Now I've grown up believing that you shouldn't boil the mint with the potatoes. When the potatoes have finished cooking you drain them, put a knob of butter and the mint into the pan, lid on tightly and leave for 5 minutes. That way the heat and steam encourages the mint flavour to infuse without 'cooking' it, which has a less pleasant taste.

We'll try that, however it will be with bought ones as the veg patch is a disaster zone this year with late frost and drought effects.
Chickweed looks healthy though...

---

The other way of doing it is to just take the spuds off the heat then put the mint leaves in and leave for five minutes, putting in the mint while the water in the saucepan is still boiling just destroys the oils. Treat the mint leaves like tea.   

The other way of doing it is to just take the spuds off the heat then put the mint leaves in and leave for five minutes, putting in the mint while the water in the saucepan is still boiling just destroys the oils. Treat the mint leaves like tea.   

Isn't that what I said more or less?

---

No, not really.  You put the mint leaves in after the water has been drained off, I put the mint leaves in while the spuds are still in the water but off the heat, gives a very intense mint flavour.

 

 

No, not really.  You put the mint leaves in after the water has been drained off, I put the mint leaves in while the spuds are still in the water but off the heat, gives a very intense mint flavour.

 

 

Makes your potatoes soggy

---

No, not really.  You put the mint leaves in after the water has been drained off, I put the mint leaves in while the spuds are still in the water but off the heat, gives a very intense mint flavour.

 

 

Makes your potatoes soggy

Nah, only if you've  over cooked them.   You include the five minutes 'resting' time with the mint in the overall cooking time.

No, not really.  You put the mint leaves in after the water has been drained off, I put the mint leaves in while the spuds are still in the water but off the heat, gives a very intense mint flavour.

 

 

Makes your potatoes soggy

Nah, only if you've  over cooked them.   You include the five minutes 'resting' time with the mint in the overall cooking time.

Do we need a 'Cookery' thread in parallel with this one?

I have to say the recent warm and wet weather seems to be helping my vegetables along - now I've managed to find a way to stop the local wildlife digging holes over the patch and ripping out some of the seedlings...

---

How do you stop broccoli 'bolting'? Mine are looking very leggy and spindley, with the beginnings of the eaty bit starting to show. Should I have pinched them out?

Too late! 

I've got 8 plants in a container and 4 have bolted - the flowering stalk has grown about 6" in two days. Apparently it's the heat - I needed to keep the roots cool or they bolt.

Oh well, spindly, woody brocolli it is, then.

---

Keep picking seems to be one of the answers Saint. Have a look in this link here.

 

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/how-to-grow-broccoli.html

 

Moving onto basil, I've grown it for years and it's grown but never would I describe it as really flourishing until this year. A tip I was given was to water it from beneath, so I've got a pot of it sat in a dish and I've been filling the dish every day to the extent where the pot is sat in an inch of water for most of the time, the basil seems to love it. You can't beat freshly picked basil with a thinly cut and freshly picked beefsteak tomato still warm off the vine, a generous dollop of good quality olive oil, loads of freshly ground black pepper with proper crusty bread as a starter.

It is mid winter down here in Australia but under a strong southern sun I can report that I had the following plants in flower on mid winters day -

Nasturtiums

Marigolds

Camellia

Winter rose

Poinsettia (massive bush covered in red leaves, not like the little things you get in the UK shops at xmas!)

Lavender 

I haven't been here long but in the vegi patch we have the following -

Chilli

Silverbeet

Lettuce

The hardest thing to get used to is the fact that there is no frost where we are in winter. This means that the growth is never killed right back. Growth slows right down but even in winter there is weeding to be done it seems.

I have plans to get some citrus going, the garden already has a lemon tree, picked a lemon last weekend.

It is going to be a real battle in the summer keeping moisture in the ground. I am going to try using sugar cane mulch later in the year and put a good layer around all the plants. Sugar cane mulch is good for the soil as it breaks down well. I am looking at getting a good sized rain water tank as using tap water on the garden in Oz isn't good.

I haven't found any nasties in the garden yet, spiders don't bother me much mind. It is snakes I can't stand, but you don't see many of them in the burbs.

