All Blog Posts - Page 5 of 24

First sweetcorn of the season

January 11, 2016April 15, 2016 Stephen Carlin

Sweetcorn can be grown in a marvellously wide range of climates, even far northern parts of the globe where the Summers are short but the days are long. Here in the Southern Subtropics we don’t have those very long summer days, but our climate is also good for growing sweetcorn; it can be started early in Spring and grown till late. This year I am testing the window. At the end of Spring I have already put in several sowings with the aim of having corn to pick right through the warm months.

Bunching onion flowers, end of season.

January 9, 2016 Stephen Carlin

Growing onions can be tricky in the subtropics, as the standard varieties need a cold period to form bulbs, but here my bunching onions have been a success. They are like green onions (which are usually immature bulbing onions) and I think they are particularly suited to the sort of risotto / stirfry / ratatouille dishes that we tend to make, with their mild flavour. For stews and roasts I still use brown onions.

Baby carrot harvest; using thinnings

January 4, 2016 Stephen Carlin

As my rows of carrots grow I occasionally remember to thin some out to make room for the main crop. The thinnings make a handy baby carrot crop for the kitchen.

Cowboy candy. Pickled jalapeños.

December 27, 2015May 31, 2018 Stephen Carlin

With the warm Spring weather the jalapeños have been very productive, so I have more than I can cook with and give away. It was time to get creative and try ‘cowboy candy’, sweet pickled jalapeños. I’m glad I did.

Our Christmas tree, the brown kurrajong.

December 27, 2015 Stephen Carlin

Ever since we first started coming North for Christmas I have been struck by these trees with their masses of white flowers. They are common along roadways in the Northern Rivers. They are the local Christmas tree, and almost look like they have taken a heavy fall of snow. Eventually I found out that the tree has the unpromising name of brown kurrajong. The botanical name is Brachychiton populneus. We are more familiar with Brachychitons here as the very showy flame trees, which lose all their leaves and are covered in red flowers,…

How much thyme do you have?

December 5, 2015August 25, 2017 Stephen Carlin

You can probably never have too much thyme. Part of the plan for my herb garden was to have a section of low growing and fragrant herbs like thyme under the clothes hoist. With our second Spring finishing after sowing it the first Winter, it’s almost what I envisaged and filling in nicely.

Cooked Chioggia beetroot is also good

November 25, 2015December 14, 2015 Stephen Carlin

My Spring Chioggia (candystripe) beetroot crop did well, but with the weather warming up it was time to pull the last of them. Because of their red and white rings I have only been using them as carpaccio, but as we had so many it was time to try them cooked.

Hill house photo tour

November 21, 2015December 14, 2015 Stephen Carlin

We have been here at Hill House for a year and a half now, and have finally opened up as much of the property as we need to for the while. The first year involved a bit of literally pushing through walls of grass, lantana, and other weeds to discover what was beyond the few tracks and the house area. Then once we knew it was safe, slashing with the tractor. So with the Spring mowing under control it seems like a good time to introduce the property with a…

Moving the shade house

November 18, 2015December 14, 2015 Stephen Carlin

We have an old shade house that had been overgrown by a mulberry tree in the old food forest. It was too shaded for even weeds to grow, but fortunately easy to deconstruct and move. Now the the ‘Midlevels’ garden has become the main kitchen garden, we have been busy moving the shade house for the second time to what I hope is its permanent position. Why have a shade house? You probably can’t have too many ‘houses’ in the garden, each with a special microclimate. A shade house is best for…

Hay, chickens and compost.

November 13, 2015December 17, 2015 Stephen Carlin

I’ve got into a routine for turning hay into compost, after trialling a few alternatives. It involves using it as bedding in the chicken house. Now that the warm wet weather has returned, it’s time to start the process again.