Broccoli pasta rocks!

We've got a fair bit of broccoli around at the moment. Cheap in the shops, and the garden is producing some.


Fast Eddy from BH&G put a recipe over that Sylvia saw on tv, and she liked it. I also like the idea as she told me so I hunted it out. Chop the florets really short, grate the stem. Fry off shallots, garlic, capers and Chilli in olive oil and throw the broccoli in on top. Sweat it off, don't cook. Toss the whole lot through al dente spaghetti.

I'd suggest drizzle as much olive oil - again - as you like, or butter, and serve with grated Parmesan.

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Fire chips and Orchid mix

I shook out all that chaff that was left in my driveway from the last delivery. I can use the big bits as kindling and even better - all the fines that I had left over make a perfect potting media for a groosly potbound Orchid I bought four years ago.

Early flowering

That's why I bought an almond last year. First flowers of the season. Followed closely by that miniature nectarine.

Chicken food

How pretty. It'll be eggs soon.

Kale: A winter grower

Sylv has wanted kale this year and I managed to get some going. One month of winter left and we'll see how we go.

Citrus: Don't be afraid to cut

Right now is a great time. Cut citrus as hard as you like. It'll thank you. I've cut mine pretty hard and laid cow manure underneath. In early september I'll throw out some granular citrus food (yes, chemical) and spray with eco oil.

In mid October I'll do a foliar spray of zinc and manganese,  and some eddha iron chelates into the soil.

It's not magic, its just that nature needs a little hand here.

In many cases cutting hard really is required otherwise the citrus gall wasps will stay on the march.

That's no hen! Free now.

"Malteser" the rooster goes free. When Jonah asked if I could take one of the chicks that they raised in class at the end of last year I was bloodyminded.

"Make sure it's female because if it's a rooster I'll kill it, and cook it."

Jonah assured me that a chicken sexer had come out and that I was, for sure, getting a girl. Bupbowwwww.

Fast forward six months to where it starts trying to hump my hens, stands a foot and a half tall, has laid no eggs and recently has crowed from 6am until 2pm.

The good news, Jonah and myself had agreed that being male (for Malteser) did not warrant execution. So I rolled up to a pleasant place in the hills, and he has his freedom. That may last only one night or he may live longer than me. But he's free now.

And so are we.



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