Beautiful Brown

Anything brown in the garden adds a lovely subtle element. Look at these fabulous fungi growing on the trunk of my white lilac tree.

And these etherial bearded iris under the canopy of golden maples.

What a beautiful time of year here in southwest Western Australia. Hubby is finishing off the drippers to the raised veggie beds today and I am rearranging the old wine barrels I used for the spuds so that they can be connected to the water pipes as well...I'm thinking runner beans in those for now. I have some 'teepees' given to me last year that I havn't even used, so I'll see if they fit.

Artichokes

I made artichokes this way last week and was so impressed I decided to make it again with the last on my plants. I got the idea from a simple little book, "Food from an Italian Garden" by Judith Barrett. There are no photos of the dishes at all just charming black and white sketches of the vegetables.
Artichokes Roman Style: Firstly prepare the artichokes by snapping off all the tough outer leaves (how many depends on how developed each one is) and cut off the top third of all leaves with a serrated knife. Have a bowl of water with the juice of a lemon in it to dunk them in as you go - this helps prevent discolouration. Trip the stem back to the height of your pot and pare away the outer 'skin'. Drop the whole thing into your lemon water and move along until they are all done.
Prepare a mix of garlic, parsley, a little salt and a good glub of olive oil, muched up well with a food processor if you have one. I make extra of this to keep in the fridge as it is so handy to shove on anything, like the salmon fillets I am baking for our dinner tonight.
Press the artichokes down firmly on your benchtop to splay out the leaves slightly and rub some of this garlicy mix down between some of the leaves.
Pack them into a pot snuggly so they stand upright. I nestled an upturned little bowl in the centre but they still fall over a bit - this isn't a biggy really. Tip in a cup of olive oil and top up with water until the level is at the heart/stem junction. Bring to the boil and simmer, with the lid slightly askew until they are done. I like them well done and the smallest ones were ready in 25min.
Remove these little beauties and allow to drain and come to room temperature before you devour these with a glass or two of your favourite wine. In my case Pinot Grigio!
With regards to the 'hairy choke', I pick it out if its large BUT as these are so young, fresh and tender I won't worry about removing it.

Finished Atrichokes

Here they are ready to enjoy with some lovely wine I swap with a local winery when they sell my little paintings in their gallery.

RETIC REDONE!

I can't believe what an incredible mess the new reticulation process made of the garden. A trench like this one weaved its way all around the garden. Luckily, I didn't have to dig any of it! Now that its all in place (except for the drippers to the raised veggie beds) its wonderful. It practically looks like Versailles out the back when those six 'water cannons' come on under such pressure. A gardeners nirvana.
The workers were clever enough to remove clods of lawn as they went so that these could be put back like a jigsaw after the trenches were filled in. We are hoping that our water will be used much more effectively than the old 'mist' sprinklers and we use less in the long run.

Anna Olivier

This is one of my favourite tea roses - Anna Olivier. She and all the teas are doing brilliantly at the moment. The rain and overcast conditions suit them perfectly. She's there with a couple of girlfriends leaning comfortably on a timber support. We trim them back to the height of the little fence in summer with the electric hedger. Then, come Autumn, they are simply covered again in blooms. The fragrance is fresh and fruity and the nodding heads look georgous hanging over a simple milk jug in the kitchen.

Beauty

The Romanesco broccoli are developing up nicely. Seven months! from seed to table. You wouldn't want to be in a hurry. I have about 10 plants and they are all doing their own thing. One is showing signs of purple sprouting brocccoli. But this one looks almost too perfect to eat. I decided it was worthy of admiration for a couple of days before eating.
I have had loads of silverbeet and spinach so I've made a couple of spinach and feta pies lately. I use leeks and lots of parsley from the garden too. Last night we had friends round and I made gnocchi with my potatoes. It was very good and we reckon the best I've made.
Lots of the winter vege are finishing off now-had some lovely cabbages. I made an asian style salad with one. Here's what I did, just collecting things from the garden and what I had to hand:
Soak rice stick noodles in boiling water for 5 mins while you prepare your veggies
Shredded cabbage
Sugarsnap peas, halved lengthways
Grated carrot
Spring or red onion
Lots of chopped corriander, mint and parsley
Rinse the noodles in cold water, drain well and toss in oil to prevent sticking. Then make the dressing: 1tbls rice bran oil, 1 tsp seasame oil, 3 tbls lime juice, 2 tblsp fish sauce, 1 tblsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp palm sugar, 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 tsp minced chilli.
I topped off the salad with a lovely fillet of locally smoked salmon, in chunks. If you didn't use fish or chicken I think some roasted peanuts or almonds would give a good contrast.
Last weekend I planted out my first summer bed. Layered the bin back up to the top with sheep poo, bought soil mulch, pea straw and cardboard. Then planted 6 different tomato plants, basil and capsicums.

Potato Harvest

It has been lovely to be back in the garden, particularly my new, raised-bed vegie garden. My potao plants died back while I was away (much to the horror of my house-sitter) as they should. I had harvested a few new ones before I left and have had a couple of goes this week. Now I will upend the whole lot, harden the crop off for a few days, then store them in bags.
I don't actually eat a lot of spuds - fried too fattening and otherwise 'dead' calories BUT I will have to make an exception here... Boil them first to half cooked then shallow fry until crisp. I made them this way with drinks when my Mum and Dad came over last week. As you can see in the background, Glen's are still active. What a difference a few weeks make.