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!
There is no better time to start growing your own food than NOW. Creating your own food security and using your time to help create a greener world is win-win. I have always had the dream of growing my own food and living a more sustainable lifestyle and it is something that I have been continually building and working towards for years. I don’t want to be 100% self-sufficient because there are just some things I either won’t be able to grow or choose not to grow. But there are plenty of ways to supplement my homegrown food supply such as trading, swapping, and local farmers markets. I have put together (in no particular order) 18 simple ways you can start living a more self-sufficient lifestyle today.
1. Start a Herb Garden
No matter whether you have a big garden or live in a tiny apartment, growing herbs can be easy and takes up very little space. Grow in small pots, recycled containers, hanging planter,s or windowsill planters. If you like to use herbs it is a great first step towards self-sufficiency. And no, that does not mean buying those packed herb pots from the supermarket…. they are often grown hydroponically and then placed in the soil so they rarely survive long and don’t handle being planted out into real life. Get a packet of seeds and try growing your own 🙂
2. Start a Vegetable Patch
The best way to learn how to grow vegetables is to simply start trying! Start small with either a planter box or convert one small patch of your garden or even driveway into an edible vegetable patch. You can also start by simply integrating edibles into your established garden. Once you start growing some things you can start expanding bit by bit. Goodbye grass 🙂
3. Plant Fruit Trees
I love fruit trees because although they take a while to get going, once they do, they are abundant and don’t require as much care as vegetables. You can plant them in either a large pot or directly into the garden. I would recommend going to a local specialist fruit tree nursery so they can help you choose the best fruit tree for your location. Also, make sure you get something with fruit you actually enjoy! With the abundant produce you can then preserve, swap, and trade with others!
4. Grow Base Crops
I couldn’t think what else to call them but growing crops that will feed you for longer and create a good base to fill your pantry. Crops such as Pumpkins, Potatoes, Onions, Garlic, and Sweet potatoes will provide decent amounts of food that you can store and use throughout the year! A great base vegetable to feed a family.
5. Grow Soil
Composting is not only great for the fertility of your soil and the secret to AMAZING vegetables but also stops waste from going to landfill. There are a whole bunch of ways to do this depending on your living situation. You can make your own compost bin out of recycled wood, find a second-hand tumbler online or purchase one. You can also simply dig a hole in the garden and bury it (be careful of attracting pests though). There are also some new ways for people with no land to connect with others that do and give them your compost scraps. Either community gardens, local Facebook groups or now in Australia there is even an app! Sharewaste
6. Save Seeds
This is just as important as growing food and will be a huge step towards your self-sufficient journey. Saving seeds helps you maintain food security knowing that you have more healthy seeds to grow next year. Save seeds from your healthiest plants that thrive in your garden. Keep them in a dry dark place.
7. Grow Community
Get your friends involved! Take them over a basket of homegrown food or preserves. Once they see your delicious fresh food they may also get inspired! Help them out with seeds, and cuttings and surround yourself with like-minded people. Community gardens can be a great place to learn, get involved, and even seed/ produce swap. It can be an amazing network of knowledge, especially in relation to your local climate and growing conditions. There are also some great social media forums and groups that are great for finding answers to your questions and local knowledge.
8. Shop Local
Explore your local farmer’s markets! Grab a friend and go have a browse! They are usually on a Saturday or Sunday morning and I look forward to it every week. Although I love my local farmers market (Kalamunda) every few months I like to check out other farmers markets to mix things up and find new and interesting produce. Bulk food stores have been making a come back and I am sold! Lucky for me there is a fantastic Bulk Store ( Replenish Kalamunda) right by my local farmer’s markets. So I head there straight after I have picked up some fresh veggies. They may seem daunting at first but there are always plenty of signs explaining how to do it. I also love how each product clearly states where they have come from as I try to only choose Australian products.
9. Learn to Cook from Scratch
This is a big one! Learning to cook a wide range of meals from scratch using simple ingredients is key! I mean we can all make a butter chicken right…you just get the sauce and pour it in… Ditch the sauces from the supermarket and learn to make your own. I am constantly experimenting and expanding my knowledge so I can make a wide selection of meals from the produce I grow. Try to buy vegetables that are in season and fruits and vegetables that you are planning to grow. That way you can practice and become a pro at recipes for YOUR future harvests!
10. Grow Food From Scraps
Ok, this is one of my favourites! It is so quick and easy and a lot of fun! Plus you are getting the most out of your food. Buy one get multiple free!! Cut off the ends of your farmers market vegetables such as Spring Onion, Leek, Pineapple, Sweet Potato and regrow!
11. Forage and Trade
Keep an eye out on your walks and day trips for wild or excess food. So often there are olive trees, fruit, nuts or wild apple trees going to waste. Do your research and learn how to identify plants. That way you will know what you are looking at. It is also important to be careful if things have been sprayed by the council. I would be always cautious of things such as blackberries. You may even notice a neighbours tree loaded with fruit that is going to waste on the ground. Politely ask if you can have some in exchange for some preserves or baking you make with it. They will probably be happy for it to be used!
12. Repair and Upcycle
Get the most out of your things by fixing or updating them! Even if you don’t know how you may be able to pay someone a fraction of the cost to fix it rather than buying brand new. We often are so quick to throw out and buy new, we don’t even stop to consider if it can be fixed or repurposed. My hair straighteners and been fixed multiple times by electrician friends over the past 12 years and are still working amazingly! Recovering cushions, and couches, DIY, get creative, and even find a local seamstress if you don’t have access to a sewing machine.
13. Shop Second Hand
I try my best to not buy new and it is something I am continuing to work on. Most items you want can be found on Facebook market place, Gumtree (Trademe, Craigslist, etc). You can usually pick up a bargain and keep things in the loop rather than consuming more new things. You can even post in your local community groups and borrow or buy. Especially with things like appliances as many people often have them sitting in the cupboard collecting dust…Pasta maker, I’m talking about you 🙂
14. Backyard Chickens
Chickens make an excellent addition to sustainable living. They provide eggs, eat leftover scraps, produce manure for fertilising your garden, and can they also be incorporated into an integrated pest management system to help you keep your slugs and snails at bay. Many councils will allow backyard chickens in suburbia. Although I do not have chickens …yet (Pictured above is mums ‘Chick Inn’) my council allows x6 backyard chickens on properties 600sqm -2000sqm.
15. Back to Basics
Bread/milk/butter/pizza dough. The age-old skill of baking your own bread is a fantastic skill to have! How amazing to just whip up a fresh loaf of bread or make your own pizza bread without the preservatives or plastic packaging. Milk is super easy and you can make delicious plastic, preservative-free milk whenever you want! Whether that’s oat, rice or almond milk.
16. Learn to Preserve Harvests
I am not really at a point yet where I have an abundance of produce to preserve but I have planted a lot of fruit trees…so I am starting to learn different ways to preserve things so that when I am flooded with produce (yay!) I will be able to make the most of it! Get some produce from the farmer’s markets and give it a go! Jams, chutneys, sauces, pickles, nasturtium capers and all those delicious things. They also make great gifts and can be used to swap for other produce with your friends and family and community.
17. Make your Own
Ditch the toxic chemicals and pesticides and start making your own natural cleaning and garden products. You can get a few ingredients from your local bulk stores such as white vinegar and bicarb soda and make a huge range of cleaning products. Check out my Citrus cleaner here. I also used crushed eggshells to keep slugs and snails at bay. Natural pest management
18. Learn, Read, Practice
I can’t stress how important this is! Knowledge is power. Join your local library and get a book on jam making or search YouTube for “how to prune a lemon tree”. Educating yourself and giving things a go will get you a long way on your journey to living a more self-sufficient lifestyle. Take things one a time and really try and master it before moving on. It can be overwhelming if you try to do it all at once and may lead to failure and giving up.
Small and slow solutions!
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!
When I first started gardening here I remember googling ” how to keep plants alive in a heatwave?” 😅 Welcome to Perth summer gardening! I have always struggled with how hot it gets here in Perth in summer. After 7 years here, the 40degree days don’t get any easier! We have a large amount of thermal mass at our house with concrete and paved areas so it can get so hot in my garden! One of the main reasons I decided to make pallet planters on wheels was to be able to grow more food during the hot summer months by being able to have them undercover on hot days. Watch how we made them here.
How to keep plants alive in a heatwave
If you are experiencing a heatwave or have days of hot weather ahead of you, here are a few tips I use to try and get my plants through!
🌱 WATER | Give a good deep water early in the morning. This will allow time for the moisture to reach the roots before it evaporates.
🌱 SHADE | If your plants are in containers move them undercover or to a shady area of your garden. Otherwise, try and rig up some temporary shade using shade cloth or even umbrellas to keep the direct sun off your plants during the hottest part of the day.
🌱 PROTECT THE SOIL | Ensure you have a good layer of mulch or ground cover over your entire garden. This will protect the soil from being exposed to direct sun and reduce the amount of water loss through evaporation.
🌱 BUILD SOIL | This is something that should be continually worked on by composting and adding more fibre and leaf matter to your soil. Sandy soils like we have here in Perth allow all the water to drain away and can become severely water-resistant. But by consistently mulching, composting and adding green matter, you will not only grow strong, healthy plants but also protect your plants from future dry spells. Healthy soil is key!
🌱 REPLENISH | As the sun goes down and the temperatures start to drop again, give your plants another well-earnt drink. This should help their leaves perk back up again.
🌱 SAVE SEEDS | If you notice a certain plant seems to survive better than others in hot weather, make sure you save the seeds at the end of the season. That way you can futureproof your garden by growing strong plants that you know will grow well in your exact climate.
My favourite watering tools are:
Retractable Hose with 7 spray nozzle and water flow adjuster: Control exactly how much flow you want to each plant with an easy retractable hose system. CLICK HERE for more info.
Deep root waterer and soil breaker: Helps get water directly to the roots without any runoff or loss of water from evaporation. CLICK HERE for more info.
Weeper hose works great for drip-feeding water and allowing the plants to absorb more. CLICK HERE for more info.
Happy Gardening!
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!
I much prefer offering natural and sustainable solutions rather than a pointless list of negative things not to do. But this topic is something I am very passionate about and something new gardeners often get caught up in (including myself when I first started growing food many years ago). You will find my list of natural pest management remedies below 🙂
When you first start growing food you will get slugs and snails eating your new precious veggies and will want to INSTANTLY fix the situation. I see some newbie gardeners pour on huge amounts of snail bait to combat the hungry predators. This is POISON, not only will it kill the slugs and snails but is also deadly to cats and dogs. Now, if it can kill dogs, having it covering the soil and getting watered in and absorbed into the soil that your vegetable will feed on, especially those root vegetables, cannot be good for us.
If you’re reading this and thinking…I do this..you are not alone. It is something that has been a “norm” for way too long. But the first step you can take is safely throw out your poisonous slug bait. I would place it in something that animals can’t get into in case it crosses paths or they get into the bins. Even better, contact your local council to find the best way to safely dispose of it.
Watch my latest video
There are plenty of ways to naturally combat pests and have safe and nontoxic vegetables for your family.
Eggshells – Save your eggshells and dry in the oven on low. Then crush into small pieces and place in a jar. Sprinkle this around the base of your vegetables and the slugs and snails do not like the surface so will stay away. It also adds some beneficial calcium to your soil.
