Growing cabbage family vegetables where winters are warm can be challenging, but if your cauliflowers fizzle and brussels sprouts are out of the question, growing kohlrabi might be the go.
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Sweet peas are a rewarding flower, even in warm climates. Mine at the moment are making a splash of colour both outside and inside the house, but of course their superpower is their delightful fragrance when you have them in a vase.
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Candystripe beetroot is a bit of fun for the vegetable patch. I’ve never seen it in the shops, and it would be difficult to sell as it looks like a plain red beet until peeled and cut, so it’s one of those vegetables that reward the home gardener with something unusual.
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Swedes are one of those vegetables that you either love or hate, and with their strong flavour they are probably hated by most kids, but ever since my tastes matured I have been on the side of relishing swedes. It’s the combination of sweetness and depth of mellow flavour that gets me, and says Winter in a mouthful. They are the sort of vegetable that needs to be seasonal, and growing swede in the subtropics is a very seasonal matter, you have to get your timing just right. Growing swede in the…
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There’s something primally satisfying about watching a fire burning-off, and Winter days give us the chance for burning-off some of the vegetation we have cleared in the previous months. There are two woody weeds in particular that we have a lot of; lantana and camphor laurel, and when we have a couple of spare hours we typically get out and clear some, which involves pulling out the lantana and cutting down the camphor laurel. The piles then sit until a winter day when it has been dry enough for a few…
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Growing tomatillos can take a bit of local experience. In many places they are a Summer crop, but my Summer tomatillo crop was a flop. The bed grew beautifully and the plants were covered in fruit, and then the beetles moved in and stripped the lot to stems. But the fallen fruit re-seeded a Winter crop, which although sporadic around the garden is doing very well and not getting eaten at all.
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It doesn’t get particularly cold here, frosts are rare, but it’s nice to have a fire going in the shorter, darker days, and sometimes we need one just to drive out the damp when it’s been raining for days and we would like to get some laundry dry. Cooking stovetop meals There’s something primally satisfying about having a fire at night. We have a slow combustion stove in the living room. It’s a good size and very efficiently heats the house. A plus with it is that it’s good for cooking a…
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