Pruning, New Trees and Using up Produce

 

This time of the year brings with it lots of jobs in the garden. Fruit trees need pruning and it is the time to plant new ones, if you have the space that is. My established trees are almost 30 years old now so pruning and getting rid of the garden rubbish is a big job. All of the garden beds are planted in soil that was brought in, as this is a gold mining town and the soil here is clay and quarts rock. I have a friend that I pay to come and do jobs that I find difficult, like digging with a crow bar for 15 minutes to get a hole big enough to plant a new tree in the lawn area. With tendinitis it is hard to use a pair of secateurs so pruning is a difficult job for me. I have been working at getting rid of a lot of my roses. At one point I had about 120 but this is decreasing each year with a plan to have a garden that takes less maintenance. Today I said goodbye to two standard David Austin roses that were planted on the outside of the courtyard wall, a tangelo will replace them. The wind is bitterly cold today so we were keen to get the work done as quickly as we could and with two people it is a lot easier. We planted out a Nashi pear, Nectarine and an Anzac peach which is a delightful early white eating peach. Limes are still more than plentiful and I have been using them up making Indian Lime pickles, which we love to eat. Good days work! 
I made a curry from some of the rainbow chard that is in the garden for dinner tonight.

Swiss Chard Curry

1 brown onion finely  chopped
2 cloves of garlic sliced
3cm piece of fresh ginger grated
chard, stems removes and sliced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
! teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/2 tin coconut cream
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
gee of unsalted butter
fresh sliced red chillies, as much as you can handle!
fresh coriander, torn to garnish

Suttee onion, ginger and garlic until soft in gee Add spices then chard, coconut cream, chili and coconut cream. Cook until the chard is tender and the coconut cream has reduced. Serve with a garnish of torn coriander and a few more sliced chillies if you can stand the heat.