Plant extras – Plant a few extra plants in different areas of your garden so that if one gets attacked you still have plenty 🙂
Encourage beneficial insects – Plant diversity and flowers to create habitats and attract beneficial insects. You could even make an insect hotel using lots of different sized sticks and logs for them to live 🐞🐝
Manually remove – Go out and check your garden and remove the pests by hand. I often do this when I am on the phone, its a great way to multitask.
Beer Traps – Cheaper the better, there is no need to use up any fancy craft beer. Place little containers around your vegetable patch and this will capture the slugs and snails before they get to your precious veggies 🍺
Coffee grounds – Often your workplace or local cafe will be throwing these out anyway. Sprinkle around the base. Only add a small amount as it will change the PH of the soil ☕️
Companion Plants – Often very fragrant plants will repel pests. These are plants such as: Marigolds and Rosemary 🌼🌿
Soapy Water – this is great for aphids. All my dishwashing liquid is non-toxic and greywater friendly so I just mix up some diluted in water and paint it on the new growth that is affected by aphids. This is the last resort though as it may harm beneficial insects too. Try and isolate the coverage.
Chilli spray – Mix up some chilli powder in some water and spray on your affected plants. I have read crushed garlic as well but that is bad for dogs so I would avoid.
Healthy Soil – growing healthy soil by composting and mulching helps keep your plants strong and healthy 💪 this means that if they do get bugs they can survive and thrive after an infestation.
Sacrificial plants – Usually one plant will just get attacked and I just leave it. It usually means the bugs will only eat that plant and the rest will be fine! Sorry for that one plant but it’s feeding nature…🌿
Chickens and ducks are also a great way to integrate natural pest management into your garden. Win-win 🐛🦆
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!
If you’ve ever juiced a bunch of lemons and felt a twinge of guilt tossing out those beautiful yellow peels, this one’s for you. These lemon zest sprinkles are a vibrant, aromatic way to get even more out of your citrus and add a burst of flavour to your meals. As a home gardener and low-waste kitchen enthusiast, I’m always looking for ways to use every part of what I grow or harvest. Lemon zest is one of my favourite zero-waste flavour boosters, and these dehydrated lemon sprinkles are a must-have in my pantry.
Not only does this recipe help reduce food waste, but it’s also a great way to preserve the bright taste of citrus for use all year round, especially when your lemon tree is loaded and you’re making juice in batches.
Sustainable, Simple, and Full of Flavour
✔️ Uses up leftover lemon skins after juicing
✔️ Easy to make with just one ingredient
✔️ Stores well and lasts for months
✔️ Adds fresh, zesty flavour to sweet and savoury dishes
✔️ A perfect DIY pantry staple for low-waste living
How to Use Lemon Zest Sprinkles
This citrusy powder is so versatile! Here are a few of my favourite ways to use it:
It also makes a beautiful homemade gift when packaged in a recycled spice jar with a handwritten label!
What You’ll Need
3–4 lemon skins (or more if you’re batch prepping)
A dehydrator or oven
A spice grinder, food processor, or Nutribullet
Clean, dry jar for storage
Tip: Use organic lemons or those from your own garden to avoid wax and pesticides.
How to Make Lemon Zest Sprinkles
Step 1: Wash and Peel After juicing your lemons, give the skins a quick rinse. Carefully peel or slice off the outer yellow part of the skin. Try to avoid too much of the bitter white pith.
Step 2: Dehydrate Lay the peels on a tray in your dehydrator or on a baking tray in the oven. Dry at around 45°C (113°F) for 2–4 hours, or until the peels are crisp and snap easily.
Step 3: Blend Once completely dry, add the peels to your spice grinder or blender. Blitz until they turn into a fine powder.
Step 4: Store Transfer to a clean jar—this is a great use for old spice jars or small glass jars with tight lids. Store in a cool, dark place.
Lemon Zest Sprinkles
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours2 seconds
Total Time: 3 hours5 minutes2 seconds
If you have used lemons for juicing then this is a great way to get the most out of your lemons.
Ingredients
3-4 Lemon skins
Instructions
Wash and peel or carefully slice off thin pieces of the lemon skins. Use organic lemons or fresh from the tree.
Layout the skins on a tray and dehydrate using a dehydrator or oven at 45degrees for 2-4 hours until completely dry.
Add the dry peels to a spice blender, food processor, or Nutribullet and blitz to a fine powder.
Place in a jar. I save my spice jars to recycle for future homemade spices such as this.
Notes
Add to sugar for a lemon sugar or add to your dishes for a fresh zesty flavour. Great in salad dressings, stirfry or even on top of ice-cream or yoghurt.
Low-Waste Kitchen Tip
After using the zest, the remaining lemon peel (especially the pith and leftover pulp) doesn’t have to go to waste. Here are two great options:
Compost it: Citrus adds acidity to your compost and breaks down well when chopped.
Make citrus cleaner: Soak the leftover peels in a jar of vinegar for 2–3 weeks to make a natural, homemade all-purpose cleaner. Strain and store in a spray bottle.
This lemon zest sprinkle recipe is a beautiful example of how simple, low-waste habits can add flavour and sustainability to your kitchen. It’s one of those small swaps that turns scraps into something useful, aromatic, and delicious. Next time you juice a few lemons, don’t toss those peels, dry them, blend them, and sprinkle some sunshine on your next dish.
Kumquat and custard scrolls are delicious! If you have a Kumquat tree overflowing with fruit, then whip up a batch of Kumquat jam and make these scrolls. There’s nothing quite like a tree dripping with golden-orange kumquats in the middle of winter. These tiny citrus gems are tart, tangy, and packed with flavour, and if you’ve ever grown your own, you’ll know how quickly they can go from “a few ripe fruit” to an overwhelming abundance.
When your kumquat tree is loaded and you’re wondering what to do with all that fruit, this kumquat and custard scroll recipe is a must-try. It’s comforting, simple, and a great way to preserve and use your homegrown harvest. These scrolls are soft, sticky, and filled with a beautiful mix of creamy custard and zesty kumquat jam—perfect for a weekend treat, morning tea, or a garden-inspired dessert.
Why Kumquats Deserve a Spot in Your Garden
If you’re new to kumquats, they’re small, oval citrus fruits that can be eaten whole, skin and all! Their skin is sweet while the inside is tart, making them ideal for marmalades, jams, and even fermenting. They’re also compact and make wonderful trees for small backyards, pots, or food forests.
Kumquats fruit prolifically through the cooler months, adding much-needed colour and freshness to a winter garden. But because they’re so tangy, many gardeners are left scratching their heads over how to use them all. This recipe is one of my favourite ways to turn that vibrant tartness into something sweet, creamy, and utterly delicious.
Kumquat & Custard Scrolls Recipe
These scrolls are super easy to make and don’t require yeast or rising time, so they’re perfect for a quick baking session. All you need is a batch of homemade kumquat jam, thick custard, and a few pantry basics.
1 cup thickened custard (store-bought or homemade)
Kumquat and Custard Scrolls
Yield: 8-10
Sweet, tart, creamy, and crunchy these Kumquat and custard scrolls are mouthwatering and delcious.
Ingredients
2 cups self-raising flour
2 TBSP icing sugar
80 grams of butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Kumquat Jam (see recipe below)
1 cup thickened custard
Instructions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
Mix flour, icing sugar, and butter until it forms a breadcrumb texture. Add milk and form a dough.
Roll out on a floured bench to a rectangle shape rough 30cm long.
Add cooled set custard on top and spoon on your kumquat jam. Mix slightly.
Then roll the long side to form a long roll. This is quite tricky but just do your best.
Then cut into 8cm pieces and place in a greased oven dish with the cut side down.
Spoon on any extra mixture that has fallen out. Bake for 20mins until golden.
Allow cooling before removing them so the custard has set again.
You can also brush with extra jam to glaze.
Make Your Own Kumquat Jam
You’ll need kumquat jam for this recipe, and making your own is incredibly rewarding. You can bottle up the sunshine of your citrus tree and use it in scrolls, toast, cakes, or even savoury dishes like glazed roasted vegetables.
Kumquat Jam
Yield: 3 jars
Prep Time: 4 hours30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Additional Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours55 minutes
Kumquat jam is a great way to use and preserve your harvests. Add this jam to pikelets or baking for a delicious citrus flavour.
Ingredients
4 cups chopped Kumquats
5 cups of water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 lemon
Instructions
Wash and chop your Kumquats and keep the seeds as you will need them to use as natural pectin.
Place the Kumquats and water in a pot.
Get all your seeds and make a little bag from cheesecloth or in a strainer. You want the seeds to be submerged in the water but not dispersed throughout as you will be discarding them later. Let the seeds and kumquats sit in the water for 4hrs to release the natural pectin. Remove the seeds and discard.
Place a saucer or plate in the freezer to test your jam out at the end.
Bring the pot to a simmer for 30mins. Add in the sugar and stir. Bring the pot to boil for 5min.
Test your jam by putting droplets onto your frozen plate. They should thicken as you run the end of a spoon through the droplet to check. If it doesn't look like it is set add some fresh lemon juice, reheat, and stir. Test again. I repeated this a couple of times and it started to look set.
Spoon hot mixture into hot jars (heat mine in the oven to sterilise 120 degrees for 15 mins and the lids in a bowl of boiling water).
Turn the jars upside down to cool and help the lids seal.
Refrigerate and enjoy.
Watch the video
Why Grow Kumquats at home?
Here are some of the many reasons to grow Kumquat
Hardy, low-maintenance fruit tree
Perennial
Ornamental and edible
Prolific producer
Dense busy shrub
Grows well in pots and containers
The whole fruit is edible
Great for making jams and preserves
Popular Kumquat Varieties
Nagami – Japanese variety with small oval-shaped fruit. Bright orange when ready. Sweet skin and tart flesh. 1-2 seeds in each fruit ( my favourite).
Meiwa – Larger round orange fruits. Sweet skin and flesh. A hybrid of Nagami and Marumi varieties.
Marumi – Round fruits that are quite sour or tart. Mainly used for preserving.
Variegated Kumquat – Stand out ornamental variegated leaves and fruit. Variegation disappears on fruit usually once ripe. Also known as Calamondin or Calamansi.
What to Make With Excess Kumquats
If your kumquat tree is overflowing with fruit and you’re wondering what to do with them all, you’re not alone! Kumquats are a wonderful citrus to grow, but their short season can leave you with more fruit than you know what to do with. Thankfully, these small citrus gems are incredibly versatile — perfect for both sweet and savoury recipes.
Here are some delicious ways to use up your extra kumquats:
Make a quick kumquat jam – perfect for toast, yogurt bowls, or as a swirl in baked goods like scrolls or muffins. (I used mine in these Kumquat & Custard Scrolls!)
Candy them – sliced thin and simmered in sugar syrup, candied kumquats are beautiful on desserts or cheeseboards.
Add to salads – thinly sliced fresh kumquats add a pop of tang and sweetness to green or grain salads.
Preserve them – kumquats can be fermented, turned into marmalade, or preserved in honey for winter immunity boosts.
Dehydrate them – sliced and dried kumquats make a bright, citrusy snack or addition to tea blends.
