Another very successful Gardening Extravaganza is over and many of you missed out on yummy soups and Shirley’s spectacular scones…not to mention all the great garden things the exhibitors had on display. Next year there will be even more things to see as I’ve already had enquiries for space from new exhibitors!! Put it in your diary as a “must see’ for next years Festival.
The array of succulents on display and for sale was amazing with many I hadn’t encountered before. My succulent garden for the steep side of my driveway is getting closer to reality!
Easy care and decorative there is such a range to be had. They are a great addition to gardens and can be successfully grown in the ground or in pots and most require little water and like direct sun and tolerate heat. I have some growing in my Mum’s old wheelbarrow in the front garden and they only get watered by the rain and do very nicely even in the dry times!
The array of bromeliades was also a feast for those that have a spot for these great plants and there was also a wide range of seedlings and shrubs to suit most applications and areas in the garden. If you needed extra soil or mulch or fertiliser it was also there and advice on your requirements was available.
Not to be missed was the range of decorative metal art to enhance nearly any spot in the garden or even a wall in the house.
There was even an exhibit showing you how to make wonderful food more quickly and easily from the produce that you grow!
I hope that it inspired the many of you who came to keep being busy in your gardens to have them ready to enter in the Spring Garden Competition in first week of October.
As I haven’t been able to do much in my garden in recent months I am now endeavouring to have my vegetable beds ready for spring planting and dreaming of a wonderful summer harvest.
As soon as the frosts are gone there will be a flurry of activity in my back yard! I am going to put my poor little “Lots of lemons” tree into the ground in a better spot than it has been and can’t wait to see it flourish again. With the increasing shade caused by a hedge it has been struggling in the pot this year and needs relocating to a sunnier position.
I have chokoes going nicely in a warm spot and the mesh already for them to grow on in the garden. They are such a versatile vegetable and a must-have ingredient in pickles.
I recently found a recipe for fresh beetroot salad that looked wonderful, was very easy to make and won acclaim when served. It is a very underutilised vegetable and is only usually served pickled in vinegar with salads but is good baked and adds colour to a winter dinner.
The salad I found has cubes of beetroot boiled until tender, combined with fresh orange segments, finely sliced red onion and topped with feta cheese. The colours looked great and dressed with balsamic dressing, it tasted wonderful. Another favourite of mine is a pumpkin salad. Bake pumpkin cubes with onion, toss in some diced red and green capsicum for colour, some cooked chick peas for protein and crunch and dress it with sweet chilli sauce for something different to add to your array of salad greens.
I am also going to put the tops from a pineapple that family brought me fresh from Bundaberg into a pot and hope they grow. More childhood memories of an uncle doing this on the central coast of NSW. I don’t remember it ever bearing but it was a fun thing to do and encouraged interest in gardening diversity in a very small girl.
He was the first, and to this day, only, person I knew who ever grew tree tomatoes, tamarillos, in their back yard. Now That I have looked them up and read about them I realise in the 1950’s he was well ahead of his time. It wasn’t until the late 60’s that New Zealand farmers gave them a new name and a real push in the market.
Unlike their re-branding of the Chinese gooseberry or “mihoutao” as it was known, to the now universally known “Kiwifruit”, the change of name from “tree tomato” to Tamarillo has not been as successful and widely accepted.
If you had a frost-free spot, it would be a nice evergreen shrub to grow with its large heart-shaped leaves and small fragrant pink flowers followed by the orange, red or purple fruit depending on which variety you chose. I wonder if they’d grow in a large pot that could be moved away from frosts? I must look into that and let you know!
