Rosella, QLD Jam Fruit, Roselle, Jamaican Sorrel, Edible Hibiscus…This plant has a few names and here in the Subtropics it’s a good set and forget plant with an incredibly abundant harvest. The most common use is Jam, however you can
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Rosella Caramelised Balsamic
Last year with the bountiful harvest of Rosellas I started to experiment with different things. I thought the tart citrus flavour would work well as a salad dressing, and decided I’d like to try a caramelised balsamic. It was a
Rosella (Roselle) Recipes
This is our second year growing rosellas, and they are definitely be a firm favourite around here. Not only are they stunning plants, they are prolific producers without a great deal of input from us. We actually didn’t even plant
Pear & Rosella Fruit Leather
If you’re sick of jam, cordial and syrup and want another way to make use of a big rosella harvest, that the kids will love, how about trying a fruit leather. I chose pears for the sweetness component as that’s
Interview – Sarah Heath, Basilea Living Herbs
In this episode I chat with Second generation herb grower Sarah Heath. Sarah relocated Basilea Living Herb Farm to her property in 2013; while raising her young family Sarah has built a one of a kind production spray free, reticulated
April in our Subtropical Veggie Patch
April 2020. Still in isolation. Thankfully the garden is keeping me sane. What was growing Front yard – Mandala Our Garlic is kicking along quite well. Aside from the disturbance of cane toads which comes with the location they seem
Growing Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes would have to be hands down one of the easiest set and forget crops for us here in the subtropics. They are pretty resilient and hardy and grow when not much else will. You can find our latest
Our Harvest of Mini Blue Popcorn
Traditionally we’ve only grown sweetcorn for the table, so this year we decided to go with a popcorn just for fun. Our first go at Popcorn was with a mini blue corn variety. Planting out the corn I planted out
18 months after we first started our Edible Garden
Finally after years of procrastination we have got our gardening YouTube Channel up and running ‘officially’. Kicking off with the first episode (technically it started with pineapples and a sleeping baby 2 years ago) I thought it would be a
Favourite Tomatoes to Grow
My favourite time to grow tomatoes is Autumn. Here in the subtropics we struggle with them over summer due to disease and fruit fly, so I just don’t bother now. We are lucky enough to not get a frost (or
Interview – Heidi Merika, Boosting your immunity with Plants
We’re back for a new season of the Podcast in 2020. This season will be full of amazing interviews from people I admire. In this episode I chat with Heidi Merika who is a Naturopath and Medical Herbalist and author
March in our Subtropical Patch
March of 2020. Weird. Crazy. We’ve been in self isolation for most of the month, the idea of one of our young kids getting coronavirus and being taken away without us was reason enough to just limit our outside contact.
Quick things to grow in a crisis
Whilst people have gone mental hoarding toilet paper (which I am so confused about by the way) I am focusing on the easy wins for the veggie patch, and hoarding seeds instead (not that has anything to do with a
February in our Subtropical Patch
February was pretty mild for us this year, but it didn’t come without its challenges. We’ve had plenty of rain which has been amazing, but I am glad to see the seasons changing and we’re moving out of summer and
How to make natural pink food colouring using beetroot
The end of last winter/early Spring I was up to my eye balls in beetroot, which isn’t really a problem as my kids LOVE them (as long as they are pickled in loads of sugar). But I was getting a
Planning your Veggie Patch
Do you plan what you’re going to plant in your veggie patch each season? Or are you the type that just shoves things in, crosses your fingers and hopes for the best. If I am honest, I am a little
January in our Subtropical Veggie Patch
I haven’t done an update post in a little while and I am hoping in the coming weeks (let’s be real, months) that I’ll convert these to YouTube Videos. So here is a little round up of what has been
How we compost in the suburbs
If you’ve been following me for a while you may have read this article about how we compost in the city. Now we’ve moved further out to a bigger block our methods have slightly changed a bit so I figured
Positive actions for your Anger
I’ve been angry about this whole fire mess since October last year. It started whilst we took a road trip from south east Queensland to central NSW. Stuck between convoys of hay, water and fire trucks. Where the land was
What to do with excess cucumbers
So this past spring I thought it was an awesome idea to plant 15 cucumber plants. The kids eat loads so I thought why the hell not. The kids are now sick of cucumbers. Typical. Anyway, dealing with a kg