A zesty start to the new year

Happy New Year to you all!!!

How gorgeous are these peppers picked straight from our garden!  They tasted delicious stuffed with cream cheese and smoked prapika, then roasted on the bbq.

May all our 2014's be as filled with colour, zestyness and zing.

Why we should all grow our own veg

Chatting to Indira Naidoo (author of The Edible Balcony) about urban farming at the Australian Garden Show was inspiring.  You can catch our interview here but thought I would summarise the points that have really got me thinking.

We all have the space
We really do all have enough space for one or two pots, or even a vertical garden, even on the smallest balcony.  In that space we should all be growing most of the herbs and salad plants we need to eat.

With changing climate and increasing population, there is a decrease in available farming land.  Imagine if we free up the land currently used for common herbs and salads for more important foods.

Think of the savings - $500 a year sound good?
I estimate that we personally save $5-$10 a week growing our own herbs and salad, we just don't need to buy them anymore.  This is an annual saving of at least $260 a year on herbs alone, around $500 if you include salads which are our most reliable and rewarding crop.

Last summer we never had to buy tomatoes or watermelon either.  Even with the cost of planting we probably saved around $700 over the year.   Makes good sense and good cents too. 

Pick only what you need - less waste

Nothing tastes as good as fresh picked, we all know that.  But another bonus is that you only ever pick what you need.  When you buy you often buy more than you need and then end up throwing away what you didn't use.  Grow your own and there is far less waste.

Enjoy seeing children eating fresh out the garden

We joke that we let Miss J out to graze.  She eats handfuls of sugar snap peas fresh off the vine, tomatoes still warm from the sun, strawberries (usually before they are properly ripe), even sticks of celery snapped off the plant.  

Could anything be better than growing your own?   I have just planted these small sweet watermelon's - Sugar Baby.  They are an heirloom variety and you can get them at The Little Veggie Patch Co or Gurneys.  Last year we loved the watermelon crop and would have had more if our irrigation had been working better.  Every time it rained they doubled in size over night!  This year I am trying to grow them from seed rather than seedlings, lets hope it works!

Please share your success stories, I would love some sure fire winners for this season.

Australian Garden Show Sydney 2013

I had the great pleasure of going to the media preview and opening day of the very first Australian Garden Show.  This is a little bit of the Chelsea Flower Show right here, but full of Australia's top garden design talent.  

Its fab!  The show gardens are Chelsea quality, and if you are in Sydney you should get yourself down there right away.  We are having the perfect spring weather and I cannot think of a nicer way to spend the day than wondering through Centennial Park being wowed by the amazing gardens on display.  Or visit at night when the gardens are lit up to create a magical evening wonderland.

My wonderful web video producer Suzannah Cowley has caught the flavour of the show with some amazing imagery, and done a wonderful job of making a novice like me look good on camera.  We also managed a quick interview with Indira Naidoo (The Edible Balcony) who gave us some great tips on how and why we should ALL grow our own veg.


I will do a longer post next week with a little more detail on my favourites.  But for now, take the kids, they can pot up a strawberry and hold a chicken, and head down there for some serious inspiration.  

Make sure you catch my personal favourites:

• "Suspended"  by Brendan Moar (Best in Show)
• "The Hive" by Katie Burgess (based on bees and honey comb)
• "September Sky" by Andrew Fisher Tomlin & Tom Harfleet
• "The Kitchen Garden" by Indira Naidoo

a handful of sunshine

Sometimes you just need a little bit of sunshine to brighten up your day.  This gorgeous capsicum was hiding in the veggie patch.  Amazingly Miss J found it before the caterpillars.  

We then spent a happy 15 minutes looking for caterpillars and telling them "night night".  No more caterpillars... but hopefully lots more capsicum's.

little letters...to the veggie garden

Growing and eating our own produce has been incredibly satisfying.  It's pleasure to think 'I'll just go and get the herbs/spinach/tomato' take a few steps outside and pick what you need. 

Dear tomatoes you were fab.  We loved you all, every shape and colour.  Next year I will learn to trellis better and plant more of you.  I had no idea your fruit were so heavy.
Dear watermelon, you love I love watermelon (lalala)...you were a delight.
Dear passion fruit, you have put out lots of shoots but you were supposed to be bigger by now, grow faster!
Dear spinach you are a star.  You grow and grow and we can never eat you all.
Dear zucchini you were a flop.  You got mouldy and your fruit fell off, you are not invited back next season.
Dear strawberries thanks for trying.  Next year we will try let your fruit ripen before Miss J eats it.
Dear rainbow chard you win the prize for prettiness and hardiness, tasty too.  Welcome to the all star list.

We are still getting a few last tomatoes and watermelon but its time to plan the winter veggies.
Miss J visits the watermelon plant several times a day to point out "tiny" and "fatty", her names not mine.  I think she is going to enjoy seeing pumpkins growing.

Let me know if you have any recommendations, and please feel free to add little letters of your own.

Instagram almanac at my place

I have had a busy week in the garden, taking out the old rocket and spinach, and making way for zucchini, squashes and tomatoes.  The sugar snap peas are almost finished.  Little Miss J has loved them, gobbling pea after pea straight from the plant.  

We are trying strawberries, just hope Miss J leaves them on the plant until they are ripe.  

It is so satisfying eating from the garden.  Last night we roasted beetroot straight from the soil, sweet and nutty, and almost every day we have a mixed salad of rainbow chard, spinach and lettuce leaves. 

I love walking straight through the greens section of the supermarket because we simply don't need any.

We are finally enjoying some flowers.  The California Poppies are flowering, the salvia is in spike, and the sedum is growing in.  I love deep pink and burned orange of this California Poppy variety - called Jelly Beans.  I hope it self seeds and comes back on its own next year.

The crazy pear trees have finally decided to blossom.  I have been worried because all the neighbours trees flowered weeks ago.  Hopefully some regular nitrogen will stimulate some good leaf growth for summer.

I picked these succulent clippings from a neighbouring garden on a walk with Little Miss J.  They are hardening off for a few days and then I am going to plant them in the tough hot spots on the sides of the house.  The weeds seem to have been thriving in these spots so hopefully there is enough soil for these lovely succulents to get a hold onto.

The hooks are up on the wall as planned.  Just as well as summer seems to be here at a last and the towels and swimming costumes always seem to be wet.  Much tidier with this system. No more towels draped on the pool fence or puddling soggily on the deck.

What's is happening in the garden at your place?