Pink tassled Hawaiian corn and pink leaved magenta spreen in the background. February 2018
February’s been hot and sunny as well as soggy and wet, but I’ve been grateful for the rain, as I haven’t had to water so much, and my water tanks are full for watering the potted plants when they dry out. I keep saucers under them to help keep them moist. The hay I used as a mulch over most of the garden proved invaluable in holding in moisture when it was dry and controlling weeds.
I’m so thrilled that from a lawn I’ve produced so much food. I’ve preserved tomatoes and frozen beans, eaten corn, beans and oodles of courgettes that so quickly turned into marrows. I’ve enjoyed pestos and luscious salads from the plentiful greens like lettuce, mizuna, magenta spreen, basil, amaranth, galensoga and now purslane, the plant very high in omega 3 fatty acid. I’m now collecting seeds of the weeds and vegetable plants to pass on to others and to grow next season. I’ve also been drying these leafy plants in the warming drawer of the oven. You could also put them in a
February produce
paper bag in the airing cupboard. When they are crispy dry I rub them to get the leaf off the stalk and then between my hands break them down as small as I can. You could put them in a coffee grinder to really powder them. I’ll add them to soup in winter or to my smoothies, not that I really ever have a shortage of greens.
It’s a big job running this garden on my own, so I signed up as a Wwoofing host. This term is an abbreviation for ‘Willing workers on organic farms’. In exchange for board and food, these travellers put in four or five hours of work per day. I’ve already had some very interesting, skilled, friendly folk. The first ones were an Italian couple who trimmed
Stir fry all from the garden
the hedge, put edging inside the greenhouse, weeded out some kikuyu as well as painting and artistically decorating the bird table. A young german woman was handy with a chain saw and we got all the avocado logs cut up and stored for winter. Some of the wood was curved so I’ve used that around the fruit trees as a border for keeping in the mulch of seaweed, rock solid (ground basalt rock) and grass clippings. I’m trialling using comfrey plants as a border around fruit trees to control the kikuyu.
Speaking of kikuyu, I got intensely active one day hacking at its long runners that happened to be growing under the beehives when I was given a strong message by a bunch of bees who came for me. Instinct totally kicked in and I ran, was then reminded by a friend to stand still, which did calm them down. But not before I received 6 stings, resulting in a swollen lip and chin and club like right hand. I bandaged over my hand bruised plantain leaves and the swelling went down in two days without itching, which impressed me.
The moral of the story is to move slowly and calmly around the hives.
March is Sustainable Backyard month. I’ll be running three edible-weed workshops. Two will be from home here in Greerton which is exciting. Check the calendar of events here. Or google Sustainable Backyard 2018. www.juliasedibleweeds.com/workshops
