July 2013 Issue #95

Hello,

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

1) Sand saucer gardens
2) Eco gardening tips
3) Healthy Mayonnaise.

Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits,
Take care of your garden,
And keep out the weeds,
Fill it with sunshine,
Kind words and kind deeds.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Kids, sand, gardens, saucers

See more photos and how to fill in many hours of fun with children making miniature sand gardens

Eco gardening tips

• Mosquitoes:
  Here in NZ we call them mozzies, but in other countries skeeters is the name of these little blighters. But by their deeds shall ye know them!
  
  

  Just a hint, peak activity and thus avoidance time is one hour before and after sundown. And another hint, wearing loose fitting and light color clothes sometimes helps to repel them.

  One more… if you're relying on plants such as the scented geranium (mosquito plant), lemon balm or lemon thyme to repel mosquitoes, the leaves must be crushed to release enough scent to be effective. Many people rub the leaves on their skin, but do check first on your hand in case of skin irritation before you dab on other areas.

• The low-down on lettuces:
  I don't know about you, but I've never had to deal with lettuce problems, except keeping an eagle eye out for snails when plants are small.
  
  

  Commercially grown lettuce are wussy (sigh what's new), They unfortunately are usually sprayed with insecticide for aphids and fungicides for rot.

  So don't believe that just because home garden lettuces are easy and trouble-free to grow, therefore supermarket lettuces must be pretty much free of sprays. They're not! More reason to grow your own.

• Other salad leaves:
  Baby radish leaves are spicy gems. Nip those little leaves off if you're thinning out your radishes, tear or chop them a bit and any very slight prickly feel will disappear when you add them to other salad ingredients. Don't waste these green edibles.

I love and use this garden planner; it's one of those things that you don't know what you've been missing until you've got it. Feedback from readers is the same... "How did I garden without it before, thanks for putting me onto this!"

Healthy Mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 2 egg yolks (can use whole eggs but will be bit runnier)
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• ¼ tsp mustard
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, chopped (optional)
• 2 tsp fresh dill, or other herbs
• 1 tsp sea salt

Method

• Put egg yolks, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, salt, herb(s), and ¼ cup of oil into blender and blend for 15 seconds.
• With blender on low, trickle in the rest of the oil until mixture thickens.
• Store in jar in fridge; will keep well for up to 2 weeks. A runny mixture will also thicken nicely after a few hours in fridge.

Preparation: 15-20 minutes

Happy gardening
Megan