My nasturtiums are abundant again for the Autumn/ Winter season and are popping up everywhere! They make a beautiful lush ground cover and are so easy to grow! Once you have them in your garden they will pop up every year without any effort on your behalf. They have so many uses and integrated relationships within your garden which makes them one of my favourite permaculture plants. Their lily pad-like leaves also give all the magical fairy vibes.
Growing Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums seem to thrive well in most soil types and you will often see them spilling out onto the street from gardens or popping up in the wild. They have quite a weed-like growth because they are so easy to grow and self-seed. They come in a few different varieties and range in colours from yellow, red, orange, peach, white, and a beautiful scarlet red that I have my eye on.
They can also make a companion plant as they keep the soil protected and create a great space for beneficial insects to live. They are a great addition to any garden and one of my top permaculture plants due to the number of beneficial uses and positive relationships with other plants and animals.
Medicinal
Nasturtiums have many medicinal and healing qualities. They are rich in vitamin C, boost your immune system, as well as a natural aid to antibacterial and fungal infections. Plus most of the plant is edible which I love! Please note it is best to try things in moderation and I am by no means a medical professional. I did read that you should possibly avoid Nasturtium if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or have kidney disease.
Chickens
Growing Nasturtiums can also attract snails, aphids, and other bugs which keeps them away from your sensitive crops and then you can just harvest patches of affected plants and feed them to your chickens. The chickens will love the snails/bugs and the Nasturtium itself is a great natural medicine for the chickens. Nasturtium can improve reproductive health and immunity and help as a natural antibiotic.
Ways to Eat Nasturtiums
There are so many ways to use this plant and I have only tried a few so far. It is so important to learn how to use your edible plants so that you can get the most out of them! Here is a list of ways along with links to any recipes I have on my blog.
Are you growing Nasturtiums? Do you use Nasturtium in any other ways? I would love to know, please leave a comment below.
Holly🌱
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MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
This easy Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce is a fantastic way to use up a bunch of homegrown chillies. Growing Chillies is a great place to start for Beginner Gardeners or those with limited space, as they are easy to grow and can produce an abundance of chilli on one plant. Chilli plants like warm weather, but they can be grown throughout winter in a greenhouse or warm spot. I will cut back my chilli plants soon, place them in a warm area and let them go semi-dormant for the winter, which is called “overwintering”. That way come spring and summer, the plants are well established and will provide me with a decent crop.
This recipe can be adjusted to be as mild or hot as you like. You can use different chilli varieties, but obviously, the hotter the variety, the more your sweet chilli sauce will pack a punch! If you are concerned, I would remove and save the seeds from 3/4 of the chilli, and once it has cooked down a bit, taste and add more of the seeds to get the desired heat. I just went all-in with the seeds and used a hot Thai Chilli variety, so mine turned out quite hot, but I like that.
Easy Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce
Yield: 500g
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Additional Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour15 minutes
This easy Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce is a fantastic way to use up a bunch of homegrown chillies. Growing Chillies is a great place to start for Beginner Gardeners or those with limited space as they are easy to grow and can produce an abundance of chilli on one plant.
This recipe can be adjusted to be as mild or hot as you like. You can use different chilli varieties but obviously, the hotter the variety the more your sweet chilli sauce will pack a punch! If you are concerned I would remove and save the seeds from 3/4 of the chilli and once it has cooked down a bit, taste and add more of the seeds to get the desired heat. I just went all-in with the seeds and used a hot Thai Chilli variety so mine turned out quite hot but I like that.
Ingredients
250 - 350g Chilli
8 Cloves Garlic
5 cm piece of Ginger
2 cups Sugar
2 cups White Vinegar
3 teaspoons Salt
Instructions
Wash chilli and cut off the green stems.
Roughly chop the Chilli, Garlic and Ginger and add to a mixing bowl or food processer.
Blitz the mixture into a rough paste using either a food processor or stick mixer. If using a stick mixer make sure you cover the bowl with a cloth to stop bits of chilli flying everywhere!
Add the blitzed chilli mixture to a pot and add Sugar, Vinegar and Salt.
Bring to the boil and then let it simmer on a low - medium heat until the mixture thickens (45min - 1hr).
The mixture will continue to thicken as it cools. Add a dash of water or extra vinegar if need be.
Heat oven to 130 degrees celsius and add your clean jars or bottles to sterilize for 15mins. Put the lids in a bowl of boiling water for 5 minutes.
Carefully pour the warm sauce mixture into your jars while they are still warm and secure the lids on.
Store in the fridge and use within 3-4 weeks*
* For long term storage place in smaller containers or jars and freeze or use canning methods for long term preservation.
Notes
If you want a mild sweet chilli sauce, remove 3/4 of the chilli seeds and set aside. Once the mixture has started to reduce, taste and add extra seeds as desired.
Serve with Sweet Potato Fries, as a Stirfry sauce, burger sauce or even add to noodles and vegetables for a deliciously tasty meal packed full of flavour.
