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But with the eggplants you gotta master Caponata....
yes I have nasturtium...but I'm explore the sorrell. Basil is a tad too strong for my tastes in a salad as is the nasturtium leaves. i use water spinach for fill.
Of course the main game is 'salada'-- a mix of weeds -- and I grab what is there depending on how desperate I am to green up the bowl. So the more variety there is -- the grater the culinary choice regardles of season.
We have a lot of delicious lemony flavoured sorrel (which is also a spinach substitute) and grows exceptionally well in the sub-tropics - perhaps this is another option to try if you're not already? When everything else is fainting from the heat, my sorrel is saying 'bring it on!' I love the long leaves as they are a much more delicate flavour than traditional spinach and as Elaine says above, can be used as a substitute in any dish you'd add spinach (great with all egg dishes). Aside from the odd grasshopper, there's not much that messes with it either.
For colour and flavour I add a variety of fresh basils to salads too. They grow well in summer and are quick to get started by seed. I have purple, sweet and lemon varieties at the mo doing well and they all add their own zing. I've also grown Mini Greek basil that has what I call a Mediterranean flavour (a combo of olive and lemon - quite delicious) but there's nothing Mini about it in size - just the leaf - so the name might be misleading! I planted it the first time in a space that was only about 30 x 30cm (as per the advice) and it ended up more like perennial basil - taking up plenty of personal space and also growing new plants when the woody stems hit the ground!
I also add nasturtium leaves to our salads as many of our plants grow under shady tree gardens and don't suffer from burnout. Their leaves are slightly peppery (very much like young rocket) so I'm sure they'd be to your liking. I snip them into several pieces to blend the flavour throughout the salads but their health benefits are amazing and since learning about them, we try to eat them regularly. Do you have any growing?
Ceylon Spinach is a bit of an acquired taste, especially the texture. Think of it as digestible fibre rather than mucilaginous gunk and appreciate the flavour, which is quite different to our other greens. The Aibikas are a bit like that, look nice, grow well in summer but have a bit much of the soluble fibre to be eaten in any quantity. Quite good in cooking though, especially omelet/frittata as is Okra, just divine lightly fried rather than raw.
Capsicums are real water hogs and the long thin ones are more efficient users of water than the big fat bell ones; all by themselves I've got two bushes of long Capsies, one ripens yellow, the other ripens red.
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Added by Doug Hanning
Added by Doug Hanning
Added by Doug Hanning
Vetiver grass helps to stabilise soil and protects it against erosion. It can protect against pests and weeds. Vetiver is also used as animal feed. (Wiki.)
GrowVetiver is a plant nursery run by Dave & Keir Riley that harvests and grows Vetiver grass for local community applications and use. It is based in Beachmere, just north of Brisbane, Australia.
Talk to Andy on 0422 022 961. You can Pay on this link
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