Our Own Spuds

Little steamed spuds, tossed in cream with strips of bacon and seeded mustard, made for an impromptu warm potato salad that was simply delicious BUT it was somehow even better than that because these potatoes were homegrown! 

Moreish baby potatoes 

Just before I cooked these little baby potatoes, I unearthed them from under the soil in one of the Potato Planter Bags I grew them in. I bought two of these bags a while ago, from an organic gardening shop called Green Harvest, because I have never successfully grown potatoes in a garden bed here and thought this might be a solution. It worked so well!

Spuds growing in a Potato Planter Bag.

Just-out-0f-the-ground!

Underneath the soil in each bag were lots of little baby potatoes. My son and I had great fun digging them up!  A quick wash and peel and straight into the steamer to cook until tender. Into a pan with strips of fried bacon, a dollop or two of luscious cream and a teaspoon or so of seeded mustard.

Simple but my, our own spuds were good! 

Meg

p.s. I am not affiliated in any way with Green Harvest. If you are a gardener however, I should tell you that one could spend hours quite happily in their  shop and garden up at Witta (Sunshine Coast hinterland near Maleny). Rhonda over at Down to Earth wrote about her visit to Green Harvest a little while ago. 

Close to Trees

The late afternoons of this Winter are balmy and beautiful. I love to take Sir Steve dog for a stroll, ambling along the bike paths and footpaths at his pace, his nose forever sniffing the tree trunks and grass while my eyes look up to the treetops.

The golden, mellow light highlights the eucalypts and paperbarks; a soft glow that signals the evening is not far away. I love the shapes of branches and leaves set against the sky and the shadows, cast by straight, tall trunks, as the sun begins its descent.

A paperbark down by the creek. 

Leaves in light and trunks in shadow.

Tall gums touched by late afternoon light.

Golden treetops along the path towards home.

The trees we walk by and under, and the forest that begins on the ridge close by, make it feel as though we live far from the bustle of the city here. Cooling our little pocket of suburbia, shading our streets and paths, cleansing our air, providing a home for native wildlife and connecting us to nature. Without these trees, our place wouldn't be the same.

Meg

Late Winter Walk Around the Garden

We've had some bursts of unseasonal heat here and then some strong, Westerly winds blew in so things are feeling quite dry. Glad that I mulched heavily early in Winter as the soil is moist still underneath. I've been thinking ahead to Springtime; to what I need to do in the garden and what I would like to grow for our table.  

Cherry tomatoes from a volunteer tomato plant...destined for our salad bowl!

Yesterday, I felt well enough (I'm getting over the flu) to prune back the passionfruit vine, pull out some spent basil plants and lay some compost and manure down around the drip line of our avocado tree. I need to cut the last of the Winter lettuce I've grown, pick a few bunches of sweet peas, collect Calendula seeds and unearth the baby potatoes that are ready in the grow bags I've used for spuds this year. 

Seeds to save from the sunshine yellow Calendulas.

Bright green lettuces are ready to eat.

Very pretty pink Sweet peas make for lovely posies!

Baby potatoes are waiting under the soil in this Grow Bag.

Soon I'll prepare the main veggie patch for Spring planting. I want to grow more lettuce (always lettuce!), different varieties of cucumbers, spring onions, cherry tomatoes in pots, try my luck with some capsicums and grow many bee-friendly flowers! Soon, the blueberries will be ripe too and I can't wait to eat those!

It won't be long and these will be ripe, delicious and blue!

I loved being out in the warm sunshine yesterday, feeling quite content to wander the garden and dream about the form it will take this coming Spring. There's much to enjoy in the garden and always so much to look forward to!

 A vibrant Zinnia has sprung up through the mulch.

The native iris is in flower along the side fence.

A gorgeous deep red geranium is in bloom.

What are you planning for your garden in the coming season?

Meg

p.s. Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes after my last post. I am feeling much better, still a little croaky and tired, but thankful to be up and around again!