Catering

Have you been well catered for over Christmas?

Did others cater for you or were you the one doing all the catering?

Are you the sort of gardener who caters?

Most of you probably have one of these in the garden.

Some of you will put food out for the birds too, I bet.

Like me you may have bird or mammal boxes to cater for the accommodation needs of our feathered and furred friends. You may have chosen plants to attract birds and butterflies. Lots of you, I know, have flowers in the veggie patch to bring the pollinators.

In your gardening do you ever consider the needs of our other four, six, eight or more legged visitors?  Or even our legless ones?

Butterflies like a shallow watering place with somewhere to land on.  They can slip their proboscus between stones to reach the water.  Other insects and lizards like a low water source too.

The chooks were digging up the plants in the grey garden, so my sister helped me to collect and spread these stones and small rocks.  This micro-pond was formed by digging a hole and lining it with a plastic bag disguised with rocks and gravel.

This one is an old bowl from the kitchen with rocks and stones.

They fill when I put the sprinklers on.

Now I am off to cater for myself, as The Cook is absent.

Mmmm! I think I can feel a smooth, green soup coming up...with a chicken broth as its base.

Don't worry, I will use stock cubes!

Ok, if you insist!

The zucchini was stuffed with couscous

flavoured with the shallots, some fresh herbs and cheese

and baked in the oven.

The potatoes were boiled in their jackets,

smashed and topped with a bit of butter, salt and pepper.

The beans were steamed.

You see, contrary to popular opinion

I can do as I am told...somethimes.

Colourful start to 2012

The new year promises to be 

Colour co-ordinated!

Greyzini Zucchini

Here is a plant recommendation for you...Greyzini Zucchini

In the past I have grown the black variety.

I have found, that like many of their squash cousins

they produce an abundance of male flowers first.

Only much later do the female flowers appear.

The result being a longish wait for the first zucchini.

Well not in this case. 

As soon as it began to bloom

the Greyzini produced both male and female flowers.

The zucchini have a lovely patterned skin...not really grey.

This early fruiting is not just an aberration isolated to my garden, because my sister's Greyzini is also a precocious producer.

It will be interesting to see how long the plant lasts and if it will continue to fruit as long as the black variety.