2015 - Page 4 of 9 - SpadeRunner

Burning-off season

August 6, 2015December 29, 2015 Stephen Carlin

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…

Growing tomatillos. Winter is best for subtropics.

August 5, 2015December 29, 2015 Stephen Carlin

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.

Stovetop meals

August 3, 2015December 14, 2015 Stephen Carlin

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…

Winter salad (pretending it’s Spring)

July 30, 2015December 14, 2015 Stephen Carlin

Being able to assemble fresh and interesting salads makes you really appreciate growing your own. We had a sunny midwinter day recently where we bucked the easy routine of bread (home made sourdough of course!) and cheese for lunch and had a freshly picked salad.

Growing shungiku, edible chrysanthemum

July 21, 2015August 15, 2017 Stephen Carlin

Like so many edibles that are hard to come by in the shops and best freshly picked, growing shungiku is rewarding for the home gardener. The Japanese call it shungiku, and some call it chop suey herb. Even though ‘edible chrysanthemum’ is a good general description, it’s actually been moved out of the genus Chrysanthemum and is now officially Glebionis coronaria. This tasty and unusual little vegetable is worth growing to spice up seasonal meals. I used to get it occasionally from my market vendor in Sydney, so thought I’d give growing it…

Growing turmeric

July 9, 2015December 29, 2015 Stephen Carlin

If you have the right climate and a sunny well drained spot, growing turmeric might be worth a try. It is a relative of ginger, and grows to a similarly attractive clump of lush leaves, which die down in Winter to leave a crown of tasty rhizomes.

Lablab beans for chicken feed.

July 6, 2015November 9, 2016 Stephen Carlin

Lablab, dolichos, hyacinth bean, this bean has a multitude of names, which indicate how widely grown it is. Lablab beans grow on a sprawling vine and will be handy here for covering slopes productively. The foliage is good fodder, and apparently will come again if you slash it back to use as a green manure. It gets the name hyacinth bean from the pink flower spikes, which are edible and good in a salad.

Black radish – for us or the chickens?

June 29, 2015December 29, 2015 Stephen Carlin

Black radish seeds seemed like an interesting option from the seed merchant, so in my spirit of adventure and finding what grows best for us here, I bought a packet. They were something different from the usual, and worth a try. When I started pulling them, I was wondering if they would be consigned to the experience bin, but with a few tasty crops and recipes tried, I’m a convert.

Burrs, grrrr!

June 24, 2015December 29, 2015 Stephen Carlin

It’s peak season for burrs here. We get them all year, and many different sorts, but Midwinter seems to be the time. They are just everywhere; on the dog, on shirts and pants, but specially on socks and bootlaces. Here’s a photo of my socks after a bit of digging this morning Cobblers pegs come up everywhere here. The local name is ‘farmers friends’ and the Latin name is Bidens pills. It’s not a particularly troublesome weed, being easy to pull, but it’s easy to see how it spreads to every part of…

Jicama; easy and delicious.

June 22, 2015December 29, 2015 Stephen Carlin

Jicama first came to my attention through Jeremy Coleby Williams‘ excellent blog on subtropical gardening, and segment on Gardening Australia. I had also been intrigued by Matthew Kenney‘s raw food recipes, where he uses thinly sliced jicama as a layer in nori rolls. Jicama is another food that is not widely used or available in Australia, so I was keen to try it myself. In early Winter my jicama plants were looking a bit end-of-season, with some purplish leaves, so I had a go at digging one. I had thought I could…