Learn how to grow Feijoa and what to make with their abundant crops! Feijoas or Pineapple Guava (Feijoa Sellowiana) are an abundant-producing fruit tree with green, sweet-tasting fruit. The trees are evergreen with dark green and silver foliage. Feijoas are easy to grow and, due to their thick foliage, they make a great screening tree or edible hedge!
This fruit tree is a prolific producer and can grow in a range of climates from temperate to subtropical, but grows best from zones 8-11.
Prune for size in autumn. Keep well watered in summer when fruiting.
FERTILISE
Feed with compost and keep well mulched.
PESTS
Rats, fruit flies, birds, guava moth, possums, scale.
HARVEST
Ripe when they fall from the tree. Collect daily.
REPRODUCE
Can grow from seed but best results are from grafted plants.
Why Grow Feijoa?
Here are some of the many reasons to grow Feijoa
It produces in abundance!
It is self-fertile
Evergreen – ornamental all year round
Delicious juicy fruit that are sweet with a perfumey flavor
Green fruit, which is harder to see from pests
Hardy tree – easy to grow
The whole fruit is edible!
Flowers are edible
Foliage is said to have fire-retardant qualities
Drought tolerant
Dense foliage can be pruned into a hedge for screening areas
Popular Feijoa Varieties
Feijoas are commonly sold as seedling plants under the name Pineapple Guava or Feijoa Sellowiana these will perform with mixed results and can take 6+ years to start fruiting. Choosing a grafted or named variety will offer a quicker-producing tree that will be true to type. Varieties will vary from country to country.
Duffy – Medium – large-sized fruit. Popular all-around variety.
White Goose – Large fruit with juicy white flesh. Early season fruiting that can last quite a long time.
Mammoth – Large round fruit with thick wrinkled skin. Can benefit from a pollinator tree. Tall upright tree.
Apollo – Medium – large oval fruit. Smooth light green skin. Tall upright tree. Semi-self-fertile – benefits from another pollinator tree.
Unique – Medium-sized fruit. Smooth, juicy, and sweet. Starts fruiting from a young age.
Triumph –Medium-sized fruit. Slightly gritty but good flavour. Late season bearing.
Nazemetz – Large oval/pear-shaped fruit. Smooth skin with sweet flesh. Self-fertile but will bear heavily with cross-pollination.
QUICK TIPSON HOW TO GROW FEIJOA
Choose a named variety (x2 different ones for bonus pollination)
Choose a sunny location
Add plenty of compost
Mulch
Ensure plenty of water during fruiting (summer)
Fruit is ready in Autumn
When to PlantFeijoa Trees
Plant your Feijoa plants in Spring or Autumn to avoid added stress from summer and winter temperatures.
How to GrowFeijoa
To plant your Feijoa, pick a sunny spot, they like full sun for 6-8 hours at least. And quite a bit of space, as these trees will grow quite large (2-5m). You can prune them back heavily though, so it’s not a major issue. They will also grow well in a large pot.
Dig a hole twice as big as the pot and mix a little compost in with the soil. If your plant has tightly bound roots, free them up before planting them out. Firmly pack the soil back around and cover it with mulch. Just pull back the mulch from the trunk so you don’t rot the trunk. Feijoas have shallow feeder roots so keep weeds and plants at a minimum under the tree line.
Give it big water! Now you basically don’t have to do anything for the first couple of years except keep it watered, especially during the dry season. You may get flowers in the first year or it makes take a couple of years until it is established enough to put out flowers. It flowers in spring and the fruits are usually ready and ripe in Autumn.
How to Care and Maintain Feijoa Trees
Feeding
Once your tree is established and starting to flower and fruit you can look at more fertilizing and watering. You can feed your plants near the end of winter, spring, and summer with compost or worm teas, or liquid seaweed. I don’t do a lot of feeding but I do chop and drop the prunings and add layers of mulch each year.
Watering
Another key tipis to ensure your plants get plenty of water during summer and late summer as the fruits are developing. This is something we struggle with here in Perth because we basically get no rain in summer. This last summer was so dry in Perth, and my trees were loaded with fruit. I obviously didn’t water them enough for the amount of fruit they had and the results are a strange hollow center. The fruit still tastes delicious, just not quite as juicy as it should be.
