White

"White is not a mere absence of colour, it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black."

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)

British journalist, author, poet.

Floriade 2012.
Canberra, ACT Australia

In my garden

There is something that I know. I know that I will never lose the joy of watching the seasons change. Though I am a child of the tropics, it is the predictable change of each season in this cool, temperate garden that has stolen my heart.

A touch of brightness

She's a bit late to the winter party my little cyclamen.

Lovingly ignored over the summer, subject to frost every morning for the past few months, watered only by the sky...and she blooms.

Brightening my day whenever I look at her, and reminding me of how much more beautiful she will get .

Braggin' on

This is a bit of a brag post, but I NEED to show you how successful my summer in the garden has been.

This is all from one day's harvest - cherry tomatoes, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, corn, eggplant and two varieties of apples...and I didn't even harvest everything today. I'm impressing myself! Brag over and out.

Suzy, how does your garden grow?

A bit of show and tell from the garden today. It has been the best summer for gardening...just have a look at my iceberg lettuce, and the apples. Oh, the apples! We didn't know that they were such beauties until it was too late and they were too big to net. Now we will have to savour whatever the parrots and possums decide to leave us.


And by the way, I did post a rather dour comment on New Year's Eve - sorry about that! But changes are afoot my friends and plans are being put in place, stay tuned.

Rust-oleum LOVE!

Trust me when I say that I am getting NO payment to endorse this magic spray, it is simple a case of true love.

I first read about this wonderful spray paint on the Door Sixteen blog, and since then I've used it to........turn hideous lanterns into something special for our spring porch;

...turn some also hideous pots into beautiful spring porch adornments;

...help organise the boy childs' art supplies;

...and so many many more projects that I've yet to share.

Our local Bunnings doesn't stock this magical mist, so I've had to make a few trips across town to stock up on my supplies. Why is it magic you ask? ...because it goes onto ANYTHING - wood, plastic, paper, metal and sticks like glue, but most of all it doesn't drip and gives a smooth-AS-finish...and as I said before it really is true Rust-oleum love!

Crabapple delight!

I can't stop staring at these beautiful flowers. I've never even seen a crabapple tree before, and here I am with three of these most beautiful trees in the garden....I can feel some crabapple jelly coming on!

Spring porch sneak peak

All winter I've been dreaming about our spring porch. Now don't get me wrong I really LOVE winter in Canberra....as someone who was born in the tropics it is an absolute treat to me every year to HAVE to wear tights, gloves, scarves and of course own several proper coats.

But since our move in May I've been scheming, plotting and planning what our "porch" should look like, and for the last few months we've been steadily working towards it. Fingers crossed with another long weekend looming we'll have it done and all will be revealed.

A foodie confession...broad beans!

I must admit I always felt a bit confounded by ye ol' broad bean. I mean I love the look of them all shiny and green sitting above a toasted piece of sourdough or pasta dura....just like the guy does from River Cottage. But, I had never tasted, cooked or grown them ever, ever before.

That is before last weekend when my first batch were ripe for the picking. Assisted by my able undergardener I began to change my food existence. I consulted a cookbook by Raymond Blanc, known round here as Ray White. My mate Ray had me peel the pods, extract the beans, blanch said beans for 5 seconds then refresh under cool water. Then a tiny incision in the skin and out popped the glorious bean. A bit of a fuss, but well worth it.

So what did I do with the beans? Cooked them in a mixture of cream, garlic and parsley of course! And it was yummy. Since then I've just steamed them with our normal greens and we've enjoyed them so much I think I will be growing them from now on. Plus it's nice to have a crop that grows over winter and enjoys the cold as much as we do!

Is this thyme or thyme?

I must share with y'all my fabulous pot of thyme. It's been going strong since early Autumn and I've raided it so many times for roasts, stock and any other uses I can find. But I've run out of ideas - any suggestions?

I nearly forgot

Yes I know two posts in one day - shocking. But I nearly forgot to play show and tell with my most successful winter vegie crop - broccoli. I must admit I was a wee bit sceptical about growing this one but it was easy peasy! And the florets just kept a coming and coming. I planted eight seedlings out and had more than enough for all four of us. Interestingly one of the plants produced not a single floret. I've let them all go into full bloom of flower now as it's just so pretty and it fills the space nicely before I can plant out my summer crop. Speaking of my summer crop...I just need winter to disappear totally and we'll be on our way. We had a frosty start to the morning and are heading for a top of just 10 degrees Celsius - crazy!

One beautiful autumn day...

Well today was just gorgeous. Blue skies, about 22 degrees and a very slight breeze. A perfect autumnal day...perfect for gardening. The boy-child and I decided to remove most of the summer hangers on, to be perfectly honest a 3yr old has no concept of gardening and just agrees with everything I suggest. A state I'm sure will continue long into the teenage years.

