Well, after some 4 or 5 days of really cold, rainy weather, today, here in Armidale, Northern N.S.W., we are having a brilliantly sunny day. Just the right temperature for some serious gardening.

Today, I decided that I needed more tie wire in the sides of my elevated garden bed, which then ‘catches’ in the net & stops my pesky cat getting in to dig in the bed. I drilled two small holes, every so often, near the top of the corrugated iron. I then snipped some tie wire with the pliers, and threaded them through the holes. Once through, I twisted the wires with the pliers. [See photo]
I’ve been told that having black net sometimes snares birds, but so far [and they’ve been up over a year], that has not been the case.

If you live in a cold climate, I hope you’ve put in your broad beans. If you have never grown them, please just try them once! I’m sure you’ll get hooked, like me. Home grown broad beans are nothing like the large floury tough broad beans that one gets in the shops, or at restaurants, they have to be double peeled, and even then they’re horrible.

The home grown ones are picked once the pod is about 15cm. Wear gloves [skins] when you peel them, as the pod will blacken your fingernails. As the pods are young, you can cut them up, [finely] and cook them too. Delicious with a small knob of butter. Cook only for about 2 minutes!
Broad beans also give the ground some good nutrition in the form of nitrogen, but don’t plant them in the same spot two years in a row. Always sow a different crop afterwards. Also, so heaps!
Our greengrocer has globe artichokes at the moment, and it never fails to amaze me that so many people don’t know what they are, or how to eat them.

Here’s the good oil: Cut off the long stem [if they have one]; trim the tops of the leaves just a fraction to make them look more attractive. Put the globe artichoke and the cut off stem, in a large pot of boiling water. Cook for about 15 minutes. Drain.

Melt about a teaspoon of butter in a small butter container. Place the globe on a plate, and the melted butter container also on the plate. Pull off the first leaf from the bottom, dip it lightly in the butter, put the end part of the leaf in your mouth, and biting down hard, pull the leaf out, allowing your teeth to scrape as much of the inside of the leaf off. In the beginning, this will be zilch, although the stringy bit will be tasty.

As you get deeper and deeper into the globe, there will be more scrapings [and every leaf is dipped] and eventually you’ll be able to eat 90% of the leaf. When you get to some very tiny folded over leaves, pull those out, and you will have the ‘heart’. This is the pot of gold! Sometimes there is a ‘beard’ over the heart. If this is the case, ease the beard off with a sharp pointy knife until you are left with the heart, which, when dipped in the remaining butter, will send your heart soaring. The long stem is mainly ‘heart’ as well, so work your way around that too.

Don’t be afraid to experiment – nothing is poisonous on this plant.

Happy Eating!