Hello

What fun that you and I both love the topic of gardening. Thanks for joining me on this adventure! Feedback is welcome, just click on reply.

1) RTFM
2) Eco gardening tips
3) Spicy carrot croquettes

RTFM

We can apply RTFM to organics as well. We don't need to re-invent the wheel; it's all been done before and DOCUMENTED. I have at least one organic and no dig book dating from the early 1940's.

But according to a summary of research done on why gardeners and farmers don't change to farming organically, it was clear that the biggest hurdle was in their heads. They really didn't know how to manage the transition and whether their plants would suffer.

As most of you are home gardeners and are into RTFM by reading this and other information, then ignorance is no excuse, you'll agree? "Fo'shizzle ma nizzle"... which of course you know is the new nerd slang for "I agree."

Read more on converting to organics and RTFM here.

I love getting your inputs for the Gardeners Gallery, so keep them coming. There's a new one there that's got me thinking, so if any of you know your electrons, please shed some light on light bulbs and seedlings?

Bringing back the natural look, Dennis Bauer has written comprehensively about lawnflowers in lawns in his new book Lawnflowers, A Story and a List of Names

This story describes a family and a neighborhood that manage their lawns, orchards, and gardens in an ancient natural way. It is the story of what happened when a new family moved to the neighborhood, naively attempting a new way of doing things. Intriguing and descriptive, it yields glimpses of a world that need not be bygone.

Eco Gardening Tips

• Propagating cuttings: If you want to grow plants from cuttings, here's a tip. This will work for all your garden cuttings... although not many veggies are propagated that way, except some herbs.

  If you haven't got rooting hormone powder, dip your cuttings in honey, which promotes the cells to grow roots. If your cuttings are slanted and also if you scratch the ends a bit it increases the root growing area.

• Sea minerals: Often we can't always get our composts perfectly balanced, maybe because of too much or lack of certain animal manures. So our soil can be lacking in trace minerals. I've found success in adding either a bit of sea water to composts or sprinkling sea sand into the layers works well. No need to wash the salt from the sand first - this holds the micronutrients that are valuable. Don't overdo it though, just a sprinkling of this salted sand.
• Are you short on space or only have a stoney yard area? I bet you'll be tickled pink by the idea of Straw bale gardening. What a neat idea... Fo'shizzle ma nizzle!

Spicy carrot croquettes

These look interesting and they will get you interesting oohs of "These are delicious, can I have your recipe please?"

Ingredients
- 6 smallish or 3 large carrots
- 1 bunch corriander or parsley, chopped to make 1 heaped tablespn
- 2 seeded and chopped chillies or equivalent dried powder (¼-½ teaspn)
- 1 cup chick-pea flour (100g)
- 2 roughly chopped tablespns walnuts or hazelnuts
- 1 tablespn grated coconut
- 1 teaspn garam masala
- ½ tsp each salt and ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ghee or oil for deep frying

Method
1. Wash and grate carrots finely or process in food processor.
2. Mix in all other ingredients in large bowl with enough water to make a thick mixture to hold together for frying.
3. Heat ghee or oil in wok or pan to medium heat. Adjust heat during cooking if necessary.
4. Drop tablespoons of mixture in to cook, until you have 6 to 10 croquettes in at a time, leaving room to be able to turn them so they are nicely browned in about 5 minutes.
5. Use a slotted spoon to remove cooked croquettes and drain.

Serve: Makes a good plateful to serve 4-6 people and goes well with a cucumber and yogurt salad and/or steamed green veggies.

Called Vadas in India, these look good, but keep it a secret, they are so easy to do.

Preparation and cooking time: 25 minutes.

Happy gardening!