Great weather for cooking!

What a dreadful week we have had with the storms, hail and flooding that has lashed the east coast of New South Wales. Hopefully it's finally behind us and the sun will stay out for a while allowing people to assess and fix the damage that has not only happened to their homes but also their gardens.

I was excited to arrive home a couple of days ago to a new delivery from The Diggers Club. www.diggers.com.au

The box contained a raspberry called Rubus ideaus or 'Neika Pink', and thornless blackberry 'Waldo' and a marrionberry. The marionberry is a blackberry hybrid developed at Oregon State University in 1945 by crossing a Chehalem blackberry (a berry with native blackberry, Loganberry, and raspberry in its background) with a Olallieberry (itself a blackberry cross) and named after Marion county in Oregon. They were first brought to market in 1956 and it's not a berry I had ever head of let alone seen.  We have had a few handful of berries (the ones the birds didn't get to first) from the canes I planted last spring but I decided that I needed to add to the berry patch and 5-6 plants should provide a decent crop of blackberries and raspberries.  

I also got a cute little blueberry plant called 'Brigitta', no doubt named after that girl from 'The Sound of Music'. We already had one blueberry plant but I decided that I want shrubs that not only look food but will provide us with a crop so hence, another blueberry!

Also in the delivery were two asparagus plants that go by the very attractive name of 'Fat Bastard'! I've always wanted my own asparagus patch as we love to eat them and they are nutritious as well as delicious. In addition to the 'Fat Bastards' are two purple asparagus plants which is an old French variety. As asparagus is a perennial crop they need to be planted in an area where they can be left to develop. Asparagus plants can be productive for up to 20 years!!

To make apace for the asparagus I decided to remove the cherry tomato plants that I had planted last spring under the dining room window. This was just a small space where I had improved the soil for planting in the side courtyard while I'm still waiting to start work on all the larger permanent veggie beds in the back garden. The tomatoes have done really well and we've had plenty for salads throughout the summer and I also made a couple of batches of tomato and chilli jam (thank you for the inspiration Judith and Robyn) which was delicious!!! Unfortunately there were still some red tomatoes but lots of green tomatoes on the plants. I decided to pick them and put them aside before I ripped out the plants.....I was sure there was something I might be able to do with them. A quick google and I came up with a recipe for Green Cherry Tomato Chutney.

So let the preparation begin. Turns out I had nearly 2.5kg of tomatoes!

The recipe was pretty easy but called for a few basic spices which I happed to have in the pantry. It also incorporated a few 'Granny Smith' apples chopped and lots of chopped onions.  www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/cook/recipe/green-tomato-chutney-20111018-29w9q.html     This is the link if you think you'd like to give it a try. It's a recipe by Jeremy and Jane Strode. 

The ingredients called for yellow mustard seeds, fennel seeds and coriander seeds as well as cloves, bay leaves, chilli flakes and a cinnamon stick (I had some cinnamon sticks in a jar but I had a feeling that I'd plucked them from a potpourri at some time in the past but they still smelled nice and fragrant so I popped one in anyway! There was also garlic and fresh grated ginger which added a lovely fresh smell to the pot.

Of course with most chutneys and relishes there is always a bit of vinegar, in this case I used organic apple cider vinegar and a fair whack of brown sugar. Sugar is needed as a preserving agent if you plan to store your chutney for any length of time out of refrigeration. 

Throw it all in the Le Crueset and over a low heat start to simmer. Actually you add only half the vinegar and simmer for about 60mins before adding the sugar and the rest for the vinegar and simmer again for about 90mins. Make sure you stir the mix regularly as it can catch the bottom of the pot (like mine did!!!). Luckily it didn't burn ....charcoal infused green tomato chutney was not what I was aiming for! A lot of moisture will come out of the tomatoes as you start to cook so this will need to be reduced with slow simmering. (some of the recipes I looked at were American and called for the tomatoes to be salted and left overnight then drained to cut the acidity and remove moisture but I like this recipe as it's much less fiddly). 


So then I let it bubble away for a bit and I have to say the colour was not really great....hardly the lovely fresh green that the tomatoes had started out as.

But I guess that's the result of all those spices and herbs infusing together and of course all the ingredients were fresh or dried and there is nothing artificial in it so you get what you get!

