Radish and Pepper Overload

Capsicums grow really well in my garden.  I don't know if it's the climate here, or the soil composition (high nitrogen) in the raised beds; maybe it's a combination of both.  What it equals is constant sensory exploration (read: test how much spice the human body can tolerate!).  These habanero peppers turned into a few bottles of chili sauce...that recipe is still under construction.

Radishes and other varieties of capsicums (7 in total growing in the garden) also grow really well. When life gives you radishes and peppers, you make something with them...here's a recipe for Radish and Pepper Spread.

The green capsicums were all sliced and baked in the convection oven for roughly 30 minutes at 180C. I covered the lot of peppers in water and two tablespoons of sugar while they were baking.

After the peppers came out of the oven, one juiced lime, a tablespoon of olive oil, and a pinch of salt was stirred into the bowl.

Finally, add the diced radishes and red chilli peppers and you've got a delicious spread with a kick.

Try it on lentils...

...or on toast.

However you decide to spread your radishes and capsicums, enjoy!

What's For Dinner?

Back from a month away in the United States, and the garden is abound with all sorts of goodies. Sidenote: it feels really good to be surrounded again by trees with leaves on them.  Getting back to the garden, we've had moderate sun and rain over the past month; without a main gardener at home certain plants get overlooked and begin producing heavily.  It's a good thing my pesky hands weren't all over the greens for that time, the garden enjoys plenty of rest as well.

A friend from Hawaii is visiting for dinner tonight, let's see what becomes of everything on this table...

- rocket and french sorrel

- jap pumpkin

- mary sheehan cucumbers

- 7 different kinds of capsicums (peppers), from medium to very hot

- chives and garlic chives

- radishes

- cherry tomatoes

What would you make?

What's For Dinner?

It's been a while since I've done a feature on What's For Dinner?...here we have a sampling of some greens and veggies to add into tonight's mix.  Radishes are still growing really well here.  It's simply a matter of planting some seeds, waiting a few weeks and then planting some more seeds; that way there's always a crop to be harvested.  Some parsley and chives to add some flavour to the relatively bland kale.  Some silverbeet that I stir fried with the kale, and some lettuce for a salad.  Organic gardening is so easy, and tastes so good!

What's For Dinner?

I've used this title for a post before, but after harvesting some things from the garden to prepare for dinner tonight, I had the idea for a new series...What's For Dinner?

Here's what's going in to tonight's dinner...
- snow peas
- rosemary
- cherry tomatoes
- silverbeet
- kale (red russian)
- radishes

Welcoming The New Guy

One of the most interesting facets of gardening for me is to witness and keep track of which seeds and seedlings take care of themselves, and which ones you have to struggle with to keep alive.  Sowing seeds directly into my garden has had many different success levels.  Using @Mr_Fothergills has even had mixed outcomes; but by far the best producing organic seed from the best Australian seed provider has been radishes.  And finally, after just four weeks of growing (we've had an incredibly mild, dare I say hot, winter Down Under)...my first radish appears.

Beneath my harvest you'll see just one small bunch of them still left in the ground.  After planting this first group, and realizing how well they were taking off in the garden, I decided to grow through the whole packet of seeds throughout different areas of the garden...looks like we'll be enjoying these for a while.  I separated the planting by about 2-3 weeks, as they take between 4-8 weeks before harvest and I didn't want to get a whole bunch at once, but rather enjoy them over a period of time.

This small chili pepper did really well until May, when I decided to harvest everything to start a collection of dried peppers...and finally we can see some new growth, flowers, and few small chilies scattered about.

Above: Kale and Silver beet, two staples in my cooking
and
Below: Rocket abound, we'll be enjoying this for a while as well...

A whole bunch of different varieties of tomatoes self-seeded the past few months, and they've survived shockingly well for this garden and climate.  We're just starting to enjoy the benefits.

And there you have it, the current state of affairs...