July 2011 Newsletter

GREENS~LEAVES

The newsletter of the Dunedin Veggie Growers Club; issued monthly. Vol: 4.7.July 2011

Meetings are held on the second Monday each month at St Patrick’s Parish Centre, MacAndrew Rd, Sth. Dunedin starting at 7.00pm sharp (we ask you to arrive at 6.45pm to avoid a bottleneck )

Our next meeting is August 8^th and the invited speaker is Steve McArthur on “Growing berries “

President: Margaret Scott (489 2030) msscott@xtra.co.nz Treasurer: Lynne McCrone (4781195)

Secretary: Carol Henderson (454 4625) hendersonic@xtra.co.nz

Winter finally arrives!

Waking up to snow this morning I was almost relieved to be experiencing some real winter weather but my chickens are not happy with it :(

Hopefully you are all keeping warm, enjoying the time to study the seed catalogues, gardening magazines and books, while thinking about what you will grow this coming season.

The Midwinter Potluck Dinner was a great success with nearly 30 of us enjoying the company and a wide range of delicious food !

The seed-identifying quiz was a bit more difficult but we did have a winning table who all got to pick a prize from the basket. Carolyne Smith won the secret seat prize and yet another table won the most “gardening years” competition.The vege-table decorations made by a friend of Margaret Scott’s were fabulous and I am sorry to say I forgot my camera so there are no photos from me. If anyone does have some photos of them or the potluck please send them in and I can include them in the next newsletter.

The between courses entertainment of an excerpt from Michael Pollan’s “Botany of Desire” dealing with apples was just the right length to give us room for dessert....a big thankyou to all who came for making it a success and I look forward to the next one!! :)

August 8^th Meeting;

The August meeting will follow our usual format but we may have the sales table out in the foyer to free up more room for seating.

Veg. of the month talk – Parsnip by ….Unconfirmed

BrainsTrust/Open Forum – hosted by Margaret and Dennis

Invited speaker - Steve McArthur on “Growing berries”

Competition – 1 x Parsnip

Announcements and Supper

Open Garden

Dennis has kindly offered to show us around his garden and greenhouse on the 14^th August at 2pm. The address is 14 Panmure Ave., Calton Hill. Phone -4876043.

Omission

I forgot to mention in the last newsletter that John Streekstra had given me Superior Minerals in Mosgiel as the name of the supplier he gets his garden minerals from. This is to be found on Factory Rd, Mosgiel and the phone number is 4047721.

Planting…..August is it!

The official time to start planting seeds is here :)

Of course this is not an exact science and some allowances have to be made for the individual conditions in your garden. My own garden is still mostly in shade at his time of year but I do plant seeds in trays and have them in the sheltered area out the front until the back has warmed up a bit.

In trays; Cabbage, Asian greens, Chicory, Kale, Lettuce, Spinach, Peas, Celery, Celeriac, Onion.

In the ground; Asparagus crowns, Broad beans, Carrot, Garlic, Early Potatoes, Shallots, Onion sets, Jerusalem Artichoke, Rhubarb and, in the last two weeks of August, Radish and Turnip.

In the greenhouse; Corn, Cucumber, Pumpkin, Tomato, Zucchini which all need a bit of TLC and guaranteed warmth.

Two planting guides, one by Jason Ross (of Sutherland nurseries) and the other from The Star, will be at the meeting for you to have a look at. The differences between them are quite interesting

Moon Planting times…

Most prolific for sowing and planting all that produce above ground is August 4^th to 12^th.

Good for all root crops , especially carrots, onions, potatoes etc. is 18^th and 19^th, followed by 25^th and 26^th when swedes can also be planted.

(These dates from Organic NZ magazine)

Library

Please bring back your library books so that others can have a turn. It seems to be sensible to limit the lending time to one month, or two if you forget! A reminder will be put in the newsletter each month to jog memories.

If anyone is interested in being the “librarian” please let any of the committee know :)

Jerusalem Artichoke and Silverbeet Tart

(Recipe from Wed. 27^th July ODT by Alison Lambert)

Serves 4-6

500g shortcrust pastry

Filling

600g Jerusalem artichokes , peeled and cut in

½ cm rounds.

250g silverbeet, washed and drained.

4 Tbsp olive oil

½ tsp fresh rosemary leaves finely chopped

Juice of ½ a lemon

1 garlic clove, crushed

175ml cream

70g crème fraiche or sour cream

2 medium eggs

150g cheese( feta , cheddar or gruyere), broken into pieces

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Lightly oil a 23cm loose-bottomed tin

Line the tine with the pastry without stretching and allowing an overhang to be trimmed later.

