Lismore Garden Club News

August is an excellent time to take a fresh look at growing an Aussie staple vegetable – the good old choko. If you think to yourself, “I don’t like chokos, they are too bland and tasteless” the reason is that you have only ever eaten them at mature size. The only way to eat chokos is similar to zucchinis: pick them when immature at say two to three inches long and steam (never boil) them. If you wish, serve with white sauce.

To get a choko vine started you will need to buy about three from a greengrocer or find someone that has them growing in the backyard. Plant them in a pot with the bottom end up to sprout ready for planting out when the weather warms up. At the same time it’s best to prepare the planting holes by digging in some compost or rotted animal manure and a little dolomite. Then plant them in a place where they can climb on an unsightly fence, shed or over a tree. You will get lots of fruit in the late summer and autumn.

The Lismore Garden Club is again hosting the Annual Lismore Garden Competition in early September. There is a choice of 30 items in which you can enter and you can enter in a maximum of 10 items. Anyone can enter and there is also a section for schools, businesses, factories, hospitals or churches. Entry is free. For further information phone Rosmary on 6629 3353.

Finally: “A message to the ladies: Hang on to your husband, you never know, he might come back into fashion.”

Happy gardening

Ron Burns