Before we went onto town water supply about 15 years ago I used to use the water from my washing machine (had a line of buckets especially) and one side effect was less bugs. I used it on my ornamental garden mostly and guess we should all have grey tanks although we do have good rainfall here in Auckland most of the year.
jardinet,
Jan 23, 4:40pm
Hi again Thanks for all your great feedback about Homegrown. Re: the grapes/grape recipes. We're going to do a feature on grapes in New Zealand Gardener soon - it has been on my "to do" list for over a year. I've just planted my first two vines and I'm suprised more gardeners don't grow grapes, so perhaps it's time we inspired them! Although it's difficult to find the bunches to photograph because most of the varieties sold in fruit shops are imported. (Grr!) The Edible Garden sells a range of grape vines and I see that Incredible Edibles have a couple of different varieties in their range now too. I've planted 'Albany Surprise'. PS. Picked my first two proper tomatoes yesterday and I've got French rockmelons! Very exciting! Lynda Hallinan, Editor, NZ Gardener
jardinet,
Jan 23, 4:41pm
Oh and. I want one of those slimline water tanks too.
juliewn,
Jan 23, 5:25pm
Hi Lynda. I searched all the shops here in Whakatane to find a 'Homegrown' book - without success. I emailed NZ Gardener - they had run out of stock. then went looking in Tauranga - I looked in supermarkets and book stores - then finallyfound just three of them at the Papamoa Postshop. and bought two. Thanks to you all there at NZ Gardener for creating such a beautiful and useful book and publishing it.It sure is a popular book. mMaybe time for a reprint already!
juliewn,
Jan 23, 5:26pm
Hi Katelin. you sure sound busy. I hope you wedding day is just beautiful - and your marriage even better. Best wishes to you both. Cheers. Julie
flossy21,
Jan 23, 10:04pm
The Homegrown book sounds really great. Was it only distributed through certain stores! If I get a bumper crop of tomatoes I am want to try and preserve them for the winter months but am not 100% sure how to do so. I tried a baked green tomato recipe last year with lots of green tomatoes and was amazed at how sweet they were even when green. I hope you have a lovely wedding day Katelin.
juliewn,
Jan 23, 10:57pm
Hi Flossy. I've found when preserving tomatoes, that to achieve the best result, giving tomatoes that can be used straight from the jar for adding to casseroles, for pasta sauce, lasagne, etc. it's easiest to create a pasta sauce type of preserve. I wash the tomatoes, and leave them to drip dry in a colander or sieve. I remove the stem part and chop the tomatoes roughly (quantity doesn't matter) and place them in a saucepan or preserving pan. Add some finely chopped onion if you want.and bring the mix slowly to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer till everything is tender.
juliewn,
Jan 23, 10:58pm
Now you can choose from two ways - either thicken with a mix of flour or cornflour and water, whisking that in until it's thick. Cook for a few minutes more, and bottle into hot sterilised jars.Or a much tastier way is to keep simmering the mixture, without a lid on the pot, until it's as thick as you want it to be. Keep stirring often during this time so the mix doesn't burn on. This second way gives a much more flavoursome tomato mixture, which is perfect to use straight from the jar when using it to add to recipes.Whichever way you prefer, season the mixture to taste and simmer a few minutes longer.
juliewn,
Jan 23, 10:58pm
Pop-top type jars, in which pasta sauce, jams, etc are purchased, are excellent for the tomato pulp, as you can use a jar size according to the amount of pulp you'll use for a particular recipe. Sterilise the jars in the oven set at 100°C for at least 15 minutes, and simmer the lids in a pot of water, for at least the same amount of time. Bottle the pulp while still simmering, filling the jar right to the top. Run your finger tip around the rim of the jar, to ensure there isn't any pulp on the rim, which will prevent a tight seal occurring. Immediately place the lids on tightly. The lids will pop-down to reseal the jar well for you.
juliewn,
Jan 23, 10:59pm
You can add fresh or dried herbs if you want, at the beginning of cooking, though I prefer to add them when using the pulp, so I can achieve the flavour I want for that particular dish.
juliewn,
Jan 23, 11:00pm
You probably know this: a quick way to look for a recipe or thread is this: Have the messageboard on your screen - or a thread open, etc. - or any internet page. On the lower left of your keyboard, hold down the control (Ctrl) key, and at the same time press the letter "F". A box will pop up. Type a word you're looking for - ie "tomato" or "pickle" and click next. and again. until you find what you're looking for. or you've found all the threads or posts with that word in. Not on that page! Go to the next one and repeat. makes it easy to find any thread or posts in a thread that you're looking for.