Back to the gardening...most of the tomatoes were pulled and strung upside down presumably to allow the moisture that is in the vines to go to the remaining fruit so that they continue to ripen. I first heard Maggie Beer talk about such an escapade, but this is the first time I have tried it. I like the look of the flash photo in this...makes it seem so dramatic!Here are the few loose tomatoes that didn't make the hanging ritual, and some beans! I haven't harvested a single bean for like a month or more, because the trellis was overcome with some nasty pest/disease and no amount of organic oil spray, molasses spray or hosing off could bring it back to life. Can you imagine my surprise today when removing Jack's beanstalk from the trellis I found these beans...my magical green surprise! Goes with the tacky green kitchen bench.

So what did I put in their place - broccoli, snow peas, silverbeat, lettuce and pak choy...don't you just love how the seasons go round. At least one good reason to live in Canberra!

I can't tell what I suffer for my garden...

I have suffered long and hard for this year's crop of zucchini, and I don't think that it is over yet. It is WAY too late for my plants to start flowering and I may have to resort to covering them in a few weeks when the risk of frost is nigh.

Firstly, my seedlings kept getting munched by an organism unknown to me, I could never find the little bugger but it kept munching the seedlings off at ground level only at night. No silver trails - so couldn't blame the snails! I resorted to covering the plants (phase 2 seedlings that is) over with milk and juice cartons at night. So then we had this incredibly hot and windy day back in November which just decimated the poor buggers and they weren't that small then either. So it was back to the drawing board and replant another crop. Again, cover it over with the cartons, then came the HEAT. Luckily the man of the house had constructed a shade cloth a-frame which ensured that they could attempt to survive the heat. I only removed it last week to let them out into the real world to survive....and THEN on Monday we had a storm which blew the damn a-frame over and squished the plants that I had nurtured. You can see a bent branch on the above photo.

But it's a bit like a bad pregnancy (or so I hear), it's all forgotten when you see the baby...and here is my baby...

A family favourite

You know when you have one of those family favourite dinners, the one that you got out of a book or magazine ages ago and have made it so many times that you don't need to look anymore, or better still you've adapted it to your own tastes. Yep, well one of ours is this Spinach and Cheese Risotto. Ok so it's not an absolute true risotto, and you'll see why soon, but I'd go far for a better one and besides nothing beats a great risotto and a crisp white for a lunch somewhere with a view........

Well tonight, there was no view, just our dusty back paddock, but the risotto and wine were there........and the spinach (well silver beet really) was from our very own patch, here it is on death row waiting to be plucked.
The recipe is super simple.

1 onion
1 cup arborio rice
1 bunch or whatever of spinach
vegie/chicken stock
blue cheese

Saute onion in some olive oil then add the rice and cook for a minute or two. Then add the stock one ladle at a time** stirring risotto constantly keep adding stock until all liquid used, you know the usual risotto thing, then towards the end add the spinach until its cooked. When finished cooking turn heat off, add the cheese. I use the Castello brand, either blue or white, and use a half circle block for the above quantity.

Now here's the secret to good risotto, put the lid on and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.

**Risotto is not something that I made a lot during my pregnancies, cos' you see it's almost compulsory to stand in the kitchen stirring away with a glass of white in hand - well in fact it is in this house......and then you have another with the meal -enjoy!

My favourite flower of the summer....

My snap'n'shoot Ricoh not to mention the skill of the photographer will not, much to my regret, infringe on the copyright Max Dupain
or Robert Mapplethorpe when I publish this post. The pictures that I recall from both of these photographers were of magnolias, mine is of my Favourite summer flower - the gardenia. What is your favourite summer flower?

Mine is also somewhat spoilt by the yellowing leaves in the background. I am trying to remedy this by a dose of coffee grounds and a thorough mixing of some Epsom salts. Helps relieve constipation in even the most stubborn patients!

Back to the photography though, this is a crappy shot and makes me long for the macro lens for our new Digital SLR - where did that Santa-man go?

Agapanthus

Well here I go off on my first vent... I love agapanthus plants/flowers, I know that they are really common and popular and they have been used and abused to the beegeezuz (@#%&?), but I still love the spherical shape of the flower, the stripey petals and most of all waiting for each bud to appear amongst the lush strappy foliage each summer. But I HATE it when people don't dead-head the flowers after they are spent. First of all it looks hideous, and secondly it is really bad for our natural flora. Once the flowers die off the seeds appear and dangle about ready for the next gush of wind to carry them off into our national parks. In some areas agapanthus plants are considered weeds, and I have even seen a variety promoted by nurseries as being safer for our local environment due to less seed spread. I mean there is a guy up the street who still hasn't removed last summers flowers and there they are in all their brown glory beside the lush new buds!!!!!!!!!!

I also love them as cut flowers, and have been known in days gone by, before I owned or had access to a plot of earth, to go night stalking and steal flowers from the common areas of the townhouses where I lived. Today I had access to my own patch and here is the result.
See my flowers often don't even get the chance to sit unsightly above the foliage after the show is over...so please dead-head your agapanthus for my sake and for the sake of our environment.

Vent OVER and OUT.........................