Fresh Start...2014

2013 was a washout! A fresh start this year. The plot is ready - the strawberries are flowering, and the vines are sprouting shoots.

We went to the Lavaux Garden Center in La Croix and got some courgettes, tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, chilly, salad, spring onions, broccoli, basil and coriander. Here's looking forward to a great season! Oh yes, we need to plant the okra seeds.

Looking forward to next year

We had a good season this year. We had a lot of fun and we learnt a lot of new things! We ate from our garden plot right through the summer. Yum!

We grew a lot of herbs, vegetables and fruit: grapes, courgette, strawberries, beans, aubergines, cucumber, spring onion, beetroot, cauliflower, broccoli, tomato, lettuce, spinach, chilli, radish, carrot, mint, coriander, and basil.

...but what about okra? Although we grew a few plants, we were not as successful with the cropping this year as we would have liked. We started too late, and the white flies spoiled our crop. So, we need to try harder next year!

We have a lot of our seeds from the Victoriana nursery ready for next year:  Aubergine Seed 'Black Beauty';       Bean Seed - Climbing French Bean 'Blue Lake';  Beetroot Seed 'Boltardy';  Broccoli Seed - Calabrese Long Season Cropping Blend; Carrot Seed 'Resistafly'; Cauliflower Seed 'Snowball'; Chilli Pepper Seed 'Bhut Jolokia' (CPI); Chilli Pepper Seed 'Joe's Long Cayenne'; Courgette Seed 'Zucchini'; Cucumber Seed 'La Diva';  Lettuce Seed 'Hendersons Black Seeded Simpson; Okra Seed 'Mammoth'; Onion Seed - Salad Onion 'White Lisbon' (Spring Onion); Radish Seed Spring, Summer & Autumn Blend; Spinach Seed - Little Grandad's Original;  Tomato Seed 'Abraham Lincoln';  Tomato Seed 'Matt's Wild Cherry'.

We have quite a challenge raising these from seed! We'll have to plan carefully and work hard.

Autumn and the Leaves Turn Colour

Autumn is here and we have already have our first snowfall! The leaves have turned colour - brown, yellow, golden.

It's time for our garden plot to rest. We've taken out the standing plants to get ready for next year!

For Whom the Courgette Blooms

We have two courgette (zucchini) plants that are cropping well.

These make absolutely great fritters (or bajji), and best of all can be removed harmlessly as the courgette begins to grow. For each flower you will need to make a batter of one tablespoon of breadcrumbs, half table spoon of cornflour, salt and garam masala to taste. Tastes delicious when deep fried!

Green Hot Chilli Pepper

One of our dreams for this year was to grow our own chillies.

We have three plants, all coming nicely.

Producing enough at a time for Mirchi ka Salaan. Maybe later.

Getting Saucy with Pizzaz

A wealth of tomatoes - different kinds. What to do? Pizza sauce, Indian Style!

Start with 1.5 kg of tomatoes. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, dry roast a spoonful of mustard with some peppercorns and a sprig of mace. Keep a couple of star anise handy.

Chop some onions. Add a couple of spoons of oil to a frying pan. Put in the star anise. Add the chopped onions. Mix in the ground spices. Cook until the onions turn brown. Set aside.

Time to prepare a bouquet garni that will infuse its aroma and taste into the sauce. Take some cinnamon, allspice, black pepper, cloves and nutmeg.

Tie up the spices in the bouquet.

Pulp the boiled tomatoes in a mixer. Remove skins. Add to the sauteed onions. Put in the bouquet garni and simmer. Add salt and sugar to taste, and two spoons of white vinegar.

Cook on medium heat for 40 minutes until the sauce begins to have glazed appearance.

Now for the pizza! Get the veggies ready - onions, chilli, tomato and basil: all home grown!

We favor Buitoni fina for the base and Galbani mozzarela. Slap on the sauce and pile up the veggies.

Slap into the oven, 205 degrees C, for 10 minutes.

Mmmm...Ab ayega mazza!

Juicy Culture

We also found that the birds have been very busy!

Quite a lot of the grapes have been pecked at. Many bunches are simply black shrivelled skins.

It's another one of those times when you make omelettes from broken eggs!

We had a cold refreshing glass of grape juice. 

Aah.