Sustainable Organic Gardening

Smoking chickens!

Posted on:
April 23, 2015
Author:
Organic Mum
Smoked Chicken Breasts

Have you ever tried smoking your own chicken or fish? It’s very easy. You can use a dedicated smoker or a smoking box with wood-chips in your BBQ. Or you can use the black-tea method which is the easiest, cheapest and I think, most fun. To smoke the chicken breasts we used the black-tea method […]

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Autumn sowings

Posted on:
April 8, 2015
Author:
Earthwise
Strong Root

I like to grow my autumn plantings of the brassica family from seed rather than just buy generic seedlings. There are so many beautiful heirlooms to choose from: ‘Violet Sicilian’ cauliflower; ‘Red Winter’, ‘Cavolo Nero’ or ‘Blue Curled Scotch’ kale; vibrant red cabbage or ruffled savoy cabbage, indispensable broccoli, leaf mustards or Asian greens. The […]

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Peaches

Posted on:
December 10, 2014
Author:
Greenspoon

As the words of the song suggest, when I moved to the Country, eating a lot of peaches was on my to-do list. Peaches are one of those things that you have to enjoy while you can as the window can be small. Three weeks ago, I was picking the first early fruit and now […]

Posted in Kitchen, Organic Gardening | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

Ticked Off!

Posted on:
November 26, 2014
Author:
Lazy Gardener

It feels like it’s raining ticks at my place! I don’t know if it is a bad season for ticks generally or just in our garden. Every time we go into the garden my partner and I end up with not one but many ticks on us. Even our dog, Ebbie has had several removed […]

Posted in Organic Gardening | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Fennel – lovely fennel

Posted on:
November 11, 2014
Author:
Greenspoon

Fennel is one of those vegetables that shouts Mediterranean cuisine to me. If you like aniseed flavour as I do, add some finely chopped to dishes such as ratatouille, or minestrone and you will find it improves the depth and richness of flavour. It’s a vegetable well worth growing yourself as it really should be […]

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Calendula – make a date

Posted on:
August 11, 2014
Author:
Greenspoon

You might find the name of this flower a bit confusing as it is also called Pot Marigold or English Marigold, without actually being a marigold at all. I like to grow calendula in my vegetable garden; it adds a nice splash of colour and seems to readily self-sow. Calendula petals make a great addition […]

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White Asparagus – heavenly!

Posted on:
August 5, 2014
Author:
Lazy Gardener

I’ve just recently returned from a wonderful trip to Spain. My partner and I decided that the main aim of the trip was to eat and drink our way around this wonderful country. We even deliberately lost weight in preparation for the holiday! Well, we achieved what we set out to do – tasting some […]

Posted in Organic Gardening | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Tomatoes – the next generation!

Posted on:
April 1, 2014
Author:
Chook Whisperer
Tomato seed properly cleaned and dried can last up to nine years

With the last of the glorious, sweet summer tomatoes gracing our salad bowls, it’s time to save the seeds of our favourite types. If possible, save seed from the best-looking fruit on the healthiest plant. There are two simple methods for saving the seeds: the simplest “if I don’t do it now I won’t get […]

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Luffas – a whole new angle

Posted on:
February 11, 2014
Author:
Chook Whisperer
Small angled luffas topped and tailed

Angled luffa is a very popular ingredient in Asian cooking, especially in Thai or Chinese dishes. There are lots of yummy-sounding stir-fries, soups and noodle dishes featuring this versatile vegetable, but it is its suitability as a warm-climate stand-in for zucchini that’s the subject of this blog. Whereas squash and zucchini plants tend to suffer […]

Posted in Kitchen | Tags: , , , , | 7 Comments

The Beet goes on

Posted on:
January 30, 2014
Author:
Lazy Gardener
There are many varieties of beetroot

Remember the soggy sandwich made of white bread, coloured by mum’s tinned beetroot, sitting in plastic wrap at the bottom of your lunchbox? That lunch box ‘treat’ almost succeeded in putting me off beetroot for life… however I’ve re-established my relationship with beetroot over the past few years, knowing that fresh is best and trying […]

Posted in Kitchen, Organic Gardening | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments