Date: 6/06/2009 13:01:01
From: pepe
ID: 58139
Subject: peps in june
barley green manure crop – with cowdung and woodash added between the rows. i’m forking it over today.
barley green manure crop – with cowdung and woodash added between the rows. i’m forking it over today.
ms peps is rejuvenating the front garden that was pretty well destroyed by the drought
the carob is flowering abundantly
what’s this plant?
pepe said:
ms peps is rejuvenating the front garden that was pretty well destroyed by the drought
Oooh looks fabulous.. I’m so jealous of households with two gardeners! :D
pepe said:
barley green manure crop – with cowdung and woodash added between the rows. i’m forking it over today.
Looks great… can I have some of your energy??? Thunder forecast for this arvo….
pepe said:
the carob is flowering abundantly
what’s this plant?
Dunno Pepe, but its pretty…… looks familiar though
Oooh looks fabulous.. I’m so jealous of households with two gardeners! :D
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well bon – she’s working out the front and i’m working out the back – so by the time we each finish weeding and meet in the middle – it will be spring LOL.
Looks great… can I have some of your energy??? Thunder forecast for this arvo….
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two thirds done – i will finish this arvo – its wet enough to fork but not too wet – so i’m going as fast as i can.
It’s all looking very good, Pepe. Mrs P has done a lovely job on the front too.
The pink flowering plant is a Justicia – I have one and it does like a drink!!
pepe said:
the carob is flowering abundantly
what’s this plant?
Pretty certain it’s Justicia carnea. Someone else has probably beaten me to it already. Lucky you! Lovely plant and they grow from cuttings quite easily. The honeyeaters love the pollen and from memory they flower in winter when not much else does so add much appreciated winter colour. I have it’s relative, Justicia coccinea, with red flower spikes…slightly different flower form, not as showy as J. carnea.
hortfurball said:
pepe said:
the carob is flowering abundantly
what’s this plant?
Pretty certain it’s Justicia carnea. Someone else has probably beaten me to it already. Lucky you! Lovely plant and they grow from cuttings quite easily. The honeyeaters love the pollen and from memory they flower in winter when not much else does so add much appreciated winter colour. I have it’s relative, Justicia coccinea, with red flower spikes…slightly different flower form, not as showy as J. carnea.
My white one has gone to god. There’s a yellow form as well but i haven’t managed to get one yet.
ok – justica carnea – thanks ladies.
speaking of ladies – my daughter says the cocktail with whole limes in it is called ‘magneto’ or ‘magnito’ – she just drinks them and her flatmate is the creator. i haven’t been able to find it.
hortfurball said:
pepe said:
the carob is flowering abundantly
what’s this plant?
Pretty certain it’s Justicia carnea. Someone else has probably beaten me to it already. Lucky you! Lovely plant and they grow from cuttings quite easily. The honeyeaters love the pollen and from memory they flower in winter when not much else does so add much appreciated winter colour. I have it’s relative, Justicia coccinea, with red flower spikes…slightly different flower form, not as showy as J. carnea.
I’d say that it is one of those too. We have a whole heap of them growing in the gardens at uni.
what we picked for tonight’s salad.
some good eating there pepe :)
How lovely and fresh it looks! Enjoy :)
orchid40 said:
How lovely and fresh it looks! Enjoy :)
yep – by tomorrow it will be a lot less sweet – that’s why the home grower has the advantage over retail.
i reckon even kids would eat this stuff – fresh lettuce rolled up with sugar – yum.
pepe said:
what we picked for tonight’s salad.
Do you do drive way service or home delivery????????????????
Oh! Lettuce with sugar! I’ve never tried that . Sounds YUM.
I like the Vietnamese (I think) way of using lettuce. Use it to wrap savoury mince dishes and eat as finger food.
orchid40 said:
Oh! Lettuce with sugar! I’ve never tried that . Sounds YUM.
doesn’t appeal to me…
bluegreen said:
I like the Vietnamese (I think) way of using lettuce. Use it to wrap savoury mince dishes and eat as finger food.