So I will have more mulch and more water next season. From memory, I was only hand watering max twice a week, and it was extremely hot here, so I’m not surprised really.
Pruning
Once your feijoas have finished fruiting, and you have picked up all the dropped fruit. It can be a good time to prune your trees if you want. I like to prune mine each year so that the fruit is always within reach. Otherwise, it ends up over the neighbor’s fence or is bruised from falling so far to the ground. Feijoas love a prune and it can actually improve fruiting. I cut back about 20-30% each year and I find that it grows back about that much so my trees stay relatively the same height by doing this.
Plus, by cutting back 20% of the tree, I get a whole lot of green material to chop and drop. In my food forest-style garden, I don’t remove anything so all prunings go directly back into the garden. I prune using hedge shears or loppers for larger branches and then run them through my small mulcher. You can also chop them into small pieces, then lay them around the trees. This will break down and act as a natural fertilizer.
Pollination
You may notice lots of small birds in your trees when they are flowering. Don’t worry as they are helping pollinate the flowers. They harvest the nectar and also eat the petals but generally allow the main flower to stay put and fruit. Bees and small birds are the main types of pollinators.
One tree will still perform amazingly as they are self-fertile but having multiple just increases your harvests. It can also extend your season. Meaning different varieties take longer or shorter to flower or ripen and you can get extended harvests.
One thing to note is that feijoas ripen quickly and in bulk. So they come in hard and fast.
Pests / Disease
Rats and possums will love your fruit, and also parrots and birds. You may want to net or bag fruits if you are worried. I definitely have rats and parrots but so far I haven’t needed to bag fruit as they are doing minimal damage to my large harvests. Fruit flies and guava moths are also a problem in other areas. Again, this would mean you need to bag the fruit or net the tree when the fruit is young before they get stung.
How/ When to HarvestFeijoa
Now comes the fun part – harvesting. How do we tell when the fruit is ripe if it remains green? Well, it falls off the tree. So each morning, you can go out and pick up all the fruit from the ground. It is important to pick all the fruit up because otherwise, you will attract pests like rats and possums, or fruit flies. Feijoas do continue to ripen off the tree so you want to eat them quite quickly or use and preserve them. I like the tartness of fresh feijoas, and they get sweeter and more perfumy as they ripen, which is why I never like feijoas from the stores, as I find them too overripe.
Most people will cut the fruit in half and scoop out the inside to eat but you can eat the whole fruit. Especially when they are quite ripe the skin is sour and the inside is sweet it has a nice balance.
Reproducing
Ripe feijoas may have small brown seeds inside. These can be planted in moist soil. Feijoas do not grow true to type from seed so they may produce fruit different from the one you saved the seeds from.
Ways to cook and use Feijoa
Feijoas are delicious when eaten fresh off the tree. You can eat the whole fruit or cut it in half and scoop out the insides. Once they fall from the tree, they may still be a little tart. Allow them to ripen for a few days, and they will become softer, sweeter, and juicier. However, they will continue to ripen and become over-ripe. Fruit flies may also find them on the bench, so I like to keep them in the fridge.
Feijoa flowers are beautiful, and the petals are edible. I saved a bunch to add to teas. Just carefully remove the soft white and pink petals without removing the whole flower.
Feijoa pairs well with: Ginger,Coconut, Apple, Cinnamon, Chilli, Citrus, Pear, Nuts, Dark chocolate, Yogurt
Feijoa ideas:
Juices
Smoothies
Cakes
Jam
Crumble
Muffins
Icecream
Preserving your Feijoa Harvest
Feijoa trees, once mature, will produce bucketloads of fruit! They can be frozen to use in smoothies and juices or baking, or preserved in jams, chutney, alcohol infusions, and bottled.
Explore how to grow Bottle Gourd in your garden and how to preserve the harvest! Bottle Gourds are an abundant climbing plant that produces a range of different-sized and shaped fruits depending on the variety. Not only do they produce a huge amount of food, but they can also be dried to use as bowls, cups, bottles, and other vessels or containers.
