The Garden Post

How Thoughtful, as predicted it arrived just in time for Mothers day.

  A big pile of dirt! 

Well one week on and here it still sits...No one has volunteered to fill my beds yet, but I wait patiently,  crossing a few more growing days off the calendar, surely someone will give in soon.

If you read my last garden post you would be familiar with the

 MUD PIE Giveaway.

The  Diggers Australian Fruit and Vegetable Garden Book. 

Well somebody must have known just how badly I needed that book and all my prayers were answered when Ali pushed the button on the random number generator and up I popped along with two other lucky recipients, Hazel Dene and Duchess De clutter.

 Can you beleive it! I still can't. Thank you again Ali.

This book is Sensational.  If you don't have yourself a good gardening manual then I thoroughly recommend you get this one, it is packed full of information on Where, When, Why and How to Grow.  I have had my head buried in this book all week.

This morning equipped with my new found knowledge of fruit and vegetables I spent a number of hours on the Diggers website and have purchased myself a truck load of seeds that should hopefully arrive in the next couple of weeks, I'm a bit excited!  

The plan for this week now is to get out the shovel, put on my 

NEW gardening Boots, and away we go. . .I may have to bribe a few helpers though...

 Now, I just want to put the word out on a New Project that has literally just hits the streets in  last couple of weeks. 

Sow.Give.Grow is a project developed to sharing the wonders of growing your own food.  

The aim is to motivate people to nurture an anonymously gifted seedling which will in turn provide food.  

This is a Must for all you gardening gurus... 

Sometime this week I'm heading into town with this little parcel to do my first Trans-plant, I'm a bit excited about that too...

Please CHECK IT OUT! and spread the words . . .

http://www.sowgivegrow.org/

The Great Orange Harvest

 

Had to Have

With a few minutes to spare last week I popped into my favourite Salvos store for just a quick look around. I usually walk out with a few doilies or some kind of old glass dish or enamelware but today there didn't seem to be much on offer and as I wandered up the last aisle, there it was . . Well, I just about fell over when I saw it, my heart pounded and I knew it was mine,  there was no way I was walking out without this beauty...

The Whole Set, 2 x Fully Reclining and Rocking Armchairs 

and 1 x Reclining Two Seater Lounge

In Immaculate Condition!  $$$  Bargain  !!!

It's VERY GRANNY I know and I didn't quite know how the rest of the family would accept it, it's a 'You'll either LOVE it or Hate it' kind of Buy.... Well I Just LOVE it of course , I have been waiting for something like this to step into my life for a while now, My living room needed a face lift and this gives me a good base to work with!

   Hubby wasn't to sure about it in the beginning but  it 's growing on him...He's enjoying putting his feet up at the end of a hard day. . .

My Creative Space

I lost count of how many times I said I was going to learn to crochet this year. I would be happy to just learn to do a Granny Square. So I finally did it and now that I've started, well, I just can't STOP!

This is ONE BIG GRANNY SQUARE

 Lucky I have a King Size Bed

 Should fit nicely by the End of Winter!!!

 with a couple of little cushie covers. . .
Go to Kootoyoo for more creative crocheting

Next on the Preserving List . . .

SWEET MUSTARD PICKLES

1 x cauliflower

250gm beans

2 x cucumbers

1/4  x capsicum

1/2 kg onions

Salt

Wash Cauliflower and divide into flowerettes

Slice and dice beans, cucumbers and capsicum

Peel and dice onions

Place together in a large pan and sprinkle with salt 

and leave stand for 24 hours

Wash in Cold Water, drain 
 Add 1x litre of Vinegar and bring to the boil
Mix together 1/2 cup Sugar
2 x tab Flour
2 x teasp ground Mustard
plus a handful of Mustard seeds
1 x teasp Curry powder
1 x teasp Turmeric

Add a little water to make a smooth paste and stir through 

Boil for about 15 minutes.  Bottle & Seal

Tip of the Day: Always wear gloves when grating Fresh Turmeric!

Getting into the Quince of things....

With  all the pictures of fresh Quinces growing, Quince picking and Quince cooking splashed across some of my favourite southern blogs, you can imagine how excited I was when I got my hands on some of these at my local market, it was a straight ahead trip into the Kitchen to play...

On the Menu: QUINCE PASTE

How much fun was this to make!

Peel, Core and Chop up about 1 and 1/2 kg of Quince

add 1/2 cup of Water, bring to the boil then simmer for approx 1/2 an hour until the quince becomes soft and tender.  Then blend the mixture until smooth and mushy. 

Add 800gm of Sugar and stir on a low heat until sugar is dissolved.  Reduce heat to very low and cook for approx 4 - 5 hours. I used a simmer mat to keep a more consistent low heat and reduce the chance of my paste burning, it's also a good idea to use a heavy based pan. 

 Keep stirring occasionally. I was prepping up some other preserves in the kitchen at this time so I managed to keep a good eye on it and stirred about every 15 minutes or so...

it was very interesting to see it slowly change colour

 there is  apparently a scientific acid/pigment/chemical reason for this, but I am not going to go into that today . . .

and finally about  4 - 5 hours later you get this

A nice and thick paste that leaves the side of the pan and is a rich ruby red in colour.

Pour it into some greased molds and let sit for about 6 hours or until set.

I have always had a love of quince paste with a nice Brie or Camembert . . . usually it's one of Maggie's, but

this weekend when I head off to celebrate my Mothers 70th Birthday,  we will be enjoying a local Witches Falls Merlot,

 a nice King Island Brie and Gooseberry Jam Quince Paste!

The Garden Post

Whats been happening out in my garden lately? A Little and a Lot!
My small Veggie patch/Herb garden has been overcome with shade but few things are finally starting to grow and we are producing once again.

Some nice fresh beans for dinner,  we usually get a small handful like this everyday, it's nice to enjoy a fresh bean for dinner if they make it to the table...Last night we all got one each! 

Lettuce almost ready for the Table

Is that a cucumber Flower?

Yes It Is!

Some perfect looking Basil

 Young Pea Sprouts

And the Passionfruit . . .

Have you ever seen so many?

The Wild Mulberries plants I tore up from the side of the road have grown so well, even though they have been transplanted a couple of times already it seems to be very hardy plant this one...Can you see it's little Mulberry? 

(where I am pointing)

And the Black Mulberry Tree has a fruit!  Don't get too excited, no Mulberry picking adventures just yet, I'll need about 99 more of these to make a Pie!

 

 A small Papaya has so far escaped they eye of my little gatherers.

We have very nice looking Mandarins, just starting to show a tinge of orange on their skins

and I picked one of these Oranges yesterday.....

Yum, sweet young Navels.

BUT by far the  most exciting thing that has happened in my garden this week has been the Completion of my long awaited 

New Veggie beds...

I'm so excited, I now have a 

REAL VEGETABLE GARDEN

Hubby managed to get them finished just in time for 

Mother's Day. 

Now just awaiting a big fat truck load of Organic Soil, and one of these Fabulous Diggers books I am hoping to Win from the 

Mud Pie Giveaway 

Stay tuned for regular updates on The Garden Post!