"Balmoral Park" farm garden

I have to admit I am not a very scientific gardener. I tend to absorb huge amounts of information, then apply things a bit randomly while building on what works. I like the idea of companion planting and I have some charts somewhere but what I really like is when I can actually see the companion relationship working. I read once that the Native American people used to plant beans, pumpkins and corn together. The corn provided some support for the pumpkin and beans and they all shaded and sheltered each other. In our  very hot and usually dry summers I thought this was an idea that might actually work. In the heat of the summer our vegetables quite often "cook" on the vines. I planted climbing  beans on the trellis on two sides, rows of corn in between and pumpkins in the corner. It has become a veritable jungle. A happy and productive jungle. The corn is over two metres tall and loaded with yummy cobs, the beans have grown up the sides and over the top of the trellis, shading...

I was introduced to Mangoes quite late in life, i guess as a child we ate locally! Since being introduced to Mangoes though they have become a favourite part of our summer. Something interesting has happened this year though, as our garden and orchard has grown and become more productive, we have purchased no fruit since early October when the Mulberries began. I had thought I would pick up a box of Mangoes on one of my Sydney trips but the thought of all the fruit already at home stopped me even looking. So no Mangoes for us this summer. Instead we have been eating Mulberries, passionfruit, Apricots, Plums, Peaches, Nectarines, Raspberries and Strawberries, so it has been no hardship. Without any conscious effort we have become locovores, at least in our fruit consumption. We also ate no tomatoes for months until ours became ripe. This was a conscious decision as I had purchased some particularly tasteless ones and thought why bother. Next year I think we will have enough bottled tom...

It was already 27 degrees when I got up this morning, not quite as early as usual as we had been out to an Australia day party last night, but still before seven. Yesterday ti went over 43 and I think today will be the same. Very hot indeed. The party yesterday was for tennis and a barbecue, I didnt play tennis but a lot of people did despite the heat. Austrlian country folk have this thing about proving their resillience no matter what. Becasue of the heat we didnt eat until pretty late, maybe nine thirty, so by that time a babecu and salad was acceptable and pleasant way to eat. I made mini pavlovas with passionfruit and cream the same as last year.  I dont think many people remebered and they enjoyed them anyway. Pavlova recipe   It is an obvious thing to take to an Austrlai day party as we have loads of passionfruit at the moment and unlike this time last year still have plenty of eggs every day. Last year I  used frozen egg whites as we were in the midst of drought...

When i received no less than five new cookbooks for Christmas I remarked to Peter that it was a shame i didn't have a place to keep them all in the kitchen. They have been in the bookshelf in my office. He said he had just the thing and made two shelves out of a nice piece of cedar he had been saving for a project. So here they are, one shelf full of books and the other waiting for me to add to my collection. I also discarded all the books I never use, not a great deal, and organised my clippings into folders. A lovely cooking reference library where it belongs in my kitchen!

During the past few years gardening here has been very labour intensive. Building a garden in a paddock is hard work and we are organic in principle so no spraying of weeds allowed. I feel like I am always getting things back in order and it is very hard work. This is exacerbated by the fact that for the last three years I have been away at least two weeks every month  working and Peter has been working and renovating so the garden has always lacked regular consistent attention. Well that is going to change, I am not going to be away working nearly as much, in fact I am not going to work nearly as much at all so i will have much more time for the garden. I really want to get on top of some of the hard jobs in the garden in a more permanent way. Not least because I am getting older and although I think the hard work is good for me it does at times sap my motivation and get in the way of my enjoyment of the whole process. I want to have more time to plan and to potter and improve t...

I spent most of the weekend in the garden despite the hot weather. We had a thunder storm on Saturday night and got over an inch of rain so that has renewed my gardening energy. Prior to that storm it had been dry all January and now it is getting very hot. 42 degrees forecast for Australia day on Wednesday. Other than fruit and vegetable maintenance my plan for the weekend was to get the rose gardens back in order. There are three main rose gardens and the climbers. In some ways they have had a very tough summer. Initially it was mild, wet and humid so for the first time we have black spot in the roses. Then it has been hot and dry, usually that is fine but I think all the plants are a bit soft after the cool start to summer. they need to toughen up. In the meantime the weeds have got away a bit and the mulch needs redoing. So the first and most laborious task was the weeding. Three big barrows of weeds later and I was ready to mulch. I got the Jemima garden all completed but then t...

So much of everything in the garden at the moment. Leading the field is the beans, all doing incredibly well. The other day i picked over a kilo and left quite a few on the vines to mature and dry. I made our favourite Olive Oil Beans with this big harvest. Olive Oil Beans   1 kilo of Beans, any variety, I used a mixture 1/2 cup olive oil 2 large onions 4 cloves garlic 2 cans peeled and chopped tomatoes or the equivalent fresh if you have them Saute onions and garlic in the oil gently for about twenty minutes until they are soft and sweet Add the tomatoes Salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons of fresh herbs (oregano works well) Add the beans and bring to a simmer Place a sheet of baking paper on top of beans, weigh it down with a plate Simmer for about two hours these are great hot or cold, i put a batch in the freezer as I think they will freeze well.   There for a while I was worried that i wouldn't get any cucumbers, i needn't have, they are coming thick and fas...