juliewn,
Jan 23, 11:01pm
I hope the above is of help - please ask if I can help further. Cheers. Julie
kiwiscrapper1,
Jan 23, 11:10pm
if anyone wants a copy of 'Homegrown' $14.95 plus postage,should only be $1.60,I have a spare, my son didnt want one. leave you email ads encoded somehow so I can understand, first in gets it, I have seen it else where in Paraparaumu as well so if anyone wants me to grab a copy for them I will try.
temco1,
Jan 24, 12:18am
There's a few left at out local stupid market on special at $9.95.Got mine on Saturday.*reads homegrown*
kiwiscrapper1,
Jan 24, 2:03am
Thats a good price temco1, our supermarket had one left but still at original price of $14.95. Makes you wonder if they can sell for 2/3rds off what they must buy it for! I'm sure they are still making money on it.
simplesean,
Jan 24, 3:44am
i was just looking for this thread at the same time, with the intention of bumping it. Thanks jules
temco1,
Jan 24, 9:07pm
Just got the weekly email Lynda.the food diary is fantastic.I liked your comment about imagining the stupid market being closed.As you may be able to tell.I despise the place where lots and lots of people push trolleys around and around shelves of packages. Early last year I told "himself" that he could do the shopping from now on .yeah.like that was going to happen.It eventuated that he picked up the milk and bread and I still did the shopping when we were really desperate - and not a moment beforehand.So,in December last year when I resigned from my corporate job to become a postie I had to sit down and work out how much we were spending on groceries and it averaged out to $50 per week for a family of two adults, two tweenagers (11 & 12), one cat, one rabbit and two fish.Not bad! So we are proof that the theory works really well.
flossy21,
Jan 25, 6:18pm
Thanks Juliewn for the info on preserving tomatoes. I will give it a go. I have preserved fruit in the past but not tomatoes. Kiwiscapper I would be interested in the homegrown mag if you would like to list it. Temco my other half has had to do the shopping for the past two years as I have not been well and we got to a point where he was looking for ways to save us money and had fun doing it. In fact he is much better at supermarket shopping than me now (lol). I really want to get our vege patch to be more productive on a more regular basis so we can reduce the food bill even more as the bulk of our money goes on fruit and veges. We have a very strict diet due to medical reasons so there is no way I could spend only an extra $10 per week.
jules.,
Jan 25, 10:35pm
well i got a bit greedy and decided to leave the courgette for just 1 more night and when i remembered again the blimen thing was 3 times the size of a large cucumber :( teach me. the chooks liked it though.
simplesean,
Jan 26, 3:44pm
We got some big courgettes (marrows) and made marrow, apricot & ginger jam. It's yum.
jules.,
Jan 27, 3:30am
that sounds interesting simplesean! we (when i say 'we', i mean my nanna, but i picked them, hehe) made plum jam with the first bag of plums from the tree. still bucket loads up there. last year i lost count after 8 bucket fulls! i will stew some and put them in the freezer and make some jam. i found a container in the freezer of plums the other day, when we had visitors for dinner i made a plum crumble, YUM!
temco1,
Jan 27, 3:33am
So.Lynda.I just had a look at your blogspot.*laughs*If you formulate a plan for a working bee I'll gladly pack up my gear and brave the Auckland traffic to give you a hand.*admires tidy garden*.I feel so much better now.To think that all this time I have been aspiring to have what you have! My imagination was running riot!The written word is all powerful.Photographs don't lie though. I'm just pleased you are human after all.I was wondering how you could have a full time job AND a flash garden.I thought I was just being a lazy cow.The thought that you had an army of gardeners keeping your place looking lovely all day while you were at work and all you had to do when you got home was harvest all the lovely vegetables they had been caring for did cross my mind also.Not true! Your garden really is lovely.and I can't wait to see it next year.
jules.,
Jan 27, 3:52am
bumping again :)
stevee6,
Jan 27, 10:38pm
Yikes - another bump for a newbie.
dabountyhunter,
Jan 27, 11:33pm
Hello everyone.
well, I have read a few threads on TM in my time and I have to say that this thread is the best so far! No silly quarreling, just good info from what seem like really nice folks.
I havn't had time to read it all, and I doubt i will get time.but I'm pleased i have found it.
I have been gardening for around 4 years now and sometimes it's hard work.but the rewards are worth the effort. Practically everyday I find something to do.it never ends! lol.
I don't use any sprays either.just try and do the best I can without chemicals (I'm intolerant of chemicals anyway).
Well, I'll try and catch up as often as I can and look forward to learning.
dab.
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