: the best food for plants is the
residues of whatever has lived before- plant and animal matter. Compost and
mulch should be all the feeding plants need. .If in doubt give plants a daily
dose of liquid foliar fertiliser for a couple of weeks. If this improves your
planst keep doing it, once a wek or fortnight (depending on how strongly your
plants are growing) while you correct your feeding
program.
What yellow leaves may tell
you
If
the oldest leaves are yellowing and not the young ones you have a nitrogen
deficency. If the young leaves are yellow you may have a phosphorous
deficency.If all leaves seem to be yellowing evenly check that the plant isn't
waterlogged or starved of water - plants need water to transfer their
nutrients. Rock the plant to see
if it seems loose - this would mean root rot. Cold weather will cause leaves to turn yellow. So will
herbicide drift. Check the base of the plant for collar rot or injury from a
motor mower.
Glue Spray
this
looks disgusting, but it works very good; on shield bugs especially, plus of
course aphids, bean fly et al, and VERY good on tiny caterpillars that are too
small or green to see and squash.
mix
1 cup boiling water with 1 cup white flour. Mix well. Add cold water till it's
thin and sprayable. Strain well. Spray on thickly on top and under the elaves.
Repeat after five minutes if you think it;s not quite thick enough. Wash
sprayer well or you'll have to soak it for ages.

February 2001 Recipes
These are the recipes I've been making in the past couple of weeks, to try and
use up the monster zuchinnis that lurk under the leaves gathering their
strength before they take over the world. I recommend the iceblocks- the
recipe was about the first one I ever made up, when I was just a kid- eight or
nine, I think, and had been stuffing strawberries and mulberries and bananas
into the freezer for years to eat when I came home from school, and halved
frozen oranges, which are delicous eaten with a teaspoon, like a very simple
sorbet.
Lots of love,
Jackie
Grown up Iceblocks
(pretty fantastic for kids too)
1 cup pineapple, chopped
1 cup rockmelon, chopped
1 banana. chopped
half cup cream
half cup sugar
half cup water OR Champagne or good white wine
juice half a lemon
1 tsp mint, chopped, optional OR 1tsp ginger root, peeled and chopped,
optional
half cup grapes, optional
half cup paw paw, chopped, optional
half cup strawberries, chopped, optional
half cup lychees, chopped, optional
You will also need: iceblock moulds or plastic or disposable cups, iceblock
sticks or teaspoons
Boil sugar and water or wine with the mint or ginger (or no ginger and mint
as you prefer) for 5 minutes. Cool.
Add the fruit. You must have pineapple and banana and preferably rockmelon
too, but other fruit can be added from the list.
Take long iceblock moulds, or plastic cups or even disposable cups. Pour
about tb of cream into each, then carefully add the fruit mixture, so that the
cream stays mostly at the bottom, and doesn't mix through it too much. Poke an
iceblock stick or teaspoon into each one; freeze, and eat.
Zuchinni Fruit Slice
185 gm butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 and three quarter cups plain flour
1 and a half teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
1 cup chopped dates
half cup chopped sultanas
half cup chopped walnuts
half cup coconut
2 cups grated raw zuchinni
Cream butter and sugar; add eggs; mix in other ingredients. Spread into
greased and floured tray; bake at 200c for 30-40 minutes. Test with a skewer.
Cool a little before turning out of the tray. Cut into slices with a sharp
knife while still warm, but out of the container, so help prevent crumbling.
Chocolate Zuchinni Cake
185 butter/margarine
1 cuo brown sugar
2 eggs
one and a half cups self raising flour
one and a half cups grated zuchinni
2 tsp grated orange rind
quarter cup cocoa
three quarters of a cup milk
Cream butter and sugar; add eggs; fold in other ingredients. Grease and
flour a cake tin; pour in batter; bake at 200C for about 50 minutes till it
feels firm and springs back when you press the top lightly. Leave 5 minutes
before turning out on rack. Ice when cool
Rich chocolate icing
125 gm dark chocolate, melted
quarter cup sour cream
half cup icing sugar, or more if seems runny
Icing: Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate till mixture is thick enough to
spread. Add more sugar if it isn't thick after an hour.
Sweet and Sour Zuchinni Pickles
2 kg zuchinni, sliced
6 cups white vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 small red chilli
2 tb yellow mustard seeds
2 tb black mustard seeds
1 tb black peppercorns
1tsp tumeric
1 very large or two medium onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 whole cloves
Boil everything except zuchinni for five minutes; add the zuchinni; boil 1
minute; bottle at once.
