Pond life - some welcome, some not

pond-side fern

We have a frog pond. Some years ago now, we dug a big hole, lined it with pond liner (a thick durable black plastic),  placed sandstone rocks around the edges, filled it with water, added some aquatic plants got a small container with taddies in it from our local nursery and populated the pond.

moss and lichen

Over time the pond has 'gone native'. Now it looks as though it has always been there.  It has some great clumps of moss and lichen, the native violets are sprawling down to the edges of the pond, some ferns that grow in the front brick fence have been transplanted to the pond side and have taken.  It looks amazing.

We have had generations of tadpoles now and in summer the 'plonk' of amorous frogs fills the evening air.

This year - a La Nina - the frogs have been extra amorous and we probably have more tadpoles in the pond than ever. Our frogs are striped marsh frogs.

Native violets - Viola hederacea

We also have become a breeding  pond for dragonflies. We get red and blue dragonflies breeding here. They lay their eggs on the surface of the water in a skipping sort of  fashion, and eventually strange long aquatic cicada-like  nymphs can be seen scooting thru the pond.  Then, much like cicadas, they crawl out of the pond onto the pond plants, their shell splits and a baby dragon fly emerges, for a while sitting beside its old shell stretching its wings in the sun so they dry out.

Today, I visited the pond for a bit of therapeutic pond staring, and what did I see?  New pond life!  With its characteristic mode of movement, I new exactly what it was immediately.  A leech.

amorous striped marsh frogs in the pond

Hmmm, should I feel proud that I have created an ecosystem? Or annoyed that I will not be able to go to the pond in a relaxed and comfortable mood?  Unfortunately by the time I went back inside to get the camera it had disappeared.  Perhaps slipped into the pond to wait for its prey? You'll just have to believe me... you don't want to see a picture anyway do you?

Suddenly a whole lot of scenarios filled my head.Will the frogs or the dragonfly nymphs eat leeches? Or will my frogs suffer from leech bites? Will I have to search my cat's nostrils for leeches? Apparently that is where dogs and cats often get a leech.  That would be horrible. Will El Nino deal with them? If so, bring on the next drought! I will have to do some research.

I did hear the other day on the radio that Sydney is having a leech plague at the moment because of the very wet summer.  Does anyone else share my unwelcomed  pond life?

Retro apron inspiration (2)

I had to do it, I made two more aprons.  Here they are!

Both have a 3-piece skirt the join covered with  ric rac. Here is one that mixes a multi coloured paisley fabric with a yellow cotton. I would have made it entirely out of the paisley but didn't have enough fabric. It has bias finishing the edges.

The second one is an aqua version of the purple goldfish one I made last week.  I think I actually like the aqua one better, except I think I made a fatal error in making the waist band feature -  bias with ric rac  - in orange.  I think it would have been better keeping the white theme going...



Just as with last week's aprons, these are based on an old favourite  -  the artists' apron. The only real difference is I go a little further with the bias and ric rac - especially on the waste band, and I widened the ties, but otherwise all measurements and features copy the original.

I think they will all end up as gifts, that is if I can part with them... Postcript -  I have now set up a little shop of my home made things called Cumquat.  Take a look!

Veg I don't buy

home grown spring onions

Picked

• spring onions

I am sure you have a list of veg that you never buy.  In my situation, there are two reasons why I never buy some veg. One reason is because with little planning and effort, I always seem to manage to keep myself supplied  from the garden.  The other reason is because I can't imagine ever eating the shop bought version and am therefore happy to only eat seasonally and  when they come from my garden.


Veg I manage to keep myself supplied with

Spring onions
I always have spring onions on the go in the garden.We do make lots of food that uses spring onions and they are so lovely fresh. Their long leaves are always round and fat with air and sound lovely when you brush them beside each other. I confess, I have only so far grown them from nursery bought seedlings, but I have ordered some spring onion seed and am going to try from seed  very soon. Does anyone out there have advice on growing spring onions from seed?

Beetroot

spring onion, with parsley and eggplant

I love beetroot but not every day and so it is easy to keep yourself in them.  One glut every now and then is enough and if you can't wait for them to get to a certain size, then you can always eat the baby ones... and their greens.

Rocket
It is pretty easy to keep us in rocket too.  It grows so quickly that constant picking, even when very small is essential to keep on top of the supply.  And nothing ever goes wrong with rocket.  It just grows!

Chillies
I always grow enough to have a stash in the freezer.  That never seems to run out before I start picking fresh ones and I always preserve lots of chillies in various forms each year to tie me over even if the frozen ones run out.

Lemons (but you said veg, lemons are fruit)
Yes, you are right but they are another of those thing I manage to keep myself in.

