Garden highs, kitchen lows

This weekend was altogether more successful in the garden than in the kitchen. Saturday’s weather was mild and perfect for gardening (compared to the rain and hail flurries of Sunday), so I pulled on my old gardening trackies and long-sleeved shirt and set to work.

A lot of weeding: alternating rain and sun over the last couple of weeks has caused everything - the good and the bad - to grow, so weeding was first on the to-do list. It was a good feeling to stand back after each patch or bed, hands on my lower back to stretch out the aching muscles, and see exactly what I’d achieved. In my day job, I’m an editor, and editing is a similar process to weeding: thinning out the unnecessary and removing the unwanted til the good stuff stands clear and has the space to shine. It’s therapeutic and satisfying, whether it’s words or weeds.

As you can see above, there are still flowers amongst my vegies, and they survived my weeding wrath; the royal purple aquilegias will soon be joined by vibrant blue larkspurs. They attract the bees into the garden so they are in fact quite strategic plantings. That and they are simply beautiful.

After the weeding, I sowed some more peas and beans (you can just see the bare trellises above). The seeds I sowed a couple of weeks ago are either very slow or complete duds; they really should’ve been up by now. The climbing beans I pushed in around the base of my teepees are thru: big, sturdy things punching up out of the soil. I marvel at their power.

I watered and seasol-ed, then took on the job I really dislike and procrastinate over endlessly: mowing the lawn (I feel much the same way about vacuuming the house. Is it a pushing thing?). But a freshly-cut lawn does make a difference to the appearance of the vegie garden and my ornamental garden out the front (which really deserves its own post soon, as the abundant spring colour fills me with such joy).

And finally, on Sunday (before the hail), Mum and Dad came up and I got my first tomato bush of the season (propagated by Dad), a small but healthy mamma mia. Dad is promising two more, so we found spots and he dug over and prepped the soil for me. Another thing to nurture and get excited about. Thanks Dad!

Cooking, on the other hand, was very ordinary. The pearl barley risotto I made… mmm, I’m not so sure about. It was beige and gruel-like. To fold through this I roasted chunks of sweet potato, pumpkin (from Dad) and red capsicum with smoky paprika, cumin, fresh sage and rosemary – gloriously fiery in colour and perfect in flavour.

But I fear the glue-like consistency of the barley risotto doesn’t do these vegies justice; after all, texture is as important as flavour and appearance. Mum’s chickens may end up eating very well.

How was your weekend? Did you have highs and lows?