Beautiful Garden (continued)

My Garden

Peaceful, perfect place
Sacred and Serene
Here to get away
It is a magical place

Nature gives love
Beauty is from above
Roses, flowers for offering
Trees, bushes are growing
Pink apples, strawberries
Sun shines, and the fresh rains
Celebrate
The beauty stays within

S - Park Lane 2014

My garden-Our garden

The Backyard

Hydrangea Lane-The Left side of the house

I celebrate my garden throughout the seasons, enjoy beautiful flowers and their fragrance, also the naked trunks when dormant, and the delicate foliage.

Visiting gardens is always a treat for me, last time we visited Jen and John Clubley's garden, we had a great time there.

Only recently we visited our friends Joan and Roland.  They had moved into their new home, and they set up their new garden, and it is beautiful. It has a lot of character and a lovely choice of plants.

You are greeted with the stunning twin orange potted geranium which is seated in the front porch, so bright and beautiful that is so welcoming.

Joan and Roland's New Garden.

In The Back Garden

In The Front Garden

We had an enjoyable afternoon, and it was so great to see them both.  Thank you for allowing me to take pictures of your new garden which enables me to share with everyone.

The Netherlands

Almost two years ago, we had a lovely walk in the garden in the county of Geldrop. It was good experiencing such tranquillity, seeing well-established trees and green surrounding.  So Peaceful.

A lovely place, beautiful flowers we enjoyed and stopped to have a delicious lunch in the Cafe in Geldrop.

Colourful flowers in a beautiful garden at Geldrop

I will be back and sharing more pictures of the beautiful garden.  Enjoy.



Until Next Post
Thanks For Visiting
Susy

Fruit and Vegetable Harvest

Nectarines

The tree did not produce enough fruits this year, but the harvest has gone a long way.  Some of the fresh nectarines were shared with two families, and my home baked nectarine muffins were shared with friends.

All together about seventy odd nectarines harvested, and a few fruits were left on the tree for the birds to enjoy, and they did.  So we did well indeed.

Mini nectarine muffin is excellent and healthy for snacking.  The recipe is here for you.

Nectarine Muffins

Makes 24 small

Ingredients

3 cups self-raising – flour

¾ raw sugar

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 cup milk

½ cup oil

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

Chopped almonds 

5 fresh nectarines, wash, seeded, cut and add in ¼ cup sugar and Cook for a few minutes.  Let it cool (the fruit will be soft, and contain juice)

Method

Heat the oven up to 175 degrees C (a fan forced)

Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add in the mixture of milk, oil and eggs, and also the nectarine + the juices

Mix gently but quickly, don’t over mix (about 18 folds and 2 stirs)

Spoon onto well prepared lined, and butter small muffin tins add chopped almonds on top

Bake in the prepared oven for 13 minutes

Take it out, and transfer on a cooling tray

To serve

Dust the muffins with icing sugar.  Variation: spread with white chocolate and dust with icing sugar on top.

It makes 24 small muffins, and you could make a lot more if you bake in mini muffins.
Variation: replace the nectarines with other fruits.


Because of the small harvest, sharing the nectarine muffins were the way to go instead of the fresh fruits. It was my Feb's baking, the monthly baking which I promise with myself to share, and we want to do so. My apology to people, I did not explain that the muffins were lined with paper, Oliver said that he accidentally ate the paper (jokingly).

A lot of time we take home the harvest from people (our club) who share their fruits and vegetables from their garden.  Today we had zucchini and tomatoes from Liz, last week we got spaghetti squash, herbs and basil from Ann and Max and early this month Sheila brought boxes of beautiful golden kumquats.  Tomatoes, lemons, apples from Irene and Oliver, and more vegetables from Dorothy. The red blood plums from Geoff, I cooked for plum sauce, it is going to be handy for dipping and delicious to serve with pork.  I am sure more people shared their harvest which I did not or forgot to mention here, Thank you all.



Vegetable Harvest
We have a vegetable garden which is sufficient enough for our need.
The spaghetti squash plants from Heather is growing well, so far, two fruits are almost ready to be picked.  I saw some more young fruits, I think out of two plants they can produce more than two fruits, or the young fruits are too late to become mature as next month is already Autumn.

Three potted tomato plants of self-seeds are fruiting, I harvested some of the Roma tomatoes, the other two are yellow cherry tomatoes which are doing Ok. We have been eating the red Roma, and I picked the last crop this afternoon.
Fresh herbs are readily available in the garden, which goes very well with tomatoes and the squash in cooking.

Beautiful colour, beautiful shape my yellow cherry tomatoes which I harvested for the first time are going to be for our mix salad.


Pleased with the vegetable harvest, also with the fruits, but occasionally getting fresh veg and fruits from the market is still needed.  Last week we went to the Farmers market to get extra fresh produce.

Figs

Other fruits in the garden are the potted figs, the new one is a brown turkey.  Incredibly, such a small plant has about sixteen fruits. Today three of them are ready to harvest, the colour of the fig is brownish already.  It pleases me as I planted only last year.

Using the figs: serve as it is, or serve the fruits with fresh ricotta cheese and honey.








Use as a garnish for middle eastern rice dishes.

Grilled figs and honey, is another way to serve the figs.

Serve it mix with antipasto, with cheeses.



I hope in two months we shall harvest some apples.  Rayner's apple tree doesn't do badly this year,  how good it is to have a fresh apple from our own garden.

Celebrate the fresh fruits, the harvest from Local and Farmers Market.

Until Next Post
Thanks for Stopping By
Susy

Beautiful Succulents

Easy care plants, they survive well during the hot, dry season.  Water saver succulent, robust plants that everyone should have in their garden.  In my garden, the succulents are in flowers, amazingly beautiful.

 The Flowering Succulents

Another succulent family

These are my potted succulent plants, but they are quickly growing in the ground.  I do water them occasionally, mainly during the dry season and hot days.  Yesterday while I was watering, accidentally I broke one stem of the flowers, and it now ends up in a vase, and it is sitting inside the house.

Succulent Flowers in a Vase

Amazingly, succulent plants can grow anywhere, they flourish with very little care, and only a little water and soil are needed to thrive.  In my garden, you can find this beauty in every corner, and at present they are flowering.

Thanks For Visiting

Until Next Post

Susy

Picture Gallery

Baking bread is very satisfying, and often I do rich bread with flavours, from savoury to sweet. My favourite buttery bread is brioche, and I bake in so many ways. However, the family favourite is steamed buns

Bread -   Brioches

Freshly Baked Damper (Australian Bread)

Damper with macadamia nuts cooked on top of the Stove

Olive Bread

Provance  Pizza

Sesame Seed Bread Rings

Steamed Buns is Served

Bread Buns is ready for Steaming.

Serving the bread rolls with Dukah

Bread Rolls with Sesame Seeds

French Bread

Freshly Baked French Bread

Plain Long Brioche

Brie in Brioche

Brioche A Tete

Olive Bread

Brioches with Custard Filling

Mixed Brioches

Christmas Bread -Norwegian Style

Potato Bread rolls and 

The bread rolls in a basket

Quick Bread-Herb and Sundried Tomato

Susy's Way

Stuffed Brioche with Chicken and Golden Rice

Slices of the Stuffed Brioche with Chicken and Golden Rice

Most of the recipe for bread and brioches are in the older posts.

Thanks for visiting

Susy