Lesson from Onion (Seeds Give-Away)

 The Australian Brown onion and spring onion plant in our garden taught us something new about them this spring. Onions are biennial plants which flowers/seeds on their second year. After the plant has produce seeds, it will leave us as the plant has spent it last energy producing seeds for new progenies. Same goes for biennial flower like foxglove or hollyhock. Last spring, we left one plant growing in a polystyrene box after cutting out all the dried seed pods. I sowed some water spinach seeds in the same box after adding new compost, thinking while the onion plant spend it last days will helped deter some pest away from the young water spinach seedlings. Another spring came again for the onion plants, those water spinach plants long gone since autumn as they don't do well in cold season but those onion plants remain evergreen and produces seeds again this spring. I was really amazed that those onions kept on growing and produces new buds each time we cut the drying pods. These onion plants can be short live perennial with our mild winter. 

I discovered that growing Australian brown onion and spring onion for seeds once well-established in the garden:

~Require minimal care.

~Good companion for young plants.

~Does not require much space to keep as you can plant some plants in between.

~Require minimal watering

~Withstand scorching summer heat.

~One plant each is enough to give plenty of seeds or share for next season planting and save money from buying seeds.

 We have very small space to grow plants but I don't think saving seeds from these plants will take much space. Australian Brown Onion is a long-day variety and a long keeper. Sometime you find it in catalogue sometime you don't. I don't find the seeds available from the seeds company I got it first now this year, Digger has it in its catalogue at the moment.  I have experience several times of heirloom seeds that I like to obtain once again is not readily available anymore. Therefore, saving seeds of rare varieties are the only way to ensure I can continue growing the variety I like and suits my garden.

 I am giving-away Spring Onion and Aussie Brown Onion seeds for 3 seeds sowers of this post. The winner will be pick by the old-fashioned way of writing the name in the piece of paper, roll, shake and let see which paper will be pick randomly. I will announce the lucky recipients on my next posting perhaps tomorrow.

 Abby first passport photo. It was not easy to take as she keeps on turning the head side-ways rather than looking up at me. The photos were taken outside in the garden as I like to use natural light. 

Turnip Rikyu Soup

 We harvested some purple top turnip this week. I like purple colour so I was excited to harvest these root vegetables and it is the first time I had success with this variety after  trying to grow them at second attempt. It is the gardener fault sowing in the wrong season the first time because I can't wait to grow them. I have been keeping this turnip recipe since last year and waited to try to cook it. My husband and I enjoy Japanese food very much and he is the one who cooks better Japanese food than I do. So I handed the recipe to him. I really like the simplicity of the preparation and ingredient in 'The enlightened kitchen~Fresh vegetables from the temple of Japan' recipe book by Mari Fuji for 'Turnip Rikyu Soup'.

~Turnip Rikyu Soup~

Ingredients:

4 small white kabu turnips (about 60g), peeled

2 tablespoon white sesame seeds

Turnip leaves, very finely chopped (about50g)

800ml Konbu stock

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sake (did not add)

finely grated yuzu rind, for garnish, optional

1> Cut the turnips lengthwise into 4 to 6 wedges.

2> Roast the sesame seeds, then grind in a food processor.

3> Blanch the finely chopped turnip leaves briefly in boiling salted water. Drain and squeeze lightly.

4> In a saucepan, combine the konbu stock, soy sauce, salt, sake and turnips, and place over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes until the turnips are cooked through, but still crisp.

5> Add half the turnip leaves to the saucepan (my husband add tofu and spring onions too), bring very briefly to a boil, then remove from the heat and serve. Garnish with ground sesame, the remaining turnip leaves, and yuzu rind.

A very healthy and nutritious food. Sorry no photo of this dish, it is just a soup dish and I was too hungry to take a photo after feeding Abby.

Spring Cleaning

 We did a little bit of spring cleaning around our container garden at the backyard on this long weekend. The last year and autumn sowed plants are going to flower any moment, so it is best to harvest them ASAP or it will become woody/bitter once the plants starts to flower. Most of the rainbow chards in our garden is flowering, same as kohlrabi. We harvested some red romaine lettuce, purple top turnip and leek. All of these veggies were given to young student friends visiting Abby last Saturday.