So far this season, each vine has produced over 30kg of food with the potential for much more! Once you know how to grow and use bottle gourd, it may just become one of the most-used vegetables in your garden.
Help train the vines up structures. Prune older leaves to improve airflow. Hand pollinate when possible.
FERTILISE
Feed with compost teas and keep well mulched.
PESTS
Rats, aphids, snails.
HARVEST
Harvest when large and still green for eating or leave to dry out for bottles.
REPRODUCE
Grows easily from seed.
Why Grow Bottle Gourd?
Here are some of the many reasons to grow Bottle Gourds
Easy to grow
One plant provides an abundance!
Climbing vine – vertical gardening
Cover or create shade for the garden
Versatile crop
Make bowls or vessels
Base crop to make many dishes
Grows well in containers
Popular Bottle Gourd Varieties
Gourds come in many different shapes.
New Guinea Bean – Lagenaria siceraria – Italian heiloom. Popular in India where it grows easily. Large pale green tube-like gourds that can grow over 1m if left. Harvest at 40cm for eating. creamy white flesh simular to Zucchini.
Birdhouse Gourd – Lagenaria siceraria – Round bowl-shaped gourds with a narrow neck that can be used green as a zucchini substitute or left to dry and make into bowls and hanging bird feeders.
Round Bottle Gourd –Lagenaria siceraria – Large round bottle gourds that are perfect for making bowls. Can be eaten when young and green.
Mini bottle Gourd –Lagenaria siceraria – Popular for crafts. Round on the bottom then a skinny center with another bowl at the top similar to an hourglass shape.
Cucuzza Squash – Lagenaria siceraria– Slim elongated pale yellow-green gourd. Can be used as a Zucchini substitute.
Speckled Swan or Gooseneck Gourd –Lagenaria siceraria – Dark green with light speckles. Bowl-shaped base with a curved neck to look like a swan. Very decorative gourds.
When to Plant Bottle Gourd?
Gourds love warm weather! Plant your seedlings out into the garden after your last frost when the weather is starting to warm up. Seeds can be started indoors until it is warm enough to go into the garden.
Top Tips on How to Grow Bottle Gourd
Choose a sunny spot with 6-8 hours of sunlight or dappled part shade.
Plant seeds directly in the garden or in seed trays first.
Ensure you have a decent-sized trellis or arbor for them to grow up. Bottle gourds are vigorous growers similar to a pumpkin. It is best to train them up off the ground. Pergola-type structures or tunnels work best so that the bottle gourds can hang down.
Keep new plants well watered, especially during summer
Prune older leaves off that are starting to go brown or damaged to allow more airflow. Bottle gourds, like pumpkins, can get powdery mildew in wet or humid weather.
Hand pollinate to ensure successful harvests. I have found that even with bees about hand-pollinating is often necessary. Remove the petals from the male flower (which has no baby fruit on it) and dust the female flowers with pollen (they have baby fruit at the base of the flower)
How to Care and Maintain Bottle Gourd
Bottle Gourd plants will grow quickly in late summer and may need help to be trained or directed in the right direction to remain on the trellis. Hand-pollinate for added success. Remove powdery mildew leaves.
Pests / Disease
Rats may eat the fruit. Slugs and snails can be an issue when the plants are still small.
How/ When to HarvestBottle Gourd?
Bottle gourds can be harvested at many stages. While the skin is still soft and can be easily scratched, they are best for eating.
To get a continuous crop harvest regularly, so the plant has more energy to keep producing. Near the end of summer, when the plant slows dow,n you can leave the gourds on the vine to dry and go brown for crafts and vessels.
ReproducingBottle Gourd
Bottle Gourds grow easily from seed.
Allow the gourd to mature on the plant (until it stops getting bigger and starts to get harder skin or go brown and dry). Cut the gourd open and scoop out the seeds. Separate from the flesh and allow to dry completely on a plate. Pop in a container or brown paper bag, label and date, then store in a coo,l dark location until next spring.
Ways to Cook and Use Bottle Gourd
Bottle Gourd can be used fresh, dried, or frozen. Bottle gourd is used in a similar way to Zucchini. Peel the outer skin off using a vegetable peeler. If the gourd has started to go hard on the outside, you may need to use a knife to slice the outer skin. Remove the center pith and seeds.
