Last year I let my vegie patch fall by the wayside a bit, the summer had been hot, and there was just so much to do to get the soil ready, I lost interest.  I tend to loose interest over summer, as with our hot dry winds, it is hard working keeping a lot alive aside from the rogue pumpkins or watermellons that appear out the compost patch.

Thankfully I attended a free seminar on gardening held by the Better Gardening Team and it gave me all the inspiration I needed to get right back into it and also change the way I garden.   I have been heading towards a no dig vegie patch.  A bit of a slow process for me as I do things one step at a time over a long period of time, but it has already meant we have started to enjoy a better patch this year, which also means we get to enjoy it in the kitchen as well.

There is nothing quite like using  homegrown vegies and herbs in your cooking.

Today we have made tabouli and hommus almost completely from home grown vegetables and herbs (burghul, chickpeas and oil not homegrown) for our dinner tonight, and it really is lovely being able to walk down the back yard, grab what you need and head to the kitchen and start making.  We were short on mint and a lovely person in our suburb came to the rescue turning this morning with a large bag of mint.

On Tuesday I also made my favourite rice dish, full of healthy vegetables, herbs, seeds and nuts, with a good portion from our garden.

I cannot wait for some of our other crops to be ready – carrotts particularly, there really is nothing as good as getting a carrott straight from the ground, washing it and eating it then and there.