Christchurch's coldest day in years

Apparently Monday was Christchurch's coldest daytime temperature since 1918...and my garden looks it.  Not a dusting of snow, not a small amount of snow, but large, fluffy over 1/2 a foot of snow.  It was gorgeous.  It stayed for the 3 days on the ground in the coldest parts of the garden.  You should have seen the poor chooks wading around braving snow up to their bellies.

The only thing growing was snowmen.  This was the last, and smallest of a series, some I made with Matt, and then Montana-Rose made about three.  Apparently this one is a Snowlady, cute eh!

Grapefruit tree

Let's hope the Grapefruit aren't frozen solid after this

A blanket of Snow

My garden is now under the softest, whitest blanket.  It's cold, been snowing all day, and a lovely snowy coverlet lies over everything.

Garlic, better late than never, I hope

I am not on the ball..I went to the garden centre to buy garlic for planting only to discover that they have run out. The kind lady told me I could try and grow the stuff from the vege man next door, but it may be sprayed with a growth inhibitor?  I bought three cloves to try, and have put them outside for the frost tonight.   I guess I could try sprouting some of my own bulbs, its just that they are not as fat an juicy as the ones in the shops and I don't know if I would get much of a yield off them.

Who knows, we will wait and see...

I planted in some cauliflower and protected them from the chooks with cut off milk and fizz bottles.  I had some lovely big broccoli plants but last time I let the chooks out they headed straight for them and ate all their fresh green leaves, dammit.

Everything else is pretty much dormant, tho we still have plenty of silverbeet, celery and potatoes.

Potatoes

I love potatoes.

I reckon the Irish were onto a good thing, basing their life around such a staple, sustaining food.

Here is my favourite Potato dish, its an easy potato gratin.  Not a can of anything in sight, not a Maggi Mix, just pure, good ingredients.

POTATO GRATIN

Peel and thinly slice about 10 potatoes.

In a big pot put a 300ml thing of cream.  Rinse the container out with milk and add that to the pot too.  Stir in 1 clove of garlic, crushed, and some salt and pepper.

Add the potatoes and cook about 10 mins till it all goes thick.  Pile into a  baking dish and bake on 160C for about an hour, till golden ontop and all the cream etc is gooey.

EAT :-)