Garden Updates

First Real Frost!

Icy Silverbeet

On Monday I awoke to find the yard carpeted in a shimmer of white, as the first real frost of the season hit. Well, that is to say, the first frost I was up early enough to witness! It was cold enough that as I went to water the garden I spent 5 minutes trying to find the kink in the hose before realising that the hose had frozen solid somewhere.

It was also cold enough to partially defoliate my fig tree that is planted in the ground, although my figs in pots were spared, being up off the ground.

This fig tree hadn't lost any leaves until Monday

Tree Removal

Although currently hit by a nasty flu, I woke up Sunday feeling inspired enough to tackle the Privet trees in my backyard (which I previously had thought were camphor Laurels!). Privets (and Laurels) are a noxious weed in many parts of Australia due to their ability to spread extremely easily via birds, who eat the small berries they produce, and by their vigorous growth, which forms thickets and out-competes native and other plants for sunlight.

Privet Thicket

Privet Leaves and Berries

Each Privet berry contains two small seeds which germinate readily in exposed or disturbed soil. Privet can also regrow via suckers along their roots, so I hope I removed enough so that I don't have another wave of plants come up!

The thicket in my backyard was actually a clump of about 20 trees. A mature privet, according to an Australian Government website, has the ability to produce up to a million seeds per year, and the berries support unnaturally high populations of Currawongs which then displace other native birds. 

The invasiveness of the tree can easily be seen after I chopped off their heads, and it became evident how many trees were growing in the thicket. I have since dug them all up, and planted a brand new persimmon tree in their place.

In Canberra the ACT Government sponsors a weed exchange, where you bring in certain varieties of woody invasive weeds, and they exchange them for a native plant. Privet meets these requirements, although I think I have missed the swap, which usually occurs twice a year in early Autumn and Spring. HERE is a link for those in the ACT with privet trees in their backyard, and who would like some extra encouragement to chop them down!

There Were 21 Individual Trees Here!

Cauliflower Harvest

On Sunday I harvested my first cauliflower. It was a nice size and weighed in at just over 800g. If growing without insecticides, as I am, it is a good idea to soak your newly picked cauliflower in salt and water, as it will drive out any caterpillars that may have taken up residence!

Cauliflower With Beer for Reference

I immediately cooked it up into a delicious Indian curry, which is very tasty and great for those who like curry, but are scared of spicy food. It is very easy to make, and I encourage everyone to try it!

Mild Cauliflower Curry in a Coconut Sauce

Ingredients:

2 tbs oil

1 cauliflower

1 onion

2 tomatoes

2 tsp garlic

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp cumin seeds

1-3 chillies (optional)

1 teaspoon tumeric powder

1.5 teaspoon tamarind paste

3/4 cup of warm water 

400ml coconut milk

Method

1. Cut the cauliflower into small florets, rinse, and set aside. Dice the tomato into medium to small chunks and set aside. Add 1.5 tsp tamarind paste to the warm water, mix well and set aside. 

2. Chop the onion and chillies (if using) and put in a food processor with the garlic and tumeric and blend to a paste.

3. Heat the oil in a wok or pot and add the cumin seeds until they start to splutter. Add the spice mix from the processor and cook on medium for 5 minutes, making sure it doesn't burn.

4. Add the cauliflower florets, and stir to coat with the spice mixture in the pan, and cook for a further 5-10 minutes stirring constantly.

5. Stir in the coconut milk, salt and sugar and cook for 10 minutes before adding the tamarind water mixture. Do not let it boil or the coconut milk might separate. If the mixture is too watery, simmer gently until it reaches your preferred consistency. Finally add the chopped tomato, allow to heat through for 5 more minutes before serving!

  

Read More

Super Silverbeet

I remember years ago as a child, my dad used to grow silverbeet. Often we would go crabbing, and all the leftover shells would go around the base of the silverbeet plants. Every now and again we would get silverbeet with dinner, boiled in salted water, and as unappealing as that sounds I used to enjoy it immensely.

It seems a little strange to me now, considering it took me about 20 years to try and grow it myself!

Silverbeet is a great vegetable for Canberra. It tolerates both cold and hot, and can be planted in most months, as long as it has enough warmth to germinate before winter. Silverbeet can be planted into the ground as early as August, and transplanted in the ground from July. You should avoid planting in March through until June.

I started my garden late this year and put seeds into punnets in December and transplanted into the ground in January.

When transplanting I made a nice thick hill of soil on the ground, and planted 6 plants which I germinated in a punnet. I mulched around the plants and kept watered. Once a week I fertilised with a mixture of seaweed solution and Charlie Carp.

Back at the beginning of February the plants looked like this;

Here is what the plants look like today;

I have harvested leaves on three occasions before this picture, including last weekend, and I am super happy with the way these plants grow, and how much they produce!

The plants produce so many leaves that I was kind of confused with what to do with them all, and have been thinking that 6 plants are way too much!

Today I harvested about 1kg of leaves and cooked them up using a recipe I found recently. I am a big fan of Indian curries, and this dish works well as a side, or even a stand alone vegetarian meal. I have included the recipe below.

This is what I harvested, and how the plants looked afterwards. Silverbeet is great in that as long as 2-3 leaves are left on the plants you can continually harvest week after week.

Potato and Silverbeet curry:

Ingredients:
1kg Silverbeet leaves (leaves about 500g cooked and de-stemmed)
1kg new potatoes- quartered
2 onions- halved and sliced
2tsp black mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves (optional)
2tsp minced garlic
1.5tsp minced ginger
2tsp salt
1tsp coriander powder
1tsp cumin powder
.5tsp fennel powder
3 cups water
Chilli powder to taste
2-3tbs fresh coriander

1. Take your silverbeet and removed the central stem. Wash and cut each leaf into strips. (Note; you can use the stem if you wish, boil it for 3minutes before step 2, I added mine to the compost)

2. Add the leaves to a pot of boiling, salted water. Boil for 4-5 minutes and drain through a strainer and rinse with cool water. Set aside.

3. Whilst the leaves are cooling prepare the other ingredients; halve and slice the onion, quarter the new potatoes and prepare the spice mixes one bowl with the mustard seeds, and one bowl with the salt, cumin powder, coriander power, fennel powder and chilli powder. (The curry and coriander leaves in this picture are home grown!)

4. If the silverbeet is cool, squeeze the excess water out, and set aside.

5. Heat some oil in a pot and add the mustard seeds. Fry for 2-4 minutes until they begin to pop and splutter.

6. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and curry leaves and sauté until the onion is soft and has browned slightly, about 3-5minutes.

7. Add the potato, coriander, cumin and fennel spice mix and mix well. Add 3 cups, or enough water so that the potatoes are covered.

8. Simmer until most of the liquid is gone and potatoes are soft. If liquid is getting low, and potatoes are not soft, add some more water.

9. Once liquid is reduced, turn heat down and add silverbeet, mixing well. Cook for 5 minutes and turn heat off. Stir in the fresh coriander and remove from the heat.

10. Serve!

Read More