Like chow mien on the back of the chicken noodle soup packet????? We had that with rice last night and I have left over in the fridge…. enough for maybe that or on toast.
bluegreen said:
orchid40 said:
Oh! Lettuce with sugar! I’ve never tried that . Sounds YUM.
doesn’t appeal to me…
I agree…………. sounds sinful to do that to a home grown organic lettuce…….:)
Lucky1 said:
pepe said:
what we picked for tonight’s salad.
Do you do drive way service or home delivery????????????????
its funny how we’ve had virtually no lettuce in the garden for two or three years due to pest, disease or ‘i forgot to plant them’. so you guts yourself on them when you fluke a good crop.
you should have your own – i’ll be knocking at your door when i run short LOL.
pepe said:
Lucky1 said:
pepe said:
what we picked for tonight’s salad.
Do you do drive way service or home delivery????????????????
its funny how we’ve had virtually no lettuce in the garden for two or three years due to pest, disease or ‘i forgot to plant them’. so you guts yourself on them when you fluke a good crop.
you should have your own – i’ll be knocking at your door when i run short LOL.
Gosh Pepe. We’re over run with the little beauties………………………many thanks for that…. must take a pic and show you.
Lucky1 said:
bluegreen said:
orchid40 said:
Oh! Lettuce with sugar! I’ve never tried that . Sounds YUM.
doesn’t appeal to me…
I agree…………. sounds sinful to do that to a home grown organic lettuce…….:)
chuckle, chuckle, chuckle …. all the more for me …. third leaf with sugar coming up LOL.
bluegreen said:
I like the Vietnamese (I think) way of using lettuce. Use it to wrap savoury mince dishes and eat as finger food.
does sound good – you’ve got me thinking.
frenzal_chik said:
hortfurball said:
pepe said:
the carob is flowering abundantly
what’s this plant?
Pretty certain it’s Justicia carnea. Someone else has probably beaten me to it already. Lucky you! Lovely plant and they grow from cuttings quite easily. The honeyeaters love the pollen and from memory they flower in winter when not much else does so add much appreciated winter colour. I have it’s relative, Justicia coccinea, with red flower spikes…slightly different flower form, not as showy as J. carnea.
I’d say that it is one of those too. We have a whole heap of them growing in the gardens at uni.
looks like my spelling was good Pepe. :D
I noticed you’d left the ‘i’ out yesterday but just presumed it was a typo so didn’t bother to say anything. Probably should have. Oh well.
bluegreen said:
I like the Vietnamese (I think) way of using lettuce. Use it to wrap savoury mince dishes and eat as finger food.
San Choy Bow and it’s Chinese.
pepe said:
what we picked for tonight’s salad.
drool…
Every time I see pics like that, it really makes me want to grab my shovel and run out to get the last of the couch out of the vegie beds so I can get started, but I have stuff to do as as soon as I’ve caught up here and must be strong and wait until next weekend. :(
hortfurball said:
pepe said:
what we picked for tonight’s salad.
drool…
Every time I see pics like that, it really makes me want to grab my shovel and run out to get the last of the couch out of the vegie beds so I can get started, but I have stuff to do as as soon as I’ve caught up here and must be strong and wait until next weekend. :(
two square feet would easily produce all of that. over and over again..
Lucky1 said:
bluegreen said:
orchid40 said:
Oh! Lettuce with sugar! I’ve never tried that . Sounds YUM.
doesn’t appeal to me…
I agree…………. sounds sinful to do that to a home grown organic lettuce…….:)
Oh you haven’t lived until you try that!
Sweet memories :)
roughbarked said:
hortfurball said:
pepe said:
what we picked for tonight’s salad.
drool…
Every time I see pics like that, it really makes me want to grab my shovel and run out to get the last of the couch out of the vegie beds so I can get started, but I have stuff to do as as soon as I’ve caught up here and must be strong and wait until next weekend. :(
two square feet would easily produce all of that. over and over again..
I don’t have 2 square feet free of couch yet…and I have the washing machine to fix and a design to finish before 6.30, which is in 2 hours, so not happening today, much as I’d like it to. I already moved the worm farm this morning, which became a bit of a task because the slabbed area slopes so I removed a slab, levelled the ground, fiddled around to get the balance right because the unit has an extra leg in the centre (so 5 in total) that some WALLY in the design dept decided would be good if it was 1/2 an inch longer than the other 4 legs!
