litre milk, your choice (plus a slosh or two extra if mixture is too thick)
2 potatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 cup strongly flavoured stock, optional
I did not add any salt and don't think it needed any, but add a teaspoon if you like, especially if you don't add any stock.

In a large saucepan put the oil, chopped broccoli stalks, celery, onion, garlic and capsicum. Stir-fry until just becoming tender. Add half the milk, bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Add broccoli florets, potato and the remaining milk. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add chopped parsley and celery tops and cook another 5 to 10 minutes. The potato should be tender and the broccoli beginning to fall apart.

When vegies are cooked, vitamise mixture to a thick slurry. This is when you might need to add extra milk and the stock, if using it. Taste soup and add salt if you need to.

Reheat before serving. Add a swish of plain yoghurt to each bowl, if you like.

This soup is hearty, healthy and tastes heavenly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hibiscus Happiness

A lot of years ago I brought home four tiny rooted cuttings of tropical hibiscus from a garden expo. Knowing they would never survive in my area with its strong cold winds and frosty winters, I potted them and positioned them beside a north-facing stone wall.

Three of the four survived and grew, and grew, and grew. Luckily, each plant had different coloured flowers. There was a bright red, a hot pink and a pale blush pink. Every winter they died right back and I pruned the stalks to the ground. Each spring there would be masses of healthy new growth. New flowers appeared for months. They were over-the-top, flamboyant flowers that made me feel happy to look at them.

Every two or three years I repotted the plants into bigger pots. Eventually, they needed such large pots that I wouldn't have been able to handle a bigger one. So, I started separating the root mass each time I repotted, giving me dozens of new plants to give away.

At last, a few years ago, I decided I couln't face the task of repotting and separating the roots again. While they were in full flower, I put them in front of the house with a 'Free to Good Home' sign. Within minutes, they had been claimed by a new owner. I hope she continues to enjoy them as I did for many years. Sometimes I regret giving them away, but I'm happy they went to a true plant enthusiast.

Recently, we were on holidays in Mooloolaba and came across a display of tropical hibiscus in a shopping centre. The grower was happy for me to photograph his flowers, which he was obviously passionate about. I hope their joyful colours brighten your day.

My experience proved that you can grow these beauties in southern states (if you can obtain them) as long as you plant them in a suitable microclimate. In warm, frost-free zones they are easy to grow and very rewarding. If you have friends who grow them, they strike readily from stem cuttings.

Keeping The Critters Out

A stroll around my garden at the moment reveals a number of beds and individual plants with netting draped over them. It looks as if the plants are in prison, but it's all for their own good. The covers are keeping the critters from eating them or digging them up.

Cabbage white butterflies are a perennial problem. I usually wait until they have disappeared from the garden and try to get a crop of brassicas planted and harvested before they re-appear in spring. Sometimes this results in beds still being occupied by brassica crops when I'm ready to plant spring/summer crops, thus resulting in those crops being planted later than I would wish. I do place upside down bottles over individual seedlings, but then the seedlings can outgrow the bottles when there are still cabbage whites around. This year I decided to cover the beds with netting to keep the pests off my seedlings.

One lonely broccoli plant all by itself in a pot was outgrowing its protective bottle so I bought some cheap, wire, waste paper baskets from a discount store. Turned upside down, these make good plant protectors. By the time the broccoli has outgrown its basket, there should be no cabbage whites around for a while. At nearly $3 per basket, this might seem like an expensive way to get a bit of broccoli or a cabbage. Wouldn't it be cheaper just to buy it? In the short-term it would be, but I'm sure the baskets will last many years. Their use will also allow me to grow better-tasting and more nutritious food without chemicals, and to plant the varieties of my own choosing. So, I maintain that it's worth the small expense and taking a bit of trouble over.

