Dark, damp soil.

Victoria has had some rain. The farmers are happy, their crops are going well, as are ours. The inner northern suburbs of Melbourne never get the rain of the eastern suburbs, but what we have had has made a noticeable difference.

Carrots, Beetroot and Silverbeet in a raised bed.

In our time living here and growing our own food we have never had even close to average rainfall, so we didn't actully know what difference a little of the wet stuff makes. The garden has taken off giving us plenty of food (and weeds).

Golden acre mini cabbages in a raised bed.

One of my favorite additions to our back garden has been the nasturtiums, I bought an Alaska seed mix and love the way they wind around the raised beds.

The trailing habit of Nasturtiums.

producing abundant bright flowers that attract lots of bees and add a nice touch of pepper to a salad.

Nasturtium flowers.

Another delight this time of the year brings is the Globe Artichoke harvest. Globe artichokes are a member of the thistle family, the edible part is the base of the unopened flower and about 10cm of the stem just below.

Green Globe Artichokes

Every year we look forward to the first artichokes and then fifteen minutes into their fiddly preparation we start looking forward to the end of the artichoke season. It is worth it though when you get them on a plate.

The Brassicas have done well with a drop of rain and a weak Seaweed, Comfrey, Wormjuice etc. tea kicks them along nicely.

Green Calabrese forming heads with splashes of Seaweed tea.

Remember when harvesting members of the Brassica family to lift the entire root from the ground to prevent build up of soil pathogens such as the Brassica disease, Clubroot.

Cabbage root.

The summer veg seedlings are also coming along nicely. I have four different kinds of Tomato; Roma, Tommy Toe, Tigerella and Grosse Lisse. As well as Black Beauty Eggplant, California Wonder Capsicum and Jalapeno Chilli. The general rule here in Melbourne is to plant your Tomatoes out not before Melbourne cup day, so they are currently enjoying the protection of a plastic sunhouse.

Tomato seedlings.

The nicest part of this lifestyle is to feel the seasons, and to come back around to Spring after a Winter hibernation feels great. Our Summer harvest is planned and the work we put in only a few months ago is giving us a bountiful, healthy, organic Spring feast.

Basketful of Spring goodness.

Cheers.

Spring Dinner

I had a craving today. After a night out overindulging I felt an absolute need for garden greens and the freshest food I could get my hands on. Then I had an awful thought, "what is there that is ready to eat right now?" It's early spring, we've had some much needed rain, and the daylight hours are extending. Everything is looking beautiful but the Beetroot are young, the Carrots are young, the Cabbages haven't formed heads etc. etc.

All of our summer seedlings (housed in a greenhouse tent), are up and running including Eggplant, Capsicum, Jalapeno Chillis, and four different varieties of Tomato - Grosse Lisse, Roma, Tommy Toe and Tigerella.

In my pleasant little amble around the garden I grabbed a few young carrots (that needed thinning anyhoo), a Chioggia and an Albino Beetroot (more for the leaves), a handful of Sugar Snap Peas, another handful of Diplotaxis (wild Rocket), another handful of Spring Onions, and a few sprigs of Lemon Thyme and the Dill whose seed I sprinkled in amongst my Silverbeet and Beetroot. Even just a few young vegetables can make a meal that will have you feeling great.

We decided that having felt early in the day that the garden was going to be short on what we felt we needed, and having been proven wrong, our meal was going to be made of only what was in the garden. Thankfully the chooks had done their job and the wonderful harvest below made a beautiful Frittata. The Sugar Snap Peas didn't even make it as far as the frypan, to eat them anything other than fresh seems criminal they are so delicious.

Simplest tomato pasta sauce

In the heat of summer, the last place you want to be is in front of your stove and when the first trusses of tomatoes redden, you don't want their freshness and vibrancy muted by the process of cooking. Yes, this pasta sauce requires no cooking. It is simply the best of your tomatoes in their simplest form, surrounded by their greatest friends.

A good friend brings out your best qualities and helps you show your true colours. A tomato's best friends are salt, to draw out the sweetness; olive oil, to round out the tartness; and basil, to brighten the flavours. And with a preparation time of five minutes, this has to be the fastest way to enjoy the fruits of your gardening labour.

Oh, and be sure to slurp up the juice that has gathered in the bottom of your bowl - it is pure, liquefied summer! Come to think of it, this sauce would make a great cold soup - a gazpacho of sorts - and with a hunk of crusty bread, would make a fabulous meal.

Tomato sauce

5 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped (they have to be the best tomatoes - soft, juicy and aromatic - there's no point doing this with those cardboardy, supermarket varieties)

a handful of basil leaves, torn

1 clove of garlic, crushed
balsamic vinegar

olive oil

grated parmesan or fresh ricotta

salt

pepper

Place the chopped tomato in a medium-sized bowl and, with clean hands, dig in, sqeezing the tomatoes (this is the best bit), til they have a pulpy, lumpy consistency. Stir through the garlic, a good glug of olive oil, a splash of balsamic, basil and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve atop your pappardelle with a drizzle of olive oil and crumble over the cheese.