Bottle gourd has very little flavour and makes a great vegetable to use as a filler or to carry flavours via dressings and marinades. Bottle gourd is a great way to thicken up smoothies.
Bottle Gourd can be frozen to use in soups, curries, or smoothies. Dehydrated strips using a vegetable peeler or zoodle maker can be dried and used as an alternative to pasta.
Learn how to grow Guava and what to make with their abundant crops in this guide. Guavas are beautiful ornamental trees that produce delicious, tropical-tasting fruit. There are many different varieties that all have their own unique flavour. Guava trees are prolific producers and can be a great addition to your homestead. Guava trees can also be grown in pots very successfully.
Sow seeds in spring- autumn. Plant trees in Spring or Autumn.
SOIL
Free-draining compost.
LOCATION
Full sun – part shade.
CARE
Prune to maintain size after fruiting has finished in Autumn.
FERTILISE
Feed with compost teas and keep well mulched.
PESTS
Rats, birds, fruit flies, bats.
HARVEST
Harvest regularly. Fruit will drop from the plant when ripeor come off easily in your hand.
REPRODUCE
Grows easily from seed. Seeds can be saved from ripe fruit. Cuttings can be taken.
Why Grow Guava?
Here are some of the many reasons to growGuava
Easy to grow
One plant provides an abundance
Lush evergreen leaves
Cover or screening
Shade protection
Immune booster
High Vitamin A and C
High antioxidants
Folate
Popular Guava Varietiesto Grow
Guavas come in many different types a few key types, depending on your location, are:
Strawberry / Cherry Guava – Psidium cattleianum – Popular small red guava – prolific. Taste is sweet with hints of strawberry and a little tart and bitter. Dense coverage of small shiny evergreen leaves.
Lemon Guava – Psidium cattleianum – Small yellow guava similar to the strawberry but with sweet slight lemon flavours. Dense coverage of small shiny evergreen leaves.
Hawaiian Guava –Psidium guajava – Large tropical-tasting fruit with bright pink centre and yellowish outside when ripe. Large matte leaves that can be used for tea.
Ruby Supreme –Psidium guajava – Popular selection of hawaiina guava. Large tropical-tasting fruit with bright pink centre and yellowish outside when ripe. Large matte leaves that can be used for tea.
Indian Guava – Psidium guajava– Large crunchy guava with green skin and white flesh. Large matte leaves that can be used for tea.
Mexican cream –Psidium guajava – Medium yellow guava with light creamy flesh. Large matte leaves.
Purple Malaysian Guava –Psidium guajava – Deep crimson red-purple leaves. Pink flowers and the fruit have striking purple flesh.
When to PlantGuava?
It is best to plant new Guava plants is in Spring to Autumn so they have time to get established before winter. Avoid planting during the peak of summer as this can stress new plants out.
Top Tips onHow to GrowGuava?
Choose a sunny spot with 6-8 hours of sunlight or dappled part shade.
Dig a hole twice the size of the current pot. Prepare the soil with free-draining compost.
Small trees may need a sturdy stake to support them.
Keep new plants well watered, especially during summer
Keep the base weed-free and well-mulched. Pull mulch away from the trunk to avoid rotting.
Prune in Autumn after they fruit to maintain size.
Plants will grow quickly and can be pruned in late Autumn after fruiting has finished. Young trees may produce more fruit than they can hold if branches look under stress you may need to thin fruits off before branches snap. Fruits are susceptible to fruit fly. Net the tree or individual fruits after the flowers have finished and turned into small fruit. Strawberry guavas ripen quickly, and regular harvesting can reduce fruit fly.
Some trees will get damaged by frost and lose their leaves. Plant in warm protected areas of your garden.
Pests / Disease
Rats and birds love the sweet fruit. Exclusion nets or bags may help or harvest regularly. Fruit fly and guava moth are a common problem. Ensure you net your fruit trees just as the fruit is setting to avoid worms in your fruit 😬
How and When to Harvest Guava
Guavas will ripen around late summer – autumn. Each variety will vary, and strawberry guava will often put on multiple crops.