Other things I never buy are herbs like, parsley, thyme, oregano, rosemary, mint and Vietnamese mint

Things I can't even imagine buying and am happy to eat seasonally

Snow peas

tonight's spring onion pick

Home grown snow peas are a treat to anticipate. I cannot imagine eating the ones I see in the shops that are almost always grown on too long for my taste and often look pale. I can deprive myself of snow peas until I pick my own easily. I will stagger my crop this year so that my supply lasts longer. I have some up already and when they start to flower I will get another batch in. When the crop is ready to pick  I pick snow peas every second day. Sometimes they don't even make it to the back door. I often eat the pick in the patch.

Lettuce
I like all sorts of lettuce but cannot imagine eating the shop bought ones which are always floppier than the home grown. You also can pick off individual leaves as they grow so you don't have to wait till the plant is mature.

I have noticed that the list of things I don't buy is not really very long and will be aiming to increase the number...

What do you mange to keep yourself supplied with? What can't you bring yourself to buy?

Citrus celebration

Collete the finger lime

Picked

•  mint

I confess, I love all sorts of citrus and if I had more space I'd grow more types.  Sydney is apparently a great climate for citrus, that's what I am told anyway.  I have a lemon, two espaliered Tahitian limes and my newly acquired 'Collete' the finger lime -  an Australian native plant that is becoming a bit of a feature in some restaurants because of their pearly citrus bubbles that pop out when you score their rind. That feature, along with the crazy colours they come in, have made them a bit of a sensation. 'Collette' has a shiny black skinned fruit and dark lime green bubbles. I can't wait till she starts producing although I have been told it can take some time.

As well as her fashionable status, I kind of like the idea that I am growing a tiny little bit of bush tucker...

Here are my citrus.

Here is 'Collette' -  I am enjoying her new growth which is a lovely dark red. She has tiny leaves and monstrous spikes and lives in a pot. She's only little.

Lemon tree, very pretty

This is my lemon, planted in this spot as one of my first gardening acts when we moved here in 2005. I am ashamed to say that I don't know if it is a Lisbon, or Meyer or anything else. It's one of those things I need to pay attention to - varieties.  It doesn't have spikes, if anyone knows what it is I'd be grateful.

It has a bit of a bad case of citrus leaf miner but its doing fine and I can put up with curly leaves.  I have a glue trap hanging up inside the tree in case you were wondering if I grew square lemons!  I have had a few of my fruit stung with fruit fly this year but most of the fruit is completely usable so again it's of little concern and better than spraying. My basil stash is growing beneath it and it (the lemon that is) gets a regular mulch of grass clippings.

I sometimes make this lamb meatball on skewers that uses lemon leaves as the main seasoning, it is just fantastic, you can't imagine how much the citrus flavour goes thru the meat.  I'll put it up here when I next make it.

Tahitian lime

Here is one of my espaliered Tahitian limes - this is the older one. It is currently fruiting quite well despite a stink bug attack earlier this season. I have fruit about to ripen and some babies on the way and  flowers just starting out so I should have a couple of crops to come if I can keep the stink bugs away.

Nearly ready to pick

The leaves are looking like they need a bit of a feed.  It has been such a wet summer I guess they could all do with some iron.

What does everyone else do when their citrus leaves look a little anemic like these ones here?


If I had more space I'd definitely grow a really tart mandarin, and a ruby grapefruit... one day.

Lemon, lime and mint cordial

I have to thank 500m2 and Suburban Tomato for their cordial suggestions for dealing with my lemon glut. I made about 1 litre of cordial using Suburban Tomato's recipe for Lemon and mint cordial, I added a few limes to it as I had some shop bought limes in the fruit basket that needed using up seeing as I will soon have my own crop, otherwise I used the recipe. I love it -  much better than Bickford's! I thought it looked nice in front of my citrus coloured glass that is a feature of our back veranda.

Yesterday's lemon tart and the cordial have reduced my lemon glut to manageable levels now, but more ripen every day.

A glut of lemons and wildlife

Picked

a big basket full of lemons

• eggplants
• chillies (just a few)
• lots of lemons (most gathered from the ground)

Planted

• broad beans in and around the broccoli

Took out

• some of the weaker eggplants to make space for some cabbage seedlings
• chilli plants that have finished flowering

I have another lemon glut. It is a wonderful thing, I don't want to make it sound like a burden, but I am exhausting my options.

I dealt with my first summer glut of lemons before this blog started by making jars and jars of lemon butter (or lemon curd), some of which I gave away, but I still have jars left over.  My second glut  was demolished by basically making lots of  lemon tarts and taking them to friends' places over the Christmas / New Year period and by making lemonade.  I also have enough preserved lemons in jars in the cupboard to keep us going for a good while so there is no point in making more of them. So I am kind of  struggling to know what to do with these.

