I live with my family in a home that’s on a main road in a metropolitan suburb of Melbourne. It’s a busy spot and to avoid the traffic, we access and enter the property from the back of the house. Our vegetable patch is the first part of the garden that greets our visitors with the fresh, warm and earthy scents of rosemary and sage.
A paved area in front of our garage and a small patch of grass divides the vegetable garden from the path to our back deck. When preparing meals in our kitchen, you can look out the window into the vegetable garden. My husband built raised garden beds where I grow a selection of herbs, vegetables and fruit throughout the year. We use a compost heap under the camellia tree in another part of the garden to capture all of our kitchen scraps. The compost feeds the soil which, in turn, feeds our plants.
What’s Happening in My Garden
The weather has been hot this week, followed by a downpour of rain. It’s also been very windy, which you can see in the video. Last weekend I planted seedlings bought from my local produce store. Do you have one of these produce stores in your suburb? They are becoming rare, much like independent milk bars, as big chains like Bunnings take over.
Here’s what I planted:
leek
‘gourmet’ lettuce
beetroot
parsley
spring onions
cauliflower
broccoli
I’ve also moved a few things around, including the strawberries and one of the lemon trees.
My Happy Place
My happy place is time in nature, a well curated bookshop, celebrating family milestones and a quiet spot to read and write. I’m attracted to a book’s cover and love the colour green, and this is how Moyra Bremmer’s book, GE Genetic Engineering and You, first caught my eye.
Bremmer’s insights encouraged me to learn how to grow vegetables and save seeds. In the pursuit of gardening knowledge and heritage seeds, I discovered Heronswood. This is a beautiful homestead and garden nestled on the hills of the Mornington Peninsula, overlooking the waters of Port Phillip Bay.
When I first visited Heronswood it was the home of Clive and Penny Blazey and the headquarters for The Diggers Club. If you’ve grown vegetables, you may have bought or seen Diggers vegetable seedlings at your local Bunnings garden nursery. The Diggers Club is Australia’s largest community of gardeners. You can buy direct from their range of heirloom seeds, rare plants and bulbs. They teach members how to create beautiful and productive gardens for a sustainable future.
The Blazey’s have since donated the property to the Diggers Foundation. You can visit the Diggers Club gardens at Heronswood, in Dromana, The Garden of St Erth, in Blackwood, Cloudehill in Olinda and there’s a Diggers Garden shop in Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens. You can also ‘glamp’ at St Erth.
I’ve visited the Heronswood and Cloudehill gardens many times over the years with my family. I enjoy ABC TV’s Gardening Australia and was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with one of their presenters and gardening experts, Sophie Thomson, who’s known for her property in the Adelaide Hills, Sophie’s Patch.
It’s gardeners like Clive and Penny Blazey, Sophie Thomson, Jackie French, Jane Edmanson, my grandparents, my Father and my Father-in-law who’ve influenced and informed my love of gardening over the years.
If you also love to potter in your garden, or visit your local gardens and parks, please tell me about what’s growing in your garden and your favourite gardens to visit.
With love and gratitude,
KPH
I acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which I live and pay my respects to Indigenous Elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be, Aboriginal land.
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