Seal; keep in a cool place; eat after three days but better after a
week or two; throw out of they look or smell odd or cloudy; keep the jar in the
fridge when opened.
NB make sure the zuchinni are quite covered at all times in the jar by the
sweet vinegar mixture.
Toilet Water
(And no, I don't mean stuff that comes out of the loo...'toilet' was
just a euphemism, like 'powder room', because a toilet room (or toilette room)
was a place you spruced yourself up to face the world.and now after all those
years of being polite 'toilet' has got rude connotations too)
This stuff is great for spraying on in stinking horrible hot weather to
make yourself feel fresh, slightly temporarily cooler and definately better
smelling
You need:
1 cup lavender flowers
2 cups lemon grass leaves, chopped
half cup vodka
Stuff flowers, leaves and vodka in a jar; leave on a warm windowsill
for three days, and shake every day.
Drain liquid out into one of those squirty bottles- either an elegant
and expensive one, or just a cheap plant sprayer you bought at the supermarket
if you're not trying to look glamorous.(I use the tatty plastic sort)
Add about four cups of sparkling mineral water. Bung it all in the
fridge..and when you feel hot sweaty and generally disgusting, hold the squiter
at arm's length, and give yourself a long slow spreading squirt.
ps if this stains your best silk blouse, do not blame me...this stuff
shouldn't stain, but it might, so try it first
pps if you don't have lemon grass or lavender flowers, add a few drops of
lemon grass oil and lav oil to the mineral water, and squirt that instead. But
again, do check for staining...it shouldn't, but it might, and it's you're
responsibility if it does!
ppps Do make sure kids don't drink it! (ie don't keep it in the fridge
where kids may read the fridge) The lavender and lemon grass are okay, but the
vodka isn't!
pppps And naturally don't use a sprayer that's been used with anything
deadly in it.

January
2001 Recipes
This is a new year resolution..every month I'll put
any new recipes I've been experimenting with here on the web site. Like most
new
year resolutions, this has about a 1 in 50 chance of being done. But anyway,
here's the first lot.....
[apart from the recipes here there are others scattered throughout the site
under book descriptions and via the links page]
Lemon Mint and Eucalyptus Tile and Bathroom
Cleanser
This smells great, and works a treat!
Ingredients:
half cup white chalk, broken into small
bits
half cup Lux soap flakes
half cup bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon eucalyptus oil
1 teaspoon lemon grass oil, or lavender oil, or
peppermint oil
3 tb glycerine
Bung everything in the blender(Do clean blender well
afterwards) or place in a bowl and bash with the back of a sturdy spoon till
amalgamated. Pleace in a wide mouthed container. Do keep the lid on when
you're
not using it.
To use: dab a damp sponge into the mix; scrub on;
wipe off.
Peppermint Pelargonium/Geranium
Cake
Line your cake tin with peppermint pelargonium
leaves.
Beat 185 gm butter or margerine with 2 cups of brown
sugar; add 3 eggs one by one, one and half cups self raising flour and half
cup
plain flour, two thirds of a cup of cocoa, 1 cup cream, 1 teaspoon peppermint
essense but if you don't have the peppermint pelargonium leaves, add two
treaspoons..you do need to add some because the leaves will only flavour the
outside of the cake.
Pour in the pan; bake for 45 minutes at 200C; ice it
when cool if you like icing.
Pineapple and Roses Fruit Cake
(very rich and good)
Take 1 cup sherry, rum or whisky. Fill a jar with
scented rose petals then pour in the alcohol. Soak the petals in the alcohol
for
an hour; replace with more petals; continue till the alcohol smells fragrant.
Instead of roses you can use carnations, orange blossom or scented
dianthus.
Now mix:
the scented alcohol
3 cups sultanas
1 cup currants
2 cups chopped crystalised cherries
2 cups chopped glace or dried
pineapple
half a cup pineapple or apricot jam
3 tb grated fresh orange rind or lemon rind or both
mixed
1 cup finely chopped fresh or canned
pineapple
1 cup brown sugar
juice of 1 lemon
Cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge. Leave
for at least 3 days...3 weeks is even better!
Now melt 250gm butter; take off the heat and mix in
five eggs one by one; then add half a cup of ground almonds and 2 cups of plain
flour and the fruit mixture. Mix gently but well...don't keep beating though
once it's all amalgamated.
