Garden goodies

I am not a gardener. There. I've said it. It's hard to admit to it because so many people love to garden, particularly crafty people, but I don't.

I don't mind getting dirty and I really enjoy seeing things grow but what I can't stand is the weeds. No sooner have you done the work, you have to start all over again because nature has an annoying habit of taking over. I like things that stay as they are when you have worked hard to finish them. What I do like however, is cooking with beautiful fresh vegetables straight out of the garden and of course the wonderful flavours and smells that you get with freshly picked produce.

Luckily my other half is a very keen gardener (I've even caught him sneaking in to the garden to have a look at his veggies before he comes in to say hello to us) and most of the time I'm very happy to make something yummy from them (the exceptions are the feijoas which I whinge incessantly about for a month when they ripen and the silverbeet and spinach which are currently occupying the entire bottom drawer of our freezer).

My favourite time of year for veggies is of course Summer and this year Richard has planted the most incredibly sweet and beautiful little cherry tomatos. We had them tonight on pizza. They are a perfect summer dinner. Just throw them onto a ready made pizza base with lots of fresh basil and fetta and some crushed garlic. Add salt and pepper and put in the oven for about 12 minutes. Heaven!

I did help out in the garden over the weekend by trimming our flax which has gone a little crazy. I love the colour of this flax. It's a beautiful greeny black and attracts a multitude of native birds. I couldn't bear to throw out all the leaves and seed pods so some came inside with me. I tucked the ends of the leaves in to the top of the vase to create a rough woven effect. Who needs gerberas or roses?