From the garden: tomatoes, basil, garlic

Sad Days

Well, as I am sure you are all aware We've been having a terrible time here in Victoria with the bushfires. The air has been thick and pungent with that characteristic smell every time we have northerly wind. The sun has been covered with a golden fog making everything look eerie. The tragedies of Marysville, Kinglake, Flowerdale, Strathewen, Narbethong etc. are ever present in peoples minds. There have also been some great stories of survival and heroism. Today, as I write, we are suffering another high risk day with temperatures in the high thirties and strong winds but still not like what they now call black Saturday when it hit 46.5 with wind gusts up around 100kph. Here in Brunswick West we are safe as it is very close to the city. We are counting our blessings a little though since we have spent the last year looking for land around Kinglake and Flowerdale and had not yet purchased. The people we have met on our search are ok with varying degrees of property damage. It has been a reality check for us and fire safe considerations have now hit the "what to look for" list in number one position and I've turned my mind to looking for fire resistant plantings such as saltbush etc. We haven't changed our thoughts on where we were looking as wherever you head you face the risk, besides it will be an important part of our lives to watch and play a part in a community rebuild.


The two photos on either side are pics of the last two blocks of land we visited, one in Kinglake and one in Flowerdale, a couple of weeks before the fires, following a visit to st. Andrews market & a jug in the Kinglake pub. The argument in the car on the way home was which one we loved more.

On a more positive note the garden has picked up following the intense heat and provided a magnificent harvest of Tomatoes and Zucchinis, I can't wait to see what Sarah does with all of these...

Love and best wishes to all in our fire affected communities.

ALdrum

Saucy Tomatoes...

Ahh... Faith in vegetables.

Even though it's been up to 45.1 degrees c this summer which has resulted in:

This sun damage to the growing tips of the toms ==>

and this scalding damage to the fruit==>

We have still managed to harvest more "Tommy Toe" and "Grosse Lisse" tomatoes than we could need, and considering the "Tigerellas" are a later season Tom and are currently covered in unripe fruit we are hoping for a few more yet!

At least enough so we can share with all those interested anyhoo==>

Cheers.

Bean and Tomato Mites

So what turns beans and tomatoes from <==this to this==> ??






Well the answer is Mites. Mites love hot dry dusty weather, just the kind of environment you get in an Australian summer. There are different kinds and colours, brown russet mites, red spider mites etc. They attack the plants from the lower leaves and move up the plants leaving dead brown foliage.



A close inspection of the leaves (and I mean close, they are tiny) shows small critters often congregated around the veins of the leaves (red circle).






Occasionally you may see eggs and sometimes a fine cobweb like material is apparent (blue arrow).

The leaves become progressively pale and almost silvery (red arrow).







You will most commonly see them on the underside of the leaves (green circle).






The solution is to treat the leaves with a soap/oil spray made by adding 1/2 cup of liquid soap to 500ml of vegetable oil and then taking a tablespoon of this solution and diluting it with a litre of water, shake before use. This suffocates the mites. By the way always remember what Hector the safety cat says about keeping stored garden solutions out of reach of little 'uns and never keep them in a container they recognise as a food product ie a fruit juice bottle full of homemade chilli spray (mwahaha...)

Cheers Aldrum

Backyard Basil & Tomato Pizza! (Gluten free)

O.K. so this is the easiest recipe you'll ever learn but once I've taught you it you'll look forward to it every year..

First you need one of these==>

<==Then get yourself one of these

Stick step 2 on top of step 1 and you get to eat one of these==>

Tickling Tomatoes

What do you do when there ain't all that many pollinators around?
Well you try and rectify the situation by planting all those lovely plants that attract the pollinators, flowering species that are indigenous to the area is a good start, buying a beehive and a trainee queen is also a great move. If you don't have the room or knowledge or just want a tomato or two on your balcony then you may have to do some of the dirty work yourself. Every flower on a tomato, or eggplant, or pepper etc. is the precursor to a fruit and when the flower is pollinated the flower dies off and a fruit forms in its place (left pic of new Turkish orange eggplant fruit with dried up flower on end), quite simply the more flowers pollinated the more fruit you'll get. The pollinator, i.e. Mr Bee, transfers pollen from flower to flower thus pollinating the flower and allowing the fruit to form. So enough about the birds and the bees, ART or Assisted Reproductive Technology for plants involves a fine little paint brush (top right pic) and fine motor skills. All that needs to be done is a gentle brush of the stamen (bottom right pic) of each flower, moving from plant to plant, flower to flower doing Mr Bee's job for him. I find that making a soft buzzing noise as you do it helps also...

Cheers Aldrum