How to grow an edible garden, part one: the secret ingredient

For me, there’s something magical about gardening. It’s my soul food, and my two gardens are a place to bathe in nature, laugh at the cheeky tiny willy wagtail that’s lecturing my cat from the safety of the clothesline, yell at the cockatoos who steal my sunflowers, work out frustrations, and recharge from the stresses of work. 

My grandparents' garden

Gardening is in my veins, inherited from previous generations, and my grandparents’ yard continues to be one of my favourite sources of inspiration and regeneration. What this all means is that three hours in the garden feel like half that, and I am virtually self-sufficient when it comes to growing vegies and even fruit most times of the year.

Before you start building any garden, let alone an edible one, it’s important to think about what you really want out of it. What do you find more enjoyable – working up a sweat digging manure in or pruning plants, or sitting in a green space with a glass of vino? Can you happily spend an hour or two most weeks of the year keeping your garden happy and healthy or do you want a garden that  generally looks after itself?

My backyard garden during summer.

Knowing all of these things will help ensure your garden matches your level of interest and commitment, so that you don’t end up resenting the potential burden on your time and energy.

If you’re new to gardening and not sure just how much you’ll like it, why not start small? A couple of pots of herbs will need a little bit of loving but aren’t going to take up too much time. Put them in a sunny spot, use a premium potting mix and water the pot every couple of days. While you’re out there, pinch a leaf of the herb, crush it between your fingers and smell it. Find reasons to add the herbs to your food, and take pleasure in telling others at the table, “I grew that”.

If you want more, upgrade to a small patch of dirt and plant a couple of vegies to match the season and your tastes. For a summer, try something like tomatoes, which need a bit of attention but will return the favour with a great crop within a few months. For winter, broad beans or peas are easy, delicious and will also improve the soil. Get some dirt under your nails, breathe in the fresh air, and revel in standing in the garden munching on peas straight from the plant – there’s nothing like it.

Snow peas, with a baby apricot tree poking through!

 

If you are a true green thumb, you’ll probably find yourself browsing the plant section of the hardware store, pulling out weeds while still in your pjs, cheering when it rains, or reading blogs like this one. As you continue to expand your garden and your skills, go gradually, have fun, experiment, invest in your soil and your plants, but most of all, use the garden in the way that makes you happiest, and you’ll reap more than just a supply of home-grown vegies.

My community garden plot during summer

Snow, spuds and the eternal potato crop

Driving to work last week, I saw a sign that chilled my green thumbs – snow on the mountain range above Canberra, some of the earliest in memory. It was a reminder to get summer vegies out of the ground, dig in some compost and other goodies, and plant up for the winter.

This year's potato crop included all sorts of shapes and sizes.

As it happens, summer vegies make some of the best cold weather comfort foods, and potatoes are no exception. Potatoes are dead easy to grow at the right time of year, and if you plant them once, you’re pretty much guaranteed to accidentally leave enough in the soil to ensure an annual crop for years to come.

In cold-weather climates like Canberra’s, it’s best to plant potatoes in late spring or early summer, when the risk of frost is over. You can buy great heirloom varieties from the Diggers Club, save a few spuds from your favourite farmers market stall or do as I did today and barter some kale seedlings for some funky purple spuds from a neighbour.

 

Stunning potatoes spotted in a farmers market in Alsace, France

Find a garden bed in a good sunny, well-drained spot and dig in plenty of compost and old manure – horse, sheep, cow, kangaroo, whatever you can get your hands on. Plant your potatoes around 10 centimetres deep, 25 centimetres between spuds and 75 centimetres between the rows, and pile up plenty of soil, compost or mulch on top.

If you don’t have that much space, a simple alternative is to go up instead of out. Plant four garden stakes in a diamond shape, either in the garden or a large pot, wrap some plastic trellis around them and drop several potatoes in the middle. Cover them with a good layer of some quality soil or compost, using straw to line the inside of the trellis so the dirt doesn’t escape.

Leafy shoots should appear in about three weeks. Let them get about 15 centimetres tall then add another layer of the good stuff, leaving the tips free. Keep doing this over the growing season, either hilling up the soil and mulch in the garden, or building your vertical tower of potatoes. This will get you an extra supply of potatoes as most of the crop grows about the originally planted potato, not below. Water them regularly. In late summer, the plants will flower then the leaves will start turning yellow, which means it’s time to stop watering and let the potatoes toughen up a bit.