Use in sauces or glazes – cook them down with honey or vinegar for a punchy topping to chicken, tofu, or roasted veg.
And of course, if you’re baking, kumquat and custard scrolls are a delicious and unexpected way to transform your harvest into something cozy and irresistible.
TIP: Don’t forget — even if you’re not using the whole fruit right away, kumquats freeze well or can be zested and juiced for future use.
Garden to Plate
There’s something incredibly satisfying about using your own homegrown ingredients in a recipe from start to finish. These kumquat and custard scrolls are a sweet reward for your gardening efforts, and they showcase just how versatile your backyard harvest can be. If you make these, I’d love to see them! Tag me on Instagram or leave a comment letting me know how they turned out—and if you’ve got other creative ways to use kumquats, share them too.
Learn how to grow a Lemonade Tree (Citrus limon x reticulata) at home, from planting to harvest, and how to use its delicious fruit in drinks, desserts, and garden-fresh recipes. The Lemonade Tree is one of my favourite citrus trees, especially because it’s so productive! You can eat the fruit fresh off the tree, just like an orange, but with lemon flavour!
The lemonade tree was discovered in New Zealand from a chance seedling. Many backyards have Lemonade Trees growing, and it was a staple fruit in my lunch growing up in NZ. I now have a Lemonade Tree in my Perth gardens, and it is loaded with fruit each year. It’s honestly one of the most refreshing, productive citrus trees you can grow. The fruit is naturally sweet and low in acid, like lemonade straight from the tree! It’s perfect for eating fresh, juicing, or turning into easy garden-to-table treats.
What parts of Lemonade are edible?
Flesh – Edible
Mild, sweet-tart flavour with low acidity—can be eaten fresh, just like a mandarin or orange. Great for juicing, making cordial, using in desserts, or adding to savoury dishes. Unlike regular lemons, you often don’t need to add sugar!
Juice – Edible
Naturally sweet juice makes a refreshing lemonade-style drink with no sugar needed.
Zest (Outer Peel) – Edible
The peel (zest) is full of citrus oils and adds bright flavour to:
Cakes and cookies
Dressings and sauces
Herbal teas or syrups
Rind (Including Pith) – Edible when Cooked
Can be used to make candied citrus peel, marmalade, or citrus-infused vinegar. Thicker rinds can also be oven-roasted with herbs or added to preserved lemon recipes.
What is a Lemonade Tree?
The Lemonade Tree is a hybrid between a lemon and a mandarin, resulting in a fruit that looks like a lemon but is mild, sweet, and low-acid. It can be eaten fresh like an orange, juiced into a zingy lemonade-style drink, or used in desserts without that sharp citrus bite.
Quick Tips on How to Grow Lemonade at Home
PLANT
Autumn or spring in frost-free areas.
SOIL
Well-draining, compost-rich soil. Avoid heavy clay unless mounded or in raised beds.
LOCATION
Full sun (at least 6 hours daily). Protect from strong winds and frost.
CARE
Mulch thickly, water consistently (especially during flowering and fruiting), and prune to shape after harvest.
FERTILISE
Feed in early spring, summer, and late summer with organic citrus fertiliser or worm juice + compost.
PESTS
Watch for citrus gall wasp, aphids, scale, leaf miners, and fruit fly. Encourage beneficial insects and prune affected areas.
HARVEST
Pick when fully yellow for peak sweetness. Or slightly green for more tartness and flavour.
REPRODUCE
Usually grown from grafted trees.
Why Grow Your Own Lemonade?
Here are some of the many reasons to grow Lemonade.
Naturally sweet fruit – no sugar needed!
One ingredient Lemonade!
Great fresh eating
Low-acid – gentle on the stomach and kid-approved
Perfect for small spaces or large pots
Highly productive from an early age
Great pollinator and companion tree for citrus guilds
Versatile in the kitchen – from juice to marmalade, even baking
Temperature & Climate Conditions
Lemonade Trees grow best in subtropical to warm temperate zones, but they’re more cold-hardy than many tropical fruits. With the right care, they can thrive in most areas of Australia:
Ideal temperatures: 15–30°C
Can tolerate down to: -2°C (brief frost OK with protection)
Best zones: 2–4 (Subtropical to Warm Temperate)
Plant in a sunny, sheltered location, preferably near thermal mass (like a wall or paved area) to keep roots warm in winter.
In colder regions: grow in large pots and move to a sunny porch or greenhouse in winter.
TOP TIPS TO GROW LEMONADE
Choose a warm sunny location
Prepare the soil with plenty of compost
Free draining is key!
Choose a sunny spot with great drainage
Protect from frost in the first 1–2 years
Mulch thickly but keep away from the trunk
Feed regularly and deep water in dry months
Remove gall wasp galls before spring
Net for fruit fly
Keep weed-free and well-mulched
Growing Lemonades in Pots or Small Spaces
Great for renters, balconies, or frost-prone areas (can be moved to shelter). Plant in their final position early to minimise root disturbance. Use a large pot (at least 50L) with premium potting mix + added compost. Ensure good drainage. Feed more often, as potted citrus use up nutrients faster.
How to Care for Lemonade Trees
Care/ Maintenance
Lemonade trees are heavy feeders due to the amount of fruit they produce! Add plenty of compost and mulch often to keep them well fed. Always ensure the mulch is pulled away from the trunk. Keep an eye on suckers and remove any growth from below the graft line. Add frost cloth during sudden cold snaps. Place young trees near north-facing walls or thermal mass.
When to Feed Lemonade Trees
Citrus trees are hungry feeders, especially during their active growing and fruiting seasons. Feed them three times a year, timed with key growth phases:
1. Early Spring (August–September)
Just as new growth starts and flowering begins
Encourages healthy leaves, blossoms, and strong fruit set
2. Early Summer (November–December)
Helps fuel fruit development and maintain strong leaf growth
Important for trees already holding fruit
3. Late Summer / Early Autumn (February–March)
Boosts energy before fruit harvest and supports next season’s buds
Prepares the tree to handle cooler months with stronger roots and reserves
Bonus Feeding Tips:
Avoid feeding in winter when growth slows, especially in cooler areas.
Use organic citrus fertiliser, compost, worm juice, or seaweed tonic.
Apply after watering, then water again to avoid burning roots.
Mulch well, but keep it away from the trunk
Watering
Citrus trees like the Lemonade Tree need consistent watering, but they don’t like soggy feet! The key is to keep the soil evenly moist, not wet, not bone dry. Excess watering or inconsistent watering near ripening can cause fruit to split.
How Often to Water:
Young trees: Water 2–3 times per week, depending on weather
Established trees (in-ground): Deep water once a week in mild weather, 2–3 times a week in summer or heatwaves
Potted trees: Water more frequently—every 1–2 days in summer, but always check the soil first
Best Watering Tips:
Water early morning or late afternoon to reduce evaporation
Mulch thickly (with compost, straw, or bark) to keep moisture in, but keep mulch clear of the trunk
Signs of Over or Underwatering:
Yellow, curling leaves: Could be either! Check if the soil is too wet or too dry.
Dry, crispy leaves or fruit drop: Not enough water
Drooping, dark green leaves or root rot: Too much water or poor drainage
Pro Tip: Use your finger! Stick it about 5 cm into the soil—if it feels dry, it’s time to water.
When to Harvest Lemonades
Lemonade trees are early-season producers. They can start to ripen in late Autumn to early winter. Pick when fully yellow. Fruit doesn’t ripen much off the tree, so taste test before harvesting large batches. Or slightly green for more tartness and flavour. Lemonades can lose some flavour when over-ripe.
Pruning & Care Tips
Prune after fruiting to maintain shape and airflow.
Remove any inward-facing or crossing branches
Cut off any suckers or growth below the graft
Keep well-mulched and weed-free at the base
Pests / Disease
Slugs, slaters, and snails can also be damaging to young plants. Watch for fruit fly, root rot (in soggy soil), and mealybugs. Net fruit if needed. Birds, rats and fruit bats will also enjoy your fruit.
Cooking and Using Lemonades
Lemonades are great because you can enjoy them straight off the tree! However, once your tree gets bigger, you will have an abundance! It can be too much to eat fresh, even after giving some away. Below are some ideas to use and preserve your Lemonade harvests.
Dehydrate slices for teas, cocktails, or cake decoration
Freeze juice
Preserve in Jams, Marmalade or Chutney
Lemonade FAQs
Do lemonade trees have thorns? Yes, most do have thorns.
Are Lemonades a hybrid fruit? Yes, they are a cross between a lemon and a Mandarin
Are Lemonades sweeter than Meyer lemons? Yes, and even less acidic
Do they grow true from seed? Very Unlikely. This is a hybrid cross, and can be cross-pollinated again, so seedlings will be surprising results.
How long until they fruit? Grafted fruit trees will likely try to fruit in year 1. Due to the size of the tree it can be better to remove the fruit until year 2-3.
Where did Lemonade trees come from? Thought to have originated from New Zealand in the early 1980s from a chance hybrid seedling.
Learn how to grow Papaya (Carica papaya) at home from seed and what to make with your abundant Papaya crops! Papayas are a must-grow plant if you live in a warm climate and want abundant, quick harvests, vertical shade, and tropical vibes in your food forest or backyard. They grow fast, produce generous fruit, and are surprisingly easy to start from seed, making them perfect for urban permaculture gardens!
I have 6 Papaya plants that I’ve grown from seed and love how they act as an umbrella for my hot gardens, plus offer so much fruit! The amazing thing about Papaya is that you can harvest it green and use it like a vegetable, or wait for it to tree ripen and develop a sweet tropical flavour. They have quickly become one of my top picks for a low-maintenance, productive fruit tree that fits beautifully into even small gardens.
What parts of Papaya are edible?
Fruit (Ripe Papaya) – Edible
The orange to reddish flesh of ripe papaya is sweet, soft, and full of enzymes.
Commonly eaten fresh, in smoothies, salads, salsas, or desserts.
High in vitamin C, A, and papain (a digestive enzyme).
Seeds – Edible (in moderation)
Have a peppery, slightly bitter flavour—can be eaten fresh or dried and ground as a pepper substitute.
Rich in enzymes and antimicrobial properties, but best in small amounts (they can be too potent or slightly toxic in excess).
Green (Unripe) Fruit – Edible when cooked
Used as a vegetable in curries, stir-fries, or grated into salads (like Thai green papaya salad).
Contains more papain, which breaks down proteins—great for tenderising meat.
Must be cooked or prepared properly, especially for those sensitive to latex.
Flowers – Edible (especially male flowers)
Sometimes used in traditional dishes in Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Have a mild bitter flavor; usually sautéed or boiled before eating.
⚠️ Parts NOT Recommended to Eat Raw:
Stem, latex, and roots: Contain milky sap (latex), which may cause irritation or be mildly toxic.
Unripe parts (fruit or leaves) should be cooked if consumed, especially for people with latex sensitivity.
Quick Tips on How to Grow Papaya at Home
PLANT
Sow seeds in spring to early summer for best results.
SOIL
Free-draining compost-rich soil.Mounded above ground in clay soil.
LOCATION
Full sun. Choose a warm, sheltered spot protected from wind and frost.
