Big gardening day today.

Lots of tidying up in the garden today. The broad bean plants went to the compost, the 1st silver beet which gave us so many meals went off to the compost heap.

The water Iris is flowering it’s a beautiful pinky lilac colour.

I solved the water chestnut problem. My $3 boot tarp from Bunnings propped up  with bricks filled with dirt makes a perfect bath for the water chestnuts.

The santorini tomato seedlings are planted with marigolds and basil.

The potting mix I bought turned out to be a 5 in 1 food for the garden so I sprinkled it on the new garden beds.

It was such a great day.  I tidied and straightened. Planted and pulled out. It was the day when winter left the garden and spring started to bloom. Tomorrow I will plant more lettuce and silver beet ready for summer.

And what did I eat tonight. A vegetable risotto with a small cabbage that came up by itself from a piece of cabbage.  Lamb shanks with lentils and the last of the broadbeans cooked in my new toy a pressure cooker.

The lamb shanks were so tender and cooked in under an hour.

Life is so good with a garden enjoy leafy green thanks for visiting RosieG

Coriander Flowers and Fresh Mint Garnish

 

It has been a frantically busy week.  Cleaning the office on Saturday. Working at the market on Sunday, errands after work Monday and to top everything yesterday the Dr called the good man and said you have a melanoma come tonight and I will take it out.  So his poor arm is swathed in bandages but he is very happy because everything nasty is gone.  It doesn’t end tomorrow after work the twins are off to the orthodontist.  Roll on Saturday. I think I will sleep all day.

But today is a good day. At my work we spent the whole day learning about different agricultural shade fabrics and how they work, how plants grow and thrive under them. Roses love a photo red fabric, apples love blue. It was amazing to see the difference in the grapes grown under shade or grown out in the open. Bigger grapes, a higher yield.  It was fascinating learning about plants and how they grow, and what they need.

I had a little bit of time tonight and worked on my hole full of stones.  It is almost cleared now and is looking more like a garden bed. Hopefully this weekend I will be be able to plant the last few seed potatoes.

Dinner – what would a busy mum do without leftovers.  Rice was cooked with Broad beans from the garden. The left over chicken was stirred through the rice, and garnished with Coriander Flowers and fresh Mint.  The leftover roasted tomatoes were whizzed into a sauce and dinner was served. With lots of food from the garden.   Leafy greens provided by Coriander flowers and mint.

Coriander flowers are very pretty delicate white flowers with a lovely soft coriander flavour combined with the fresh mint they lifted the chicken already flavoured with turmeric and galangal into a very different meal from Sunday night.

Finally Broad Beans :-)

Tonight I picked my first crop of Broad beans.

April 23rd the first broad bean seedling peeps out.

It was the 2nd sowing. The first seeds were sown directly into a garden bed and were rained on day after day. They never showed up.

Broad beans need to be kept dry for 10 days after sowing.  So the second sowing went into tubes, was given a good watering then put under cover where the sun could reach them but not the rain.

            

Once all the seedlings had come up, they were planted into the garden.  One little issue with aphids. At first I tried washing them off with soapy water but that didn’t really work.  So I sprayed them. That worked and after that the plants thrived.

                          I cooked the beans with Rice and Olive Oil,  added a salad of fresh tomato and home sprouted mung beans and dinner became delicious and healthy

To cook Rice and Broadbeans.

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil, stir through one and half cups long grain rice, saute until rice is translucent.  Add three cups of water and one tsp salt.  Bring to boil, turn heat to medium and simmer until the water is gone and there are holes in the rice. Tip the broad beans on top of the rice, cover with a lid and turn heat to low, leave on heat for ten minutes. Turn heat off, leave pan sitting on stove top covered for another 10 minutes. Stir beans gently through rice and serve.