Fruit & Vegetables

Carrotcake Oatmeal

This is a ‘carrotcake’ oatmeal that you can vary to your hearts content, which makes it easy to eat every day without getting bored. Just switch up the nuts, the dried fruit, the spices or the sweetener, & it’ll taste completely different! Make it the way you like it and use the ingredients that take

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Repel Large Pests Organically in the Garden

There’s nothing more disheartening than seeing your carefully nurtured harvest fall prey to animal predators. After investing time in preparing the soil, growing from seed, nurturing plants to maturity, and witnessing the fruit’s development, it’s heart-breaking to have it all disappear overnight due to ‘unwanted visitors’. Combatting sizeable pests poses a significant challenge for home

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Red Currant Rice Pudding

Some dishes just brings warmth to your soul… this red currant rice pudding is one of those dishes. It brings back good memories of being at my grandparents house as a child. When the weather was cold, the kitchen was warm, in more ways than one. So much love in one bowl of food is

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6 Beneficial Insects To Find in Se QLD Gardens

In subtropical south-east Queensland, a diverse array of beneficial insects are indispensable allies in the home vegetable garden. These industrious insects, ranging from ladybugs and hoverflies to native bees and damselflies, play a vital role in fostering a thriving garden ecosystem. Their significance lies in their capacity for natural pest control, diligently preying on harmful

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Beetroot Pancakes

These beetroot pancakes can be made sweet or savoury- they’re both fantastic. And look at that colour…nothing ‘beets’ that colour! These beetroot pancakes are something I make on a regular basis, especially when the beetroot needs harvesting and using up. When I make these, I always split the batter in half and make one half

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What Happens When You Mulch Your Garden?

Introducing mulching to your vegetable garden beds can be a game-changer for the health and productivity of your crops. Mulch, a protective layer of material spread over the soil surface, offers a myriad of benefits that extend beyond mere aesthetics. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a beginner, you’ll find that mulching serves as a

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How To Garden Through a Hot Dry Summer

One of the biggest joys of gardening is its constant challenges. But as each new one greets us, we need to know how to manage it. Aside from issues with soil & the plants themselves, all sorts of unexpected weather conditions can occur, like a late frost, heat waves, freak storms, high winds, or too

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6 Most Useful Gardening Accessories

When you’re new to gardening there’s so much to learn- and buy! Big things like soil, garden beds, and plants tend to take our attention first, but once you’ve answered those questions, managing the garden on a day-to-day basis becomes the focus. No matter what your tastes, budget, or location, there is an overwhelming amount

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6 Beginner Food Gardener Mistakes to Avoid

If you’re a beginner gardener & not quite sure how to start….this one’s for you! While more and more people are turning to food gardening to beat cost-of-living price rises, gardening should also feel like an enjoyable hobby, so it’s best if you can set your garden up the right way straight off so it

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Strawberry Mylk

This recipe for vegan strawberry mylk and the bonus recipe for strawberry lemon mylkshake are cooling, creamy, fresh, sweet and sour. The perfect summer drinks if you ask me. As a child we used to get strawberry milk (or pink milk, as we called it) as a treat. We loved it! The colour, the taste,

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Coconut & Lemon Macaroons

This recipe for coconut & lemon macaroons is so simple, anyone can do it. And let me tell you… they are gooooood. When I make these macaroons for guests or as a present, they go fast. There are often none left by the time I have poured the tea! But I don’t mind, that’s why

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7 Bad Bugs to Look Out For in seQLD Spring

The onset of spring brings an awakening to the garden- but it also brings pest activity. As fruit trees spring into action, bulbs come back to life and flowers bloom, so the insect population booms. Mid-August to early September is when we start to notice pests reappearing the garden in Queensland. You might start to

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6 Crops You Can Harvest in Under 30 Days

When you first start growing your own food, the excitement is real. So much so, that it can be hard to wait for your first harvest! But it’s easy to start eating from your own backyard quickly, if you sow the right crops. Here are our favourite 6 crops you can harvest in under 30

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Which Water is Better for the Garden?

When you become a gardener, the idea that water is a precious yet essential resource reaches a whole new level. Obviously, plants don’t survive without it, but water quantity isn’t the only consideration. Water quality, too, can impact your plants in a variety of ways, which is especially important when it comes to growing fruits

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Why You Need to Pot Up Promptly

When you first start vegetable gardening, the path to successful crops isn’t always clear. There’s a steep learning curve, especially when you’re starting your vegetables from seed. Variables like soil, watering, propagation, and maintenance can seem like minefields for the beginner. One technique that is critical to the success of any food garden, is potting

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Dutch Corn Salad

Don’t get the wrong mental picture: this deceptively-named edible plant is in fact a green leafy vegetable. An ancient annual salad green native to southern Europe, its name came about because it would typically self-seeded in corn fields. Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of Dutch corn salad- it is definitely a lesser-known edible.

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The Quickest Way to Preserve Tomatoes

We all know how good an authentic home-grown heirloom tomato is, so it’s no wonder that tomatoes are one of the most common plants in any home vegetable garden. But growing great produce is really only half of the self-sufficiency journey; we need to know how to use & preserve our harvests too. There are

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How to Grow Ginger from Store-Bought Ginger in Containers

We already know what a great food ginger is for its health and flavour qualities, but unfortunately it’s always expensive to buy. Growing your own ginger that you can preserve or eat as you like is much more cost effective- especially if you buy some rhizomes from a shop and plant them yourself. Here, we

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5 Ways to Make Your Tomatoes Taste Better

Tomatoes are at the top of every vegetable gardeners’ must-grow list. And while the plant itself grows easily enough, producing large, tasty fruit can be deceptively tricky. Here, we explain 5 ways to make your home-grown tomatoes taste better. Keep Them Out of The Fridge Cold is the mortal enemy of tomatoes. This is something

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Potato Salad

This potato salad is so simple and easy to make, I love it. It is also very adaptable, so you can vary the ingredients according to your own taste & what you have on hand. Keep it simple or jazz it up; the choice is yours. The potato salad recipe below is a basic one

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