CARE
Water deeply but allow the soil to dry slightly between watering. Mulch thickly. Prune lower leaves as they yellow.
FERTILISE
Feed monthly with compost tea, worm juice, or organic fertiliser high in potassium.
PESTS
Watch for fruit fly, root rot (in soggy soil), and mealybugs. Net fruit if needed.
HARVEST
Pick when the fruit starts to yellow and softens slightly. Let it ripen further indoors.
REPRODUCE
Grow from seed, but know your plant’s sex! See below for more info on male, female, and bisexual types.
Why Grow Your Own Papaya?
Here are some of the many reasons to grow Papaya.
Super fast-growing fruit tree
Suitable for pots or small spaces
Vertical growth = space saver
Produces fruit in under a year
Can grow tall to act as a shade umbrella
Perfect for syntropic and food forest layering
It can be used as a fruit or a vegetable
Versatile uses in the kitchen
How to tell Papaya Plant Sex: Male, Female & Bisexual
Male
Mainly just produces flowers with many on long shoots. Sometimes they will produce fruit also at the end of the long stem. Males are often the quickest to start flowering. Keep one if you want to pollinate females, but usually not needed if you grow bisexual types.
Female
Produces the largest flowers with mini Papayas tucked under their unfurling white petals. They fruit better if pollinated by a male or bisexual plant. Fruit is rounder and often larger than bisexual fruits. Female fruits sometimes have fewer seeds inside and even none when they haven’t been pollinated.
Bisexual (Hermaphrodite)
Produces small flowers in clusters close to the main stem (unlike the male, which clusters on long stems). Self-pollinating and highly productive. The fruit is usually more elongated with plenty of seeds inside. Ideal for small gardens as you only need one plant.
When can you tell what sex a Papaya is?
You won’t know the sex until flowers appear, usually a few months in, when the plants are about 0.5 – 1m tall. This is why it is a good idea to grow your own from seed and plant multiple seedlings (5–6) and remove males later, unless needed for pollination. Some nurseries will falsely sell Papaya plants as Bisexual, but because they are all grown from seed, there is still a chance of getting a male or female plant.
Popular Papaya Varieties
Red Army- Large, firm red-fleshed fruit with excellent flavour and good shelf life.Bred for disease resistance and improved productivity in Australian conditions.
Pink Lady – Deep pink flesh, sweet flavour, smooth texture. Performs well in warm, humid climates and responds well to regular feeding.
Southern Red – Sweet, deep red-orange flesh, medium-sized fruit. Australia’s most commonly grown red papaya variety. Productive and widely available.
Solo Sunrise – Small, sweet, pear-shaped fruit with orange-red flesh. Compact plant, good for pots or smaller gardens.
TOP TIPS TO GROW PAPAYA
Choose a warm sunny location
Prepare the soil with plenty of compost
Free draining is key!
Papayas hate wet feet and can rot easily. In clay soils – mound up above the ground rather than planting down in a hole
Do not disturb roots when removing from the pot.
Protect from frosts and high winds
Keep the trunk clean and clear with good airflow.
Remove older yellowing leaves
Keep weed-free and well-mulched
How to Grow Papaya from Seed
You can grow papayas from shop-bought or homegrown fruit. Ideally, source locally grown fruit as supermarket-imported fruit is often treated and has fewer viable seeds. Here’s how:
Step-by-Step:
Scoop out fresh papaya seeds and rinse off pulp.
Gently squeeze the seed to pop the casing off and reveal the bumpy seed.
Plant 2–3 seeds per hole in a sunny seed-raising tray or directly into a garden bed.
Thin out to the strongest seedling once sprouted.
Keep at least 5-6 plants, either in pots or the ground and wait until they start to flower to determine sex.
💡 Tip: Papayas don’t like transplanting or having their roots disturbed. Plant in their final position early to minimise root disturbance.
Temperature & Climate Conditions for Growing Papaya
Papayas (Carica papaya) love the heat and grow best in tropical to warm subtropical climates. They’re fast-growing but sensitive to cold, so choosing the right spot and protecting young plants is key.
Frost-sensitive: Frost can damage or kill papaya trees, especially young ones.
If you’re in a warm coastal or inland area with mild winters (like parts of WA, QLD, NT, or northern NSW), papayas will thrive year-round. In cooler zones, they’ll need protection from cold, wind, and frost—especially during their first 1–2 years.
Tips for Growing Papaya in Cooler Zones:
Plant in full sun, ideally with a north-facing wall, fence or thermal mass to reflect warmth
Use a frost cloth or a mini greenhouse in winter if needed
Grow in large pots and move under cover during cold snaps
Apply thick mulch and avoid planting in frost-prone low spots
Want to Grow Papaya in Cooler Climates? Try These Alternatives:
If your garden gets frost or struggles to stay warm through winter, papaya might not be the easiest option. But there are a few cold-tolerant cousins and lookalikes worth trying!
Mountain Papaya (Vasconcellea pubescens)
Native to the Andes, this papaya relative handles much cooler temps—even light frosts! This one is popular back home in New Zealand. I haven’t been able to find a plant here in Western Australia…yet.
Grows well in temperate zones with protection.
Fruit is smaller, ripens to yellow and is pear-shaped
Champagne-like flavour and you can eat the seeds as well.
Bonus: It’s often grown for its enzyme-rich latex, like papain.
Babaco (Vasconcellea × heilbornii)
A natural hybrid related to mountain papaya.
Alaos called the Champagne fruit due to the flavour.
Grows in cool subtropical to mild temperate zones—tolerates down to around -2°C with protection.
Produces seedless, tangy-sweet fruit that tastes like a mix of pineapple, pawpaw, and lemon.
Compact, attractive tree perfect for pots or small backyards.
Needs pruning to keep productive, and doesn’t tolerate root disturbance.
North American Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)
Not related to papaya, but often confused due to the name.
Native to eastern North America and thrives in cold temperate zones.
Deciduous tree with custard-like fruit that tastes like banana, mango, and vanilla.
Needs chill hours and two trees for pollination, but a great option for truly cold climates.
Best grown in full sun with rich, moist soil.
North American PawpawNorth American Pawpaw
How to Care for Papaya Plants
Care/ Maintenance
Papayas are heavy feeders, so compost and mulch often to keep them well fed. Always ensure the mulch is pulled away from the trunk, as papaya stems are susceptible to rot.
Feeding
Feed monthly with compost tea, chop and drop mulch, worm juice, or organic fertiliser high in potassium.
Watering
Water deeply but allow the soil to dry slightly between waterings.
Harvesting
Fruit takes 5–8 months to mature from a flower.
Harvest when the skin starts to turn yellow.
Clip off with secateurs. Ripen further indoors.
Use green if preferred for savoury dishes (salads, curries, stir-fries).
Can you Prune Papaya Plants?
Yes! Some Papaya plants can get very tall, which is great for shade, and as the canopy is overhead, they take up less room in the garden. However, this can make it very hard to pick ripe fruit. Pinching the top of the Papaya plant can force it to stop growing taller and branch out. If your papaya does get too tall, you can cut the main stem, which will also force it to branch out. Stems can be hollow, so you may need to cover the cut to stop rain from getting down in the stem and causing rot. An upside-down container can work well. Prune off the older yellowing leaves by gently pulling down on the stem. This will help to divert energy back to the plant.
Pests / Disease
Slugs, slaters, and snails can also be damaging to young plants. Watch for fruit fly, root rot (in soggy soil), and mealybugs. Net fruit if needed. Birds, rats and fruit bats will also enjoy your fruit. It is best to pick fruit at the first sign of yellow and allow it to ripen inside to avoid attracting more pests.
ReproducingPapaya
Scoop seeds from ripe fruit.
Rinse and dry thoroughly.
Store in a paper envelope in a cool, dry spot.
For better odds of getting bisexual plants, save seeds from bisexual fruits only.
Cooking and Using Papaya
Papaya is delicious raw or cooked as well as ripe or unripe. Making it a great staple food to grow in the garden.
Welcome to my urban food forest garden in Perth, Australia. It’s currently the end of autumn, the mornings are finally starting to feel cooler, but we still haven’t had much rain….not since last year before the summer, so the garden is just hanging in there. Today, I want to share an update on my urban food forest progress and the wide range of fruit I’m growing in a small space!
🎥 Watch the full Urban Food Forest Garden Tour
Starting a Productive Urban Food Forest on Less Than 1/5 Acre
My garden is high-density, featuring over 200 types of fruit trees, as well as herbs and annual vegetables, all within a property of less than 1/5 of an acre in total. My goal is to have small amounts of many different types of fruit and be able to harvest fruit 365 days a year. This means I’ve said goodbye to spacing rules, utilised dwarf fruit trees, vertical gardening, learnt to multi-graft, and I keep my trees pruned to not only let light in but also create more green material to chop and drop and feed my soil.
I first became inspired by this style of gardening after creating an edible fence screen using food forest style planting in my backyard, which we will take a look at soon, but more recently, I have taken over the front! If you have been a regular YouTube subscriber, you would have seen the process of how we have transformed my front yard from a bare lawn to a mini high-density food forest with lots of tropical fruit trees, raised garden beds to grow annual veggies and a mini wildlife pond home to small fish and frogs. Below is a current update on where we are now!
Tropical Fruits Growing in my Front Yard
I started off this front garden by planting evergreen hardy fruit trees to create an edible screen that could withstand the temperatures out here. I have a lime, feijoa, blood orange, guava, mandarin, more feijoa and a lemonade. I have since gone in and added 3 mangos, an avocado, dwarf grimichama, mulch plants, nitrogen fixing plant and edible ground covers.
I have 4 different custard apples now planted, and I definitely have a passion for collecting new varieties of these. It’s a fruit that was rare back home in NZ, but we could grow the Cherimoya, and I was lucky enough to be introduced to that by a rare fruit grower when I was a kid. Now being in Perth, I am lucky enough to have the heat to grow more varieties, and I have (so far) Africa Pride, Paxton Prolific, Hilary White and a Bullock’s Heart, along with a bunch of seed-grown ones. These tend to lose their leaves a bit in winter, so they let light into my raised bed patch in winter, but in summer, they help keep it cool.
I have two different nashi pears, which are another favourite of mine and fruit well in warmer climates, unlike many other pears.
Some of the other fruit trees I have in the front yard include: Louisa Plum, unknown yellow Plum, multigrafted 4-way Plum (Satsuma, Mariposa, Santa Rosa, unknown), Indian Blood Peach, Lemon Mango, Orange Sherbet Mango, Sweet Tart Mango, Thai Mango, Linda Avocado, Choquette Avocado, Soursop, Starfruit, Lychee and more!
Living Shade: Building a Grape Arbour in Hot Climates
We have also constructed a metal arbour to grow living shade with x4 types of grapes planted. But with such intensely hot and dry summers, the grapes have not done much growing, but I am determined to make my dreams grape arbour happen!
What I’m Growing in my Raised Gardens this Autumn 🌱
I have only just planted out my raised beds (at the end of Autumn) with seedlings and seeds because it’s just been so hot and dry, it didn’t seem worth it. But the cooler mornings and with rain forecast for this weekend, I think we might be ready to start the cool-season crops.
