Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue#6.1 i Good Organic Gardening

Ingredients • 500g plums • 2–3 tbsp honey • 2 tbsp muscat, port or sherry • Zest and juice of 1 large orange • 2 star anise • Butter (optional) Method 1 Halve and stone the plums and lay them in a single layer, cut side up, in a baking dish. 2 Drizzle honey and wine over plums. Sprinkle zest over and add orange juice and star anise. 3 Dot each plum with a tiny piece of butter (optional). 4 Bake at 200°C for 20–25 minutes until bubbling and soft but not falling apart. 5 Serve with mascarpone, crème frâiche or yoghurt. Tip: If your plums are very tart, you can sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar before cooking.…

VEGETABLES COOL & TEMPERATE Before planting for the season ahead, collect seeds from spent summer crops then clear away old growth. Store any seed you’re saving in a cool, dry spot and make sure each seed packet is clearly labelled with its name and date. Also remove old tomato, cucumber and bean stakes. Fork in compost to revive beds before planting seeds or seedlings. Plant broccoli, garlic, lettuce, onion, silverbeet and spinach now for late winter and spring harvests. In frost-free areas, also plant peas and broad beans. Tip: Harvest pumpkins with a piece of stem intact and keep them in a cool, dry spot for lengthy storage. TROPICAL With the heat and humidity of summer and the wet season over for now, it’s time to plant for the dry…

If you don’t have any saved seeds on hand, or are trying out a crop for the first time, there is a huge selection of seed varieties you can buy, but make sure you opt for the well-known, reputable brands for a high success rate. Not all seeds are created equal. Some plants, such as root crops, don’t respond very well to being transplanted so direct seeding has the best chance of success. This method is also well suited to quick-growing crops, which will naturally catch up to seedlings in a short time. Direct seeding is well suited to beans, beets, carrots, corn, cucumbers, garlic, lettuce, micro greens, parsnips, peas, pumpkins, radishes, squash, turnips and watermelon. However, buying seedlings instead of seeds can sometimes make more sense. Some plants, such…

Fennel is a dual-purpose plant grown for its soft, green aniseed-flavoured leaves as well as its crisp, crunchy, swollen stem base, which is normally termed a bulb. The variety sold as Florence fennel is grown for its broad, swollen stem and is the one to select for planting. Although fennel is an edible plant, it is also grown for the ornamental appearance of its foliage. Particularly favoured by gardeners is bronze fennel, which, as its name suggests, has bronze-toned leaves. Bronze fennel adds a plume-like haze to the flower garden and is a foil for gaudy summer and autumn blooms. Fennel label Common name: Fennel, finocchio Botanical name: Foeniculum vulgare Family: Apiaceae Aspect and soil: Sun; well-drained soil Best climate: Cool to subtropical Habit: Perennial herb Propagation: Seed Difficulty: Easy…

Serves 4 Ingredients • 4 chicken thighs • 1 large or 2 medium eggplants • Celtic sea salt • 2 tbsp coconut oil or ghee • 2 onions, peeled and diced • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced or crushed • 3 tsp curry powder • 1 cinnamon stick • 4 fresh or 2 cups canned diced tomatoes (liquid included) Method 1. Pre-heat oven to 160°C. 2. Dice the chicken into bite-size pieces and set aside. 3. Wash and cube the eggplant, then place in a colander set on a dish and sprinkle with several pinches of Celtic sea salt. Mix to combine well. Let sit for 1 hour, then rinse thoroughly and pat the eggplant dry. 4. In a large saucepan, heat coconut oil or ghee. Add half…

BUGS IN CLOSE-UP By Colin Hutton, New Holland, $29.99 The world of insects, under the extreme magnification of the macro lens, is a Technicolor monster movie. The stars of this stunning book could almost be alien invaders — and in a sense they are, as few of us are aware of the hidden realm beneath our feet. But Hollywood designers have taken note. As USA photographer Colin Hutton points out, praying mantises have a second mouth like the monster in the Alien films, while “the creatures from the movie District 9 were partly inspired by images of katydids”. Bugs in Close-up features larger-than-life images of bug-eyed monsters such as beetles, spiders and stick insects as well as tiny swarming critters including ants and bees. And not all of them are…

FREE THE SEED Seeds are central to the story of civilisation, but we’ve arrived at a crossroads. Will we continue to cultivate a diversity of traditional plant varieties as we’ve done for eons, saving seed for the next season, swapping and sharing as we go, or let governments pave the way for giant agro-chemical/seed corporations to “own” nature and control our food supply? It was the domestication of wild plants that enabled our shift from a nomadic way of life to living in settlements practising agriculture. Over hundreds of generations, farmers bred and selected wild species, saving seed for replanting. Thus our ancestors developed a diverse range of locally adapted foods with high levels of nutrition, passing down the cornucopia of foods we enjoy today. Then the industrial revolution happened,…