After picking out the bay leaves and cloves it was ready for bottling. I'm pretty new to this preserving business and I need to do a lot more research and get the right equipment but a few empty jam jars would work for now. I washed the jars and lids in warm soapy water and rinsed in hot water, then boiled them in a soup pot for 10 minutes. I then put them in a pre-heated 160 degree C oven to dry out completely. Using metal tongs I placed the hot jars on the marble slab and used a spoon to fill up the jars completely, ensuring that there were no air bubbles. I filled the jars right to the top then screwed on the lids and turned the jars upside down to cool. Ces't fini

The chilli gave it a bit of a kick. I was using some dried chilli I bought in Thailand and I used just under the amount stated in the recipe and I'm glad I did. It's hot but just enough. This chutney could be served with a crumbly cheddar cheese and crusty bread or with cold meats for a sandwich or a ploughman's lunch! I think I'd leave it a month before opening for the flavours to develop and then make sure you pop it in the fridge after it's opened.

So this is a bit of groundedGARDENS meets gardenKITCHEN.  Since moving to the Highlands and having the opportunity to start a kitchen garden this has been my goal; to bring my two passions of growing things and cooking together. It will be a long process though. I've got plum and cherry trees waiting to go in the ground. The Genoa Black Fig which is an heirloom variety purchased through The Diggers Club is now about 15cm high; it was decimated a day after I planted it by a hail storm but has really started to shoot up and in a few years there will be figs stuffed with goats cheese, wrapped in proscuitto and grilled...drizzled with a balsamic glaze. The pomegranate has been planted in the front flower garden because it's beautiful foliage turns bright yellow in autumn before falling so it's as much as pleasure to look at as it will be to harvest the fruit. The rhubarb is going great guns...only planted 3 weeks ago and it's already doubled in size!!!

What could be better than jars of preserved peaches and quinces, bowls of figs and pomegranates,  plums and cherries......but that's a few years away yet. For now I can content myself with a chutney simmering on the stove.  And I've gone a bit overboard planting roses in the front garden so there should be plenty of flowers to cut for the house.

If you have a passion for growing whether it be flowers, fruit or vegetables there is always a small place you can use to get yourself started. No matter if it's a small patch in the courtyard or a few pots on the balcony you'll be able to get a crop of cherry tomatoes and some basil growing (imagine those 'insalata caprese' on a warm summer night), fresh mint for 'mojitos' or even a sprig of rosemary for the roast lamb. You might not have the space to grow everything you would like but you will have the satisfaction of eating something you've grown yourself. 

Up the garden path!

Leading on from my last post, work has continued on creating a grander entrance for Bird Cottage. We had already put in the front gate and side pickets but I should go back a step to show you how we created the path.

Since we've moved to Bird Cottage we tend to use the back door as we have a side drive to a carport in the back garden. When friends visit we want them to use the front entrance so it was important to create a proper path to welcome our friends.

Behind a shed in the back garden was a large pile of brick-shaped pavers that were covered in dirt and moss. At first I thought I'd have to pay to dispose of the pavers, not really having any use for them. Then when we started to plan the front garden I thought I might be able to use them to edge the front path. So one sunny afternoon I started throwing the brick out onto the back lawn and got to work with the 'Gurni' high-pressure water blaster. To my surprise the pavers came up looking like new and a lovely reddish-pink when dry.

Now I don't profess to be a brick-layer but as an urban gardener I'll give anything a try! If I muck it up I'll get someone in to fix it but I'd prefer not to pay if I can do something myself. And given that I had the pavers it was just some sand and cement that was needed to finish the job. First job was the excavate the path area and remove some soil. We needed to do this so the path would not be too high; we did't want it sticking up to high above the lawn and it had to be in proportion to the timber steps. After removing about 5cm of soil and levelling the area it was time to bring in some road-base.  

                                                  

  Using a 'whacking' machine I hired from Bunnings the road-base was pounded into an almost a solid, compacted mass.

The road base gives a good sold base to lay the pavers on. Running string lines to get my edges right and also the levels I mixed up my sand and cement to make a mortar base. I did this by hand in a wheel barrow; 1 part cement to 2 parts sand mix, using a white sand as I wanted a white tinted mortar, not a yellow colour. 

I have to say, it was quite therapeutic laying the 'mud' and using a rubber mallet to knock the pavers into place [ I also knocked the hell out of my thumb with the rubber mallet and it's now a lovely shade of black and likely to stay that way for about 8 months till it grows out....OUCH doesn't even come close to the pain.......but I digress...]