Keep picking seems to be one of the answers Saint. Have a look in this link here.

 

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/how-to-grow-broccoli.html

 

Cheers, Geoff 

---

Keep picking seems to be one of the answers Saint. Have a look in this link here.

 

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/how-to-grow-broccoli.html

 

Cheers, Geoff 

Edit: Cheers, Grant  

---

Big excitement here - picked our first cucumber today and it's really brilliant - sweet, juicy, and the skin is quite soft. Was a bit worried because the spiel said you had to keep the greenhouse temp above 16C day and night so with the cool nights a few weeks ago i wasn't sure if the cumbers would be affected but not a bit of it.

Now, keepy a beedy eye on the chillis and melons . . .

(actually, it's the other half who does most of the greenhouse pottering but it makes a great fag shelter when it rains so I have a vested interest in it LOL)

---

Our first ever attempt at a veggie patch is yielding some pretty decent returns. Had some spuds/beetroot/lettuce some peas (petty something) salad rocket, spring onion, radish and spinach. Not to mention the herbs, mint, dill, chives, and corriander. Basil and rosemary are also ready. Fruit trees are in (have to wait a couple of years for those) Apple, Pear, Cherry, Plum, Peach, Nectarine, Clementine (most grown from seed)  Had some strawberries from the plot which were very sweet Got loads more veggies and fruit on the go as well

---

Sounds like you've been busy Jon.   Petty something wasn't 'petit pois' was it?

Managed to pick some figs earlier today, this is the first crop and if we have a decent Indian summer I might be lucky and get a second crop as well.  Apples are doing well and I've even got some pears, but the Newfoundlands will have those as they can tell when have just got to perfect ripeness by mouthing them whilst still on the tree, they don't damage them but I've never fancied them after they've been sucking on them.  

Sounds like you've been busy Jon.   Petty something wasn't 'petit pois' was it?

Managed to pick some figs earlier today, this is the first crop and if we have a decent Indian summer I might be lucky and get a second crop as well.  Apples are doing well and I've even got some pears, but the Newfoundlands will have those as they can tell when have just got to perfect ripeness by mouthing them whilst still on the tree, they don't damage them but I've never fancied them after they've been sucking on them.  

Yeah thats the ones Very sweet to taste. My only failure so far were to leave the radishes in too long (after picking some rather large ones compared to the supermarkets). They came out with scabies, so we bined them and started again. The new ones are almost ready (probably a couple more weeks) and having checked, are disease free.

Busy's not the word. If I ever find the swine that buried a coal shed and thick broken up concrete path right in the area I chose for the veggie patch, I wont be held responsible for my actions

---

Anyone got any good ideas of what to do with Dill?

(Besides eat it)

 

---

How do you stop broccoli 'bolting'? Mine are looking very leggy and spindley, with the beginnings of the eaty bit starting to show. Should I have pinched them out?

Too late! 

I've got 8 plants in a container and 4 have bolted - the flowering stalk has grown about 6" in two days. Apparently it's the heat - I needed to keep the roots cool or they bolt.

Oh well, spindly, woody brocolli it is, then.

As a first timer, I have mine in with the carrots. The foliage of the carrots should protect the roots and keep them cooler, only time will tell, but I don't appear to have any bolting going on

---

What I need, being about to go away for the last two weeks of July, is something to put the French beans and courgettes on hold. Still, looking at the charts, the weather may well come to my aid in that respect (not that it looks any better in the Baltic, where I'm going)

---

I had a very large Cordyline that was destroyed in the winter cold and I cut it right down to a low fork in the trunk hoping it might sprout again.  It didn't, so today I decided to cut the remaining trunk down but found 7 baby Cordylines sprouting from the ground around it!! 

I've also decided to cut down a kiwi plant that is doing nothing but trying to lift the guttering off our deck roof and shading the hanging baskets.  It had two flowers last year that lasted all of a week, then they fell off leaving no fruits to follow.  This year it hasn't flowered at all but it's a very quick grower and needs constant pruning.  It has to go!!

---