Elliot's been a'tinkerin

Rockwool, aeration cloner and Kratky hydroponics have become part of my everyday vocabulary.

I also no longer have much of a dining table, a spare room and even less of a deck.

I also have to hear Elliot declare that he is "a scientist" every other day. He has cloning, germinating and hydroponics on the go. I do however get amazing lettuces and basil that grow insanely quickly and to epic proportions.

Have actually just cut a whole lot of it to give away

Elliot wanted to try his hand at cloning (this equals becoming a scientist apparently) so that in future we can clone the best chilli plants and we won't have to worry about cross contamination which you get with growing from seeds you save. With cloning you can pick the best plants to grow again and you don't have to keep buying seedlings or seeds and wait to see if they will germinate.

It also means you can over-winter the chilli plants you want to keep growing and you just have to worry about tending to these mini versions rather than a huge plant outside in the cold and frost.

So Elliot is trying two cloning methods with some chillies and basil to see how they go. Firstly, he cut a nice strong bit of basil and put it in a jiffy pellet with some cloning solution. You then wait for it to start to grow roots which you can see on the sides of the pellet. You can then plant it out normally. This has worked really well and the clones have been transferred to the hydroponic system.

Elliot used the gel (there are powder ones too)

The clones

Planted out into the hydroponic system once roots had formed
The lettuces at the front have been frown from seed

This cloning method was clearly too easy and boring for Elliot who decided to make an aeration cloner. In this contraption holes are cut in the lid of a container and the plant cuttings are placed in a rubber circle to hold it in place and are suspended in the lid. Cloning solution is dabbed on the cut end of the plant and the container is filled half way with water. A sprinkler-type system is fashioned so that the end of the plants gets sprayed with water. This ensures the cutting gets water and air. It has worked extremely well and they have put out some big roots start. Again, you can then plant the clones out normally once the roots are big enough.

 Decent roots so ready to plant out

The hydroponics set up we have going on is super easy. Unlike the last system which had tubing and the water pumping through the bottom of the tubes (circulating system), in this set up holes are cut into the lid of a big container, the seedlings are washed of any soil and then placed in net pots and filled with perlite. The container is filled with water and nutrients are added and the water just stays stagnant (non-circulating system). The roots grow out of the pots and as soon as they hit the water, they take off and you can barely believe how fast this stuff grows.

And then you understand why the leaves are so ginormous 

The plants and leaves are huge and we are working hard to keep the demand up with the supply. To understand how fast these grow, below are photos taken every day for seven days.

To improve the hydroponic process slightly and the annoyance of having to wash the soil of the delicate roots of the seedlings, the germination Elliot is now doing is into rockwool cubes which are great for hydroponics as once the seed has germinated you can put the cube straight into a net pot to go into hydroponics. The cubes are soaked in water for about half an hour then the seeds are placed in the cube and then put in the seed propagator. Once they have germinated they go into the light box.

We have also always tended to buy seedlings so it is nice to give the whole process a go. As well as germinating lettuce and basil, we have decided to give coriander a go.

Tray of rockwool cubes

Jiffy pellet and rockwool cube germination

Another trip to Switched on Gardener (by myself I might add) was necessary to buy the rockwool cubes. This proved an entertaining ordeal as always as I had to take a photo to send to Elliot to determine what size cubes to get and had to deal with the shop worker's extreme paranoia that I did not accidentally get him in the picture. Three assurances later, I was allowed to send it.

Elliot has done most of the above by extensive researching on the internet. Apparently people really only use cloning methods to grow things far more exciting than basil and chillies. We are such geeks. Geeks with huge basil though.

Bear in mind I have child's hands

We've made batches and batches of pesto to use it up. Luckily pesto mayo potato salad makes an amazing BBQ accompaniment. And pesto, bacon and cheese scrolls are surprisingly easy; not so surprisingly tasty.

And of course you can not beat it with homegrown tomatoes or on a pizza.

We seriously do have an abundance of the stuff, so any pesto lovers, hit me up.

Update: I now have no dining table left at all as Elliot, in true tinkerer style, has decided to use the rest of the table to build a computer. As you do.

Christmas Huevos Rancheros

Knowing the other eight or so meals we would be eating on Christmas Day would be classic Kiwi Christmas BBQ fare, I decided our breakfast at home would be something a little different.

In fact this breakfast was not just not-Kiwi but was kinda a round the globe mash-up. This certainly was not a traditional Mexican Huevos Rancheros, but more of what it has now become - baked eggs in a tomato sauce which turned into more of an Italian sauce which I ended up serving with Turkish bread.

My loathing of crowds and Christmas grocery shopping saw me at the supermarket at 8.00am on the 22nd to get everything I needed. Thankfully nothing too fresh was needed for this meal but it meant I had to get bread that could be heated on the day and was not bakery fresh and that left me with some Turkish bread that you keep in the fridge and heat for 10 minutes before serving and it worked a treat.