Oops, sorry Pepe…thread hijacker at large.
Happy Potter said:
Lucky1 said:
bluegreen said:doesn’t appeal to me…
I agree…………. sounds sinful to do that to a home grown organic lettuce…….:)
Oh you haven’t lived until you try that!
Sweet memories :)
I think we might have put it on cucumber as well.
Bubba Louie said:
bluegreen said:
I like the Vietnamese (I think) way of using lettuce. Use it to wrap savoury mince dishes and eat as finger food.
San Choy Bow and it’s Chinese.
OK, only I had it in a Vietnamese restaurant, so maybe they have their own variation?
bluegreen said:
Bubba Louie said:
bluegreen said:
I like the Vietnamese (I think) way of using lettuce. Use it to wrap savoury mince dishes and eat as finger food.
San Choy Bow and it’s Chinese.
OK, only I had it in a Vietnamese restaurant, so maybe they have their own variation?
I’ve been googling and it appears they do, but it doesn’t seem to have a specific name or recipe like the Chinese. it’s just more a way of serving than an actual dish.
Radicchio – these self sown plants are twice the size i was able to achieve last summer. it’s interesting because maggie beer and pricey restaurants are using it. officially “its a leaf chicory, it can be grilled and roasted and it adds colour and zest to salads” (i’m quoting wiki)
One of my favourites, Pepe!
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i’m hoping they are radicchio – they are self sown and not as red or as bitter as some varieties apparently. it is an interesting plant Dinetta – how do you use it ?
pepe said:
One of my favourites, Pepe!
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i’m hoping they are radicchio – they are self sown and not as red or as bitter as some varieties apparently. it is an interesting plant Dinetta – how do you use it ?
Hi Pepe
That post was in the June Chat thread…I was referring to the joke…sorry…
(Puts radicchio on her list of things to grow for salad greens…)
Try here, Pepe
http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/radicchio.htm
Hi Pepe hat post was in the June Chat thread…I was referring to the joke…sorry…(Puts radicchio on her list of things to grow for salad greens…)
—————
i’m confused.
the radicchio recipe was interesting tho’ – quarter the picked head and grille with cheese.
we fried radicchio tonight with dried toms and feta – and had with my famous (at home) shallow fried chips.
pepe said:
Hi Pepe hat post was in the June Chat thread…I was referring to the joke…sorry…(Puts radicchio on her list of things to grow for salad greens…)
—————
i’m confused.
the radicchio recipe was interesting tho’ – quarter the picked head and grille with cheese.
we fried radicchio tonight with dried toms and feta – and had with my famous (at home) shallow fried chips.
I’m “in suspenders” here…how did the fried radicchio etc come up?
I’m “in suspenders” here…how did the fried radicchio etc come up?
—————————————————
yep it was good.
it’s kind of leathery and doesn’t have the crisp bite of a lettuce.
so we will probably cook with it. the problem is that much of our garden harvest is lettuce atm – and yet it’s cold here – so we are looking around for hot food uses for lettuce.
pepe said:
I’m “in suspenders” here…how did the fried radicchio etc come up?
—————————————————yep it was good.
it’s kind of leathery and doesn’t have the crisp bite of a lettuce.
so we will probably cook with it. the problem is that much of our garden harvest is lettuce atm – and yet it’s cold here – so we are looking around for hot food uses for lettuce.
Petits Pois! French classic, baby peas cooked with lettuce.
Bubba Louie said:
pepe said:
I’m “in suspenders” here…how did the fried radicchio etc come up?
—————————————————yep it was good.
it’s kind of leathery and doesn’t have the crisp bite of a lettuce.
so we will probably cook with it. the problem is that much of our garden harvest is lettuce atm – and yet it’s cold here – so we are looking around for hot food uses for lettuce.
Petits Pois! French classic, baby peas cooked with lettuce.
Make that Petit Pois.
Bubba Louie said:
Bubba Louie said:
pepe said:
I’m “in suspenders” here…how did the fried radicchio etc come up?