Just like my fruit tree planting, I also densely plant my raised beds. This helps stop any weeds from growing and gives me lush garden beds full of food. Currently, I have planted:
Edible Flowers ( Pansy/viola, Snapdragon, Dianthus and Calendula)
Edible Flowers for Beauty and Biodiversity
Edible flowers are a non-negotiable in my gardens. I love having the added colour as well as providing food for pollinators and beneficial insects. Plus, by choosing edible flowers, you can also use them to brighten up your meals. It’s a win-win.
Wildlife Pond: Attracting Frogs, Pollinators, and Beneficial Insects
The wildlife pond is getting a lot more shade now with the winter sun lower in the sky. The frogs have mostly disappeared as they go to find more sun or hibernate until warmer temperatures. There are still plenty of tadpoles, but I think these will stay like this until spring and summer because I believe they need more sun to transform. The wildlife pond has been one of my favourite projects out here in the front yard. There’s always so much wildlife to see, and it has become the main hub of my gardens to feed and nourish all my pollinators and beneficial insects.
The Driveway Patch: An Urban Food Forest Extension
Now for an update on my driveway patch! This was a new extension, and I have mainly planted deciduous fruit trees in here. This spot gets lots of hot sun during summer, but in winter, it gets a lot of shade. That’s why choosing deciduous fruit trees is a great idea. They go to sleep during winter, so they don’t mind at all.
I have planted a seed, growing papaya, and it is thriving! It has started flowing along with another 5 I have planted throughout the rest of my gardens. Papayas grow well from seed and quickly! In warm climates, you can go from seed to harvesting fruit in just 1 year! In cooler climates, you may have to utilise greenhouses for winter. My plan is that this will get nice and tall to act as a bit of a natural umbrella for summer.
Summer in Perth is relentless, and with many days over 40 degrees, this garden will very much appreciate an umbrella. I have been adding more shade plants like this throughout the garden to try and help cool my summer gardens.
Creating Shade and Microclimates in an Urban Food Forest
Using plants strategically is something I have been doing a lot in my gardens.
Creating shade: I have a miringa planted in the middle of my tropical section to create beautiful dappled shade for my Soursop, Starfruit, Lychee and Avocado. I also have native plants such as Hakea that grow in poor soil and have quickly become the tallest plants in my new garden. They offer shade and wind protection, plus stunning flowers that the bees love.
Creating Mulch:Mulch plants are another thing I have throughout my gardens that I use for shade, wind protection and then I can chop them back to let light in and feed the soil and act as moisture retention. These are plants such as Pigeon Pea and Queensland Arrowroot.
Out the back, my original food forest garden has been getting lots of upgrades. I have just planted another mango, this one is the ‘lemon zest’, I also have the ‘Irwin’ and the ‘dwarf palmer’. My biggest seed-grown papaya is flowering, and I am hanging out to see it start to fruit! With more plants starting to flower, hopefully, I get some pollination happening!
In my last video, we took out the lemon tree that was just getting hammered with gall wasp and planted a giant avocado. It’s already pushing new growth, which is a good sign.
Pomegranates are ripe, and I should have harvested them, but I left it too late, and something else has beaten me to it! This Pomegranate has multiple different varieties grafted on it, but so far, just the main Azerbajani has fruited. These are amazing, like nature’s candy!
My bananas are looking good, and the plantain has shot up! My Pinkerton Avocado is looking nice and bushy, and next to that, another seed-grown papaya that has just started to flower. The rollinia is looking rather sad but has started to push all new growth off the side so fingers crossed! Behind that, we have my golden passionfruit growing vertically along the fence and a small sweet granadilla down below that I am cautiously optimistic about.
In my patio nursery, the shade cloth has come down for winter, and I am trying my best to find homes for as many things as I can in the garden. I want to downsize this a lot! I have lots of seed-grown plants here, like mango and custard apple, that I want to use for grafting practice, plus I have blueberries, finger limes and a lot of other things.
I hope you enjoyed this Autumn update of my urban food forest, and make sure you are subscribed to follow along with the progress!
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In this guide, I’m sharing 17 of my favourite fruits that grow on vines – perfect for urban food forests, backyard trellises, and small-space gardens. Whether you’re new to gardening or looking to expand your edible garden vertically, there’s something here for everyone.
If you’re looking to make the most of your vertical space, growing fruit on vines is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways to do it. From delicious grapes to exotic, rare passionfruit, there are so many climbing fruits that not only taste amazing but also help create lush, edible walls in your garden.
Why Grow Fruits on Vines?
Vine fruits are great space-savers. They climb up rather than spread out, meaning you can grow more food in less ground space. They’re ideal for small gardens, balconies, or food forests where every layer of the garden is put to work. Plus, many vine fruits are perennial or self-seeding, making them low-maintenance once established.
I also love them for fence screening or adding more green to the backyard, with walls of green vines covered in fruit, they are not just productive, they’re beautiful too!
1. Passionfruit
One of my absolute favourite perennial fruiting vines!Passionfruit vines are fast-growing, evergreen in warmer climates, and produce deliciously tangy fruit. They’ll need strong support, plenty of sun, and a bit of pruning to keep them in check. Passionfruit can also be easily grown from seed to fruit in just 1-2 years.
Growing Tips: Plant in well-drained soil with plenty of compost, and water regularly during the growing season. Allow a lot of water during the summer season to allow them to produce abundant crops.
2. Grapes
Whether you’re growing table grapes or wine grapes, these deciduous vines are classic for a reason. Grapes love full sun and rich, well-drained soil. In winter, prune heavily to encourage fruiting in spring and summer. Grapes are great for areas that get full sun in summer but maybe get more shade in winter(because they are asleep). They can also be used to help offer shade to your veggie patch in summer and let light in during winter when they lose their leaves. I have mine planted over my main veggie patch on a strong arbour.
Growing Tips: Prune annually to control growth and increase yield. Provide sturdy support and full sun.
3. Choko (Chayote)
A vigorous vine that’s great for covering fences or pergolas, but must be kept in check with regular pruning. Chokos produce crisp, mild-flavoured fruit that’s incredibly versatile in the kitchen. Great for making preserves or used to bulk up pies as a substitute for apple or potato! They love warmth, regular watering, and space to sprawl. Chokos are a great option for providing summer shade to your garden in areas like Perth that have scorching hot summer days.
Growing Tips: Plant a whole chayote fruit in rich, moist soil and give it something to climb. It loves heat and humidity.
4. Kiwi Fruit
A beautiful deciduous vine with fuzzy fruit packed with vitamin C. Kiwi fruits need a male and female plant to produce fruit, and prefer a cold winter and warm summer. Provide sturdy support, these vines are strong!
Growing Tips: Train along a strong trellis and prune yearly. Kiwi prefers rich, well-drained soil and full sun (although protect during their first year in hot climates like Perth)
5. Cucamelon
These tiny watermelon lookalikes are actually closer to cucumbers. They’re crunchy, a little tangy, and perfect for pickling or snacking. Cucamelons are easy to grow from seed and do best in full sun with something to climb.
Growing Tips: Easy to grow in warm climates with full sun. Trellis them like cucumbers and harvest regularly.
6. Blackberry
While technically a bramble, many blackberry varieties can be trained like vines. Choose thornless varieties for ease of harvest, and plant them along fences or trellises. Great for attracting pollinators too.
Growing Tips: Plant in full sun with rich, well-drained soil. Train along a fence or wire support.
7. Raspberry
Like blackberries, raspberries can be trained vertically. They’ll reward you with handfuls of juicy berries and are surprisingly low-maintenance. Summer or autumn fruiting varieties are available depending on your climate.
8. Kiwi Berry
Kiwi berries are like miniature kiwifruits without the fuzz — bite-sized, smooth-skinned, and bursting with sweet, tropical flavor. These hardy vines are a great option for gardeners in cooler climates, and once established, they’re prolific producers. Unlike regular kiwis, you can pop these straight into your mouth without peeling! The vines are vigorous climbers and benefit from strong support and annual pruning.
Growing Tips: Some Kiwi berries need both a male and female plant for pollination. Plant them in well-drained soil with plenty of sun and compost, and keep them well-watered in dry periods. Patience pays off — they usually start fruiting in their third year, but reward you with loads of delicious fruit for years to come.
9. Giant Granadilla (Passiflora quadrangularis)
Giant Granadilla is the largest of the passionfruit family, producing fruit that can grow over a foot long! Its flavour is mild and slightly sweet, with edible pulp that can be eaten fresh, juiced, or added to desserts. One unique feature is that the white inner rind (or pith) is also edible when cooked, often used in stews, curries, or candied as a sweet treat. The plant also produces large, show-stopping flowers, making it both productive and ornamental. It’s ideal for gardeners who want something bold, tropical, and a little bit out of the ordinary. This one is tricky to grow and needs a warm tropical climate or a greenhouse to thrive.
Growing Tips: Plant in full sun and well-draining, compost-rich soil. This vigorous vine needs a very strong support structure and plenty of room to spread. Keep it well-watered during hot weather and feed regularly to support its large fruit. It prefers warm, frost-free climates but can be grown in large containers and moved to shelter if needed. Prune after fruiting to encourage new growth and airflow.
10. Dragonfruit (Pitaya)
A striking cactus vine that needs support and warmth. Great for hot and dry areas of your garden. Dragon fruit plants produce stunning flowers followed by bright pink or yellow fruit with speckled flesh. Perfect for tropical or subtropical gardens. Prune regularly to shape the plant and encourage flowering. With a bit of patience and care, you’ll be rewarded with stunning blooms and unique, nutrient-packed fruit.
Growing Tips: Choose a sunny, sheltered spot with well-draining soil. Water deeply but allow the soil to dry out slightly between waterings — too much water can lead to rot.
11. Loofah (Luffa)
While often grown for its spongy interior, young loofah fruits are edible when cooked. This vine loves the heat and needs a long growing season. Let a few mature fully for bath sponges and save the rest for dinner!
Growing Tips: Start from seed in spring. Let fruits mature fully on the vine if you want to harvest them as sponges.
12. Pumpkin
Though typically considered a ground crop, pumpkins will happily climb a strong trellis if you support the fruit. This is a great way to save space and get a better shape on the pumpkins too. Growing vertically can help reduce pest pressure and increase airflow. Choose smaller varieties to help reduce the risk of the stems breaking off the vine. Add small hammock supports to the fruit if you think they are too heavy.
Growing Tips: Plant in mounds with compost-rich soil. Allow plenty of space or use a strong vertical support for smaller varieties.
13. Melons (Rockmelon, Cantaloupe, etc.)
Melons can also be trellised to save space and reduce rot. Use slings or mesh bags to support the fruit as it grows. They love full sun, compost-rich soil, and warm temperatures. Melons are a great choice for annual fruits that grow on a vine.
Growing Tips: Choose smaller varieties. Consistent watering during the hot months will help get the best-tasting melons.
14. Muscadine Grapes
Native to the southeastern United States, muscadine grapes are hardy, disease-resistant vines that produce sweet, thick-skinned grapes perfect for fresh eating, jams, and winemaking. These grapes love warm, humid climates and are a great low-maintenance option for edible gardens. I haven’t been able to find any yet in Perth, but when I do, I will definitely be testing them out!
