It has been unseasonably warm here in Melbourne, and the garden is loving it (as are we!). We made the most of the beautiful sunny afternoon to do some planting and, as always, some eating! We put two grape vines in underneath the arch, which they will eventually grow up and over. We also planted rocket, spinach, coriander, swedes, turnips, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, parsnips and kale, so there's no doubt we will all be getting our greens this Winter! We rewarded ourselves for our hard work with a jar of peanut butter (thanks to Pippa!) and a few celery stalks. We are waging war against the dreaded slugs! Sadly kale, lettuce and romanesco broccoli have all been victims so far. Coffee grounds around the base of the plants seems to have helped somewhat, but apparently some slugs will stop at nothing to devour our precious seedlings. So here is our second tactic: an upturned terracotta pot. A passer by told us that slugs will crawl into it. Why? Not sure, but apparently it works better if you place a dish of beer under it to get the slugs drunk...so we may add that next week! And of course, there will be some beer left over for us. Celery with peanut butter The harvest - celery, Warrigal greens (native spinach), beetroot leaves, sorrel, Thai chillies and garlic chives. Not sure about everyone else, but I turned my share of the harvest into a delicious soup (the perfect end-of-semester-exam-panic comfort food). Handy tip: just like regular spinach, Warrigal greens contain oxalates so should be blanched before eating! You can check out more info about this edible native here: http://www.thebackyardfarmer.com.au/byf7/green.html Comments are closed.
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