If you have chilli plants that ripen at different times or a smaller amount to harvest, try freezing them whole until you have enough saved up to make the recipe. Other ways to preserve your chillies are to dry them out and keep them whole or try blitzing the dried chillies to make a chilli powder or flakes.
I hope you enjoy this easy homemade sweet chilli sauce!
Watch My Chilli Harvest and How to Make Sweet Chilli Sauce
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Hi everyone! Welcome to my FIRST ever Urban Permaculture Garden tour! See what I have growing in my edible garden this Autumn (May 2020). My garden is constantly changing so I’m excited to finally document the growth! It’s amazing to look back at old photos and see how much has changed since we moved in. I am currently growing food in containers, pallet planters, makeshift garden beds in the driveway and slowly turning my grass into edible gardens. It is all a work in progress and I am constantly expanding my gardens and my knowledge to create my urban homestead. When we first purchased our property it had one tiny lemon tree and a few ornamental grasses along the back fence.
I now have over 15 fruit trees and many other edibles all throughout the garden. I have noticed so many insects and birds starting to frequent my yard and that makes me so happy! Diversity in plants and animals makes for a happy ecosystem.
You do not need to have the “perfect” place to grow food it is important to get to know your surroundings and just start by growing a few things. It’s all part of the journey and you will continue to learn and develop along with your garden. I hope you enjoy this video and get inspired to grow more of your own food.
Comment below if you have any questions about my Urban Permaculture Garden or anything I have growing in this video.
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
Garden toast is something I created one day when I was scraping together something for lunch and all I had was a crust and some cottage cheese in the fridge. I didn’t have any avocado, eggs or anything special to have with it. So I went out into the garden and found some inspiration! I picked two small tomatoes, herbs and edible flowers. It looked like a mini garden on toast and now I can’t stop making these beautiful, tasty creations!
Here are the creations I have made so far..
Original Garden Toast
My first addition with the last piece of bread I had left! I had fun making this and it definitely tasted delicious! Ingredients: Rye Multigrain toast, Cottage Cheese, Fresh tomato, Parsley, Rosemary, Rosemary flowers, Zinnia Petals and Basil leaves.
Fairy Garden Toast
It’s amazing what a little bit of Beetroot juice can do! Natural colouring and plenty of beneficial nutrients with an array of micro herbs and greens. You may even be able to convince your kids to eat more greens with this Fairy Garden toast. Get them involved in the process by having a bowl each to go outside and collect herbs. Ingredients: White Multigrain Toast, Cottage Cheese mixed with beetroot juice or fresh grated Beetroot, Baby Nasturtium leaves, Parsley leaves, Basil leaves, Sweet Violet flowers, Rosemary Flowers, Baby Pink chard leaves, Pink Zinnia Flower petals and Dill Flowers.
Jungle Garden Toast
Packed full of herbs and flavour! Ingredients: Country Grain Toast, Basil Pesto, Orange Nasturtium petals, Tiger Eye Viola Petals, Strawberry Flowers, Parsley leaves, Rosemary Flowers, Pea tendrils, Burgundy Marigold Petals and Purple basil leaves.
Summer Garden Toast
Summer on toast! Homegrown tomatoes are so sweet and delicious and tomato on toast is one of my favourite ways to eat them! Ingredients: Rye Multigrain toast, Red, yellow, orange cherry tomatoes, Purslane, Red basil leaves, Strawberry Flower, Sweet Violet Flower, Dill flowers, Rosemary Flowers, chopped Purple Kale, baby Nasturtium leaves and Fresh Chilli.
Botanical Garden Toast
Pest on toast is so delicious! I made extra pesto and if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen that I ate this for breakfast for an entire week! It was also so good with a poached egg on top. Ingredients: Sourdough toast, Basil pesto, Cottage Cheese, Chopped walnuts, Fresh Chilli, Basil Leaves, Fennel Flowers, Pink and White Dianthus, Baby Pumpkin Tendrils, Parsley Leaves and Strawberry Flowers.
Unicorn Garden Toast
My latest creation and maybe my favourite yet! Purple sweet potato spread is a vibe! Ingredients: Sourdough Toast, Mashed Purple Sweet Potato and Cottage Cheese, Overnight Pickled Red Cabbage and Red Onion (1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, a teaspoon of sugar heated to dissolve. Pour cooled liquid over Cabbage and Onion), Purple Kale, Grilled Baby Eggplant, Purple Pansy, Multicoloured Dianthus, Rosemary Flowers and Red Basil.
Get Inspired by your Garden
There is always something in my garden to make a toast topping and I love how easy and creative it is! Each piece is so unique and full of fresh garden nutrients! Having these ideas tried and tested means I know I can always whip up something even when my fridge is looking very lean.
Get creative and inspired by your own garden. There is something so satisfying about being able to walk outside and make a meal from your own fresh, homegrown veggies. This is a great meal idea for beginner gardeners who don’t have many established edibles. Just look out for baby leaves and edible flowers (make sure you research and clearly identify they are edible). Baby leaves and flowers can add subtle flavours and turn any dish into a work of art!
Be sure to tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can see your creations!
Holly 🌱
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
Unicorn noodles are so easy to make and completely magical to watch the colours change from purple to pink. My kind of Chemistry Lesson! They are made using all-natural colouring and would be perfect for kids in the kitchen. With the current restrictions in place, there may be many parents looking for more creative and healthy ways to entertain their kids. Make sure to share this recipe with your friends. I have posted these a few times over on my Instagram but thought I would put the recipe up here for easy reference.
Roughly chop the red cabbage. Use the outer leaves with a deeper colour.
Add water and cabbage to a pot and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for 5-10 mins bruising the cabbage with a wooden spoon.
Remove the cabbage and discard (compost).
Add the noodles to the purple water and turn over until they spread out in the pot and are fully submerged in liquid.
Turn the heat off and cover the pot for 10-15 minutes until the noodles have absorbed all the liquid.
Stir the noodles and strain off the excess liquid if there is any.
Place your noodles in a bowl and before serving roughly squeeze the lemon over the purple noodles and the acidity will change the colour to pink.
Notes
The more cabbage leaves you use the deeper the colour will be. The key is to get the noodles to absorb all the liquid so don’t add too much water at the start.Try using the noodles to make rice paper rolls or serve as a side dish to a Thai Curry.
SURE TO IMPRESS
These Unicorn Noodles are a great way to get kids interested in cooking! Let their imagination run wild and give them their own slice of lemon to colour change the noodles. Not only for kids these Unicorn Noodles are also a great way to add theatre to the dinner table if you are hosting family or friends. I love creating meals that stand out from the rest and get people talking. We eat with our eyes and colourful food always sparks so much more joy at the table.
You can also use the absorption method to cook white long-grain rice in the purple liquid as well. Check out my other recipes for Unicorn Rice below.
I would love to see your Unicorn noodle creations so be sure to tag me on Facebook or Instagram and let me know how you go!
Unicorn noodles are so easy to make and completely magical to watch the colours change from purple to pink. My kind of Chemistry Lesson! They are made using all-natural colouring…
Unicorn Rice Salad is the perfect dish for entertaining! It’s such a fun dish and so easy to prepare! I’m not one for strict recipes so this one is super…
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MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
Focaccia bread is so easy to make and I use a basic bread recipe that I also use for pizza bases. With heaps of basil still in my garden, I thought I would make some delicious herb focaccia. You can use any herbs and greens you have in your garden for this Focaccia Bread recipe and get creative with the topping design!
Bread Ingredients – makes 2 focaccia
1 tsp Sugar
2 1/4 tsp Active Dried Yeast
4 cups Flour
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 tsp salt
1 TBS olive Oil
Topping ingredients
2 cups of herbs ( I used 70% basil, chives, sage, dill, nasturtium leaves)
4 Chillis
4 Cloves Garlic
1/2 tsp rock salt
2-3 TBS Olive Oil
1 small Red Onion
1 small Red Bunching Onion or spring onion
Baby Rainbow Chard
Dill flowers
Rosemary
Method
To make the bread combine water, sugar and yeast in a jug or bowl. Whisk to mix and set aside for 10mins.
In a large bowl mix flour, salt and Olive oil and then add yeast mix. Stir and form a dough. Add extra flour or water if needed.
Cover and leave somewhere warm for 1-2 hours to rise.
Whilst waiting for the dough start making your herb mix. Finely chop garlic, herbs and chilli (remove seeds if you don’t like too much heat and place in a pestle and mortar. Add rock salt and 1 TBSP Olive oil. Grind to a paste. If you don’t have a pestle and mortar just chop finely and crush in a bowl using the end of a rolling pin or similar.
Add the remaining 2 TBS of oil and stir to combine.
Finely slice rings of red onion. I use the thin fitting on my mandoline. Place in a bowl and add your baby greens, then drizzle with oil.
Cut your spring onion or bunching onion down the middle lengthways.
Once the dough has doubled in size, place on a floured bench and split in half. Roll each half out to form your focaccia. Place on a greased oven tray.
Using the end of a chopstick or teaspoon handle, make small indents into the dough so that the flavour can get right in. Brush on your oily herb mix and then place on your extra toppings as desired. Red onion, spring onion, rosemary, extra herbs or chilli, baby greens.
Add an extra drizzle of olive oil and cover with a tea towel. Let them rise again somewhere warm for about 10mins.
Heat oven to 170degrees celsius and cook for 25mins or until slightly golden.
Top with fresh herbs and serve. Delicious by themselves but amazing with chutney. I had extra herb oil left so I added more herbs/ chilli and made a green curry to eat with my bread and it was so good together!!
Other topping suggestions: Feta, olives, cheese, sundried tomatoes, caramelised onion… the options are endless for Focaccia Bread toppings!
Get creative and make your Focaccia bread your own piece of art. Be sure to tag me so I can see your amazing creations!
Holly 🌱
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