Growing Tips: Plant in full sun with well-drained soil. Muscadines prefer slightly acidic soil and benefit from a yearly layer of compost. Provide a strong trellis or arbor to support their vigorous growth. Prune in winter to encourage productive fruiting wood and good airflow. They’re self-fertile, but planting more than one variety can increase yields.
15. Climbing Tomato (Indeterminate Varieties)
While technically a fruiting shrub, indeterminate tomatoes behave like vines and can be grown vertically with supports. Perfect for patios and small garden beds where space is tight. Plant at the back of your container or garden to and train up whilst still utilising the front for short plants like lettuce and carrots.
Growing Tips: Use stakes, cages, or trellises. Pinch off suckers and prune to improve airflow and production.
16. Kiwano (Horned Melon)
This spiky, alien-looking fruit is sure to turn heads in the garden. Native to Africa, Kiwano grows on a vigorous climbing vine and produces bright orange, horned fruit filled with lime-green, jelly-like flesh. It has a mild, refreshing flavor, somewhere between cucumber, kiwi, and banana — perfect for smoothies or eating chilled with a spoon.
Growing Tips: Plant Kiwano in warm, frost-free conditions with full sun and well-drained soil. Like cucumbers, it appreciates regular watering and trellising. Start seeds indoors or direct sow after the last frost. It thrives in hot climates and is drought-tolerant once established.
17. Cucumber
A garden classic, cucumbers are refreshing, fast-growing vine fruits that are perfect for salads, pickling, and even chilled soups. With so many varieties — from crisp slicing cucumbers to cute pickling types — there’s one for every garden. Cucumbers also make a super nutritious and refreshing juice in summer.
Growing Tips: Plant cucumbers in full sun after the danger of frost has passed. They love warmth, regular watering, and rich, well-draining soil. Train them vertically with a trellis to save space and improve air circulation, which helps prevent powdery mildew. Harvest often to keep plants productive.
Tips for Growing Vine Fruits
Support Structures: Use trellises, arches, pergolas, or fences.
Mulch and Compost: Feed the soil with organic matter to keep your plants thriving.
Water Consistently: especially in dry or windy weather.
Prune as Needed: Keep vines manageable and productive.
Growing Fruit Vertically to Save Space
Growing fruits on vines is such a rewarding way to get more out of your space and your harvest. Whether you’re trailing cucamelons up a balcony rail or letting passionfruit take over a fence, vertical gardening adds beauty, abundance, and a lot more greenery to any garden. So pick one (or a few!) of these climbing fruits and get growing – your future self will thank you for the baskets of delicious fruit!
Maximize Garden Space with Espaliered Fruit Trees
While vine fruits are amazing for vertical gardening, espalier fruit trees are another clever way to grow food in tight spaces. Trained flat against a wall or fence, espaliered trees not only save space but also turn your garden into a living work of art. Apples, pears, figs, and even citrus can be grown this way with a little patience and pruning. They make excellent use of sunlight, are easier to harvest, and can add structure and charm to garden borders or sunny walls. If you’re short on space but big on fruit dreams, espalier might just be your next favorite technique!
Links included in this post 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 blog so that I can continue to provide you with free content.
Edible ground covers are a crucial element in any permaculture or food forest garden. They serve as living mulch, protect and feed the soil, suppress weeds, and give you more food in less space. Whether you’re growing sweet potatoes for stir-fries or nasturtiums for a colorful salad, there are so many ways to make your ground layer both beautiful and functional.
Tired of weeding and bare soil? These low-growing edible plants cover the ground, feed your soil, and you!
By layering your garden with diversity in plant heights, root systems, and edible yields, you’ll create a more balanced, resilient system that supports you and the ecosystem around you. Let your mulch work to feed your soil and your family at the same time!
Welcome back to my garden! Today, we’re diving into edible ground covers that I use in my urban permaculture garden as living mulch. Creating layers in a food forest system helps you grow more diversity (and food) in a small space. Edible ground covers help suppress weeds to create a low-maintenance, sustainable garden that feeds us year-round and doesn’t demand daily upkeep.
We love to go camping, and that means I often leave my garden for days at a time. While I still love growing annuals like tomatoes and cucumbers, they require more hands-on care and come with a higher risk if I’m away. I’ll still grow them, but I want to shift the balance toward a more resilient garden using perennial plants and edible ground covers that do more of the heavy lifting while I’m off exploring.
Watch or read more below
Top 10 Edible Ground Covers for Living Mulch
So, what exactly are edible ground covers? These are low-growing plants that serve multiple functions: they protect the soil, retain moisture, reduce weeds, prevent erosion, and provide food for both humans and beneficial wildlife. In a food forest-style garden, ground covers are just one layer in a multi-tiered system that also includes tall trees, shrubs, flowers, and root crops.
Below are 10 of my favorite edible ground covers that are beautiful, functional, and delicious!
1. Sweet Potato
Sweet potato is hands-down my favorite edible ground cover. Its thick, lush vines protect the soil from the harsh sun and help retain moisture. The leaves are edible and can be used like spinach—sautéed with garlic, tossed in soups and curries, or even made into green wraps. And of course, the roots themselves are a delicious, substantial food source for both sweet and savory dishes. Sweet potatoes are also a haven for beneficial insects and frogs (yes, frogs!). I often find them nesting among the vines, even without a pond nearby. They’re super easy to propagate, making them perfect for sharing, selling, or expanding your patch.
2. Nasturtium
Nasturtiums are another edible ground cover that, once you plant them, you will have forever! Their bright flowers and peppery leaves are both edible and beautiful. I use the leaves in salads and as mini wraps, and the flowers as edible garnishes or pesto ingredients. They self-seed prolifically, meaning once you plant them, they often come back on their own every year. This means they can easily take over parts of your garden, so it’s important to keep them pruned if you want them to remain in one area.
Nasturtiums attract beneficial pollinators and act as a trap crop, luring pests like slugs and snails away from other plants. You can prune back areas to feed to your chickens as a natural pest management system. Even their seed pods are edible—you can pickle them to make homemade capers!
Naturtiums die off during the hot summer months, and so I pair these with sweet potato, which has an opposite growth pattern. Sweet potatoes thrive in summer and die back in the cooler months. These two work well to keep the soil covered all year round.
3. New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides)
New Zealand Spinach is one of my go-to ground covers, especially in warmer weather when traditional leafy greens struggle. It spreads beautifully and creates dense, weed-suppressing coverage. The leaves are succulent and can be eaten cooked, much like regular spinach. It’s drought-tolerant, hardy, and perfect for low-maintenance edible landscaping. Due to its ability to self-seed easily, it can be a good idea to keep it contained.
4. Sweet Violet
Sweet violets (Viola odorata) make a lovely ground cover for shady areas, which become more common as fruit trees mature and cast more shade. They have heart-shaped edible leaves and delicate purple flowers that make beautiful decorations for cakes and salads. While I usually use the flowers more than the leaves, the entire plant helps retain soil moisture and suppress weeds, making it an excellent living mulch.
5. Strawberries
Strawberries are a classic edible ground cover that needs little introduction. They spread easily, especially alpine varieties, and can handle partial shade. While their leaves and flowers are edible, the fruit is the real star. Just note they do better in sunnier patches of your garden.
6. Prostrate Rosemary
This low-trailing form of rosemary hugs the ground and is well-suited to hot, dry, sandy, or rocky soils. It’s evergreen, hardy, and incredibly useful in the kitchen. I love having rosemary nearby to flavor dishes, and the edible flowers are great for attracting bees. It also has a host of medicinal benefits—anti-inflammatory, digestive support, and calming properties.
7. Thyme & Oregano
Thyme and oregano are aromatic culinary herbs that make wonderful low-growing ground covers in sunny areas. Their spreading habit helps protect the soil, and both are drought-tolerant and resilient. These herbs can be used fresh or dried for flavoring food, making teas, and for natural remedies. Their tiny flowers also attract pollinators to your garden.
8. Yarrow
Yarrow is a powerhouse plant often overlooked as an edible. While the leaves can be used in teas or medicinally (always research before consuming), their greatest strengths in the garden are as a soil protector with dense fern-like leaves and a pollinator magnet. It has deep roots that help break up compacted soil and draw nutrients up to the surface, improving fertility over time. It sends runners underground, so it’s a good idea to treat this plant like you would mint and keep it contained to one area.
9. Chamomile
Chamomile creates a fragrant, low-growing cover that’s sometimes used as a lawn substitute. It’s most well-known for its daisy-like flowers, which are harvested for calming teas that support sleep and digestion. It thrives in sunny areas and adds a beautiful, soft texture to garden beds.
10. Red Clover
Red clover is one of those quiet achievers in the garden, it’s beautiful, useful, and so easy to grow. I love using it as a living mulch in my food forest because it grows low to the ground, helps suppress weeds, and is constantly feeding the soil with nitrogen through its roots. The bees absolutely adore the flowers, and if you’re into herbal teas, the blossoms are edible and can be harvested and dried too! It’s the kind of plant that gives so much without asking for much in return—perfect for filling in those bare spots while still being productive and pretty.
Many common weeds are edible and make great opportunistic ground covers. Purslane, for example, has succulent leaves rich in omega-3 fatty acids and grows rapidly to fill bare spots. Chickweed and dandelion also have edible and medicinal parts. While these can spread quickly, learning to identify and harvest them helps you turn a problem into a resource.
Living Mulch: Edible Ground Covers That Feed You and Your Garden
Start small by adding one or two edible ground covers to your garden beds or under fruit trees, and watch how quickly they transform the space. These hardworking plants not only fill gaps and reduce maintenance, but they also invite more life into your garden, as a wildlife habitat. Whether you’re building a full food forest or just looking to get more out of your patch, edible ground covers are one of the simplest ways to grow smarter, not harder.
Are you growing any edible plants as living mulch? Let us know below 👇
Links included in this post 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 blog so that I can continue to provide you with free content.
Edible canna or Queensland Arrowroot (Canna edulis) is a highly resilient, fast-growing plant that thrives in a variety of conditions, making it a valuable addition to any permaculture or sustainable garden. With its striking tropical foliage, edible rhizomes, tropical lush green leaves, and excellent mulching properties, edible canna is one of my favourite edible mulch plants to grow. Find out more about how to grow and use this incredible permaculture plant plus, where and how to find it!
Benefits of Growing Edible Canna in a Sustainable Garden
Edible and Nutritious Rhizomes
Edible canna produces large, round, red rhizomes that are highly versatile in the kitchen. These rhizomes:
Can be eaten raw or cooked like potatoes
Can be dried and ground into flour for baking and thickening sauces
The young shoots of edible canna are also edible, containing around 10% protein. They can be used as a nutritious green vegetable, adding diversity to your homegrown food supply during thin months.
Extremely Fast-Growing and Easy to Cultivate
Edible canna is incredibly easy to plant, grow, and harvest. It quickly repopulates, ensuring a continuous supply of rhizomes and biomass without much effort. The rhizomes send off side shoots that can be harvested to eat or to move and regrow in other areas of the garden.