Guavas will change colour and come off easily in your hand when ready.
Guavas can be eaten when they are still crunchy, or allow them to soften for a more creamy texture.
Reproducing Guava plants
Guava can be grown from both cuttings and seeds. Easy to grow from seeds but may be slightly different to the original plant. I have had plenty of success with seed-grown plants, though.
Save seeds from mature well ripe fruit. Rinse off the flesh and soak in a jar of water for 24 hours. Plant seeds in quality compost and potting mix and keep warm and well-watered until they sprout.
Take 15cm cuttings from semi-hardwood. Remove the bottom half of the leaves and the top shoot. Place in moist soil to root. Keep in the shade to prevent cutting and drying out.
Tips for Cooking and Using Guava
Guava can be used fresh or frozen.
Guava pairs well with: Citrus, Strawberry, Lime, Watermelon, Papaya, Peach, Pineapple, Mango, Melon, Coconut, Kiwifruit, Pear, Chilli, Mint, Ginger, Apple
Guava can be frozen to use in larger batches as you wait for more to ripen. Make jams, jelly, chutney, or preserves in syrup. This Apple and Guava fruit leather is a must-try!
Passionfruit are a prolific edible climber that produces delicious tasting fruit. Semi-deciduous and have a thick layer of lush green leaves over the warmer months. Passionfruit have a sweet and sometimes tart tropical flavour depending on their ripeness.
Like many edible plants, they come in a huge range of varieties! They are hardy and easy to grow in even hot dry climates. There are a few important things to know before choosing a variety that will be best for your garden. Read more below.
Full-part sun. Protect from harsh midday sun in summer.
CARE
Regular water and feeding. Training new shoots.
FERTILISE
Heavy feeders. Compost teas or added compost.
PESTS
Snails, slaters, rats, mice.
HARVEST
Harvest regularly. Fruit will drop from the plant when ripe.
REPRODUCE
Allow to go overripe and save seeds.
Why Grow Passionfruit?
Here are some of the many reasons to growPassionfruit
Easy to grow
One plant provides an abundance
Lush evergreen leaves
Cover or screening
Shade protection
Immune booster
High Vitamin A and C
High antioxidants
Attracts Butterflies to flowers
Important Information
Many Passionfruit are sold grafted which means they are two types of passionfruit merged together. The rootstock often used in Australia is extremely invasive and can cause issues for many years to come. I recommend avoiding grafted passionfruit at all costs. Check carefully before purchasing. Not all passionfruit flowers and leaves are edible – the blue passionfruit flowers from the rootstock are not edible. Check you do not have a rootstock variety that has taken over!
WATCH below for more info on grafted passionfruit.
Popular Passionfruit Varieties
Passionfruit come in many different types a few key types are:
Note: some types of Banana Passionfruit are classified as an invasive weed in some countries including New Zealand.
Sunshine Special – Passiflora edulis – Popular purple passionfruit for Perth Gardens. Heavy fruiter and no invasive suckers.
Panama Gold – Passiflora flavicarpa – Popular tropical passionfruit with yellow skins. Allow to fully ripen and drop before harvesting. Fast-growing and more frost/cold tolerant than many.
Black Nugget –Passiflora edulis – Popular purple-black fruit. Harvest late summer to winter.
Panama – Passiflora edulis – Large red/burgundy fruit with sweet gold flesh.
Banana Passionfruit – Passiflora mollissima – Long yellow fruit with sweet pulp. frost hardy. Light pink flowers. Can be invasive.
When to Plant
It is best to plant new Passionfruit plants in Spring so they have time to get established before winter.
How to Grow
Choose a sunny spot with 6-8 hours of sunlight
Prepare the soil with free-draining compost
Keep well watered, especially during summer
Fertilise in Spring and benefits from high Potassium
Prune in Autumn after fruit – Passionfruit fruit more on new growth.
Fertilize with compost or all round fertilizer after pruning
Care/ Maintenance
Keep plants well watered. Train and direct new shoots regularly to keep under control. If you are growing a grafted variety, check and remove any suckers or side shoots from below the graft – weekly.
