January 2019 Issue #161

Hello,

What fun that we both love gardening. Thanks for joining me.

1) Bird help
2) Eco gardening tips
3) Super Veg Dog Cubes

Let's help the birds! Right now in cold parts of the world many birds love seed, grain and suet mixes that you can buy for feeding them. Did you know when summer comes, birds such as Blue Tits and Great Tits get frantically busy gathering up to 1,000 caterpillars each day to take to their nests.

Eco gardening tips

• A pot rule
  It pays to be organized when growing veggies in pots. Many pot plants are done-in by overwatering and overfeeding, rather than neglect. Perhaps keep a calendar, notebook or note on fridge, to know exactly when your plants have been fed and watered and when they're due for more again. It sounds too simple, but statistics don't lie when it comes to the unnecessary short lives of 80% of poor old pot plants.




• Garden rule
  In your garden, hands up if you're guilty of doing the opposite to the pot plant rule above. The funny thing is that somehow we manage to very often starve our garden plants and can't find time to give them enough water to thrive. I'm sure most of my readers are great gardeners, but it pays to remember that just because you had a bumper harvest one season, you may not get the same results next season... unless you water and feed. A layer of compost and/or grass clippings, for example goes a long way.




• Cheers for compost
  You don't need to dig in compost or mulch. Put mulch/compost on top and the goodness will leach down into the soil and plant roots. Compost/mulch controls weeds and ensures a steady supply of nutrients.

Give yourself the perfect garden gift.

Never mind the dark... grab your cap, switch on its light, find some veggies for dinner without stumbling around treading on things that shouldn't be trod on, and without juggling torch, scissors, bowl, etc. I wouldn't be without mine for slug patrol. Essential!

Click HERE to find out more information and buy at a low holiday sale price.

Super Veg Dog Cubes

An inventive and healthy treat for your dog, which they seem to love. It's a good way to use up peelings and left-overs. It's handy to grab when they look at you with doleful eyes and waggy you know what.

Ingredients

• Four cups of cooked vegetable left overs (I save mine up in the freezer). If using frozen, let them thaw before blending. If you’ve saved vegetable peelings, cook them before processing.
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup of coconut or hemp seed oil
• 2 cups water, or one cup of water and 1 cup bone broth if you have it.

Method

1. Put all ingredients into blender and blend everything, then pour into ice cube trays and put in the freezer.
2. When frozen turn out and store in the freezer.
3. These make a tasty cooling treat over the summer months, or you can thaw one a little and add it in with your dog's regular food.

Note: This recipe comes courtesy of Wendyls, NZ. Wendyl writes: I make these every few weeks when I have enough to make several cups in one batch. So far I’ve used spinach, silverbeet (in small doses as it’s very strong), green beans, carrots, kumara, squash, cucumbers, asparagus, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, kale and cabbage (also only in small doses as it can cause gas).

The vegetables it’s best to avoid are; onions, chives, garlic, leeks, spring onions and the night shade vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, capsicum, peppers and eggplants as they can cause stomach problems and are known to aggravate arthritic problems in dogs.

Add to this some coconut or hemp seed oil and a little apple cider vinegar and you have a healthy green cube that most dogs will love.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Makes Approximately 6-8 cups of cubes

Live, love and garden.
Megan