As the foliage starts to die back, dig your spuds up! You’ll be surprised just how many potatoes there are – I got a five kilo crop from my original six potatoes this year, plus another couple of kilos from the accidental crop at the other end of the garden (see, potatoes are for life). Brush off the excess dirt and store the potatoes in a cool, dry, dark place.

There are thousands of ways to transform your crop into comfort food, but some of the simplest are the best. I love to chop my potatoes into quarters or wedges, toss them in olive oil, smoked paprika, ground cumin, salt and turmeric, and roast them at 180 degrees Celsius for about 30-40 minutes.

I love these potato wedges!

I’m also a bit obsessed with gnocchi – try out this recipe at taste.com.au or leave your favourite recipe in the comments below. It’s fantastic with either my pesto or pasta sauce recipes.

Calling all comfort foodists - what’s your ultimate potato recipe?

Gnocchi with my delicious pesto

Inspiring gardens that are good enough to eat

To me, having your own edible garden is somewhat like having keys to Willy Wonka’s factory. Okay, so there’s no rivers of chocolate but there is still something magical about being able to step outside the back door and help yourself to something delicious you grew yourself. 

Earlier this summer, I spent many an evening standing under the apricot tree with nectar dripping down my chin and arms. At the moment I’m feasting on strawberry guavas and grapes. That’s not to mention the plethora of instant herbal teas, and green curry and salad ingredients that are available any time of the year.

I spent an inspirational last Saturday at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, browsing a range of gardens from the achievable to the spectacular, and picking up a several unique gardening products.

The gardens were inspirational for a range of reasons – a serene Japanese garden focused on mental health, another used grapevines grown over the gardener’s mum’s back shed, while a third featured 5000 hand-knitted poppies
in commemoration of the 100 year anniversary of the ANZAC Gallipoli landing.

 But it was the two edible gardens that had me dreaming of a garden makeover. 

The Urban Oasis was designed to incorporate permaculture and sustainability principles into the modern urban garden. It was simply beautiful, with dry creek beds, lush vegetation, and a sunken seating area that would provide the perfect retreat from city living. The plants were chosen either because they were edible, companion plants that would attract beneficial insects or deter pests, or would help manage stormwater. And that was all in a space smaller than the average lounge room!

The stunning Urban Oasis garden.

The Food Forest show garden transformed the average-sized backyard into an beautifully landscaped, edible paradise. By layering plants of range of heights, colours and textures, the designer Phillip Withers created visual depth and the illusion of a far larger garden. It also had some fun elements like an “outdoor rug” made of herbs under the dining table.

The Food Forest garden, featuring citrus, Tuscan kale, purple cabbage, basil and chillies.

 

These gardens were only temporary – they were built in just a couple of weeks from pre-grown pampered plants and have probably already been dismantled. But they had some great lessons for the home gardener:

• An edible garden doesn’t have to be an ugly garden. Many fruit and vegetable plants are architecturally gorgeous in their own right, and there are plenty of flowering plants like alyssum, geraniums, lavender and columbines that, while not necessarily edible, will bring both colour and beneficial, pollinating insects to the garden.

The pumpkin pile in the Diggers Club display.

• Space isn’t essential. Espalier fruit trees against the fence, grow beans up your corn, hang baskets of strawberries off your balcony rail – be inventive!
• There’s no need to isolate plants in their own clumps or rows, which is not only boring but like a flashing neon sign to pesky bugs who hone in on the smell and shape and devour them. Mix them up with differently textured plants and you’ll confuse the bugs while delighting the senses.
• Have fun! A sculpture, interesting rock, garden gnome, concrete owl, or even a funky old wheelbarrow or rusty mattress springs scrounged from the local recycling yard will all add personality and life.

I plan to incorporate more of each of these lessons into my backyard over the coming year – I’ll keep you posted! I’d also welcome your thoughts – where do you find inspiration and what are your favourite edible garden ideas?

Another small, achievable garden - with or without the gorgeous kitty!