The delightfully named Bacchus Marsh, about a half-hour drive west of Melbourne, is a rural centre set in a fertile valley of orchards, market gardens and farmlets. Not far away, on the edge of the Lerderderg State Park, is Darley, where Michael and Petra Mikulic found their dream property. “We went for a drive and saw a For Sale sign,” recalls Petra. “There were no fences, no people and we decided to wander on the property and we fell in love with the views.” Close to the stores of Bacchus Marsh and the freeway to Melbourne, the property comprises 40 acres of valleys with pockets of cornfields, orchards and a vineyard. There are breathtaking vistas of surrounding hills and rivers and the prospect of bushwalks through the adjoining state forest…

VEGETABLES COOL & TEMPERATE Plant dormant asparagus, artichoke and rhubarb crowns into beds well enriched with compost or aged manure. If these crops are already in the vegetable garden, cover them with a mulch of manure and compost to feed the spring harvest. Also plant broad beans, lettuce, peas, shallots and spinach. Stagger plantings of lettuce and spinach to avoid a glut by planting new seedlings or sowing more seeds every three to four weeks. Help pea seedlings reach their climbing support by using temporary twig supports to allow them to climb onto trellises or stakes. Liquid-feed leafy winter crops such as silverbeet, spinach, lettuce, coriander and rocket. Apply liquid organic fertiliser every seven to 10 days. TROPICAL Continue to water all vegetables, especially where conditions are dry. Use an…

Mushrooms are not vegies or fruit. They’re not even plants — they’re macrofungi. However, they offer many health benefits that make them complementary to fruit and vegies in the diet; in fact, you could replace one of your five serves of vegies with a serve of mushrooms. Mushrooms produce vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, converting their abundant ergosterol to ergocalciferol (vitamin D 2 ). Commercially grown crops aren’t generally exposed to the sun, but you can give your own home-grown mushrooms a blast of sunshine after harvesting to make them rich in this important vitamin. They also contain beneficial amounts of the vitamins B 2 , B 3 , B 5 and folate, as well as significant amounts of the minerals chromium selenium, copper, phosphorus and potassium. These little…

Serves 4–6 as a side Ingredients • 100g spelt sourdough, torn or cut into small nail-sized pieces • 90mL melted ghee • 2 large fennel bulbs • 1 small knob butter • 3 tbsp chopped chives • 3 tbsp chopped thyme • 3 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley • Salt and pepper to taste Method 1. Preheat oven to 200°C. 2. Place breadcrumbs on a large baking tray and toss with 3 teaspoons of melted ghee. Bake for 8 minutes until semi-crisp and set aside. 3. Cut fennel in halves from root to top. Then cut each half into four wedges. 4. Heat a large frying pan and add 50mL of the ghee, then add the fennel and brown lightly on one side. 5. Once browned, add 75mL water and a…

One of the most satisfying times in the vegie garden is taking a garden fork and gently pushing it under a clump of potatoes. Lift up the fork and, as the soil falls away, you’ll discover a mass of potatoes. It is a moment to savour. Some will be large, others small but there’s nothing as delicious as boiled, mashed or baked home-grown potatoes. Summer-planted potatoes are ready to harvest now. Potatoes are a long-growing crop that takes four to five months to grow full-sized. Planting several varieties with differing growing times can help spread the harvest period. Popular varieties in Australia include ‘Desiree’, ‘Dutch Cream’, ‘Kennebec’, ‘Kipfler’ and ‘Nicola’, all of which have white flesh. For something a little different, plant a blue-skinned potato such as ‘Toolangi Delight’. Planting…

Q Is it worth growing echinacea for medicinal purposes? Is it easy to grow? A Whether you’re growing it for medicinal purposes or not, Echinacea purpurea is a fabulous plant to have in the garden. In fact, it’s one of summer and autumn’s biggest stars. With its daisy-like flowers — from purple to pink or white — and high central cones, you’ll often hear it called the coneflower. Blooming from summer well into autumn, it’s a splash of late colour in the garden, requiring little water but a magnet for bees and butterflies. North America’s Plains Indians used the plant to treat all kinds of ailments from insect bites to toothaches and it’s widely recognised for its immune-boosting and other medicinal properties. An infusion or tea can be made from…

Is there another vegetable as versatile and widely consumed as the onion? Is there one as celebrated in literature as well as in popular culture? To paraphrase Shrek, onions — like ogres — have layers. People of a certain age will remember that maddening novelty song from the 1960s, I Love Onions, but the truth is we humans have been loving this juicy bulb for an estimated 7000 years. The ancient Egyptians saw in its spherical, multilayered form a symbol of eternal life and onion has been detected in the eye sockets of mummies, as if applied as a tincture to see the departed through the afterlife. Onions were considered a blood tonic by Greek athletes and rubbed on Roman gladiators to firm their muscles. In the Middle Ages, onions…