The glut is  going to go on for a while too - the tree is loaded and I am not even picking the lemons, I am only collecting the ones that have fallen from the tree! Does anyone have any good lemon recipes they can refer me too?

I could make a favourite cake - a nice Lemony one -  but there is already a cake in the fridge a lovely banana and chocolate one that David made yesterday and you only need one cake in the fridge at a time. So tonight I will make Roasted Lemon Chicken.

Roasted Lemon Chicken
This is a real favourite and comes from a mini book that came with a Gourmet Traveller.The little book is called, 'Comfort Food'. I have made it so many times I cannot count. It's one of those one pan dishes that are so easy to make. Here is my version below, it does really benefit from lots of garlic. * from the garden

olive oil
potatoes cut into small chunks
lots of shallots
chicken pieces
lots of garlic
lots of rosemary leaves*
thyme sprigs*
2 lemons*

Prepare the oven at 200C, put in a roasting pan olive oil, the shallots and potatoes. Cook the veg for about 20 mins. Tuck in the chicken pieces among the potatoes and shallots and scatter with garlic and rosemary and tuck in the thyme sprigs near the chicken. Cut lemons in half and squeeze the juice over the chicken and then cut into quarters or smaller if you have large lemons, and tuck in around the chicken.  Drizzle some more oil over and roast until chicken is cooked and golden. This is so yummy and lovely with a simple green salad.

a big green grub with pink antenna

David is going to make pastry -  he has the hands for it -  and so I will make another Lemon Tart as well. I am afraid I never get sick of them.

During this  morning's garden inspection I came across quite a bit of wildlife.   Does anyone know what this amazing grub is? It's on one of my espaliered Tahitian lime trees and seems to be getting ready to make a cocoon.

another type of praying mantis

On the same lime tree there was a little green praying mantis - not like the giant bee and house fly eating ones. I guess all living things are enjoying the sun.  What did they all do during the massive rain storm?

Another lemon tart?

Post script -  Fresh from the oven, ANOTHER lemon tart. It is possibly the 6th  since 1st January. This one is a  little cracked on the top -  perhaps I left it in a little too long. Could this be called an addiction?

Rain

small creek emerging on the veggie path

Goodness me, the rain we had last night and this morning!  Apparently Sydney's wettest day in 5 years.

We are all ok here, a bit of water in the garage, but basically dry up here on a small hill but those by the Cooks River I guess are a bit wet!  Are other Sydney bloggers ok?

Whatever we got is  nothing compared to what our country cousins on the Murrumbidgee and the Lachlan and in northern Victoria have had to suffer, it must be terrible.

This picture shows the view down to our vegie patch ( thru the arch).  You can see a small creek rising -  that's  the shiny patch running under the arch so the path to the vegies was pretty wet.  But I checked the vegies and even after 110 mls in 24 hours, they all looked fine!

Baby rocket and lettuce

The rocket and lettuce babies are fine, there are even self-seeded tomatoes coming up.  The snow peas are looking terrific!

Happy baby snow peas

Wet Laurie and Keates

But poor Laurie and Keats the Rainbow Lorikeets were completely drenched. What do birds do in such rain?  They turned up looking for food and were very bedraggled. (For those unfamilair with these birds, their wings should be bright green.)

Frog playground

The frog pond was full to the brim and looked just lovely.  I hope that the tadpoles didn't get washed out of the pond.  Hopefully they stayed safe in their favourite place - the mud at the bottom of the pond.

I hope everyone is dry, your veggies  are well drained and that you haven't got the latest Sydney plague - not stink bugs, not aphids  - leeches!

Retro apron inspiration

Lots of rain means going inside and going inside means... sewing!  I have been making aprons - 3 of them.

There are two types -  one is a one-piece skirt variety like this blue squiggly one...

and this pink and orange floral one below. They are both edged with bias and with a little ricrac and bias on the pocket.

They are based on an apron I picked up from somewhere some time ago...The original is this pink one below, its old and the fabric is so soft, but I swear it will just disappear one day the fabric is getting so thin. 

 

Then I made this one - a wavy purple background one with goldfish blowing bubbles.  This has a three-piece skirt with the joins covered with ricrac. Its got ricrac and bias on the waist band as well.

The three-piece skirt one is also based on an old apron -  'the artist's apron' - here it is.



What am I going to do with 3 new aprons?  I don't know yet, perhaps people might get them as gifts... but they cost almost nothing to make especially with my discounted fabric from local shops and they are a bright way to beat a rainy day.

Question - is ricrac one word?   Or two -  ric rac?

Postscript -  I now have my own little shop called Cumquat with these aprons and a few other things....