Monday, February 04, 2013

Balcony Garden: Harvest Monday #13

The visitors to my balcony have become more sinister and destructive since Scratchy the cat went home.  A very noisy family of Currawongs has moved in to the big tree next to my balcony and they treat my garden like their own personal stomping ground.


They've taken exception to the beautiful Marigolds I was growing in the hopes of attracting bees. At first I'd find a few petals had been plucked from the flowers which I could deal with...and then one morning I come out find that those darn birds had uprooted the ENTIRE plant (both of them...roots and all) and thrown them over the balcony and onto the ground below. I mean really! They've also been having a go at my parsley, chives and sage - so it's not just yellow plants that they hate!


We brought in the big guns to deal with these pesky birds.  No not a gun, scarecrow or water canon.  These fake owls with swivelling heads and beady eyes from Bunnings deterred the birds for about....3 minutes and now their back on my balcony railing causing havoc!


The Currawongs also had a red hot go at my shallots. They don't seem to be eating anything that they pull up - they just rip it out of the pot and chuck it on the ground.  I thought I'd better harvest some of the shallots before I miss out altogether!


Up until now I've actually been pulling the entire shallot out of the pot...roots and all, but I've since been told that you can just snip off the shallot leaving about an inch at the base and the stalk will regrow! Who knew? Not me that's for sure.


It hasn't really been soup weather with all the crazy hot days that we've been having but that doesn't deter us from whipping up this super easy and scrumptious Prawn Dumpling Soup from an old cookbook that I have lying around (incidentally, this is the ONLY recipe I've ever cooked from that book).  The minute there was break in the heatwave this soup was on the boil.


At various stages I've made this soup with shallots, coriander or pak choi from my balcony garden - but I've not yet managed to make a soup using all three of these ingredients from my garden at once. One day. Maybe.


You can view more Harvest Monday posts on Daphne's Dandelions blog.

10 comments:

  1. Those goddamn birds, how horrible! What do they even get out of doing that?! I love shallots and how easy they are to grow! Awesome looking soup :D

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  2. Oh no! That sucks the birds have attacked your plants. I think magpies have been having a go at our broccoli, but the plants seem to be hardier than their beaks and are still standing.

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  3. I hope those birds get sick of your balcony soon! Your soup looks seriously delicious!

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  4. what a bugger - all your hard work.............

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  5. That is so frustrating for you! The prawn dumpling soup looks really good, excited for Autumn to be coming around and soup back on the menu. Hope you come up with a bird solution. Catherine x

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  6. I had one digging around in my pots (we called him Boris)and I think they are trying to get at the grubs inside. Never as destructive as that though.

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  7. Birds are pests! I have to keep my garden netted at the moment to try to keep them away. I think Mr Fresh will have to be convinced to build me a big cage around my veg beds. That should keep my pesky chook out too who has demolished all my gorgeous lettuces....can't beat a dumpling soup to make all ok though :)

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  8. Darn those birds, *shakes fist*. Your soup looks yummy!

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  9. omg.. those birds are soooo cute. <3 im envious lol and also of the dumpling soup :-D

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  10. It was actually my MIL that taught me that trick regarding the green onions. Actually she use to buy the shallots/green onions from the green grocer and plant them. Way too funny!

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