This is an extremely easy brunch to make as you can make the sauce in advance and then just add and cook the eggs when you need to. You can also make it as mild or spicy as you like and add anything you want - meat (or not), onions, garlic and whatever herbs and spices you have at home.

Our Christmas breakfast compagno Jo is not too keen on anything too spicy so this is just a nice medium heat - enough that you can definitely taste it but not too hot that you need to rush for the milk - which was lucky considering mimosas were the drink of the morning.

I was up bright and early checking if Santa had been (he had not) so got the sauce on early so that it could cook for about an hour and a half to really get some good flavour going.

The recipe serves four (which was perfect for Christmas breakfast for three plus my Boxing Day leftover breakfast).

2 cloves garlic, chopped very finely
Half a red onion, sliced thinly
Half a yellow capsicum, diced
4 rashers middle bacon, chopped
3 spicy sausages, sliced
2 cans tomatoes (I used chopped in puree)
Hot sauce to taste (I used about a couple of teaspoons of our Habanero hot sauce)
1 cup chicken stock
Punnet of cherry/grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 Tb smoked paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried rosemary
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Fry the onion and garlic in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil for a couple of minutes, being careful not to brown them too much.

Add the capsicum and bacon and stir for a couple of minutes.

Add the sliced sausages (which I had precooked and let cool before slicing) and cherry tomatoes and fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the canned tomatoes, paprika, herbs, some hot sauce if required and some salt and pepper.

Simmer at a very low heat for about an hour and a half. When it is almost done preheat the oven to 200°C.

Towards the end of the cooking I realised the sauce needed some more liquid so added half a cup of chicken stock and let it simmer down and then added the other half and simmered for the last 20 minutes or so with the frying pan lid on to keep the liquid in.

Once you are happy with the texture, flavour and seasoning of the sauce, transfer it to an oven proof serving dish.

Make six wells for the eggs. Carefully break the eggs into the wells and place in the oven for about 10 minutes until the eggs are cooked.

I also heated the bread for those 10 minutes in the bottom of the oven.

Served the eggs with a sprinkling of fresh coriander and the warm bread and butter.

The sauce was herby, a bit spicy, meaty and extremely tasty and made a great start to a very merry Christmas filled with family, food, friends and a wine or two!

The sauce is also amazing as leftovers. I just fried an egg the next day and plonked it on top of the warmed sauce, some more fresh coriander and leftover bread. Heavenly.

The chillies are a'comin

We have had some amazing chilli growing weather of late, and that, along with Elliot fertilising the crap out of the plants, has made for some amazing looking chilli and tomato plants which will soon be providing a plethora of fire-filled fruits.

The fertilising is only one part of the Elliot care package these plants receive. The love and attention these things get may be considered somewhat obsessive, weird, extreme. It all just seems kinda normal to me now. Not sure if that says more about me or him. No less than four times a day the jandals and sunglasses go on and a quick "you know where I'll be" signals I have a good half hour to watch a snipet of Come Dine With Me, Project Runway or am able to cook in peace.

I'm still trying to figure out whether the comment the other night about playing music to them was in jest.

However, whatever he is doing is working as these are some extremely good looking plants which are bigger and bushier than last year and will be providing an abundance of fruit in no time.

When they went out at Labour weekend

7 December

Just three weeks later

As you can see from above, the three weeks we have had of hot, still, dry weather has worked absolute wonders and the plants are thriving. Flowers are blooming and fruit is setting on the chillies and the rest of the garden of herbs, lettuces and strawberries are growing extremely well. And we are getting very good at nabbing the strawberries and tomatoes just as they begin to ripen before those pesky birds get to them.

We have harvested the last of our potoates - half of which went with Mams to help feed the troops at the Dunedin Christmas and half stayed with us for an amazing potato salad and some potato rosti topped with bacon and eggs for one of those brunches that contributes to the inevitable weight loss new year's resolution.

Potato salad with bacon, sundried tomatoes and basil mayo

Potato rosti with eggs, bacon and sundried tomato and basil mayo

So, here are some pics of the chilli plants, the rest of the garden and just a few of the meals we have enjoyed over the summer so far made better by some of the fruits of our labour. More food and recipes to come.

Ornamental chilli - NuMex Twilight

Not having any trouble with basil this year

This is this Bhut Jolokia's third season

Bushier tomato varieties for the pots have worked really well

Carolina Reaper - the world's hottest chilli

Big Bhut Jolokia

Jalapenos a plenty

Takanotsume

Chilli row

Habanero - from the seeds of last year's best Habanero plant

Just planted some new coriander as am using plenty

A few decent sized lemons have set

Quesadilla feast with herbs from the garden

Lettuce, coriander and mint ready for spring rolls

Our delightful summer deck