January 2014 Issue #101

Hello,

What fun that we both love gardening. Thanks for joining me.

1) Lettuce dance
2) Eco gardening tips
3) Anytime Avocado

It's a brand new year... time to party in the garden. Let's make it your most productive and satisfying grow-your-own year ever!

What did the banana say to the carrot?
"Lettuce dance to the beet."

Eco gardening tips

• Don't mess with mothballs:
  Cheap naphthalene mothballs are used to repel moths in clothes and linen. Some people use them in their garden to repel pests such as squirrels, rats, moles, raccoons and the like.
  
  

  Please don't! Firstly, although naphthalene gives off a strong smell, it's not very effective at deterring determined pests. Secondly it's you who will likely suffer, with headaches through to malaise, stomach complaints and more serious ailments.

  Clear out your house of these slow poisoning flakes or balls and watch everyone's head become clearer. Replace with natural repellents such as dried lavender, cloves or cedar oil. Remove them from your garden so that your pets, kids and the environment are safe. See here for better garden pest control.

• Gnarly cabbage leaves:
  When it comes to cabbages, it pays to leave those scarfaced tough outer leaves on. As a cabbage grows, it needs those big weathered and often holey leaves to convert any sunshine into energy to feed the growing heart. They take up room, you can't eat them, but those leaves are needed, plus they also balance the plant in strong winds.
• Live longer:
  There's a saying, "The shorter the shelf life; the longer yours!" (Try saying that 10 times fast.) Last month's newsletter mentioned that once produce is picked it's best to eat it asap, otherwise nutrients are lost. Of course some fruits ripen after picking and some produce can be successfully stored for out of season use.
  
  

  But much of shop bought produce and groceries — processed to last until the cows come home, indeed is not conducive to a long and healthy life. Fresh is best and when gathering YOUR garden bounty and here's a good discussion on how to pick it and store it: How to stop vegetables wilting when picked.

If you'd like to simplify your gardening by knowing when, what and how to plant, I'm willing to bet this GrowVeg.com garden planner will be a hit with you,
like it is with me.

"The free trial for a month won me over and now I definitely can see the usefulness of this planner. Thank you Megan for recommending this, getting excited looking at all the possibilities I have for my veg patch now."
Eileen R.

Anytime Avocado

Ingredients

• 1 avocado
• 300g pot cottage cheese
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp cumin powder (or your home-grown ground cumin seeds)
• Several sprigs coriander (or 1 tsp dried powder)
• 1 Tbln sweet chilli sauce (or I used pinch stevia and 2 pinches chilli powder)

Method

• Put all ingredients in blender and whizz until smooth.

My friend Cheryl brought a bowl of this over and a few of us finished it off quick smart. Certainly a nice variation for using avocado. I've made it twice and always experiment with quantities, so you can too!

Happy gardening
Megan