Gardening Note 1: Companion Plants for Tomatoes

Improve the growth and yield of your tomato crop by planting the following herbs as companion plants, between and with the tomatoes:

• Asparagus, basil, lemon balm, borage, celery, chives, mint, parsley, pot marigold,

If you have limited space then plant one tomato, one basil and one parsley together in a 25 cm container. This will give you a bumper crop of tasty tomatoes as well as fresh herbs for salads and sandwiches.

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Gardening Note 2: Basil Mint Pesto

• 2 cups basil leaves
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup walnut halves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

then...

Toast the walnuts in a toaster oven for 5 minutes, or on a baking sheet in a conventional oven for 10 minutes, turning once.

Combine the basil mint and oil in a blender until smooth. Add the toasted walnuts and garlic and blend until pureed. Add the lemon juice, nutritional yeast and salt and blend once more. It's now ready to be used or stored in the fridge in an air tight container.

Source: The Herb Spiral

Gardening Note 3: The Family Garden

Our demanding lifestyles desperately need a garden space to add quality to family life.

• Spend quality time together to grow and harvest food for the table. It is during these informal and relaxing time periods that you can have a relaxed conversation and do creative problem solving,
• Garden spaces also provide opportunity for reading or writing under shade of trees. People relax in the gardens during evenings and children play. Sometimes a family can sit in the garden and have a pleasant family dinner.
• Relief from day to day stress are extra-ordinary benefits of a garden.
• A garden usually attracts birds and insect of different species. This allows us to watch them, enjoy nature as the season change and connect to life’s natural rhythms.

A family that gardens together stays together!

Gardening Note 4: Coriander

Coriander