June 2013 Kitchen garden Guide

 

Winter has not quite set in, allowing extra time for gardening in mild temperatures and mostly sunny days. I have been busy sheet mulching. I have several shrubbed areas I’d like to keep more or less grass free to reduce maintenance so here is what I do.

1.   More or less cut the grass and weeds as low as possible. Leave them on the surface.

2.   Throw over any vegetable scraps (even fresh), lawn clippings, plant clippings and soft prunings, mushroom compost, blood and bone.

3.   Completely and thoroughly cover it all with cardboard. Dampen down. Don’t worry too much about some sticky tape or coloured labels but I don’t use the shiny cardboard as it can take ages for water to get into it.

4.   Next put old manures to hold down the cardboard. Dampen again.

5.   Lastly cover with as much straw or other weed-free mulch as you can afford; 20 cms is good. Make it really dense and not too fluffy or you will soon see the cardboard.

6.   Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a seat, smile and survey your work!

If you want to use a similar method in your herb garden or perennial vegetable area, use newspaper instead of cardboard, as it is easier to get it around smaller plants. Lay it 10 sheets thick and generously overlapped.

If you want to make a new vegetable garden bed, then, after mowing the grass and weeds down, sprinkle the ground generously with lime before following the cardboard or newspaper method.

Winter herbs for health and flavour

Do you love pesto and lament the end of fresh basil from your garden? Well I make a wonderful pesto with chervil and almonds / tarragon and pistachios / parsley and walnuts.

There are so many lovely herbs that either grow and thrive only in winter or continue to hold their colour and flavour even in winter. The former includes the slightly aniseed chervil, with its pretty, soft ferny leaves which I grow as a block and clip by the handful, with scissors. Also in this category is coriander with its robust flavour and growth habit. A less well known and often misunderstood winter herb is angelica, with a pine-like aroma in its large, fern-like leaves. No need to bother with the stems which are traditionally candied, simply chop up the leaves and use them finely sliced with fruit or to line the bottom of a cake tin before baking. Parsley is a fabulous winter herb, readily self-sows and is useful all through winter in meals and as a wonderful source of vitamin C, in our climate where oranges are rare.

Interestingly, all these are members of the Umbelliferae or carrot family. The family also includes asafoetida, caraway, cumin, dill and lovage, to name a few.

Rocket is another herb that germinates and thrives during winter.

Herbs that hold their colour and flavour even in winter include rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram, winter savory, bay and sage, although sage should be picked sparingly as it is much less vigorous in winter.

Community Help Needed

Some of us have secured the rather lovely job of revamping the Cygnet Library garden and over the next few months will be bringing life, colour and some edibles to the small, front beds.

In order to get something cheerful into the soil for winter we are asking for any donations of small flowering plants and herbs of a good size. If you can help with donations, please email me katevag@gmail.com or speak to the library staff.

As time goes on we hope to introduce signs and gardening tips as part of the library’s education arm, encouraging everyone to learn and enjoy plants in their lives. Hopefully we will be allowed to extend our plans right the way around the library and incorporate many Tasmanian plants, edible and ornamental as well as local art projects.

Bushfire Gardens

Thank you so much to those who kindly donated an amazing array of garden-related goods. They have now been delivered and I have been asked to express gratitude by the gardeners in need. Please keep donating, but only garden goodies please, to 4 Winns Road, Cygnet, behind my letterbox.

 

Books for winter reading Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison (A mammoth book of every vegetable and herb imaginable – includes history, geography, culture and cooking) The Great Herb Tour by Christina Hindhaugh (A delightful true story of travelling the world in search of herbs and gardeners).

 

Blogs and websites for indoor enjoyment www.goldenvalleyfarm.net – Alex Taylor’s adventures as a market gardener including his new DIY movable cloche/poly tunnel system ABC Landline 26/05/2013 : Sailing to Market – a superb video of the Olive May’s recent trip down the Huon, collecting produce to take to Salamanca market. The Preserving Patch – a Tasmanian blog all about preserving, by Sue who lives in the north west (thepreservingpatch.blogspot.com.au)

 

Seeds to sow in June Sow in the garden: Broad beans Salad and spring onions Shallots Chives English spinach Radishes Plant out Garlic Asparagus crowns Divide rhubarb Winter herbs Winter flower annuals Globe artichokes Sunchokes Bulbs

Sow in trays: Brassicas Artichokes Coriander Chervil Lettuce Rocket Asian greens Jobs for June Prune deciduous trees except cherries and apricots Feed and mulch the dripline of fruit trees with anything you have, including seaweed. Collect seaweed (especially kelp) after winter storms and cover your asparagus patch with it. Brassicas also love it. Wonderful added to your compost too.