Passionfruit do not like soggy or wet ground – if you receive a lot of rain it is best to grow passionfruit on mounds to allow water to run off and prevent root rot.
Pests / Disease
Check for slugs, slatters and snails when the plants are young. Barriers may need to be put around the main stem. Ripe fruit are popular with Rats and Possums. Harvest regularly and you may need to net some fruit to ensure you get a harvest.
How/ When to Harvest
Passionfruit will usually start fruiting by the start of their 1st year – may be longer in cold climates.
Passionfruit drop from the vine when they are fully ripe. They can be picked earlier if you like fruit with a little more tart flavour. Choose deep-coloured fruit.
Passionfruit varieties will fruit at different times of the year but many are ripe during late Summer – Winter.
Reproducing
Passionfruit can be grown from both cuttings and seeds.
Save seeds from mature well ripe fruit. Rinse off the flesh and soak in a jar of water for 24 hours. Plant seeds in quality compost nd potting mix and keep warm and well watered until they sprout. Transplant to a larget pot once they have 4-5 leaves.
Take 20cm cuttings from semi-hardwood. Remove the bottom half of the leaves and place in a jar of water or moist soil to root.
Chillies (Capsicum annuumor variationsof species) are a popular staple for a kitchen garden because they produce an abundance of fruit on a single plant.
There are over 400 different species of chilli that vary in heat/spice 🌶 Chillies are part of the Solanaceae family along with Tomatoes, Capsicum, Eggplant and Potato.
Chillies thrive in warm weather and are mainly grown over summer. The great thing about Chillies is that you can grow more than enough in a pot or container. Great for renters or those with limited space.
Chillies are measured in heat using the chilli Scoville rating. The hottest part of the Chilli is often in the seeds. Removing the seeds can reduce some of the heat. Chilli also often get hotter and sweeter as they mature and ripen.
Sow seeds indoors at the end of winter or early spring. Or plant seedlings after last frost.
SOIL
Will grow in most soil typesbut benefits from added compost.
LOCATION
Full-part sun. Protect from harsh midday sun in summer.
CARE
Regular water.
FERTILISE
Easy to grow and doesn’t need much help.Compost teas or added compost.
PESTS
Snails, slaters, spider mites and aphids.
HARVEST
Harvest regularlyto encourage more production.
REPRODUCE
Allow to go over-ripe and save seeds.
Why Grow Chilli?
There are many reasons to grow Chillies and they are so easy to preserve!
Here are some of the many reasons to grow Chillies
Easy to grow
One plant provides an abundance
Grows well in containers
Low maintenance
Flavour enhancing
Easy to preserve
Immune booster
High Vitamin A and C
Popular Chilli Varieties
Long Cayenne –Capsicum annuum – Long chilli that turns from green to vibrant red. Mild heat and seeds can be removed to be even milder. Popular all round Chilli. Produces around 1kg per plant.
Jalapeno – Capsicum annuum – Popular Mexican chilli that is best suited to pickling and cooking (stuffed jalapenos!). Prolific producer. Pick green or red.
Padron –Capsicum annuum ‘Pimientos de Padron’ – Popular Spanish chilli. Great for stir-fries. Mostly mild but some will randomly be HOT! Heat increases as they get Redder.
Hungarian Hot Wax – Capsicum annuum – Yellow – orange colour and a popular mild chilli. Can get hot the more mature they get. Great fresh, as garnishes, pickled or stir-fried.
Birds Eye Thai – Capsicum annuum – Small hot chilli popular in Thailand. Prolific producing and although small you don’t need much! Upright standing chilli. Colder tolerant than other varieties.
Carolina Reaper – Capsicum chinense – Named the hottest chilli in the world 😳 Be very careful handling these (gloves and eyewear). Needs a heat mat to promote seeds to germinate.
When to Plant
Chillies thrive in warm temperatures and don’t like the cold. Plant your Chillies from seed in late winter – early spring inside or in a greenhouse. Plant seedlings out in Spring after your last frost. In tropical Australian locations plant in Autumn.
How to Grow
Choose a sunny spot with dappled or part shade in the heat of summer.
