Vegetables

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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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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Traditional Dutch Stamppot

When it is cold and snowy outside, I always crave old-school Dutch dishes like this traditional stamppot. I grew up eating things like stamppot and splitpea soup during winter, and they will continue to be staples in my home. Meals that are wholesome plus easy to make, I think I will always keep making. Translating

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Spinach & Pumpkin Lasagna

This spinach & pumpkin lasagna is excellent yet unconventional. Taking inspiration from classic Italian cuisine and using ingredients I had on hand, this dish almost created itself. I like this style of cooking. Just seeing what is in my fridge, what I can use and creating a dish with my cooking instincts & intuition alone.

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2023 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 Grow Okra

What is Okra? Technically, okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) is a fruit, but is perceived and eaten as a vegetable. The colour changes with the variety, and ranges from pale green to pink to dark maroon. A heat-loving, low-care crop that thrives in strong sun and humidity, okra does best in subtropical and tropical gardens (if you’re

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10 Underrated Veggies for a Subtropical Garden

So many of us have come to live in subtropical climate areas from colder, more mild regions. Naturally, we have grown up eating traditional European vegetables, so when we become gardeners, those are what we try to grow. We soon realise that those veggies aren’t so compatible with humid subtropical conditions, and that we need

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Pumpkin & Carrot Puree

If you are like Mark and have more pumpkins than you know what to do with, this pumpkin and carrot puree is a very nice recipe to try. Unfortunately I’m not that lucky- I only ever seem to grow one pumpkin per plant. And sometimes even that pumpkin is as small as my hand, even

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Thai-Inspired Stir Fry

This Thai-inspired stir fry is a staple in my home. I come back to it time and time again because it is so simple to make, yet is healthful & packs a great flavour punch. So try it and see for yourself if you agree. When it is very much winter here in The Netherlands,

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6 Top Crops to Grow in a HOT Summer

It’s no news to any of us that subtropical and tropical climates have extremely hot summers. Add to that some punishing humidity & daily downpours, and you’ve got the potential for some vegetable gardening disasters. Anyone who has tried to grow traditional European crops through a QLD summer has learnt the hard way that hot

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Chard Carrot Casserole

This middle eastern-inspired chard carrot casserole combines the earthy taste of rainbow chard with the sweetness of carrots. Chickpeas & cumin provide the protein and base notes, while parsley, mint and lemon juice round out this beautiful looking and tasting dish. When I see Swiss rainbow chard I always sigh because it is so beautiful!

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Veggie Lasagna

This veggie lasagna is so good and packed with nutrition- but by no means is it a traditional lasagna recipe! I have to say this up front, because I really don’t want all the Italian nonnas of the world coming at me to knock me on the head with their wooden spoons! Of course traditional

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Should I Prune my Tomato Plants?

To prune, or not to prune….that is the question! I’m talking about tomato plants, of course, and in this article I’m going to explain why sometimes you should prune tomatoes, and sometimes you shouldn’t. Types of Tomato Plant There are several things I look for whenever I’m thinking of pruning tomato plants, and the first

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Stuffed Red Bell Peppers (Capsicums)

These stuffed red bell peppers are a lovely meal and so easy to make! All you need to do is put them together then put them in the oven. My bell peppers went horribly this year (just like my beetroot) and I don’t know why. It becomes even more baffling because the tomatoes went better

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Why You Should Grow Elephant Garlic

Do you love eating garlic, but have trouble growing it in your warm climate? Then you might find elephant garlic (allium ampeloprasum) a fantastic substitute. This hardy allium does well in the tropics & subtropics where the winters are rarely cold enough to grow a good garlic crop. Elephant garlic has huge cloves with a

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Celtuce is the Next Vegetable you Need to Grow

Meet celtuce- one of the most versatile, tasty, useful, yet least-known vegetables. Celtuce (lactuca sativa var. asparagina) is a form of lettuce which is effectively dual-purpose; the leaves can be eaten as lettuce, and the thick stem as a type of celery. This unusual edible will grow in a variety of climates, suffers minimal pest

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Carrot Hummus

Hummus is great, especially when you make it yourself. You can add in extra veggie goodness to make it healthier and more nutritious- just like this carrot hummus!Everyone has their own version and this is one I have perfected over the years to precisely suit my preferences. The beauty of this recipe is you can

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Kale Chips

These kale chips are easy to make and so healthy that I ate mine for breakfast- yes really! These kale chips consist of nothing more than kale, olive oil, vinegar, salt and herbs, so they make for great eating at any time of the day or night! My kale plants were looking really good this

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Grow These 5 Perennial Greens to Beat $Price Rises

Grocery prices have risen sharply in 2022 due to inflation, and this upwards price trend doesn’t look to be stopping any time soon. Compounded by shortages due to the pandemic and localised extreme weather events, fresh produce prices in particular are higher than ever. We’ve all seen the $12 lettuces headline, but luckily as gardeners

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