Adaptable to Various Climates and Soils
Thrives in warm climates even the toasty hot Perth summers
Grows well in very poor soil, making it ideal for degraded or sandy areas
Highly drought-tolerant, but will produces better eating rhizomes in well-watered conditions
Grows well in wet conditions and even along pond edges, helping to stabilize soil and prevent erosion
Provides Biomass for Mulching & Soil Improvement
The large leaves and water-filled stems, similar to banana plants, make excellent chop-and-drop mulch. This is a game changer for establishing new gardens with poor soil. Regular pruning encourages new growth while giving you green material to add organic matter to the soil. Enriching your gardens fertility and helping protect the soil from the harsh sun to helps retain moisture, suppress weeds, and build soil health.
The leaves can also be used like Banana leaves to decorate tables or even make DIY eco pots.
Windbreak & Habitat for Wildlife
Dense clumping growth makes edible canna an effective windbreak, protecting more delicate plants. I often plant these first next to new plants to help protect them while they get established and then later on cut them back to use as mulch. The vibrant red flowers attract pollinators and small birds, enhancing biodiversity. They also provides shelter for beneficial insects and small wildlife which are key to creating a thriving sustainable garden.
How to Grow Edible Canna / Queensland Arrowroot
Planting & Soil Requirements
Prefers full sun but can tolerate partial shade
Grows well in poor, sandy, or wet soil conditions
Can be planted from rhizome divisions, making propagation easy
Maintenance & Care
Requires minimal maintenance once established
Regular pruning helps maintain vigorous growth and maximizes mulch production
Can be interplanted with fruit trees and vegetables to enhance soil health
Harvesting & Usage
Harvest rhizomes when they reach full size, usually after a year of growth
Young shoots can be harvested as needed for fresh greens
Leaves and stems can be pruned periodically for mulch
Where to Find Edible Canna or Queensland Arrowroot?
I get a lot of questions on where to find Canna Edulis so here are some place to check out if you are in Perth: Tass1 trees, Primal Fruits, Bloomings Nursery. Otherwise check out your local nurseries that are not “chain” stores. They can often be found in the pond sections alongside the edible plants. Be sure to check the variety for ‘Canna Edulis’ as there are many types of ornamental Canna.
Powerhouse plant for sustainable gardens
Edible canna is a powerhouse plant for sustainable gardens, offering food, mulch, and ecosystem benefits with minimal effort. Its ability to grow in tough conditions, provide edible rhizomes, and support soil health makes it a must-have for any permaculture system.
Incorporate edible canna into your garden today to enjoy its lush tropical look and numerous practical benefits!
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 blog so that I can continue to provide you with free content.
Turn Your Garden or Homestead into a Profitable Venture
Are you dreaming of turning your love for gardening or homesteading into a steady income? Whether you live on a suburban block or a sprawling rural property, there are countless ways to earn money directly from your land. From selling fresh produce and seeds to hosting workshops or creating digital content, your garden or homestead can become a powerful income stream with the right strategies.
Make Money from Your Garden – No Matter the Size
In this post, you’ll discover 100 creative and practical ways to make money from your garden or homestead. Whether you’re a beginner gardener or a seasoned grower, there’s something here for everyone—from hands-on ideas like growing microgreens and making preserves to online options like starting a garden blog or selling educational resources.
Don’t wait to start living your dream life, start it today!
🎥 Watch: 100 Ways to Make Money From Your Garden or Homestead – Creative Ideas!
Some of these income ideas I’m already doing or currently setting up on my own garden and homestead, while many are still on my “someday” list! But pulling together this list has been incredibly motivating for me, and I hope it gives you plenty of inspiration to get started today, too.
Just a quick note before we begin: Always do your own research and check the local laws, permits, or council requirements in your area before starting any of these ideas. These suggestions are in no particular order, and some links in the description may be affiliate links, which help support this channel at no extra cost to you.
100 ways to make money from your Garden or Homestead
1. Make cuttings to sell – often when pruning your plants, you can replant and make heaps more plants.
2. Sell seedlings – plant extra seeds each season to sell.
3. Sell extra produce at the local markets – a great place to connect with your community.
4. Craft DIY pots and plants – paint fun prints or slogans, upcycle tea cups or whatever it is.
5. Create an ebook – share your knowledge. Ebooks are great because you do the work once and sell it to anyone in the world forever. It can be set up for free so it costs you nothing to start! Try using Canva.
6. Create a garden club in person or online
7. Start an Instagram monetized account or to share links to your shop
8. Start a Facebook monetized page to share links to your shop
9. Start a Tiktok monetized or to share links to your shop
10. Write paid blog posts for companies – use your knowledge to write articles
11. Create a blog – Grow your audience and sell your own products, affiliate links or join ad networks
12. Start a YouTube channel – AdSense, affiliate, sponsored, your products, and grow an audience. This could be anything from sharing your journey, how to do things, or even just funny goat videos, or homestead vlogs
13. Make an online course (gardening, homesteading, growing flowers)
16. Design templates and labels (gardening layout plans, preserves, animal maintenance) Canva makes this so easy.
17. Sell stock images – Businesses need images all the time for their advertising or marketing campaigns. That can be anything from photos of snails, flowers, people picking vegetables, farm dogs, the possibilities are endless. And the great thing is you take the photo once you upload it, and you can be making money for years and years to come. Another great passive income stream that can make you money while you sleep.
18. Hold workshops – If you have a set of skills, then share them with others by holding workshops. This can be absolutely anything from how to grow flowers, how to prune fruit trees, how to build a chicken coop, canning, preserving, cheese making, or whatever it is that you have experience in.
19. Zoom and phone consultations – Whether you have skills and knowledge in Garden design, permaculture, animals, business or whatever it is you can charge an hourly rate to offer phone or video one-on-one consultation.
20. Sell seeds – Saving seeds is a vital part of growing and building a sustainable homestead. Saving seeds can also mean you have far more than you will need so you can sell your extra seeds. You may also be growing rare or unusual fruit and vegetables that you could save and sell seeds from
21. Host retreats – if you have built a beautiful oasis or peaceful garden, why not host retreats for others to feel the inspiration and beauty of your property too. You could include homegrown produce, nature walks, yoga, cooking classes, natural healing with herbs, art, crafts, whatever it is that you are passionate about or have some experience in you can package it up to a retreat. Collaborate and get other guest speakers or artists in to help you offer unique and inspiring experiences.
22. Air BnB – Create small accommodations or rent our part of your home to guests. Get creative, have fun, and offer unique accommodations and experiences. This can work well with many other offerings on your property.
23. Beekeeping – bees are great for aiding in pollination so keeping bees on your property may increase your harvests. You will also be able to harvest honey, beeswax, and honeycomb to eat or sell. If keeping bees is too much, then you can let other beekeepers rent space on your land in return for income or honey.
24. Bed and breakfast – if you have a spare room, cabins, or studios, you can offer bed and breakfast stay with your homegrown produce. This is a unique experience that many people would travel further to stay.
25. Grow specialty crops – such as vanilla bean, saffron, and other rare or special products. These may take time to grow, but time is going to pass anyway. If you have a unique growing environment or a hothouse, you may be able to grow things out of season or tropical fruit and vegetables that others can’t grow.
26. Dried flowers – these are really popular at the moment and last for a long time. You could provide local florists with dried foliage or flowers. You could also produce your own bunches or sell them individually for home decor.
27. Public tours – if your friends and family are wowed by your garden or property, then why not offer paid public tours. Even if you have a small garden, but you utilize it well you may be able to offer advice and show others how they can achieve this too.
28. Microgreens – microgreens are easy to grow and very popular. Restaurants use microgreens as garnishes. Contact your local restaurants and find out if they would be interested in purchasing. They may even be able to tell you which ones they like the most.
29. Trending houseplants – This new craze is unbelievable! If you haven’t heard about variegated monsters, then you may have been living under a rock! One even sold recently in NZ for like $25k! Wild. So take a look at what is trending and you may be able to purchase one plant and make a cutting to make your money back and start profiting. Obviously, there is a risk so be sensible as the plant may die before you make a profit or go out of trend.
30. Medicinal herbs – herbs have historically been used to aid and cure many ailments. With a return to natural living and health, many people are interested in medicinal herbs. Whether you sell wholesale or package your own products, there are many options for selling medicinal herbs.
31. Pressed flower art – press your seasonal flowers and turn them into art.
32. Firewood – extra trees or plant your own trees specifically to harvest for wood.
33. Timber – sell specialty timber for building or crafts
34. Lease or rent part of the property – for other hobby farmers or gardeners. Many people have ideas and dreams of buying land and starting a market garden, cut flowers, free-range eggs, or even just a vegetable patch but want to test the idea or start small with low upfront investments. Offer up spare paddocks or a small plot for a garden and I’m sure you will have many people jumping at the opportunity. Make sure if you do this you get contracts in place so both parties are on the same page.
35. Animal manure – if you have animals, you will have plenty of manure. This is highly sorted after for growing fruit and veggies so if you have extra or more than you need then offer it up for sale. Especially if your property is organic and spray-free, this will be highly valued.
36. Fresh Free-range eggs – nothing beats fresh free-range eggs, and you will have no trouble selling these. Make it fun and get a custom stamp for your farm or chickens. You may also be able to get your local community to drop off used egg cartons to use and recycle. Always make sure with produce you have enough for your family before selling.
37. Worm tea – worm wee and worm casting are gold for the garden! if you have extra then you will easily be able to sell this locally.
38. Mature Animals – this one is self-explanatory, but raising animals to sell.
39. Milk – doesn’t have to be cow milk, goat, sheep, and nut milk are also great niches
40. Cheese – I would love to make my own cheese super fun skill to have and add in other homegrown produce like chilies and herbs.
41. Stud animals – Not everyone wants to keep stud animals, and that is males for breeding. If you have a good quality breeding animal you can hire that out so people can make baby animals…
42. Timber art or signs – Use reclaimed timber of wood you find on your property to make signs. These could be decor, custom-made for events etc
43. Landscape designs – If you are skilled at landscape design, you could do consultation and design or even some basic premade food growing designs to sell.
44. Basket weaving from natural fibers – another one i can’t wait to try is weaving and making baskets. Very popular and useful for vegetable harvesting and farmers’ markets.
45. Create garden starter packs – help beginner gardeners get started with complete start packs. Could be seeds, pot, soil, tools etc
46. Fresh herb containers for kitchen gardens – plant up kitchen herb planters and sell as ready-to-go herbs.
47. Make insect hotels – insects are great for the garden and you can make insect hotels using forages, sticks, and materials you have found around your property.
48. Fresh bread – amazing! and you could add in other homegrown produce like olives, herbs, and sundried tomatoes!
49. Kombucha scoobys – such a weird thing to sell but also very popular! if you are brewing your own kombucha you will likely end up with too many scobbies so you can sell them and even offer tutorials or ebooks on how to make it.
50. Sourdough starters – same as the kombucha, don’t waste the extra sourdough starter, sell it, and offer tips and tricks to newbies. These products that need to be sold locally may help you connect and find like-minded people in your community.
51. Jerky or dried fruits – preserve you extra produce by dehydrating them and selling them as snacks or garnishes to restaurants and bars.
52. Plant labels – have you come up with an innovative plant label idea? It is something that is always a pain point for gardeners, so it would sell like hotcakes.
53. Hay or straw – If you have spare paddocks, why not make some hay or straw for animal feed. to feed your stock but also sell extras.