In another tank bed I had transplanted some strawberry runners so that next season the crop will be easier to harvest and also easier to keep the blackbirds off. Until last year these birds were not really a problem, they would visit, scratch around for a while, and then move on. Now they seem to be permanent residents, scratching the mulch everywhere. They soon found the new strawberry bed with its lovely loose mulch. Even though there is no fruit, they have been having a good fossick, scratching out some plants and covering others in mulch. That bed too is now covered.

The vegie garden might look like some kind of plant prison, but it's me who will be eating that great food and not the free-loading critters.

The War-Time Garden

I thought I knew something about the 'Dig For Victory' campaign in England during the Second World War, and about the garden allotment system. Well, I did know it on an intellectual level. What it really meant on an immediate and personal level to the population is something I have just gained some small understanding of through reading a book called Your Garden In Wartime by C.H. Middleton.

Middleton had a gardening program on the radio in the 1940s and during the war many of his programs were about growing food as part of the war effort. Some of the talks were subsequently published as this book, re-released a couple of years ago. It is a charming, nostalgic, very, very British compilation of jobs to do throughout the year. It is bitter-sweet in many regards, really bringing home the deprivations suffered by all to a basic level of trying to ensure an adequate food supply. Some of the advice is now known to be very wrong (calcium cyanide as a fertiliser, for example) and most of it is relevant only to the northern hemisphere.

It is not a book to read for its advice, though there is enough still relevant, and relevant to us in the southern hemisphere, with a bit of juggling of times and measurements, to justify spending time reading it. To me, it is more of a historical record of the gardening ethos during those bleak years.

Basic produce such as potatoes and onions were in short supply as a lot of Britain's supply had come from Europe, even the seeds for many vegies were formerly produced in Europe. There is a great deal of detail about growing potatoes and onions and methods of sharing seeds. Middleton often cautions people against buying more seed than they can use as this will mean others do without.

He gives credit to seed suppliers and nurserymen. The first for continuing to be able to keep up supply of most seeds and for being able to still produce catalogues, despite the shortage of paper. The latter for their patriotism in uncomplainingly digging up their life's work, of rose growing for example, to turn their land  over to growing potatoes.

On the subject of potatoes, the author at one point says that Hitler and his U-boats can do their worst, we will be all right if we grow enough potatoes to keep ourselves fed. Winning the war with potatoes!

While encouraging people to turn most of their flower gardens into vegie gardens, he repeatedly says not to forego flowers altogether because of the cheerfulness they bring to our lives, which we all need in these dark times. He says that next summer, Hitler or no Hitler, he is going to be naughty and grow some sweet peas, because he missed them last year and is sure he is a better man for having a vase of sweet peas to enjoy. I know, it's totally corny, but still brought tears to my eyes to think of the death, destruction and deprivation suffered by so many when we take so much that is good in our own lives for granted.

The book is full of things that are 'jolly lucky' or 'grand', such old-fashioned words and sentiments you have to smile.

I think I have found out, at last, why there is so much advice around to thin tomato plants by picking out the young side shoots as they appear. In 40 years of gardening, I have never done this. Call me lazy if you will, but I've never seen the point when tomatoes produce so prolifically without removing side shoots. Also, the extra foliage can act as sun protection and prevent fruit from becoming burnt in our hot summers. I think I have read about someone (was it Clive Blazey from Diggers Seeds?) who did proper tests to determine the usefulness of this practice and found it to be unnecesary.

Anyway, in Britain, the climate is so unfriendly towards tomatoes that they have to do a lot of growing and fruit producing in a very short time. The removal of the side shoots allows the plants to put more energy into fruit production. I was astounded to read that tomatoes grown outdoors might produce only four nice trusses of fruit! I'm not sure I would put in all the effort he describes to end up with only four trusses of fruit per plant.  

This was meant to be a brief mention of what I found to be a very worthwhile read. I'm sure it will interest other gardening obsessives. My copy came from the library, but I think I'm going to have to buy one. It will be one of those books to return to again and again for its charm and nostalgia.