just plant it . brocolli and basil .

Brocolli if you have lots of room and basil if you only have a little room. Take risks in your garden. You can always eat the mistakes.

When my grandmother came to visit, my mother had a special little pot on the stove for grandma’s brocolli - she liked her veges boiled to death - Mum insisted on only lightly cooking and often not cooking at all. So they were separated.

Here is a picture of my Grandma and Pa.

In rude health as my Pa used to say.

We have begun the huge task of collating and documenting the pictures and postcards and letters and documents of my family. It is an enormous and glorious job with hundreds of images. Mostly unnamed and undated!

Do you want to see more of them?

If you’ve been following along for a while it was this fellow owned a junkyard. Did I tell you about his junkyard dogs?

Broccoli.

If you are thinking about it - just plant it. Change of season coolness is great for brocolli.

We were told as kids that broccoli was the very best vegetable to eat. But we bought our vegetables straight from the market gardeners once a week. In NZ they used to have stalls on the side of the road (many still do) and everyone had their favourite place to buy fresh veg. Plus we had a gardener who loaded his truck with veg and drove it out to the beach selling door to door - he had a big old bell and the the best broccoli and cauliflower.

But what if you are not lucky enough to have a garden.

How does supermarket broccoli (under lights and frequently sprayed with water) stand up compared to frozen supermarket broccoli? Not well!

The broccoli we eat is the unopened flower of the plant. Those tightly packed green buds are the delicate immature flower heads. Packed with vitamin C if we get to eat it fresh from the garden.

But Vitamin C (as we know) begins to break down a day after picking (depending on storage) and it is all down hill from there. By Day Five 50% of the Vitamin C is already gone.

Fresh from the supermarket is not the same as freshly picked from your own garden. Fresh becomes a marketing word.

Fresh-picked broccoli from your garden holds the highest nutrients — rich in vitamin C (up to 120 mg per 100 g), B vitamins, chlorophyll, glucosinolates, (cancer fighting compounds) and antioxidants — but these begin to fade soon after harvest. Frozen broccoli loses a little during blanching, yet the cold locks most nutrients in, still leaving it richer in vitamins than so-called “fresh” supermarket broccoli that has lingered for days under lights in the store. Then sits in our own refrigerators for days after that.

So, just plant it if you can and eat it fresh. Plant new brocolli plants every two weeks for as long as the cool of your season lasts.

And if you don’t have space for a garden - buy frozen and only lightly cook. Much healthier.

Broccoli is one of those foods that is easier to digest if lightly cooked - but don’t overcook it like Grandma did - that will destroy many useful compounds especially the glucosinolates and we need those glucosinolates as part of our cancer fighting arsenal.

The delicate florets hold the most nutrients but eat the stalks too - especially from freshly picked broccoli. They hold some useful vitamins and minerals and great fibre. These can be grated into meatloaf, julienned into stir fry or blended into the humble pancake or muffin - we chop up and loose bag freeze our stalks and feed them to the dog.

Basil

I started basil cuttings before I left for New Zealand (about a month ago now - way too early but worth a shot) and it limped along in the cool temperatures. Now that it is warming up the plants are finally showing promise. We lost a few but all in all I am pleased with the result.

In our houses you can never have enough basil. It smells like summer and makes a kitchen feel rich. Plus pesto on potatoes is a family favourite!

Basil is great as a potted plant. So if you don’t have a big garden pop it on the window sill. It grows well from cuttings so you only need to buy one plant.

I now have almost twenty if you want to pop over and grab a few! 😂🌿

Yesterday

My morning list⬇️

I spent a good part of yesterday replacing leaky connectors and old watering handsets. Everything is brass now and will last the duration. Plastic components don’t last long in the Australian sun.

I forgot to buy carrot seed - again! And still have not found a hazelnut to plant for one of my paid subscribers.

Good morning from Australia

Have a great day.

Celi