Brown layer: This includes dry or dead grasses, weeds and some tree leaves (not too many as tree leaves are harder to break down). The brown layer supplies carbon, which is the building block of life. High carbon content breaks down slowly, so you need to add nitrogen to speed up the decomposition process. Nitrogen layer: Manure, kitchen scraps, mulch from nitrogen plants such as pigeon pea, pinto peanut or other legumes will supply the nitrogen. Green layer: This includes freshly cut grasses and weeds (don’t worry as the heat, over 50°C, will destroy the viability of weed seeds). We like using weeds as they are a valuable source of natural minerals and are aimed at balancing the soil. Catalyst: You can add a catalyst if you have one but…

By saving seeds from cherished crops, you can reproduce the plants you love, year after year, without cost. What’s more, seeds saved from your garden will already be adapted to your soil, climate and garden conditions and will have a high germination rate. Beyond the realm of your garden, the practice of saving seeds fosters wonderful heirloom varieties that represent a vast pool of genetic characteristics. This decreases the likelihood of varieties disappearing in the future, creating biodiversity in the food chain to protect us against plagues, crop failures or changing environmental conditions. However, not every seed is worth saving. Understanding the difference between open-pollinating, cross-pollinating, self-pollinating, heirloom and hybrid varieties will help you decide which seeds to sow and which to throw. HYBRID Hybrids are the result of a…

When the ground temperature goes below 0°C, frost forms as the moisture in humid air freezes and settles — pretty to look at but potentially deadly for plants! Light frost forms at −2 to 0°C; hard frost forms below -2°C. Plant damage occurs when ice forms inside the plant tissue; the frozen water expands, causing plant cells to burst. Freeze damage can also occur without frost. The extent of damage depends mostly on how quickly the temperature drops and how quickly the thaw happens. Too fast is too bad. Vegies prone to damage from frost include vines and nightshades. Vegies that don’t mind or actually like frost include root vegetables, leafy greens and brassicas. In relation to frost sensitivity, plants fall into four categories: tender, slightly hardy, moderately hardy and…

Serves 4 as a side Ingredients • 1 small or ½ large cauliflower, cut into florets • 1 tbsp butter • ½ leek, finely sliced • 1 onion, chopped • 3 rashers bacon, chopped • 5 sage leaves • Salt & pepper to taste Method 1. Steam the cauliflower over a double boiler until just cooked through and put aside. 2. In a large sauté pan or Thermomix, melt the butter and sauté the leek, onion and bacon until tender. 3. Combine the cauliflower and bacon mix together with the sage and blend in a food processor or Thermomix on number 5 for 20 seconds. 4. Season with salt and pepper and perhaps another small knob of butter. 5. Enjoy on its own or as a side dish with your…

Serves 4 Ingredients • 4 large baking potatoes (Desirée are great for baking) • 50g butter • 1 brown onion, finely sliced • Fresh chopped chives • Sprig fresh thyme (leaves taken off the stalk) • Salt and pepper • 100mL chicken stock • 100mL cream • 1 cup grated mature cheddar (optional) • 60g ghee • 4 fillets fresh ocean trout • 400g green beans, topped and tailed Method 1. Wash and slice the potatoes, about ½cm thick. 2. Boil or steam the potatoes. 3. Meanwhile, melt butter and sauté onion until soft, then sprinkle in the chives and thyme and season with salt and pepper. 4. Add stock and stir in cream. 5. Arrange potato slices in greased 5cm-deep glass or ceramic baking dish. 6. Pour the onion…

Ingredients • ½–1 cup Celtic sea salt (not table salt, which is bleached, iodised and contains nasty chemicals) • 8-10 lemons • Extra freshly squeezed lemon juice, if needed Method 1. Put 2 tablespoons of Celtic salt in the bottom of a sterilised Mason jar. 2. Scrub the lemons clean and cut off 6mm from their tips. 3. Cut the lemons in half lengthwise, keeping each lemon attached at the base — do not cut all the way through. Then, make another cut the same way, as if you were cutting the lemons into quarters, but not all the way through. 4. Gently pull open the lemons and sprinkle well with Celtic salt, inside and out. 5. Put the prepared lemons in your jar and press them down so their…

VICTORIA Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival 11–17 May Preston City Hall & various Preston locations This annual celebration of the food traditions and sustainable food philosophies of the culturally diverse residents in and around Preston, in Melbourne’s inner north, is a mostly free program of seminars and workshops, culminating in a competition that champions home-grown produce, where you can meet the modest makers and taste their wonderful wares. The program includes demonstrations on how to keep bees, pickle olives, brew beer and make your own feta, among other topics. One of the sessions will feature Robbie Kershaw and his impressive aquaponics garden (see page 34). darebinarts.com.au/foodandwine Cruden Farm Open Garden 10 May, 10am–4.30pm 60 Cranbourne Road, Langwarrin Cruden Farm is the renowned garden of the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch…