My early potatoes - which I planted in August - have been growing beautifully throughout spring, and now they are well and truly ready for harvesting just in time for Christmas. However once these beauties are pulled I will be left with an empty garden, which is something I don't like to have, as soil is at its healthiest when it is covered with life. Luckily the potatoes will leave the ground loose and friable, which is an absolute blessing for the beans I will plant straigh

OK, so this might be a point of contention with many gardeners I talk to, but I don’t like, use, or agree with fancy irrigation systems. In my mind, they’re one of the main reasons so many gardens fail, and why so many gardeners become disconnected from what they’re actually trying to grow. I know, I know - some of you are probably wondering in disbelief how on earth it’s possible to maintain a thriving garden without drip feeders, built-in timers, or soak hoses. Aren’t those

The humble carrot is something we all like to have on hand, as they are very versatile in the kitchen and used in so many recipes. But the heavily sprayed sickly-sweet carrots found in supermarkets bare no resemblance to their earthy and complexly flavoured homegrown counterparts, and given that carrots are one of our nations most eaten foods - and they are often heavily sprayed with pesticides - we really should be trying to grow as many as possible to at least ease the burd

For those gardening in the Southern Hemisphere, late November is undoubtedly one of the busiest times of the year, with pretty much all our summer crops either in the ground and needing watering and attention, or about to be planted. But with the festive season just around the corner, and the end of year wind down already in motion, it’s a busy time in general, so allocating even just ten minutes a day towards growing your own food can feel daunting. I work with women who wan

We all like lettuce through summer, but hot weather and dry days can make it bolt fast. Here I share a few tips so you can grow crisp lettuces all summer long, without it going to flower.

When you begin vegetable gardening on a large scale, building up disease and pest resistance through companion planting and crop rotation becomes imperative, and arranging this on paper before planting time means I can keep my rotating crops organised, and anticipate where I need to leave room to include my companion plants. Now this may feel easier said that done, but both are important and are all the more reason to plan your gardens out on paper first, before you plant any

Growing flowers throughout the veggie patch is a key aspect of how I teach others to grow - by weaving different varieties of flowers amongst our edibles, we can create a resilient and diverse garden that has a healthy ecosystem teeming with wildlife and a balanced group of plants that all quietly work in harmony with each other.

If you have decided that this is the year you will actually build those raised garden bed, and now you have found yourself wondering how on earth to fill them without spending a fortune, this post is for you. Depending on the depth of your beds, you could be looking at a lot of soil. But the good news is, you don’t need to fill them with perfect topsoil from top to bottom. Instead, get resourceful and use some clever layering, starting from the bottom up.

How to build better soil in mid-winter without effort, and set it up for a thriving spring It might look quiet out there - the tomato vines are long gone and bar the regular winter culprit, a lot of your garden beds may be feeling a bit empty. And maybe, like many gardeners, you’ve stepped back to let the garden rest until spring. However mid-winter is the perfect time to tend to those empty beds and give your soil a pick-me up, so that when spring arrives you feel prepared i

Growing a selection of your own culinary herbs is one of the single best things you can do to to elevate your cooking.

Discover simple techniques for hand-pollinating tomatoes, cucurbits, and sweetcorn for an abundance of summer produce.

The secret to a thriving, abundant and pest-free kitchen garden is to keep it jam packed with a wide selection of vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs. At the moment I have zucchini, cherry tomatoes, green runner beans and capsicums growing alongside different varieties of lettuce, ruby chard, silverbeet, dahlias, calendula, cosmos and cornflowers. These are all happily meandering together in a 1m x 2m bed, so it may sound like there isn’t much room for anything else, but I

I’ve been growing tomatoes in my garden for over 20 yrs, so I want to share the 10 steps I take to growing tomatoes for a bountiful harvest.

The first of my monthly deep dives into how to grow an edible crop. Today is an in-depth guide for growing the humble potato.

Things are flourishing, such as the espaliered pears which are dripping with pendulums of burgundy fruit.

After a failed attempt at a worm farm many years ago Brett and I did a lot of research before making the farms we use now.

Autumn is such a special time of the year, especially if you are lucky enough to be connected to a garden like we are.