Our Bee and Butterfly Friendly Tropical garden, some Exciting News, and a Delicious Quiche Recipe for you

Salvia, a perennial plant, loved by bees

We have been spending a lot of time in the garden lately, this time of the year in the

Tropics is beautiful one day, perfect the next. The mornings and evenings have turned quite cold here for us, 7 degrees minimum, but the days are sunny and clear. It is so relaxing and energising to be outside that I took some photos yesterday which I hope you will enjoy.  We have been focusing on planting annuals and perennials that our European and  visiting Native bees will be attracted to, and some herbs and vegetables,  and it is all coming together nicely. The birds and the butterflies are benefiting as well.

Basil is a mainstay in our garden, I can't have enough of it, and now that we have a beehive of busy European bees, I have let some of the bushes flower and go to seed, as the bees love the flower nectar. The native bees fly in from their hives to feast as well. Basil bushes look attractive in flower, however the bushes can become straggly, so they will need to be pruned back after flowering or just replaced if they become very woody. I haven't had much luck with sweet basil plants lately, however the Thai basil is very hardy, and is very flavoursome for making pesto. I'll be giving the sweet basil a try again soon though.

Do you remember this resilient old fashioned plant, the Coleus, which probably grew in your Grandmother's, Mother's or Aunt's garden? I think it is making a comeback and I don't know why it fell out of fashion from a lot of gardens in the first place as it is so colourful and the bees love the flowers. Frank the owner of our favourite local nursery, Country Garden's Mackay, recommended we grow it to attract the bees and they love it. It is a cinch to grow anywhere, takes very easily from cuttings, and is heat tolerant. I'm not sure how it would tolerate frost though as we don't get frost here. If you know anyone who is growing a Coleus plant, ask them if you can have a cutting or slip, plant it in the ground, and it should grow. Gardeners love to share. It needs to be pruned into shape regularly though as it grows quickly.

This pretty pink flower is a Buddleia. It is the first time we have grown it,  and we remember it growing like a weed in England, however Frank assures us it will be be a Bee magnet in our garden without any risk of it spreading like a weed, as it does overseas.

In this section of our sunny garden, the Buddleia, the purple Salvia, and the red salvia all invite the bees and the butterflies to visit. The large leafy caladiums provide a colourful contrast and the sunbirds love playing on their leaves after a heavy dew or a shower of rain as the water clings to the leaves and forms mini swimming pools for them to play in. Sorry I don't have a photo of the birds frolicking in the sun, you will just have to take my word for it. In the bottom righthand corner, are the last of the May flowering Chrysanthemums,  and some of my purple ground orchids flower all year round.

Our decorative and functional Garden wall.

The Garden Wall showcasing potted petunias is Mr. HRK's masterpiece and design. We also have lots of lilac and pink Pentas growing along the base of it.  The Pentas is a very hardy tropical plant, that the butterflies love, I am never without it.The bees fly around the Pentas but they are more drawn to the nearby basil and salvia at the moment. Orange, red and yellow Celosias in the square pot  at the end of the Garden Seat, also designed and constructed by Mr. HRK, make another nice show but don't seem to attract the insects. They just look pretty and self germinate very easily.

Our backyard Golden Penda, a tropical rainforest tree, is in flower at the moment and our bees think they have gone to Heaven. We watch them fly back to the hive covered in beautiful Golden pollen. The local Lorikeets haven't visited the tree this time so the bees can feed off the flowers uninterrupted. Whilst it's enjoyable to see the beautiful Lorikeets in the tree, they are aggressive feeders and the flowers and the leaves litter the ground after a Lorikeet feeding frenzy. The flowers also make a nice floral bouquet, if you can reach them.

Here is the Brazilian Red Cloak bush which makes a colourful addition to the backyard rainforest section of our garden, flowering in June. Whilst I don't think it is a Bee magnet, it provides a lot of beautiful red colour. Like all perennials, it responds to a good pruning after flowering.

Comfrey, or the Knitbone plant, is a perennial herb which has a long history of being used as a poultice for healing and for other medicinal uses. It's strong root system also adds valuable nutrients to the soil. I chop up the leaves and add them straight to the garden as a compost or add them to the compost heap to accelerate the composting process.  Once you have it in your garden, you will never be without it. As an added bonus, the insects love the pretty lavendar flowers.

