Last winter, I created a new boysenberry and raspberry bed, planting canes I transferred from my previous 1m x 2m small bed. They've grown rampantly! After weeding, my next task was to remove the finished boysenberry canes and tie in the new ones, remove raspberries that were growing outside the bounds of the allotted area, and get a bit creative with some string to hold up the autumn fruiting canes against some high winds that were predicted (but didn't eventuate this time). The flower boarder along one side also needed clearing, as did the path on the other. Here are the before pics: The after pics are below. At one end of the raspberries, I have a lemon verbena and some soapwort. At the other end are Cape Gooseberries and Fennel, under planted with Sanvitalia. Now I just need to decide what to plant along the border for some winter colour. Maybe I'll plant some cornflowers there. Or petunias. Or violas. Or poppies. Hmmmm......lots of choices! Just for comparison, below I a pic of this garden bed when it was first created and planted 9 months ago, in July 2014: Amazing how fast things grow!
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Yesterday we slaughtered the first batch of our ducks. I set aside the legs and some small bits of meat from the wings, and made this yummy casserole for our dinner tonight. First, I had to pop out in the garden and search for some baby sized onions, and pick a basket of beans. These ones are Blue Lake Runner beans, as well as some thyme sprigs. Duck, Bacon & Onion CasseroleIngredients (served 8-10): Portions of duck - I used 10 legs and some other small pieces Plain flour Salt (plus pepper if you wish - we don't use it due to allergies) Butter or duck fat 250g smoky bacon About 8 baby onions Optional: 250g button mushrooms (not used) 600 chicken stock* A few sprigs fresh thyme Method: Preheat oven to 180C (350F) Wash and pat dry duck, put into a bowl and sprinkle with flour and seasonings. Stir to coat all pieces. Melt about 25g butter or duck fat in a frying pan. Fry the duck pieces, turning, until well browned, then transfer to a large casserole dish. Add the chopped bacon and whole, peeled onions (plus mushrooms if using) to the frying pan, and cook for 5 mins, then transfer to the casserole dish. Blend 1/4 cup flour with remaining pan juices (if no juices, then melt some more butter), and cook for 1 min. Remove from heat and whisk in chicken stock, adding slowly, until smooth. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens a little. Pour over the duck. Add sprigs of fresh thyme, cover and cook about 1 - 1 1/2 hours until tender and thoroughly cooked. Remove thyme and serve. I served the duck casserole with creamy mashed potatoes (Moonlight variety mash really well), and Garlic Green Beans. So good! * I make my own chicken stock - whenever I roast a whole chicken, I save the carcass, popping it in the freezer. When I need chicken stock, I fill a large pot with chicken carcasses, cover with water, add a little salt, and simmer, covered for at least 2 hours. The resulting liquid is excellent chicken stock. I usually bag and freeze in in the portion sizes I need for various recipes. For pudding I made a Pear and Peach Crumble, served with Boysenberry Ripple ice cream. Yum! Crumble Ingredients (10-12 servings) 3kg tin of pear slices 400g tin of peaches Brown sugar Topping: 3 cups plain flour 3 tsp baking powder 3/4 cup white sugar 150g butter Method: Drain liquids from canned fruit into bowl and reserve. Arrange fruit in a roasting dish. Sprinkle with 3-4 TBSP brown sugar - more if fruit is tart, less if it is already sweetened. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and sugar. Add butter and rub together until fine and crumbly. Spread over fruit. Pour a cup or two of reserved fluids over the top of the crumble (optional). Bake 180C for approx. 30 mins until top is lightly browned. Serve with icecream The sixth day of my jungle taming, various areas around the garden that don't really fit into any one title were tackled. I was blessed to have my friend Linda help me out - it's both fun and motivating to tackle work with another person, and you get more done too. Thanks Linda! We cleared weeds and pulled up couch roots from the barked area under and beyond one of my washing lines. I had meant to plant pumpkins there is summer, but never got around to planting them. The low green patch still under the line is some oregano I planted there to begin forming a ground cover. It's not perfect yet, but a big improvement. We left some self-sown flower plants in, and when I decide what to plant here, I'll give it another going over. Before and after pics below: I also cleared out most of the couch and blackberry from in and around the tyres planted with rhubarb, gooseberry, lavender and a red currant against the fence. The tyres really need to go; I left them in for one more season to see if the gooseberry actually produced as it hadn't previously, but this past spring it was laden with luscious fruit that were so sweet I could eat them right off the plant! So, not sure if I'll attempt to move it, or just plant a new cutting-grown plant elsewhere (which means waiting another 3 years for more fruit) and get rid of this one. The rhubarb needs much more room than a tyre - I need to get around to digging it out and replanting. The tyres worked in the sense of lifting the plants up a bit above what is a very wet area in winter (often flooded) but are a pain because the couch grows in and behind them and is impossible to eliminate. The lavender plants I cut out as they're more than 3 years old, have never been pruned properly, and were past doing much with. That big blackberry in the tractor tyre in the corner is going to be completely removed this winter. There are two of my original garden beds still remaining at the top of the garden; I've been meaning to remove them for a while but haven't got to it yet. Linda made short work of clearing the weeds from them for me. The area in front of my herb tree where I had intended to install another garden bed but have changed my mind for now had also gotten overgrown.
One of my herb beds, and another containing onions as well as lemon balm and dahlias also were weeded out, and the pumpkin plant that was charging through the herb bed was also cut back, leaving room for my Echinacea which are starting to flower. So, really, just a day of ripping and pulling weeds - necessary work, with progress made, though not terribly glamorous! :-)
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AuthorThis page is my blog formerly known as Kiwi Urban Homestead. Archives
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