Place in a deep cake tin; I line the edges with baking
paper. Bake at about 150C for 4 hours. if the cake seems to be browning too
fast
turn the h eat down.
Cool in tin before turning out. Wrap in alfoil and
keep till Christmas. I make more of the rose mixture and dribble a little on
the
cake every week.
Seed balls
Bird tables can concentrate droppings and spread
disease. Bird balls are better (no I am not making a rude joke here). The birds
use bird balls as a snack, not as a major food source, so they don't depend on
them, which can be dangerous if the supply is interrupted.
ps if you really want birds, provide clean cool
cat-safe water. Good water is much scarcer than food!
Cooked Bird Seed Ball
This doesn't contain glue, so it really the
best!
Whip 4-6 eggwhites; mix in seed; press into an
overproof dish, poke in a bit of coathanger so you can tie string onto it
later, and bake at a low heat (about 75C) till firm.
Glue and Seed ball
Take a mould like an old icecream container; fill with
bird seed; buy any of the glues at the newsagent that claim to be 'non toxic'
and 'not soluble in water' on the label, and pour it in! Poke in a bit of
coathanger before it dries.
This is the simplest way to make a bird seed ball, but
while a glue may be non toxic I'm not sure that means it's good for
them!
Saucepan lid bird ball
Make the ball as above but make a glue of 1 cup white
flour to 1 cup boiling water. Poke in coathanger etc...but when you hang it up
thread a roof on it, so it doesn't dissolve in the rain. The easiest roof is a
saucepan lid without it's knob (leaves a convenient hole to thread string
through). Just keep a lookout for convenient bits of metal or even plastiuc. If
necessary, drill a hole yourself. Hub caps are also good!
ps Bryan places wire netting around our bird seed
balls so that the large birds can't hog it all.
Chocolate Cumquats
Cover 3 cups cumquats or calamondins with water;
simmer 20 mins. Pour off water. Add 3 cups water, 2 cups sugar. Simmer till the
cumquats look transparentish- it know this sounds vague but you'll see what I
mean when you do it. At this stage you can add 2 tb whisky or rum, and leave
the
cumquats to marinate for a few hours; otherwise proceed straight away as
below.
Place cumquats on a greased tray till cool. They'll
still be sticky- don't worry about it. Use a toothpick or tweezers to roll in
melted chocolate; place back on the tray till set. Store in a sealed jar in a
cool place. Throw out if they look or smell odd or start bubbling- but they
shouldn't!
Chocolate Peppermint Truffles
2 cups cream
500gm GOOD cooking chocolate
5 tsp unsalted butter
a few drops peppermint oil
cocao powder
Melt butter and chocolate in the cream over a very low
heat. Do NOT simmer. Take it off the heat at once and add the peppermint oil;
beat for 5 minutes. Put it in the fridge to cool, and beat for a couple of
minutes every five minutes or so till it's cold and thick. Now roll spoonfulls
into small balls between your fingers, then roll in cocoa. Try to handle them
as
little as you can. Cool again. store in a sealed container.
Ps. try not to lick your fingers till AFTER you've
finished the lot.
(other flavouring can be used instead of peppermint:
cointreau and a little grated orange zest, rum, various liquers, almond
essense)
Cordials
Note: neither of these cordials contain preservatives;
they should last for a few weeks, but do keep an eye on them and store in a
cool
place. If they look cloudy or fizzy or smell odd, disgard at
once.
Ginger cordial
1 cup grated ginger(don't bother to
peel)
2 cups sugar
1 tsp citric acid
2 tsp tartaric acid
3 cups water
Simmer ginger in the water for 15-20 minutes, or till
really gingery. Drain off ginger; add sugar; boil 5 mins; add other
ingredients.
Bottle. Add a little caramelised sugar if you want it to be dark brown- I don't
bother.
Add ice and water for cordial, or soda water or
mineral water for gingerale. Store in a cool place. throw out if it looks or
smells odd.
Chilli cordial
24 chillies, fresh or dried
3 cups water
2 lemons
2 cups sugar
2 tsp tartaric acid
Simmer chillies for 15-20 minutes. Scoop out. Add
sugar; boil 5 mins; add other ingredients. Bring to the boil. bottle. Keep in
a
cool place. Throw out if it looks or smells odd.

Recipes 2000
Recipes 2002
Recipes - most recent
Top of the Page