June 2016 Kitchen Garden Guide

 Winter is here. I love it. My garden is flourishing and nourishing; providing bounty without the work of spring and summer. There is endless, lush coriander, rocket, mizuna, kale, rainbow chard, French sorrel (and Tasmanian too), chicory roots and leaves, fennel fronds and flowers (the bulbs are not big enough yet), wasabi greens and wild things to forage. I could have beetroot, hakurei turnips and others but I get them at the markets and it is stressful to try to grow everything. I have not dug any sunchokes yet but I will soon.

It is the weather for soup and none is more satisfying and cleansing than garlic soup which I make from a recipe a woman in France gave me. Oh lalalala it was one of the best soups I’d ever had and she wrote it out for me in French. In the freezer I have some stocks made with bones from animals raised locally, ethically and without chemicals. These form the base of all my winter soups. In summer I usually use vegetable stock or bottles of my tomatoes.

Every meal has a dash of another season, in the form of fermented vegetables which have been brewing for a few weeks or months. I have just finished the last of my brined, dill cucumbers, made from my garden back in February. The liquid lives on though, in salad dressings, for months more.

There is a sprawling, sweet potato vine in my greenhouse. I will harvest it one day when I feel like exploring the undergrowth there. In the meantime I pick some of the fresh, sweet potato leaves and eat them which is very common in Singapore. Don’t talk to me about cape gooseberries! I cannot keep up now, so will leave them to shrivel in their fine baskets and watch the seeds sprout and grow from inside the skeletons, in spring.

Various fruits and nuts sit in bottles of vodka or brandy on my mantel piece; raspberries, black currants, lemon peel and almonds, to name a few. When the nights are dark by 5pm, a sip or two of one of them, by the fire before dinner, is a gorgeous reminder of the summer bounty.

Fruit from outside the square, to plant during winter

Irish strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo): drought tolerant, evergreen, pretty, small tree native to Europe and Ireland, with late fruits turning from yellow to orange then red. I walked to a lake in France when these were ripe and gorged on them the whole way. There they were growing in sandy soil but mine here is growing happily in solid clay.

Persimon (Diospyros kaki): Deciduous, small tree with large, red fruits on bare stems in winter. A glorious sight. I love the old fashioned sort, where the fruits have to ripen to very soft, on your window sill. Decadently sweet and flavoursome.

Carob (Ceratonia siliqua): Evergreen, drought tolerant tree / hedge producing very large pods which, when picked and eaten fresh, are heavenly. Don’t be put off by your impression of commercial carob powder! I had a tree in Adelaide and highly recommend its luscious crop.

Quince: the smiles on the faces of people who come past my quince tree, to my front door, is enough to reinforce to me the value of growing quinces. Whether it be the beautiful pink blossom or the gorgeous, heavy, yellow fruit, they are magnificent for so much of the year. They are drought hardy but produce best when given a monthly, deep watering in summer.

Tamarillo (Solanum betaceum): native to sub-tropical parts of Chile it is a frost sensitive, small tree bearing egg-shaped, dark red fruits with a lovely taste and lush texture. I have one in my greenhouse which is doing well.

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) from China and Japan: flowers appear in late autumn and in frosty areas may not set fruit, which would normally be ripe in late winter. The small tree is very drought tolerant and worth growing because of its open habit and fragrant flowers. The fruits are yellow and succulent with several quite big, shiny stones.

White shahtoot mulberry (Morus macroura) from the Middle East: One of my favourite deciduous trees and fruits. The white tassle-like fruit are exquisitely sweet and heavenly. Left to grow to its full height it makes a perfect shade tree for a chook yard but I espaliered one in another life and each stem grew to several metres long, bearing hundreds of sweet tassles, which looked like long ear rings hanging on the wire.

Kiwi fruit and kiwi berries: native to northern China they are very happy in the cold. They are a vine and make wonderful summer shade over a pergola but the pergola must be very strong. They grow well from cutting but you must remember to get cuttings from male and female plants and label them well in case one dies and you need to replace it!

Tasmanian Pepperberry (Tasmannia lanceolata):  beautiful, evergreen shrub with red stems and shiny black berries. Suitable for hedges or edges. Not something we would eat as a fruit, but the black berries are fiery hot with tones of the Australian bush. You can pick them fresh and either use fresh or leave to dry then store for grinding later. Why buy black pepper when we have our own?

Figs (Ficus carica): My memories are of climbing a fig tree at high school, just before Easter every year, and gorging with my friends on soft, deep red, unbelievably delicious figs. Also, picking green-skinned, strawberry red fleshed figs from my mother’s garden and taking boxes of them to the market to sell as we just had too many from one small tree! I have not eaten a single fig here in Tasmania that would encourage me to grow them here.

Books for winter reading; mostly available through the Tasmanian library system… Bitter (Jennifer McLagan) The history of bitter vegetables, herbs and drinks plus recipes and health information. How to Grow and Use Sprouts (Isabel Shipard) Honey from a Weed (Patience Gray) At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen (Amy Chaplin) The Enzyme Factor (Hiromi Shinya). Amazingly useful info.

 

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 Spring 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 and good sprinklings of ash from the fire. Collect seaweed (especially kelp) after winter storms and cover your asparagus patch with it. Brassicas also love it. Wonderful added to your compost too.