April 2012 Issue #79

Hello,

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

1) Home grown spaghetti
2) Eco gardening tips
3) Vegetable Frittata

"Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing, there is a field.
I'll meet you there."
~ Rumi, 13th century poet

Home grown spaghetti

Don't believe it! But many did in this 1957 April Fool's broadcast. I like the BBC's advice at the end. See Spaghetti Tree.

Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:
Pasta was not an everyday food in 1950s Britain, known mainly from tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce and considered by many to be an exotic delicacy.

At the time there were 7 million homes in Britain with television sets, out of a total of 15.8 million homes.

An estimated 8 million people watched the programme on 1 April and hundreds phoned in the following day to question the authenticity of the story or ask for more information about spaghetti cultivation and how they could grow their own spaghetti trees.

The BBC reportedly told them to "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Oh and don't forget to give a last watering to your Easter egg tree before the weekend...

Latest website update

Have a read on vermiculture... yes it's all about red wiggling worms: Worm-composting.

How are you doing?

I love to hear from readers, their tips, successes and challenges.

The FAQ section is the place where the beautiful people hang out... earthy, beautiful and raring to grow.

For example this has got me stumped a bit, but I'm sure someone has ideas to help Eve — Invasive tree roots in raised bed.

Eco gardening tips

• Has-been, runner beans:
  In the Southern Hemisphere runner beans will be dying down for many gardeners. Being perennial their tubers should grow strongly the 2nd year and will produce earlier and more flowers and beans the 2nd and 3rd years.
  
  

  Cut back used vines now and even dig up the tubers and store if you get really dreadful winters, then you can plant out and feed next spring.

• Not nice seed-eating mice:
  Somehow mice know that there is food inside a plastic bag or thin container! Believe it or not they nibbled away and got to some of my seeds that I'd had in my garden shed. Luckily I've still got some seeds in my fridge.
  
  

  I now have a large chili-bin/esky/picnic cooler (name depends on what country you're in) in my shed for my seeds. Second-hand or dollar store coolers are pretty cheap or ask on your local Freecycle.com site. They make perfect insulated and pest proof seed storers.

• Tender spinach:
  Young spinach makes nice salads and garnishes. Some people have been put off trying to eat spinach raw, and the reason is probably because they have tried old leaves or spinach grown in hot climates.
  
  

  So if you're coming into spring/summer, sow spinach now and you'll have tender leaves to eat in about 4 plus weeks, before the hot weather kicks in and the leaves get tougher or they bolt to seed.

Vegetable Frittata

Ingredients

• 400g peeled pumpkin and/or kumara, sliced or diced about ½ cm thick (make roughly 2 medium packed cups)
• 2 capsicums, deseeded & cut into eighths, lengthwise
• 1 Tblsp oil
• 8 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• 1 Tblsp flour (wholemeal, buckwheat, brown rice or chickpea flour are all good)
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• 1 tsp salt, and ½ tsp pepper, or to taste
• 1 cup grated cheese.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Sprinkle oil over pumpkin/kumara and capsicum in baking or pie dish and stir. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile beat eggs for 1-2 minutes (handbeater is fine).
4. Make a paste with the flour and some milk, then add rest of milk and salt, pepper and seasonings.
5. Mix all together and pour over vegetables and top with grated cheese.
6. Bake for 30 mins until just firm and golden.

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 1 hour
Serves: 6

This is a nice combination, but experiment with other vegetables — it always seems to work. If you add greens, such as cabbage or spinach, there's no need to cook beforehand, but use less milk as they are more watery.

Happy gardening,
Megan