Fruit & Vegetables

10 Best Vegetables for Small Container Gardens

While you might only be able to grow vegetables on a miniature scale, it is always worth doing. You might have a balcony or small courtyard, but as long as you have enough space for a few pots, you’ll definitely be able to grow some food. Essentially, no garden is too small. Your little garden

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How to Grow Cranberry Hibiscus

An African native that thrives in subtropical gardens, cranberry hibiscus is showy, edible, easy-care and quick to establish. A valuable plant in any type of garden, cranberry hibiscus will appeal to ornamental and food gardeners alike. What is Cranberry Hibiscus? Thought to be a hybrid of two wild species, the exact origin of cranberry hibiscus

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How to Grow Choko (Chayote)

What is Choko? Chokos (aka chayote) are amongst the most prolific, versatile and healthful vegetables you can grow. Uncommon in shops and stores, chokos are a traditional staple in many warm temperate and subtropical home gardens. The fruits’ crisp texture and mild flavour lends itself to roasting whole or adding to soups, stews and sweet dishes,

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Spelt Bread

I think I have broken my breadmaker… Things don’t go perfectly every time in the kitchen, even with recipes you have made a hundred times- like this spelt bread. I have made this so many times, in this exact breadmaker and I still don’t know what happened. It started out so well, but ended in

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5 Ways to Drink Turmeric

Long prized for its health-boosting and purported medicinal properties, turmeric (curcuma longa) is a flowering plant in the ginger family. This heat-loving perennial is easy to grow at home if you can provide the right growing conditions. But beware- growing turmeric is addictive, and the harvests can be huge! Turmeric is a natural source of

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The Best Way to Freeze Vegetables

Being able to preserve your harvest for later use is just as big a part of self-sufficiency as growing the produce. Food preservation is the process of treating and handling food in such a way as to stop or greatly slow its spoilage, and prevent foodborne illness while maintaining nutritional value, texture and flavour. When crops

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Why You Need Nasturtiums in Your Veggie Garden

Nasturtiums are an easy delight in any type of garden. They suit a variety of climates, and are easy to grow. They make a lovely ground cover, sprawl out quickly, and look attractive. But there’s much more to nasturtiums than simply filling up space, and they’re definitely more than a basic ornamental. Read on to

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Warm Passionfruit Souffle

Discover the delightful taste of a homemade warm passionfruit soufflé! This classic dessert is fairly bursting with tropical flavour- and it’s all the sweeter when made with fresh fruit from your own backyard. Enjoy the satisfaction of using your own passionfruit while creating a treat that’s both sweet and tangy. It’s a simple way to

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4 Ways to Get the Most from Fresh Herbs

From basil to rosemary to coriander and everything in between, fresh herbs are like fragrant treasures that add depth and complexity to dishes, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. They are fantastic to have in the garden, attracting beneficial pollinators to vegetable plants, adding visual interest and filling the air with sweet scents. At the

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Citrus Leaf Miner- Summer Pest Profile

Citrus leaf miner (phyllocnistris citrella) is a very common pest to all types of citrus trees. No matter where in the world you live, this tiny, insidious pest is likely to appear on your citrus during summer. Its distribution is close to worldwide, so whether you grow limes, lemons, oranges, finger limes or hybrids, this

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Double Pumpkin Pudding

This recipe for double pumpkin pudding is quick, easy, & delicious. Ever better, it uses leftover roast pumpkin, so nothing goes to waste! One part of this double pumpkin pudding is pumpkin and banana flavour and the other part is cacao flavour. Hence the ‘double’ in the name. I couldn’t choose which flavour I liked

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Banana Peel Cacao Cake

Did you know you can eat banana peels? I didn’t either, until recently. I immediately started to think about what I could make with them. My mind went straight to sweets, and after some trial and error, I decided this banana peel cacao cake recipe was good enough to share with you. When you are

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2024 Autumn/Winter Subtropical Planting Guide

Welcome to winter in the humid subtropics- all three weeks of it. Okay that’s a local joke where I live (Brisbane, Australia), but it’s not far from the truth. The subtropics give us a specialised climate- one unlike any other. Most gardening information found online and in books is written for cool or temperate climates,

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How to Use Lots of Passionfruit

It’s all very fun to grow a ton of food…until you don’t know what to do with it all. Produce gluts can be difficult, if not impossible, to avoid when you have fruit trees. There’s nothing a food gardener likes more than a big harvest, but it can be overwhelming when it comes all at

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How to Combat Gall Wasp

Gall wasp is a problem to all types of citrus trees in many parts of Australia. Whether you grow limes, lemons, oranges, finger limes or hybrids, this common pest can infiltrate and damage your precious fruit trees without you even realising it. Originating in the subtropical northern NSW-seQLD area, this is a pest that you

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Why You Need to Grow Dogbane

Dogbane (Plectranthus caninus) is a semi-succulent perennial herb from the mint family which is native to South Africa. Despite not being edible, dogbane has numerous uses in a home food garden and is considered a valuable pioneer support plant by permaculturists. Tough, low-maintenance, fast-growing yet not invasive, dogbane might just be your newest garden go-to!

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Where to Buy Fruit Trees in Australia

With the ever-changing retail landscape and growth of online shopping, local nurseries are no longer omnipresent. So for beginner gardeners in particular, the path to a glorious home orchard might not be clear. It can be hard to know where to buy from and which varieties will be best for you. The visual appeal of

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Kidney Bean Bowl

Hearty, filling, & easy to make with lots of ways to change it up! This kidney bean bowl is perfect for veggies that need using up, helping you make sure nothing goes to waste. The only thing that is a constant ingredient in this kidney bean bowl is the tomato sugo (aka passata), which brings

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Where can I Buy Seed From in Australia?

With the advent of online shopping, there is now a plethora of websites offering vegetable seed to the home gardener. So much so, that it can be difficult to choose what to buy & where to buy from. Buying seed from your own climate zone gives you the best chance of success. Many of the

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How to Grow Ube (Winged Yam)

What is Ube? Ube (dioscorea alata) is a perennial tropical vegetable that you may not have heard of. A specialty of south-east Asia, this purple winged yam is a low-GI, easy-to-grow staple that puts a lot of food on the table for minimal effort. Especially versatile in the kitchen, it can be used in both

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