The gardens in October

Tags

Alan Dawson Gardens, allotment gardens, borage, fennel, food, garden, home grown, Local food hero, Medicinal garden 3 and 1 garden, nasturtiums, organic, Pizza garden, plants, spinach, sunset garden, Winter garden, worm garden, ZTL garden

Our new arrivals – Alan Dawson Gardens

Craig’s Borage

ZTL garden

Spinach in the Winter garden

Worm garden

Sunset garden

Borage in the Medicinal garden

Garlic in the Pasta Garden

Fennel and Nasturtiums

3 in one garden

Over the Winter we have seen a few changes. We  welcome Alan Dawson Gardens who have moved in to the allotment near the canal. Bonnie has left us for a new career in Motherhood, all the best to her. We have a new allotment holder Matt, welcome.

The gardens them self have been growing rapidly as well as the weeds. This past week a lot of weeds were pulled out  leaving the vegetables space to grow. The Spinach in the Winter garden is now ready for harvesting

The South Easter has started to blow, so the gardens will be requiring more water.

I look forward to the next workshop which is on Saturday 2 November.

There are still a few places available. Please email aristonorganic@gmail.com to reserve your place.

 

Bonnie’s Garden

Tags

allotment gardens, cilli, food, gardening, health, home grown, organic, pak choy, pepper, peppers, plants, spinach, tomato, tomatoes

Wow Bonnie’s Garden is really starting to grow. The tomatoes, pepper and chilies are flowering and starting to fruit.

 

Bonnie’s Pak Choy and spinach.

 

Learning to grow your own workshop 2 March

Tags

carrots, compost, eggplant, food, growing from food scraps, horseradish, lettuce, marjoram, nature, oregano, pineapple, planting, plants, preparing soil, propagation, rocket, rosemary, spinach, wild garlic, winter savory, workshops, worm castings, worm compost

We had a fabulous workshop yesterday. Jo and Janine arrived full of energy and enthusiasm.

We started by assessing the site in which we were going to garden.

We proceeded to improve the soil with compost made from straw, cow manure and mushroom compost.

We then planted some 2 liter bottles with small holes in the bottle to make sure we have water going down to the roots.

We then look around for plants we could propagate to plant . Rosemary,  wild garlic ( our companion plant), horseradish, winter savory, oregano and marjoram were chosen.

The worm farm was harvested for worm compost. Oh my word the girls just fell in love with the worms.

We then planted using the worm compost.

Seeds that were chosen to sow were : carrots, spinach, eggplant and lettuce. the carrots were sown directly into the ground, the others were planted up in seed trays which Jo has taken home to nurture until they are ready to be planted out.

Our piece of resistance for the day was planting a pineapple from food scraps.

We finished the bed by mulching with leaves and compost again and a thorough watering.

We all left thoroughly dirty and tired but thoroughly satisfied.

Book now for the next workshop in April

https://aristonorganic.wordpress.com/workshops-for-2013/

email aristonorganic@gmail.com

Meat free Monday

Tags

bacon, butter, cheese, dinner, food, garlic, leeks, macaroni, macaroni cheese, milk, mushroom, onions, pasta, recipe, slice tomato, spinach, sweet basil, vegetarian

Vegetable Macaroni Cheese

 

 

 

 

It is meat free Monday again today.

• Cook required amount of macaroni according to instructions.
• Chop onion, garlic,mushrooms, spinach, leeks and herbs of your choice. I use sweet basil, oregano and Winter Savory.
• Microwave  for 3 minutes on high.
• Melt tablespoon butter with the chopped ingredients.
• Add flour to make a thick paste
• Add milk slowly, stirring to make a smooth sauce. (make the required amount according to how much macaroni is being cooked.)
• Cook in microwave a minute at a time stirring each minute, until the sauce is thick.
• Melt cheddar cheese in sauce.
• Mix with Macaroni.
• Sprinkle cheese on the top together with some slice tomato.
• For a non meat free option, add rashers of bacon.
• Grill in oven till brown.

Good old fashioned creamed Spinach #recipes

Tags

cook spinach, dinner, english mustard, food, garlic, garlic clove, health, recipe, sauce, spinach, tablespoon butter, vegetarian

Harvest the required amount of Spinach from your garden, wash and dry.

Chop the spinach with a sharp knife.

Cook spinach in salted boiling water 3 minutes.

To make a white sauce :

Melt 1 tablespoon butter, add crushed garlic clove and 1 teaspoon English mustard and  flour stirring into a stiff paste. Add milk slowly stirring to keep sauce smooth. Place in microwave for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring every minute. Add 2 tablespoons grated Cheddar cheese, stir until all cheese has melted. Pour of excess water from the spinach and mix with the sauce.

Enjoy!