THE WINTER GARDEN
Most of the roses are now pruned. Soon I will remove the first few centimetres of topsoil in an attempt to disrupt the chilli thrip from emerging. I will replace it with fresh garden soil. The roses in our suburb have been decimated for several years due to chilli thrip. I am also buying some bugs to spread around the roses when they have new topsoil to see if they control the pests. The final treatment if they appear will be chemical warfare but I’m trying everything else first.
Sadly I know several people with many roses who couldn’t continue trying to control the pests so they removed all their rose bushes. Some were very old and well established. Very sad. Unfortunately, if everyone around you doesn’t treat chilli thrip your plants will be infected, too. Annoying.
I’ve been mass weeding. We have never had weeds like we have this year. They are thick everywhere. I have discovered the best weeding gloves! They fit well, keep my hands dry, are cotton lined and I can dig deeply with my fingers to pull up the roots without piercing the fabric. No rose thorns in my fingers! They’re actually not gardening gloves but are industrial safety gloves to protect against oil and chemicals but they are great for weeding.
TOOTHBRUSHES
I’ve used the same electric toothbrush hand piece for years. Every so often I bulk buy new heads. This means I’m reducing about half the amount of plastic going into the environment by only needing to replace half the toothbrush! The only problem is the packaging. Each pack has two new heads. Both are also sealed in their own individual plastic cover. Ridiculous.
I’m sure the heads were delivered on a cardboard sheet previously, but of course I’ve thrown it out. I think each head was attached to a cardboard sheet by a twist of covered wire, like green gardening wire but it was white. So now I have a pile of cardboard, easily managed and a pile of molded plastic, which is not easy to manage. And yes, I will be writing to Oral B about this plastic overkill.
I actually needed a Stanley trimmer to open the packets. Tough plastic protection for toothbrush heads.
The other plastic aggravation this week has been the little desiccant cylinders in pill bottles. I had five little plastic cylinders in one bottle of tablets. I don’t know but assume the small paper sachets of desiccant are just as effective and certainly far easier to dispose of responsibly. The tablets are manufactured in Australia so it’s disappointing that they are packed with all this plastic.
IN THE KITCHEN
Winter vegetables are still available here in abundance so I’m still making big pots of ratatouille. Not traditional French ratatouillie because I don’t add that French staple, eggplant. I do add other fresh vegetables regularly. So, along with the onions, zucchini, tomatoes, tinned tomatoes all cooked in a splash of olive oil, I added cabbage this week. The cabbages at the green grocer are big, crisp and really fresh. The only way to manage these big ones is to start off cutting them in half after they’ve been washed. Then I cut a half in half and thinly shredded that piece and add it to the bubbling tomato mix it into the pot. I should shred the outer leaves and add them to other scraps for vegetable stocks but time doesn’t allow for any extras at the moment.
Four serves of ratatouille for lunch with added goat feta, goat ricotta, some grated parmigiano and one day, a poached egg on top. I also add two pieces of toasted sourdough to soak up the delicious juices. Our other meals this week have frequently come from things I froze for busy weeks and this has been a busy week.
DID YOU KNOW?
On August 29th we celebrate ‘According to Hoyle’ Day? This day caught my attention as the expression was frequently used in our family when we were growing up. My Mother actually used it only a week ago! So who was Hoyle? Edmond Hoyle was an authority on the prescribed rules and regulations for popular games. He is best known for writing the definitive books regarding the rules for card and board games. He had a vast knowledge of popular games and published books of rules, hence the expression, ‘According to Hoyle’.