Milson Community Garden

Victoria led the team who thinned the” Valery” carrots and what a back-breaking task it was.  Seedlings were dispersed amongst us to see if they could be grown at home in pots or given to neighbours and Denny was going to use the tops of the seedlings in a salad of micro leaves.   John J. sprayed his home-made insect repellent which contained onions, garlic and chilli.  He was most cautious in spraying only one bed as he feared that his recipe might have the power to wipe out a crop!  Some habitués of the park came to inspect the garden and left with bunches of herbs.   We transplanted some more lettuce seedlings, Marco tied up the tomatoes which are prolific and newcomer, Virginia weeded the beds.   Last week’s planting of yellow, butter bean seeds have grown up out of the soil with two or three leaves….amazing.

The American Amazon Pumpkin plants have fruit, although a couple of baby pumpkins have shrivelled up.  We are growing these pumpkins as an experiment and to enter into a competition run by a local paper, The Mosman Daily.  We hope to win with a big pumpkin,  however there are very experienced pumpkin growers out there who pose a threat to our ambitions.  There may be some hope for us, as there is a category for a pumpkin which looks like a famous person.  There are many possibilities for using a shrivelled up pumpkin as a politician.

Today, again, we fed out plants with the Bokashi mix from our bin and marvelled at the lush growth we have managed to achieve.  There was some talk amongst everyone of how they were going to prepare our vegetable harvest.   Victoria and Ken are charged with trying to find a tasty recipe for an out-of-season kohlrabi and I must say they didn’t appear enthusiastic.  The leaves of this plant can be substituted for collard greens or cabbage.   Most of us will be making pesto sauce with all basil or a combination of other herbs.   Carole is making a pesto with the white beetroot.  The Golden Bantam corn seems to be a victim of some insect infestation, so our lesson is, that next time we should spray for insects earlier.   The eggplants and zucchini given to us by Ash, the chef from the Ensemble Theatre Restaurant, are streaking ahead.  After only two weeks from transplanting, we have picked some globe zucchinis.   They did not miss a beat after transplanting due to the Bokashi juice.

Carole’s recipe for White Beetroot Pesto.

By Hand:        About 200-300 grams cooked white beetroot, grated,    150 grams toasted pine nuts,   100 grams toasted almonds, 1 peeled clove of garlic, 2/3 handfuls of basil leaves, a handful of Italian parsley, ½ teaspoon of sea salt,  small pinch of chilli, generous amount of freshly ground pepper, 150/200 grams grated parmesan cheese, 300mls virgin olive oil.

By Hand:  Pound garlic and salt together then add grated beetroot and pound together with the nuts and chopped parsley and leaves of basil adding oil and lastly cheese when all is amalgamated.

By Machine:  In a food processor place salt, pepper, white beetroot and half of the oil, blend, then add herbs, nuts and more oil, lastly add parmesan cheese and the p8inch of chilli and pepper.  Serve as a dip for crudités or to accompany a piece of poached ocean trout or a piece of grilled chicken.  It is good thinned with a little water or a squeeze of lemon juice, dribbled over a bed of rocket or salad greens with tomatoes and goat’s cheese or feta cheese.

This garden was originally the idea of a group of dog walking people.  All of the volunteer gardeners share the quality that dog walkers have i.e. they are true nurturers.  And this is why the people who are attracted to the garden are so lovely.   We all look forward to our time in the garden.  There is such a lovely spirit of camaraderie.  

Tasks accomplished this Sunday included deep watering, feeding of all the plants with Bokashi mix, SeaSol or dynamic lifter for the tomatoes, hand picking green caterpillars from herbs and vegetables, shovelling and barrowing in wood mulch to cover the soil under our large Norfolk hibiscus tree, checking the fruit fly lures, harvesting our salad, zucchinis, strawberries and herbs, planting rainbow chard seeds in punnets, spraying of tomatoes with eco-naturalure and other plants with Yates “Success”, covering the plants with shade cloth to block out some of the sun due to expected temperature of 40 degrees. 

We have some more tomato seedlings to plant, as well as pineapple sage, garlic chives and lemongrass donated by a local gardener.  We will plant these next week, as well as the cos lettuce seedlings, cosmos, marigolds and sunflowers raised by Jan.  As we cannot use the land behind the garden beds due to its polluted nature, we plan to grow companion flowers such as sunflowers, hyssop, French marigolds, comfrey and others.

Ashraf, the chef from the Ensemble Theatre, has offered us many plants from his garden.  He has over 15 different types of basil and other exotic herbs and vegetables.  They are currently growing in his garden but, as he is moving, we are invited to dig them up and move them to the MCG.

This week we are attempting to eradicate whatever is eating our silver beet and carrots at soil level.  We are going to boil up a mixture of chillies, garlic and tomato leaves and pour it on.  We will keep our fingers crossed that this will do the job.  It is also time to plant more rocket (arugula), spring onions and carrots.   The 1802 “lazy Housewife” beans are growing like Jack and the Beanstalk bean plant.   That Bokashi juice is just marvellous.  The plants streak ahead when we give them a feed of it.

The watering roster has ensured that we have had very little loss of plants.   We hope that we have sufficient volunteers to water over Christmas and New Year which will be critical.

‘Til next week……Carole

Recipe:  

• 1 small purple onion finely sliced and soaked in water for 5 minute
• 1 radicchio washed and drained and sliced lengthwise quarters and then sliced across into ribbons.
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 squashed garlic clover
• A good couple of pinches of salt
• A teaspoon of sugar
• Six grindings of black pepper

  Method:

• Drain onion.
• Gently heat garlic in 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan until golden, remove garlic and discard.
• Add onion and cook over moderate heat until limp but not coloured, about three minutes.
• Add radicchio and stir to wilt, then add the Balsamic, sugar, salt and continue to cook over moderate heat for 10 – 15 mins, stirring from time to time.  
• Radicchio needs to be soft and all of the bitterness cooked out. Remove from heat and taste.  Add oil and maybe a little more balsamic vinegar. 
• Pile onto toasted bruschetta and top with ricotta. Enjoy.

Other suggestions:

1.   Fry strips of red peppers until well cooked before adding onions and proceeding with the recipe.  Pile onto a plate, top with goats cheese and walnuts and surround with slices of avocado which have been dressed with walnut oil vinaigrette dressing.

2.   Crisp fry thinly sliced prosciutto or pancetta and set aside, and then slice pre cooked potatoes and fry in hot olive oil.  Arrange a circle of potatoes on a plate, scatter chopped marjoram, salt and pepper.  Heap radicchio in middle of plate and top with prosciutto strips.

3.   Soak pre-cooked lasagne sheets (Delverde make a good one, Ondine No 106, available from Norton Street, Leichardt). Make a béchamel sauce with 1 litre of milk and plenty of freshly ground nutmeg.  Layer a lasagne sheet with béchamel and slices of  Fontana cheese, then another lasagne sheet and top with radicchio mixture, continue with sheets ending with béchamel and Fontana cheese.  Bake for 40 - 50 minutes in a moderate oven.  This freezes well.