54. Grow Halloween pumpkins – A Seasonal thing to do is to grow jack-o-lantern pumpkins and sell them to those wanting to carve pumpkins. You can also let people come and pick their own and set up fun displays or photoshoots to market your homestead or brand.
55. Chilli and hot sauce – easy to make and a popular condiment to sell. Make fun labels to help promote your homestead.
56. Wooden spoons, platters, and bowls – you can make beautiful spoons using timber and sticks on your property. This is another one on the top of my to-try list.
57. Recycled or upcycled art – don’t waste leftover supplies. If you are creative, turn them into art or installations to sell.
58. Honesty box/roadside stall – if you want a more set-and-forget option, this is a good one. Make a creative little stall to attract passers-by and sell your extra produce, jams, flowers, and crafts. If you don’t live in a place with lots of through traffic, you could advertise it on your social media or local pages. Be sure to secure the honesty box well and empty it regularly…
59. Affiliate marketing – this is where you can sign up to promote brands and products you love. If people use your links to purchase any products, you will receive a small commission. This can be a really passive way to create income as you just leave links on your videos or website.
60. Paid newsletter – come up with an offer and send out regular paid newsletters. This could be recipes, tips, or guides. I use Convertkit.
61. Hiring out equipment – If you have purchased specialty equipment that you don’t use every day, why not hire it out to those who just want to use it once or twice. This can be things like horse floats, tractors, fencing equipment, woodworking, welders, whatever it is. It could help you pay for the product itself.
62. Strawberry runners – strawberries send off heaps of runners and small plants. You can sell extras for people to start growing their own strawberries quickly.
63. Garlic seed – Sell your leftover garlic as seed for others to grow their own.
64. Wreaths – season-themed wreaths or as decor using foraged foliage, sticks and other materials from your garden.
65. Bugs – for animal feed. Crickets, worms lots of bugs can be sold for animal feed for people with small pets such as lizards etc.
66. Meat – raising animals for meat.
67. Wool from sheep
68. Baby animals/ breeding
69. Christmas Trees – have extra space and not sure what to do. You could plant Christmas trees and people could come and pick out their own.
70. Hatching eggs – sell fertilized eggs for people wanting to raise their own chicken, ducks, or quails.
71. Flower crowns – special occasions, weddings, bridal showers or birthdays. Flower crowns are easy to make and can be kept as keepsakes. You can sell them or even set up workshops and help people make their own.
72. Grazing – allow people to keep their animals on your property if you have extra pasture.
73. Horse agistment – similar to grazing, but a little more infrastructure is involved. Shelter, food, and possibly feeding and putting rugs on and off. But if you have horses and extra space to house more then this can be a very lucrative extra income.
74. Photography shoot location – offer up parts of your property as photoshoot locations. Very easy and if you are creative you could really get into it. Plant a field of sunflowers or if you have a cute cabin, a pond, a themed garden or even just a beautiful veggie patch. Contact local photographers and let them know. Once photographers start using your locations and tagging you its free advertising and you may get more customers.
75. Wedding venue – Very lucrative if you have a beautiful property. you may need to invest in a few things to start with like power etc but for the most part weddings can be set up anywhere as toilets can be hired, food trucks, etc. As you grow you could add more things such as all-weather barns, kitchens, or catering. This would allow you to offer different pricing tiers. and many other things on this list can tie in with wedding venues. Such as Airbnb and cabins can be rented to wedding parties, flower crowns, etc.
76. Grapes for wine – wholesale grapes to vineyards or make your own small-batch wine.
77. Write a book – put your personal experience or skills in a book! Even a photo book for inspiration as a coffee table book.
78. Nature or animal Yoga classes – have fun with it offer locations to local instructors or become one yourself. If you have tranquil locations or I’ve even seen goat yoga! where baby goats hang out and jump on your back.
79. Cooking classes – offer up your skills and teach others to cook or bake using homegrown produce.
80. Seasonal dinner parties – I love this idea as each season should be celebrated. Host beautiful long table dinners using what you have grown or involve other local growers.
81. Create sustainable gift baskets using produce – businesses are often looking for new and exciting gift ideas. Put together some gift baskets and contact local companies. You may even be able to work with them to customize it to suit. Real estate and builders are often great places to start as they gift clients at the end of sale or the finished build of each property.
82. Regular in-season produce subscription box – if you grow plenty of food, offer seasonal produce boxes where people sign up to receive a box of fruit and veggies each week or fortnight with whatever you have from the garden.
83. Sponsored posts – if you have a following on any of your platforms, you may be asked or can reach out to companies for sponsored posts. The reason these work so well is that you have a very specific target audience that is interested in what you are doing. Which is gold for advertisers.
84. Herbal tea blends – Dry your extra organic herbs and make up some fun tea blends.
85. Innovative inventions – ( animal feeders, planting seeds), things that you have come up with to save you time, that could help others.
86. Naturally dyed clothing – use leaves, berries, avocado seed,s and other natural materials to make interesting clothing or fabric.
87. Mulch, sawdust, or woodchips – great for gardens or animal bedding.
88. Hire out specialty areas or infrastructure – stockyards, round pens, arenas, shearing sheds, commercial-grade kitchens, pottery kiln, and things like that.
89. Share knowledge and expertise with consultations – Beekeeping, hydroponics, milking goats, starting a vegetable patch, canning, and preserving. Whatever you have mastered, you can help others set up.
90. Sculptures using clay, timber, or other foraged materials
91. Timber rounds for signs, displays, and platters. This is so simple and very popular! Sliced rounds of wood go for $50 or $100, and people without access to timber will pay for them!
94. Home decor – painted timber, shelves, wall hangings, ladders,
95. Remedial ointments, salves, and lotions
96. Mature fruit trees – you could buy young trees for cheap, $20 – $30 fruit trees, and once they are mature and fruiting, they sell for over $200. Might take a few years, but time will pass anyway.
97. Merchandise. Established brands with the following sell garden-related clothing or home products.
98. Fresh cut flowers – whether you have a roadside stall, sell wholesale to florists, or offer a subscription service where people get a fresh bunch of seasonal flowers delivered on a regular basis. I would love that!
99. Subdivide and sell part of your property – this is not really a recurring income or you would have no land left but if you are looking for land to buy maybe if you buy more than you need you can subdivide off a section of it and it could help you go debt-free or pay for a new barn or business idea.
100. Sell baked goods. I’m talking apple crumble, strawberry tarts, rhubarb pies, lemon meringue pies, ok I love pies…
Keep it simple. Start small and build on it.
Don’t get overwhelmed by these ways to make money from your garden or homestead. Start with your strengths and what excites you the most. This will go a long way to ensuring you succeed. For me, photography, video, and visually creative platforms are my strength and my passion. So those are the areas I have focused on to start with. If you are more social and love interacting with people, maybe holding workshops and garden tours would be more your thing.
Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Focus on you. Focus on what feels exciting and sparks inspiration.
Let me know in the comments what you are starting with or hoping to start next. I would love to know!
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There’s a big change happening in the food forest… and honestly, this wasn’t an easy decision. This is something I’ve been avoiding for months, but it had to happen. One of my most mature and productive Citrus trees had to be removed. For months, I had been avoiding it, but I want my food forest to be productive and easy to maintain, and this was turning into a maintenance nightmare.. read below to find out what pest has forced me to remove a mature lemon tree and find out the exciting new addition I’ve planted in its place…
🎥 Click play to watch the full transformation:
The Problem: Citrus Gall Wasp
If you are growing citrus in Perth, you may already know the challenges citrus gall wasps can bring. They lay their eggs inside the soft new branches, which swell into lumpy galls and deformed growth that weakens the tree over time. They emerge from the stems as wasps and instantly set about infecting new growth. It’s a constant battle!
Despite careful pruning, timing, and trying to manage the problem organically, the gall wasp pressure on my Lemon tree became too much. Removing a Citrus tree is never ideal, but I was constantly cutting the tree back before the lemons were ripe, and so it was more work than reward. Because I live in an urban environment and many houses have lemon trees nearby, I also relied on others to keep theirs in check. Which, unfortunately, is not a reliable method.
Eventually, I realized that despite loving the productive crops I once had, the best thing to do for my high-density garden was to remove it entirely. If I didn’t have so many trees to care for, I might have chosen to keep it and manage the Citrus Gall wasps by the following methods:
How to Manage Citrus Gall Wasps Organically
Pruning back Galls before they hatch in Winter (prune Feb to June in Perth)
Spray the young branches with Kaolin clay to act as a barrier during spring
Avoid fertilising in winter to reduce new growth around the time the wasps are active.
Regularly check trees as new lumps can form and be hard to see in one go
IMPORTANT: How to Dispose of Citrus Gall Wasps Correctly
Even if you cut the galls off, they can still hatch and not only reinfect your trees, but if you put them in green waste, you could infect new areas by transporting them. Here are some ways to dispose of the galls you remove to help stop the spread of Citrus Gall Wasp.
Place galls in a plastic bag and solarize them in the sun for at least 4 weeks.
Burn in the fire (check fire bans).
Solarize, then run through a mulcher, or mulcher then ferment for fertilizer in an air-tight container
Due to the amount of galls I had on my lemon tree, I went with the third option. I mulched the stems to break open the galls and then put them in a large bucket filled with water and a lid to rot down and make some fertilizer to feed my garden.
What I planted instead
In an urban garden, space is valuable, and with space finally opened up, I had the chance to plant something new and very exciting! I chose a tree that I’ve been wanting to grow for a long time, and I have had it waiting in a pot for the perfect spot. This was the giant avocado. Unlike regular avocados, the fruit on this tree grows to be up to x5 bigger! It is a fun and novel thing to grow because it’s unusual and not often found in the shops – I paid $10 for 1 Avocado the size of my staffys face and I’ve only seen them once before! I managed to find a grafted tree, and I have had it growing in a pot for a few years. I love growing weird and unusual fruits, so I’m very excited to see the potential crops this tree brings. Plus, I LOVE Avocados and have quite a few rare varieties in my collection.
Continuing to Expand my Front Yard Food Forest
While I wasn’t happy about losing my most productive fruit tree, I have been continuing to grow and plant more fruit trees in my front yard food forest. What was once a patch of plain grass is now densely planted with many weird and unusual fruit trees, herbs, perennials, and mulch plants. Plus, my beloved mini pond that currently has frogs!
I focus on variety over quantity in my food forest garden—I’d rather harvest small amounts from 10 different fruit types than be overwhelmed with one massive harvest. This diversity keeps the garden productive year-round, helps with pest resilience, and makes gardening much more exciting!
Know when to let go: Sometimes removing a tree is the best long-term decision, even if it feels hard in the moment.
Plant with diversity in mind: A mix of fruit types spreads out harvests and gives you fruit throughout the year
Manage pests regularly: Check your trees for gall wasp lumps regularly, especially at the end of summer and autumn. Prune before spring and dispose of affected material properly.
Look at change as an opportunity: Removing one tree makes room for something new, and sometimes, even better.
Like every garden, this space is constantly evolving. Sometimes we have to make the tough calls, but that’s part of growing a resilient, productive food forest — especially in an urban setting. Let me know in the comments what you would have planted instead — and I’ll keep you updated on how the avocado (and all the new fruit trees) settle in!