—————————————————yep it was good.
it’s kind of leathery and doesn’t have the crisp bite of a lettuce.
so we will probably cook with it. the problem is that much of our garden harvest is lettuce atm – and yet it’s cold here – so we are looking around for hot food uses for lettuce.
Petits Pois! French classic, baby peas cooked with lettuce.
Make that Petit Pois.
http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/france/peas.html
Bubba Louie said:
Bubba Louie said:
Bubba Louie said:Petits Pois! French classic, baby peas cooked with lettuce.
Make that Petit Pois.
http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/france/peas.html
I’m on a roll now.
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=11102
Do you eat fish.
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=15367
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=22157
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=33756
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=79997
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=79999
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=106409
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=122299
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=141053
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=150474
http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=150493
I could keep going but that’s a start.
trouble is..if you have lot of lettuce.. you need to be eating a lot of what goes in the lettuce as filling.
Sure you can munch on lettuce all day if you like doing that.
However, your worms, your chooks, ducks, geese will all make better uses of it. even your rabbits..
Don’t forget your compost heap in all of the above.
In fact quite a lot of my garden waste goes through the budgie cage.. and if I ate budgies and their eggs.. I’d have enough food right there.
pepe said:
I’m “in suspenders” here…how did the fried radicchio etc come up?
—————————————————yep it was good.
it’s kind of leathery and doesn’t have the crisp bite of a lettuce.
so we will probably cook with it. the problem is that much of our garden harvest is lettuce atm – and yet it’s cold here – so we are looking around for hot food uses for lettuce.
Tacos! In fact just about any Mexican food is served with lettuce and tomato, and you don’t get much hotter than Mexican, LOL!
roughbarked said:
trouble is..if you have lot of lettuce.. you need to be eating a lot of what goes in the lettuce as filling.
Sure you can munch on lettuce all day if you like doing that. However, your worms, your chooks, ducks, geese will all make better uses of it. even your rabbits..
which is why I don’t often bother with lettuce. don’t eat is much as a rule, even though it is so easy to grow.
it’s easy to make liquid manure. just add water to the manure from your chook shed. it’s best to mix in four times the volume of water so you can stir it for 2 weeks. then you screen and bottle.
i now have 12 litres of liquipoo ready to go. it saves buying ‘thrive’, ‘phostogen’ and ‘aquasol’ and it is superior to all those products.
silver beet and celery.
there’s enough s.beet to give us a spinach and feta pie tonight.
the celery has had boards placed to either side to force its upward growth and to blanche it.
pepe said:
silver beet and celery.
there’s enough s.beet to give us a spinach and feta pie tonight.
the celery has had boards placed to either side to force its upward growth and to blanche it.
and some to give to the chooks?
veg gardener said:
pepe said:
silver beet and celery.
there’s enough s.beet to give us a spinach and feta pie tonight.
the celery has had boards placed to either side to force its upward growth and to blanche it.
and some to give to the chooks?
yep – chooks are getting s.beet, old brassica leaves and the outer leaves of lettuce (as well as weeds) at present. but i’m not going to tell them about the luxury some one’s birds are living in LOL.
pepe said:
veg gardener said:
pepe said:
silver beet and celery.
there’s enough s.beet to give us a spinach and feta pie tonight.
the celery has had boards placed to either side to force its upward growth and to blanche it.
and some to give to the chooks?
yep – chooks are getting s.beet, old brassica leaves and the outer leaves of lettuce (as well as weeds) at present. but i’m not going to tell them about the luxury some one’s birds are living in LOL.
lol, mine get the S.beet grown for them……to cold to wash them for the up coming show next weekend.
lol, mine get the S.beet grown for them……to cold to wash them for the up coming show next weekend.
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build them a spa bath – they’ve got everything else LOL.
just joking – you are showing them and goodonya.
mine have regrown their feathers – so they look all new – but not a single egg from the bludgers at present.
pepe said:
lol, mine get the S.beet grown for them……to cold to wash them for the up coming show next weekend.