Mr. HRK and I visited the local Riverside city markets in Mackay last Wednesday and came home with some vegetable and herb seedlings from a local grower who germinates his own and they always produce excellent plants. We don't have a large vegetable garden now, but we grow what we enjoy eating and what suits our climatic conditions.It is always a pleasure to pick some organic produce in season that we have grown ourselves.Yesterday we planted spring onions and climbing beans, and I repotted my mint and added a fresh plant to the mix and placed it in a sunnier position. In Summer it will be moved back into a protected spot. Mint is such a wonderful addition to so many dishes and drinks. We grow a lot of herbs, which I am adding to our food on a daily basis, and they also save us a lot of money.



A plate of radishes picked straight from our garden yesterday. I buy Mrs. Fothergill's seedling strips and plant those, and they have never failed. It's a fast crop and the radishes aren't as spicy as those purchased from the supermarket. Delicious and fresh.

I also thought I would share with you one of my favourite quiche recipes, because if you have been outside gardening all morning like me, something quick, easy and nutritious is the way to go.

Quick and Easy Spinach Quiche in a dish

I have just quickly made this quiche for lunch. It took no time at all and is delicious. This one is a cinch to make. If you have fresh spinach or silverbeet on hand, by all means use that, however, defrosted spinach from the freezer is easy to use and always on hand. This is perfect for a quick and easy weekend meal and serves 4. Take out the spinach a few hours in advance if possible to defrost, or use your microwave.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
100ml creme fraiche
100g grated Parmesan cheese or other flavoursome cheese
2 spring onions, diced
150g of frozen spinach, defrosted and drained (1/2 a packet)
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg




Method:

Preheat your oven to 170 deg. C and lightly grease an ovenproof dish or use separate ramekins.
Whisk together the eggs and creme fraiche in a medium size bowl.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients and season with a little salt and white pepper.
Pour the mixture into your baking dish and cook in the oven for about 25 minutes. If you are using ramekins, bake for 10 minutes less.




Serve with a fresh salad for a light nutritious lunch.

Now for our exciting news. Last Saturday, we became Grandparents again, to beautiful little twins, a boy and a girl named Finn and Evie.  Being twins, they were born a few weeks early but thankfully healthy, however this week has been one of daily updates on their progress, lots of phonecalls from family and friends, and planning our visit to meet them. It's been busy. Premature twins require a lot of careful and tender care, however hopefully they will be able to go home tomorrow, after starting to gain some weight and overcoming a little jaundice. Our little Grandson Hugo, is so excited about his new brother and sister. We are ecstatic, and relieved that everyone is well.

I wish I was a better knitter, so that I could be making lots of warm items of clothing for our little darlings as they live in a cold Winter climate. That just might be my next challenge.

Best wishes

Pauline

Silverbeet with chickpeas and cumin

The silverbeet in our garden needs harvesting, so this inspired me to prepare a healthy dish which can stand alone with just some pita bread and left over roast lamb and a glass of red wine. It has to be an easy meal tonight as it is the Rugby League semi final with the Cowboys playing the Cronulla Sharks in Sydney. If the Cowboys win this match they are in the  Grand Final again so we will be glued to the television. Last year we travelled to Sydney to watch the Cowboys play in the Grand Final which they won.

Silverbeet is a vegetarian's friend, when it comes to iron supplies. If you combine the silverbeet with wholegrains the iron levels will be further increased. Chick peas will add lots of fibre and nutrients so this is a complete meal in itself.

Ingredients:

Serves 2

2 tablespoons sunflower or canola oil

1 small onion, finely sliced

1 garlic clove, chopped

Grated zest of one lemon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 red chilli, finely chopped with seeds removed
A bunch of silverbeet or spinach, about 150g, trimmed and washed

400g tin of Italian or plum tomatoes or 4-6 large fresh plum tomatoes or equivalent

400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

pinch of sugar (optional)

Flatleaf parsley for garnish

Let's Cook:

Heat the oil in a saucepan  over  a medium-low heat.  Add  the  onion  and sweat gently  for  about  8 minutes,  stirring  occasionally,  until  soft  and  golden.  Add the garlic,  chilli,  cumin,  and lemon zest and cook  for  another  1-2 minutes.

If using  fresh tomatoes,  grate their flesh directly  into  the  pan, discarding  the  skins. If using canned tomatoes,  finely  chop the tomatoes,  and add  them  to  the  pan.  Stir  well, bring the  mixture  to a simmer,  and cook  gently  for  a few minutes,  until a nice sauce develops.