As I went along I payed great attention to keep the pavers in a straight line and also using a level to make sure everything stayed square and even. Once I had the pavers bedded into place they needed to be 'pointed' which is filling in between with mortar. I think a professional would have done this as they laid the pavers but I found it easier to do it after they were set in place, using an old sponge to wipe away the excess mortar.  At the same time I went along both the inside and outside edge with extra mortar which helps to stop the pavers moving and keeping everything nice and solid; this is known as 'haunching' which you can see in the picture below.

After 'pointing' and 'haunching' [ it almost sounds painful!!!!] the mortar was left to dry. When your laying pavers in a mortar it's impossible not to get some of the mortar over the pavers no matter how careful you are wiping off the excess. What is needed to clean them up is a wash down with hydrochloric acid. This is mixed one part to ten parts water. I used and old dust-pan brush to wash the acid mix over the pavers. Make sure you use protective coverings such as heavy rubber or chemical specific gloves, long sleeves and face/eye protection to protect against splashes. The acid just bubbles a little then you just rinse it all off with a hose and the pavers come up all clean; almost good as new!  (To work what I needed to clean the pavers and how to do it I just looked online....Google and Youtube are amazing tools...how did we ever cope before them???)

Either side of our path I am planting English Box or Buxus sempervirens. Maybe it's a bit kitsch but I love the formality of a small box hedge. I have planted tube-stock that I bought on Ebay (now how did we ever survive without Ebay???). 42 tubes for $50...bargain!!!! And they arrived well packaged and in very good condition. You might never have though about buying plants on Ebay but it's a great and cost effective way of buying smaller plants. I'm also a member of 'The Diggers Club' [www.diggers.com.au] https://diggers.com.au and they mail out live plants all the time! 

I used timber that I had salvaged from the old garden beds to create an edge then removed the grass, added extra compost to the soil and a bit of chicken manure for good measure and I was ready for planting. The tubes arrived about 2 weeks ago so I was really pleased to start getting them into the ground. 

You can see back towards the gate I have added a second row of 5 bricks. I needed a gap in the hedge to give access for the gas man to bring his trolley through to replace the gas tanks which are on this side of the house [one of the few times I have thought ahead and solved a problem that would have been a real headache in 8 months time when we needed a new gas bottle]. I still have to finish the hedge beyond those 5 bricks.

And this morning the pink decomposed granite has arrived; the finishing touch for the path. This granite is sometimes known as 'deco-granite' and it an excellent choice for paths and other areas where you would like a hard surface but don't want solid paving (or heaven forbid...concrete!!!!). There are generally 3 colours available; a yellow, reddish-brown, and pink. The pink is the most common and I think the softest colour and will really complement the tones in the paver edge. Decomposed granite particles can be from the size of a pea to the size of a grain of sand and all sizes in between. This is great as the particles will settle and compact and form a really solid base. Unlike gravel or pebbles, when the decomposed granite has 'set' it's very easy to use a plastic garden rake to clean up any leaves or twigs rather than having to use one of the power garden vacuum machines. We have already used this material in the side garden (pictured below) and have been really happy with the result.

One important thing to remember though is that decomposed granite is a stone; it's crushed so it has sharp and jagged edges that will soften very slowly over time. So it can be a bit uncomfortable to walk on in bare feet....but more importantly if you have lovely, shiny polished wooden floorboards.....TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF OUT SIDE......or you will have lots of lovely scratches on your shiny wood floors where the granite has imbedded itself into the tread of your shoes!

Dah Dahhhhhh!!!!!  It's complete; well....except for the rest of the hedge which is this afternoons job to install. And I have a very satisfying feeling that in a few years time with some clipping, shaping and nurturing the gardens of Bird Cottage will be looking something like this!!!!

So as the weather starts to cool don't forget there are many jobs to do in the garden to prepare for next year. A last-minute fertilise to get established plants through the winter and in many areas it's still warm enough to do your last minute planting and get the roots of new plants established. 

The wood-burning fire went on last night for the first time this year....a couple of week earlier than our neighbours had suggested with ANZAC Day being the turning point in the Highlands. But there was smoke coming from a few other chimneys in the street so we were no alone in feeling the cold. 

Time to rug up and finish planting that Buxus and before another storm descends on us!