A free monthly resource from the wonderful world of gardening; giving you tips, recipes and reminders to make your garden grow!

Hello,

What fun that you and I both love the topic of gardening. Thanks for joining me on this adventure. For any questions or feedback, just click on reply on the top toolbar of this email.

1) Q&A
2) Eco gardening tips
3) Zucchini Fritters

"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

This definitely is not a time of the year to be timid. There's great harvesting heave-ho's in the Autumn parts of the world with the likes of spuds being wrenched from their beds, vines being ripped asunder, and general gathering, saving and flinging dead stuff onto the compost heap.

Spring in the other side of the world means crisp crunching mornings, poking in stuff, and just, wow, you know, here comes some warmth and growth... just GOT to get out there and DO things.

Gardening Q&A

I'm so glad that the Question and Answer page is now being used by readers. I'm still someway behind replying to previous personal query emails that I received before I put this Q&A page up, so if you haven't heard from me, you will soon.

In the meantime, don't hold back — leave a comment on any of the new Q&A pages if you want to. I'm sure most of you have a question or two, and maybe some good advice stored away under your gardening fingernails...

And check out these Q&A's:
Do I keep adding layers to my no dig garden or start again?

How do we keep our no dig garden watered sufficiently? How do we keep the lower layers moistened? How much and when do we water?

Eco gardening tips

• Pea shoots:
  Have you tried pea shoots? Healthy and delicious raw in salads or on their own. Now and the next 3-4 months in spring areas are particularly good times to grow them.
  
  

  Sow green pea seeds closer than normal and when around 12cm (5") high, cut the shoots off leaving about 2.5cm (1") left to grow again for more pickings. Of course you can also grow some peas into full sized plants to harvest the pods.

• Birds and insects:
  Encouraging birds into your garden brings joy to you, joy to the birds and joylessness to harmful insects.
  
  

  A good example are Hummingbirds who pluck tiny flying insects like gnats from the air, plus pick off aphids and other chewing insects from plants.

  You can encourage hummingbirds and small fly-catching birds by setting out bits of banana and melon in a small mesh bag. Fruit flies will arrive and the birds will have a field day zipping about and snapping up the swarms around the fruit.

• Recycling carpet:
  Did you know that carpet layers often have old carpet and underfelt to remove. Much of this is made from natural wool or jute... so you know where I'm coming from...
  
  

  Give your nearest carpet layer a ring and I'll bet they will just as happily deliver some to you instead of the tip, or let you help yourself — take a friend, this stuff is heavy.

  Lump it into your garden and leave to rot down (slower than paper or cardboard). It lets water through and smothers weeds. Especially useful for paths, around trees and over nasty weeds such as couch or buffalo grass.

Here's an easy way to use up those zucchinis. Easy to get kids to help make and eat these too.

Zucchini Fritters

• 2 zucchinis (approximately 18cm (8") each), grated
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Flour for binding, about 2 Tbln (Can use wheat or any flour, such as brown rice flour or buckwheat)
• Oil for frying

Method

1. Mix flour, salt & pepper with grated zucchinis.
2. Stir in beaten eggs.
3. Heat gently, enough oil to cover bottom of frying pan.
4. Add large spoonfuls of mix to pan and fry on medium heat for 2-3 minutes per side.

Additions: Make these fritters healthier and fun by adding to the mix before frying: 1 tspn paprika, turns them red. 1 tspn tumeric, turns them yellow. Chillies, turns them hot (try 1 small or ½ finely chopped fresh chilli, or several good shakes dry chilli powder). Chopped herbs such as oregano, parsley, chives etc, turns them speckled green.

Preparation: 10-15 minutes

Serves: 2-4

Happy gardening

Megan