Prepare the soil with free-draining compost
Plant one seedling per pot or in the garden bed at least 50cm apart
1 plant is plenty or try different varieties
Can benefit from protection during the heat of summer.
Plants will tend to die off in winter and are often grown as an annual. You can overwinter your plants to get a few extra years out of them – Click here
Care/ Maintenance
Chilli plants are pretty low maintenance. Ensure they don’t dry out during hot weather. Plants can be pruned and “over-wintered” to get a second season out of them.
Pests / Disease
Chilli are pretty hardy and will thrive with minimal effort. Birds and rats will still eat your bright colourful chillies and are not put off by their heat! If this happens you might need to construct a cage or net around them. Care for young seedlings using natural pest management.
How/ When to Harvest
Once the plant is well-established it will start producing flowers and that turn to chilli. Some plants produce upright chillies and others hang down.
Most chilli will start off green and ripen to other colours. You can harvest chilli in all colours. The more mature reds and purples will be sweeter and have different flavour profiles.
Harvest the chilli often to promote new fruit.
Harvest in the morning or evening when the plants are hydrated and fresh.
Harvest before heavy rains. Chillies can split open with excess water and spoil.
Reproducing
Chillies can be grown from cuttings but it is easiest to save seeds and re-grow each year. Allow a few chillies to go over-ripe and start to shrivel on the plant before harvesting. Be careful handling chillies and wash hands thoroughly after or use gloves. Scrape out the seeds and allow them to fully dry on a plate for a week before storing them.
Cooking and Using
Chillies can be used fresh, dried or frozen. They defrost quickly and can be used just as you would fresh ones.
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) is a perennial herb with fragrant lemon-scented leaves. Lemon balm is part of the Mint family and is known for having weed-like growth and self-seeds easily. With hundreds of small white flowers, the lemon balm is a powerful bee attractant. It has toothed edges and slightly hairy leaves with a lemony scent.
Lemon balm-like many herbs, has been traditionally used to aid in an array of health conditions. With calming and relaxing properties as well as anti-viral and anti-bacterial qualities, lemon balm is a great addition to a kitchen garden.
Springafter the last frost.Can be grown all year round in many climates.
SOIL
Fertile, moist, well-drained soil. Will grow in most soil types.
LOCATION
Full sun – Dappled or shaded position.
CARE
Regular watering – is a thirsty plant.
FERTILISE
Easy to grow and doesn’t need much help.
PESTS
Snails, slaters, and aphids.
HARVEST
Harvest regularly to keep contained.
REPRODUCE
Grows easily from cuttingsor save seeds after flowering.
Why Grow Lemon Balm?
There are many reasons to grow Lemon Balm and it is so easy to grow!
Here are some of the many reasons to grow Lemon Balm
Easy to grow
Fragrant lemon scent and flavour
Grows well in containers
Low maintenance
Pollinator plant
Relaxant
Antiviral
Aids in Cold sores
Great for teas
Salad dressings
Cut and come again harvest
Pest resistant
Reduce stress and anxiety
When to Plant Lemon Balm
Lemon balm grows well most of the year. New plants should be planted after the last frost. If planting in summer, keep well watered.
How to Grow Lemon Balm
Choose a sunny spot with dappled or part shade in the heat of summer.
Prepare the soil with rich compost
Direct sow seeds or plant in seed trays first.
1 plant is plenty.
Can benefit from protection during the heat of summer.
Care/ Maintenance
Lemon balm, like Mint is a thirsty plant. Keep well watered and have a drip tray for pots. Cut back the plant after it has finished flowering to promote new growth.
Once the plant is well-established, harvest sprigs as needed.
Use clean, sharp kitchen scissors to cut your harvest, or just pick with your hands to prevent the spreading of diseases.
Cut and come again crop that will regrow quickly. I often harvest and use in cold drinks or teas every other day.
Reproducing
Take cuttings and allow to root in a jar of water. Refresh the water every few days. Seeds can also be saved and will flower with white flowers on the stem. Once the seeds form and turn brown, collect them and dry them further. Keep in a dark, cool and dry environment.
Cooking and Using Lemon Balm
Lemon balm is best used fresh. Dried leaves lose their scent and flavour.
