MICKEY’S BLOG
In the days before Instagram, Mickey kept a regular blog of snippets from Glenmore House.
You may enjoy looking back through them!
Opportune collecting….
As a rule, I collect veg for dinner last thing in the evening - I rarely think about what to eat much beforehand! But with a bleak sky threatening and spots of rain, a dash to the washing line was followed by a quick harvest of crinkly chard, broccoli stalks, a...
Rhubarb rhubarb….
I do apologise to those of you who are regular readers, for my lack of posts this last week or so. It's just that time of the year - either paperwork or pruning, so there's not a great deal to report. I wish I was in the garden more, as I'm so keen to get on top...
Heaped compost….
The result of a busy few days, and the beginnings of next season's compost are well underway....
Pine nut discovery…
A few weeks ago, we got to talking about how much the three stone pines we planted as tube stock about twenty years ago, had grown. This led us to querying whether perhaps they might be producing pine nuts yet? A little exploratory investigation yielded just a...
Last onions….
Sadly we're down to the last half dozen of the season's onions (they've been stored in a cool, dark room since December). The papery skins of these home-grown ones are still a multitude of colour and delicate, textured layers, but I fear they'll be used up within...
Pea shoots…
The climbing peas are just beginning to form their tightly-furled, crunchy tips and to produce their very first buds and flowers of the season. Do be careful when propping up or tying in their fragile stems or you will easily snap them off, like I did with these...
Winter tomatoes….
The haul from the self-seeded tomatoes continues to fill a baking-sheet for oven-drying once a week. Not bad for mid-winter!
Hello sunshine…
At last the rain has moved on! Not that I minded at all - a proper wet, winter week for gum boots to slosh through puddles outside, and roaring fires in. We're left with full dams which makes me the happiest I can possibly be, and Abraham Darby is still producing...
Winter growth….
I just thought I'd give you an update on the great pace of growth in the winter Kitchen Garden - there's nothing dormant here! The segment shown in the image above was nothing but bare compost, just a very short while ago, and I'm simply thrilled with the progress...
Of tiny twigs….
Those of you who have attended Kitchen Gardening Days at Glenmore, know well of my passion for all garden structures, preferably made of wonky prunings from the garden here (or spectacular black bamboo from my friends nearby). Be they tunnels, wig-wams, tee-pees...
Colonial wandering…
I ventured out to Parramatta on Saturday morning, to listen to a National Trust talk about the 200th anniversary crossing of the Blue Mountains. I must admit that years seem to have passed since my last excursion out there, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to...
Aloe again….
The big aloe we discovered in the creek a few years ago (and subsequently moved into position at Eagles Hut, at the back gate), is now well & truly settled in....and, by the look of things, really quite content. I was delighted to find it covered in buds a few...
Solid gold pumpkin…
The thrill of splitting a home grown pumpkin is peculiarly satisfying. First there's the fun of choosing which of the beauties to use (the down side is one less to use for table displays!), before taking a large knife to pierce the skin and running through to...
Mas dreaming…
No, this is not Glenmore! Nor am I planning a little jaunt any time soon (there is toooo much to do in preparation for our spring open garden, amongst other excitements!). But if I were to dream of a little gallivanting, It would be....Mas Romarin...that I would...
Let there be peas…
I'm still playing with peas here! While by now I'm encouraging all my proper pea plantings to wind their way up pea-sticks, as they send out their curly tendrils to attach to whatever they can find; a month or so ago, I found myself wondering what to do with all...
Farewell autumn veg…
Finally, this last weekend saw me pull the last of the late summer and autumn veg out of the garden....well, except for one large tomato I'm hoping may, (by some miracle), get just enough of a blush up to bring inside. For weeks I've been enjoying the vision of...
Botanical alchemy….
India Flint returns from an early morning forage around the creek and paddock: the magic is about to begin.... But first there is morning tea in front of the roaring fire (a new cake experiment - flourless apple, raisin, almond & ginger cake got the tick of...
Off with its head!
I am just thrilled to have produced this first magnificent broccoli specimen for the season. Now that I've chopped off its head, we can look forward to multiple shoots of broccolini over the coming months -...
Paddington pavement….
It was lovely to meet new friends and to have encouraged some of you to discover Sibella's quirky Society inc. in Paddington for the first time. I reckon there will have been plenty of experimentation with Jerusalem artichokes over the weekend, and to the girls...
To market…..
The Society inc. market (well, OK, Sidewalk sale!): Saturday 1 June 8am - 12 noon, 18 Stewart Street, Paddington.I have Jerusalem artichokes dug straight from the garden.... and bunches of rosemary tied up with string.... plumes of leaf amaranth spilling over with...