September 2017 Issue #145

Hello,

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

1) Chin-dribble riddle
2) Eco gardening tips
3) Meg's Quick Dish

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Question: You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside.

What did you eat?

Answer: Aww you cheated, you looked at the picture... yes sweet corn on the cob: You throw away the skin or sheaf, then cook it, eat the corn, then throw away the cob.

Here's all you need to grow your own delicious, buttery, chin-dribbling sweet corn

Eco gardening tips

• Left-over fat or oil
  Make bird food. This works well in cold weather... just the time when the birdies appreciate some extra treats too. If it's solidified fat, mix with equal parts birdseed and shape into a ball. Make a hole then tie string or ribbon through it and hang in tree. You can also make bird biscuits by spreading mix in a pan, then cutting into squares, then put them out on bird tray or high place away from cats.
  
  

  If you have mostly runny leftover oil, mix with some peanut butter first. As many birds love fruit, roll some fruit, such as a pear in the oil and peanut butter mix, then roll the pear in birdseed and hang up and wait for the hungry peckers!




• Compost balance
  This is a tip I've given way back. Use newspaper, or any paper really, to line your kitchen bowl or bucket before you put your scraps in. Then after tipping out, the bowl only needs a quick rinse. The paper in the compost provides carbon to offset the nitrogen in kitchen slops.
  
  

  My mother used to put newspaper on kitchen bench to put the peelings, stalks, old veg leaves etc on, then wrap the whole lot up and put in compost, or more often than not, dig a little hole somewhere in garden and pop parcel in and cover back with earth.




• Chop & drop
  On hot days, when you pull out weeds or the remains of a crop, or chop tops off herbs and leggy plants, you can just leave them on the ground or throw them on path to sizzle up into little brown bits. Feeds the garden and saves you remembering to carry a bucket every time you want to stop and do a spot of gardening.

Click my No-dig Garden Facebook page to read a bummer (literally… sorry) of a tale about persecuted gnomes.

Quick Dish

Ingredients

• Big bunch spinach
• 1 Tin salmon, or fish fillets, or veg of choice
• 1 tsp. prepared or powdered mustard
• ½ cup coconut crème (could use mayonnaise)
• ½ cup grated cheese
• 1 egg
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 Tbn butter
• Anchovies to garnish.

Method

• Turn oven to 180°C (355°F), and put in oven dish with butter in to melt.
• Chop spinach and put on top of butter in dish.
• Put vegetables of choice or fish on top on spinach in dish.
• In a small bowl, mix egg yolk, cheese, mustard, salt and pepper and the coconut crème or mayonnaise, and put over dish.
• In another small bowl, whip egg white, and dollop on top of dish.
• Bake until set and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
• Top with anchovies, or sprinkle parmesan cheese before serving.

Live, love and garden.
Megan