 Growing Gardens
with Julia Hancock
Grow your own Thai food
Summer is the perfect time to cook light, spicy meals, and they taste even better if the ingredients come from our very own gardens. Try growing these.
Chillis are the quintessential Thai ingredient, but if you don't like hot food grow only the milder varieties. Most plants sold through garden centres have their heat factor stated clearly on the label. Excess fruits can be dried.
Ginger and galangal are both rhizomatous plants which grow easily in warm, frost-free areas. They develop into clumps - ginger being a smaller plant than galangal which reaches an average height of 1.5m. The roots are usually used fresh or they can be preserved by pickling.
Lemon grass gives Asian food a superb lift and is very easy to grow from a starter plant (division). It requires good moisture initially but once established is fairly drought-tolerant. Use the juicy core of the lower stems - the rest of the leaves make excellent mulch. Lemon grass also makes a refreshing tea when steeped in boiled water.
Coriander is to Thai cooking what parsley is to European dishes - it adds a unique finishing touch. There are two types of coriander, the annual variety which has feathery foliage and grows during the cooler months, and the perennial type whose leaves are larger and tougher with serrated edges and which develops spiky seed heads. Although vastly different in appearance they have very similar flavours.
If you've got more room in the garden you can grow your own kaffir lime leaves but be warned, this small citrus tree has vicious spikes so needs a bit of space around it.
Finally, the true curry leaf comes from Murraya koenegii which develops into a shrub approximately 3m tall. As well as its aromatic foliage, it is also grown for its black berries which can be pickled and used as a curried condiment.
Your Garden competition winners
In our last edition of 2003 The Echo held a competition giving six readers the chance to win a half-year subscription to Your Garden magazine.
The Your Garden monthly magazine has been around for more than 55 years, providing people with information on everything from the best water features to ideas on how to grow flowers with your vegetables. It's a handy gardening tool to have around, so congratulations to the lucky six.
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And the winners are…
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Dorothy Cox, Lismore
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Cathie Smith, McLeans Ridges
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B E Gregory, Kyogle
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John Glasser, Lismore
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Carolyn Gittoes, South Lismore
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B Wallwork, Casino
Winners will also be notified by phone.
Lismore Garden Club News
Each year our lives seem to get busier and thereby we get the impression that time is going faster. Here we are in the first month of 2004. Where did 2003 go? There are very few of us that don't find ourselves caught up in the rush and bustle, stress and worry of modern life. What an absolute Godsend it is to escape to the garden where we can adopt a slower pace, take in the early morning or late afternoon floral fragrances on the air, tune in to the songs of the birds and behold the visual beauty of God's creation. Over the last few years I have been endeavouring to avoid the use of chemical sprays and fertilisers on our average size suburban block. And, where possible, in most cases have taken on using environmentally friendly insecticides, fungicides and fertilisers. The results have been encouraging. The growth is better in most cases. The plants, shrubs and trees are thriving. There is an abundance of beneficial insects, birds, frogs and lizards. Generally, there is a better natural balance. Many ordinary gardeners like you and me are choosing to garden organically. Lets face it, who of us would consciously want to risk the heath of our families or our beautiful native fauna by using toxic chemicals and fertilisers when there are natural substitutes, often at a much lower cost.
Tip: The best organic fertilisers are well rotted animal manure, compost, blood and bone, and pelleted fowl manure. The best liquid fertilisers are one of the above with water added or seaweed/fish liquid fertiliser. A good natural fungide can be made from whole milk, bicarb soda and canola oil. Pyrethrum is a natural insecticide but should be used with care as it kills good insects like bees and ladybirds and is deadly to fish. It's best to destroy insects by hand where possible. On behalf of the Lismore Garden Club, I wish our readers a happy and peaceful 2004.
Happy gardening
Ron Burns
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