—
build them a spa bath – they’ve got everything else LOL.
just joking – you are showing them and goodonya.
mine have regrown their feathers – so they look all new – but not a single egg from the bludgers at present.
lol, they got a big dam but dont go near it. 3-4 eggs a day could be getting 3 on top of that but the old layers have just finished moult.
pepe said:
it’s easy to make liquid manure. just add water to the manure from your chook shed. it’s best to mix in four times the volume of water so you can stir it for 2 weeks. then you screen and bottle.
i now have 12 litres of liquipoo ready to go. it saves buying ‘thrive’, ‘phostogen’ and ‘aquasol’ and it is superior to all those products.
I can’t wait til I get chookies for this reason, well and the eggs too of course!
pepe said:
silver beet and celery.
there’s enough s.beet to give us a spinach and feta pie tonight.
Oh YUM!!!
its getting close to the shortest day of the year (winter solstice about june 21) and i can feel the bite in my fingers. the 15 week old garden is looking after itself more or less.
i’m thinning out rocket, dill, stinging nettle and parsley which was allowed to self seed, but now is cramping the space. my brassicas should have been planted at one metre spacings but were planted at less than half that, so are now crowded.
picking – broccoli, silver beet, lettuce (mignonette, cos, coral), parsley, dill, rocket and not much else.
growing but not ready – broad beans, peas (greenfeast and snow), carrots, celery, garlic, onions, leeks, toms, spinach, cabbage and brussel sprouts.
it always sounds good when listed.
pepe said:
its getting close to the shortest day of the year (winter solstice about june 21) and i can feel the bite in my fingers. the 15 week old garden is looking after itself more or less.
i’m thinning out rocket, dill, stinging nettle and parsley which was allowed to self seed, but now is cramping the space. my brassicas should have been planted at one metre spacings but were planted at less than half that, so are now crowded.picking – broccoli, silver beet, lettuce (mignonette, cos, coral), parsley, dill, rocket and not much else.
growing but not ready – broad beans, peas (greenfeast and snow), carrots, celery, garlic, onions, leeks, toms, spinach, cabbage and brussel sprouts.
it always sounds good when listed.
Brassicas actually don’t mind being crowded.. as long as they are fed well enough.
Brassicas actually don’t mind being crowded.. as long as they are fed well enough.
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i have top dressed with manures three times for that reason. the soil around the bottom stems of the brassicas is ridiculously fertile. i don’t think that they will suffer from ‘softness’ that some trendy gardeners seem to think will come from over fertilisation. time will tell.
pepe said:
Brassicas actually don’t mind being crowded.. as long as they are fed well enough.
——————————
i have top dressed with manures three times for that reason. the soil around the bottom stems of the brassicas is ridiculously fertile. i don’t think that they will suffer from ‘softness’ that some trendy gardeners seem to think will come from over fertilisation. time will tell.
They’ll only eat what they need.
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that’s an interesting theory as well.
so far i’ve build up the stems of the broccoli with cowdung (30mm), straw (100mm), pigeon poo (neat but thin), sweepings from the henhouse floor (70mm).
i think i’ll add some dolomite lime and more straw because the pigeon poo turned the straw to a black sludge in about three weeks.
somewhere between – nitrogen drawdown, availability of nutrients to roots, an already aged and organically rich soil, the mixture of minerals and the presence of worms in large numbers – lies the answer. i have no idea if the plant roots are selective in what they choose to digest, or how long it takes for top dressings to become available to the roots, or if worms mix and modify the ingredients in time to prevent nitrogen poisoning, or indeed, if soil fungi are working in some way to predigest organic matter.
the resident murray magpie has discovered that one corner of our pool cover is turned up because some of our pond plants are living underwater on the pool steps. each day this bird fishes successfully for big fat taddies. he has the resource all to himself. there are hundreds of tadpoles living in the untreated, black pool water. can wild birds put on excessive weight ?
broad beans, cabbages and onion seedlings
Nice looking vegies Pepe, as always.
WOW! Look at those luscious healthy broad beans!
pepe said:
broad beans, cabbages and onion seedlings
Looks delicious!
thanks for the comments
i am preparing a 3×15m bed for spuds – i forked the green manure in but it didn’t break down in this weather and the grasses grew again – so now i’m raking and hoeing to prepare the soil more.
i’m planting early (next two weeks) and mulching heavily because its an unirrigated crop.
i bought 10 kilos of chats for seed yesterday.