Prick the base with a fork and rest in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 170degC

Bake the pastry case blind by lining it with greaseproof paper and filling with rice or dried beans. Bake for 35 mins, remove the paper and bake for another 5 mins.

Make filling while case is baking by putting the prepared artichokes into a pot of cold, slightly salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10-15 mins until tender. Drain and leave to cool.

Separate the silverbeet leave from the stalks. Roughly cut both but keep separate as they take different times to cook. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry for 2 mins, add the leaves and rosemary and continue to cook for 6-8 mins. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice seasoning and garlic.

Whisk together the cream, sour cream and eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper. Spread the artichokes over the base of the pastry shell, scatter over the silverbeet and finally place bits of cheese around the tart. Pour the custard over top and bake for 15 mins, cover with foil and bake for a further 30-40 mins or until filling is set. Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool slightly before breaking or cutting off the overhanging pastry.

Serve warm.

Internet Interests

These videos are very informative and thought provoking….

https://www.youtube.com/user/PermacultureNet

My snowy garden!

…and in contrast a shot of the beautiful display of colourful lettuce in the vegetable garden at Wisley from my holiday last year…just to remind us of how lovely they can look growing fast in the sunshine

Bank Account details…

For those who would like to pay their subs via internet banking the Club bank account number is;

Westpac 030905 0515906 00

Dunedin Horticultural Society

An invitation was extended to all members for the AGM of the Dunedin Horticultural Society to boost their membership and provide a link for kindred gardening groups. Unfortunately this was held in our winter recess and the date has passed. The invitation will be available to view at the meeting and interested members may write their name on the back as we may be able to attend future meetings.

Looking forward to our first meeting of the season and hope to see you all there :)

Carol Henderson

Newsletter Editor

June 2011 Newsletter

GREENS~LEAVES

The newsletter of the Dunedin Veggie Growers Club; issued monthly. Vol: 4.6.June 2011

Meetings are held on the second Monday each month at St Patrick’s Parish Centre, MacAndrew Rd, Sth. Dunedin starting at 7.00pm sharp (we ask you to arrive at 6.45pm to avoid a bottleneck )

Our next meeting is the Midwinter Potluck Dinner June 25^th at the Holy Cross church hall.

The Entertainment will be a short dvd on Apples

President: Margaret Scott (489 2030) msscott@xtra.co.nz Treasurer: Lynne McCrone (4781195)

Secretary: Carol Henderson (454 4625) hendersonic@xtra.co.nz

Welcome to Midwinter .....

The weather has been so good so far that it’s hard to believe that we are nearly at the shortest day on the 21st and our Midwinter dinner on the 25th. I had neglected to remind everyone that

we, as a Club, take a break over winter and there are no meetings in June and July so I apologise for that but there will be another newsletter in July giving details of the August meeting.Hopefully you all got your e-mail invitation to the potluck but here it is again for our postal members!

When ; June 25th..... 6.30pm for 7pm
Where ; Holy Cross church hall on the corner of Richardson and Ajax Streets in South Dunedin.
Bring ; a main course and a dessert as well as anything you would like to drink :)
If your dishes are to be eaten hot please bring them hot and we will do our best to keep them that way until we eat!
Nearly forgot to add that partners are welcome !!!
There will be a vegetable gardening based quiz and a short film between courses as well as some spot prizes to keep you on your toes!!!!
Please let us know if you are coming and how many of you- (so we know how many tables to put out) by calling Dennis - 4876043 or Carol - 4544625 before Thursday 23rd June if possible.

Massive May Meeting !

The May meeting was so well attended that we found ourselves short of seating and, sadly, some members went home rather than squeeze into what space was left. We apologise for this and have decided to put the sales table in the foyer to give us more space for the extra chairs which we will have access to from now on.

We enjoyed the talk on Jerusalem Artichokes by Vanetta, especially the delicious ones she cooked up for us...thanks Vanetta :)

Donna Hancock gave us a very interesting talk on her worm farming techniques and I’m sure we all learned something from it..... I know I did! Congratulations to Margaret Scott for taking both prizes in the Silverbeet in a bucket competition but well done to all other entrants as they all looked gorgeous to me. This year the size seemed more even so we must be getting better!

John Streekstra’s open garden.