Meanwhile  prepare the silverbeet  or spinach.  Wash the  leaves  and remove  any  tough stalks.  Add leaves  to the  pan and stir  over  the  heat  until  wilted.  Add the chickpeas and some salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar. 

 Cook for a few minutes, just to heat the chickpeas through, then adjust the seasoning if necessary to suit your taste.

Garnish with some finely chopped flat leaf parsley and serve with warm flatbreads or pita breads or even tortilla strips and a dash of mango chutney.  Whatever you fancy really.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Spring gardening in the tropics using companion planting and "cut and come again"

It's days like today that I feel so fortunate to be retired and alive and able to do the things that I like to do in no particular order, but just when I feel like doing them. The balmy spring weather in the tropics promises a hint of the summer heat to come, so this morning I have planted the last of the vegetable seedlings for my tropical summer garden. I want to get the greens well  established before the midday sun causes them to bolt and create flower stalks. If that happens the leaves will then also become quite unpleasant to eat.

Summer greens with self sown tomatoes at the back of the garden fighting for space with the rambling nasturtiums which attract the bees. Lebanese eggplant will provide a decorative element as well as a bountiful supply in a few months, and the beautiful lady bugs will crawl all over them.

Herbs in this garden include flowering comfrey on the left, flat leaf parsley, Italian basil and thyme. The butterflies are attracted to the lavendar comfrey flowers. I plan to make some comfrey tea in the next few days whihc will give the herbs and vegetables another nitrogen boost. You can read how to make comfrey tea here.

My hottest vegetable garden contains a myriad of plants, including a fig tree which we have just transplanted so that it has more sun. It's time it performed. A few weeks ago I planted some silverbeet here and this is almost ready to be harvested a few leaves at a time. It is beautiful and glossy and insect free at the moment. Red Mignonette lettuces and silverbeet are very practical and yet extremely healthy greens to grow in Spring in the tropics. They are fast growers. Besides providing some colour contrast in salads, these little red burnished beauties are also more resistant to bugs, and I love the way that  I can just pick and use the leaves as I need them without needing to harvest the whole lettuce. "Cut and come again" with the greens by removing the largest leaves from the outside of the plant with a pair of scissors, which encourages the plant to produce more leaves, and then you can keep removing leaves from the plants every few days as you need them. Mignonettes require little space, and can be planted in very small gardens. It is a good idea to keep planting lettuce seedlings every few weeks so that you have a continuous supply of greens. As the heat intensifies, it helps to grow the leafy greens under shadecloth for protection.

Using just a few leaves at a time, "cut and come again" is also the big advantage with growing your own crop of glossy silverbeet, and is a very economical way to eat salads and vegetables. It is just so satisfying to be able to go down to my vegetable patch and pick the greens I need for our meal knowing that no sprays have been used on them and that they are as fresh as they can be.It also means that my food preparation can be quite impromptu.

If you can build or buy a raised garden for your herbs and vegetables it will really save your back when you are planting and provides excellent drainage as well. Mr. HRK built this for me, and also an aquaculture style set of planting tubes, which contain soil and is also irrigated,  above the raised garden which works really well for mignonettes, spring onions and smaller vegetable species. I have added a white "moth" on a stick to this garden to repel the cabbage moths.Yes, I think it works. It worked last year, as the cabbage moths are very territorial and won't come near a garden where they think a white cabbage moth is already at work. This garden is also partially protected from the hot summer sun by a shadecloth cover which really helps.

I also planted some more spring onion seedlings this morning, and just positioned them amongst the veges wherever there was a space. This is a form of companion planting that I have used for a long time as the shallots also act as a pest repellent for the neighbouring vegetables and herbs, whilst being close to the kitchen and readily available. I use a lot of shallots or spring onions in my cooking but buying all of these fresh ingredients on a daily basis can be a substantial cost.  So we grow what is practical, and try to buy the rest of the fresh produce we need from the local farmer's markets each Saturday.

After planting the seedlings, this afternoon I gave them a dose of Seasol seaweed solution and Thrive, diluted and  mixed together in my large watering can. I am hoping that with the  odd shower of rain around, I can start harvesting some leaves within the next few weeks.

Happy gardening and if anyone reads this I would love to know what you are doing in your garden.