 We also give-away these root crop vegetables- carrots, boltardy beetroots and black spanish radishes to Abby's young bright scientist visitors.

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 Our Italian sprouting broccoli and peas still continue to supply food for our kitchen supply. We harvested all Western Red carrots grown in the same polystyrene box this week. I am quite satisfied with the number of carrot that we get from only one small container.

It is ranunculus blooming season in our garden at the moment, cut some to bring inside. Surprisingly, found some ripen capsicum cherrytime fruits on the plant hidden surrounded by beetroot leaves. Florence fennel bulbs are also good size ready to be pick in the garden. It is exciting at the moment to pick cape gooseberry fruits and eat them straight away in the garden. 

Enjoying fresh pick chamomile for tea almost everyday now. 

Our 7 weeks old Abbiyana is also putting on weight nicely and chubbier.

Join in Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday.

Spring Onion Life Cycle

  Spring onion or the salad onion taste milder than other onion. Its hollow leaves finely chop and top on fried rice/noodles, porridge or other dishes making it more appealing. Not just making dishes appealing or decorative but add more nutrition good for the health no doubt. My children and I prefer spring onion that does not produce bulb unlike onions or shallots leaves for toppings because it has mild taste and not hot.

 Last year autumn, we transplanted some spring onion seedling under sunflower plants to make the garden more productive. Those spring onion does not seem to mind sitting under the sunflower because it still received direct light from the sun in the morning. We also had a row of carrots growing in front of the spring onion plants.

Spring onion does not need to be harvest whole, can be treated as come and cut again plant. My husband uses a lot of spring onion to cook especially when he makes misoshiru (miso soup). He is the Japanese chef in the family. My sons like prawn and spring onion toast. We had surplus spring onion and when spring came last year our spring onion goes to produce seeds. Bees really like the spring onion flower, there are always hovering around the plant at the moment.

Spring onion is surprisingly drought-hardy when well-established. We left them growing with neglect on the patch and the plants still live till today forgotten. Interestingly, this spring those spring onion plants starts to flower again producing seeds. Furthermore, the flower are much bigger compared to previous year when it flowers for the first time. Spring onion are biennial plant. So I thought when the plant has produce seeds on its second year (last year spring), it will eventually dies. But spring onion continue evergreen growing and surprisingly producing seeds again this year. The spring onion flowers in its second spring are more well pollinated as we harvest more seeds this year and the quality of the seeds looks much better compared to last spring.

This is how our flowering spring onion plants in its second spring season looks at the moment. Last spring, we planted a chilli plant in between these spring onion plants and we had no encounter or problem with pest on this chilli plant. This over-wintered chilli plant survived and will need a little bit of hair cut getting rid of old-leaves as it has already start to sprout new baby leaves and looks really disheveled at the moment.

The dried pods opening up and pop goes the seeds.

Have a nice weekend gardening!

Succulent Flower

This year it was the first time all of the adopted succulent plant in our garden produced flower after 3 years growing them in our garden. We only have 4 different succulent plants in our garden. We don't really need to take care of them. The succulent plant seems to be happy provided with sun and does not require much water to grow well, with these the plants do grow really fast and needed re-potting or divide in dormant season. It is a new experience and fun learning to watch how these plant have grown. Most of these succulent flower colour interestingly are bright orange-red. 

 I think this is an aloe plant type flower, I might be wrong since I adopted them without knowing anything.This is a new bird which adopted itself in our garden since autumn. The birds like to follow us around in the garden and caught our attention. The bird did not fly away as I get closer to take a photo.

I am not sure what succulent plant this is but it has grown quite large. Almost 50cm in diameter. Do you know the name of this plant? 

Sue from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotment has helped me to identify this cotyledon plant. 

Not sure either what succelant plant this is. A volunteer calendula plant sharing the same pot caught in between.

A memory photos of our succulent plants, as I might forgot how they flower.

Have a lovely weekend.