We had a beautiful day for our visit to Outram and John Streekstra’s productive garden.

John had improved his clay soil with the help of soil etc from a local cattle farmer and a lot of digging! As you can see in the photograph John likes to let the weather and frost do some of the work for him which results in a lovely friable soil. He had some beautiful Brussels sprouts, leeks, Kale and red cabbage still available with a good crop of tomatoes still in the tunnelhouse ( exactly the type/size I am wanting! ).

John also explained his method of storing carrots using a big blue industrial type barrel by layering them in the barrel with some soil from the garden. This means he can get on with his plans for the next season and not have to wait until he had eaten all the carrots to attend to the soil.

Some of us had decided to have lunch at the No.8 Café in Outram first as it has a lovely herb garden and I would highly recommend it for delicious food and friendly staff

Moon Planting Dates;

Since I am a bit late with the newsletter I have missed telling you that we could have planted seeds (such as broad beans) from the 5^th to the 13^th !

I did sow some Miners’ lettuce on the 6^th but still no sign of it coming up. The best time to plant garlic is on the 21^st or the 26^th and 27^th. Tip; garlic does not like a lot of nitrogen.

Pruning can safely be done from the 21^st until the 25^th.

Competition Calendar

Just a reminder of which vegetable competitions are coming up ….I must try to remember not to eat all of my parsnips!!

August = Parsnip, Sept. = Leek,

Oct. = Any Brassica, Nov. = Spring onion,

Dec. = Potato, Jan. = Broad Bean,

Feb. = Newbie night*, March = Tomatoes,

April = Any Allium, May = Silverbeet

* Newbie night was suggested by Lynne’s husband as a competition for new gardeners to bring in their best vegetable of any kind to show J

What to plant in June/July

Well….garlic, shallots and rhubarb seem to be the only safe bets outside at the moment but I did hear Dick Turvey say recently that he was going to start some tomato seeds inside soon-using a heat pad ;)

Reminder;

Any member who has changed address/e-mail or has not been receiving their newsletter please let Heather (4764607) know.

Request;

Wanted; 1 nanny goat. For section clearing.

Phone John at 4877474 evenings.

Mosaic Workshop

Margaret Scott has kindly offered to host a garden mosaic workshop at her residence on the 16/17^th July starting around 9am and finishing 3/4pm depending on how fast the glue dries!

“Limited numbers so book it in at 4892030 Maximum 8 people. Just a fun day to have a go and learn. I will be making a weekend of it so will be set up for both days so maybe some people could do something on the Sunday if Saturday wasn’t free. Basically it is a whole day as once the mosaic-ing is done the glue has to dry before the grout goes on which can be on the afternoon of the first day or the following day. Bring a small concrete paver and old plates/ tiles if you have any. A donation towards the glue and grout would be great.”

Margaret also shared the following recipe with us J

Cranberry upside-down cake recipe

350-400 gms / 12-14oz/ 3-31/2 cups of fresh cranberries ( NZ cranberries/Chilean guava, used to be Myrtus ugni , now Ugni molinae )

50g/20z/1/4 c butter

150g/5oz/1/4 c caster sugar (superfine)

For the Cake Mix

65g/21/2 oz/9 Tbsp plain all purpose flour

5ml/1 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

115g/4oz/generous1/2 c of sugar

Grated rind of one orange

40g/11/2oz/3Tbsp butter melted

Preheat oven to 180degC/350degF/gas4 and place a baking sheet on the middle shelf of the oven.

Wash and pat dry the cranberries, Thickly smear the butter on the bottom and sides of a 23x5cm/9x2” round cake tin. Add the sugar and swirl the pan to coat evenly

Add the cranberries and spread in an even layer over the bottom of the pan.

For the cake mixture, stir the flour and baking powder twice and set aside

Combine the eggs, sugar, and orange rind in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of hot but not boiling water. With an electric mixer, beat until the eggs leave a ribbon trail when the beaters are lifted.

(You have to beat for a while and the mixture trebles in size. The ribbon is because it is getting thicker)

Add the flour mix in three batches, folding in well after each addition. Gently fold in the melted butter and then pour the mix over the cranberries.

Bake for 40 mins. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge to loosen.

While the cake is still warm, invert a plate on top of the tin. Protecting your hands with oven gloves, hold the plate firmly and tip firmly and turn them both over quickly. Lift the tin off carefully.

Looking forward to seeing you at the midwinter potluck dinner!

Carol Henderson

Newsletter Editor