Kitchen Garden Guides

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

2018 Kitchen Garden Guide

 

As the heat of the Tasmanian sun reduces a little this time of year we have been enjoying day after day of perfect weather for gardening. I have been gathering some more edible, Tasmanian plants for my garden including a prostrate form of Podocarpus lawrencei, the mountain plum pine, which has the lovely red berries I saw when walking in the Hartz mountains recently. I have also planted a few unusual herbs, including vanilla grass (Hierochloe odorata), which tastes and smells remarkably like vanilla.

The arc of the sun is distinctly lower and the days shorter so, although it is warm, plants will be increasingly slower to grow…. except the weeds! Many people in Europe still forage, not just for mushrooms, but for winter herbs and greens and roots which are native to their lands. Many of them grow wild in our gardens but we silly Australians pull them out, calling them weeds and give them to the chooks, who happily devour them because they are not so prejudiced! There is an excellent Australian book called The Weed Foragers’ Handbook, which I highly recommend. Soon, you will be eating from the garden without planting anything at all!

Autumn is a wonderful time for harvesting mushrooms, kale, French sorrel, salad leaves, early broccoli, rainbow chard, the last of our summer vegetables, the first of the winter weeds and a myriad of fabulous apples, pears and quinces. Many kitchens are bulging at the seams with preserves. Bring on winter and cosy nights by the fire with some home-made cassis and quince paste served with a delicious, local cheese

Garlic

Plant out hard neck varieties in May and even June. In spring they will produce tall, curly, green stems called scapes, which are fabulously delicious. I leave some to grow scapes but most I cut off so more energy goes into growing the bulbs. These will be ready to harvest in January or even February and have a hard stem, right down into the garlic head. In a wet summer, these survive better than the softnecks as they are less prone to rot because of the way they grow tight around the hard neck.

Check out Tasmanian Gourmet Garlic website and Facebook page for excellent, local information about growing garlic.

Energy

Energy is everywhere and now is the time to think about how to make your life attuned to capturing and storing it. In a handful of seeds is the energy to start a whole season’s food. In a bale of hay is the energy from a year’s pasture growth, ready to decompose and feed the microbes in your soil, which in turn feed your food garden. In a jar of fermented pickles are the fruits of a plant’s labour and millions of bacteria all working to provide your gut with life and energy. In a brick fireplace is stored the energy from the heat of firewood; trees that have grown for many years, capturing energy enough to warm us all winter. In water is the energy of life, without which nothing on earth can live.

Which is the opposite of wasting energy - by driving cars out of your zone to get food, by draining your land instead of harnessing the water, by burning piles of prunings instead of making hugels or mulch, by throwing away your food scraps instead of making compost or worm farms, by buying food brought in from other lands, by using up oil reserves (eg in cling film, disposable bags, foam trays) we should be saving for important uses like saving lives.

Shop locally, really locally, starting in your backyard and those of your neighbours and friends. Participate in local Crop Swaps. Go to your most local market and small, ethical shops. Eat what is there! Read books like The Food Clock by Fast Ed Halmagyi to help bring the joy of the seasons into your kitchen, your life and the future of humanity!

Cuttings and division

Now is the perfect time for softwood cuttings of deciduous plants like grape vines, glory vines and black currants as well as for rosemary, Chilean guavas and other evergreen edibles. Cut lengths of new grape vine growth to include 4 buds. Put into a damp, light, potting mix deep enough for 2 buds to go below the soil and two above. A cheap potting mix with no added nutrients is best. With rosemary and other evergreens, strip the leaves off the bottom 2/3 of a cutting and place into potting mix. You can put several in a pot. Cover with a plastic bag secure with a rubber band. Leave in a sheltered place and keep just damp, not wet, until spring. Check for root growth and pot up to grow on further or leave longer. Don’t let them get too hot or dry out.

I have been dividing clumps of French sorrel, which is a beautiful, lemony leaf that grows all year and is delicious in salads and commonly in soup, in France. Here’s a recipe search tip…. Translate an ingredient (eg sorrel) into the language of the cuisine where it is commonly used (ie French, in this case, oseille). Then type oseille recette into the search bar and voila! You have dozens of genuine French recipes for using sorrel, which can then easily be translated into English!

Sow in the garden now

Plant in the garden now

Broad beans

Bok Choy

Mustard greens esp. frilly

Miners’ lettuce

Corn salad (mache)

Shungiku (edible, Japanese Chrysanthemum)

Radishes

Salad and spring onions

Coriander

Chervil

 

Leek bulbils

Garlic cloves

Seedlings of Asian veg.

Flower bulbs

Sow in the hothouse to plant out:

Lettuces

Kales

Broccoli raab

Red onions

Sow to stay in the hothouse or outside in frost-free areas:

Sugar snap peas

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