Winter greens are in abundance and it is the perfect time of year to enjoy warm, nourishing soups. This garden green soup is full of greens that are only lightly cooked, so they retain as much of their nutrients as possible. This soup will make the perfect winter starter or lunch and can be made using any greens you have growing in the garden.
Nourishing Garden Green Soup
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Packed full of fresh nutritious greens from the garden, this soup is delicious served both warm and cold.
Ingredients
1 medium Brown Onion
2 cloves of Garlic
4-5 Rainbow chard leaves
10 Sweet Potato leaves
2 Broccoli or Cauliflower leaves
1 Sprig of Mint (10 leaves)
3 Sprigs of Fennel Frond leaves
2 Sprigs of Parsley (1/2 cup)
2-3 Nasturtium leaves
1 Tbsp Tamari (or soy sauce)
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 tsp ground Cumin
1/2 cup Coconut Milk
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
3/4 cup Water
Instructions
1. Finely dice the onion. Add oil to a frypan on medium-low heat and cook the onion for 10 minutes or until slightly golden.
2. Add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add in the cumin and cinnamon and stir to mix, cooking for a further 1 minute.
3. Add in the coconut milk, Tamari, and 3/4 cup of water. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. Rinse your greens and remove the stems.
5. Fill a wide bowl with cold water and ice and place it beside the stove. Place a wide pan, (or wok) on medium heat with 3-4 inches of water. Heat until the water is simmering.
6. Blanch your leaves in the simmering water and then add to the iced water to cool. This will lightly cook the leaves and help them remain bright vibrant green. Do this in stages with each type of leaf. Blanch the thicker leaves such as Rainbow chard, Broccoli, Cauliflower leaves, and Sweet Potato leaves for 45 seconds. The more delicate leaves such as Mint, Nasturtium, and fennel for 20-30seconds.
7. Strain off the green from the water.
8. Blitz up the cooled onion mixture and greens in a blender or similar (stick mixer, Nutribullet).
9. Transfer the mix to a saucepan and add salt (to taste) and reheat to serve or enjoy cold.
OPTIONAL: Top with mixed seeds (sesame, pumpkin, sunflower), edible flowers, and baby mint and nasturtium leaves. Serve with buttered Toast.
Notes
The Sweet potato and Broccoli leaves can be substituted with other garden greens you have growing in the garden such as Spinach, SilverBeet, Asian greens.
The darker the greens are in colour, the more vibrant green the soup will be.
Satay Rainbow Rolls are healthy, delicious and so easy to make! Once you master the rolls you can mix and match ingredients with what is fresh and growing in your garden. Plus, feel free to swap the halloumi for your favourite protein. These Rainbow Rolls are made using Rainbow Chard but you could also use large Beetroot leaves, Cauliflower leaves, Broccoli leaves, Spinach or even Cabbage leaves. It is important to have flexible recipes that you can make using what you have available in your garden and these rainbow rolls are definitely a versatile option for your Garden to Plate meals.
Satay Rainbow Rolls
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 37 minutes
Ingredients
3 Large Rainbow Chard leaves
1 Carrot
1 cup finely chopped Red Cabbage
1 /4 of a Red Capsicum
4 Lettuce leaves
1/2 Avocado
6 Strips of Haloumi (swap for Tofu or Chicken)
Small lemon wedge
2 TBS Peanut Butter
1 tsp Tamari (or soy sauce)
1 tsp hot water
1 tsp brown sugar
Instructions
Mix peanut butter, tamari, water, and sugar in a small bowl until fully combined.
Rinse Haloumi well in water, dry off and place on a plate to coat in a tsp of the Satay Sauce. Keep the remaining sauce for the rolls.
Finely slice your cabbage. Peel and cut your carrots into fine sticks. Slice capsicum, avocado, lettuce, and any other fillings you want into small strips. Squeeze a little lemon onto the avocado to stop it from going brown.
Rinse your Rainbow chard and remove the stems (keep these in a small jar of water and add to any other meal over the next day). Carefully slice off the back ridge of the stem so that it is thinner (see example image below).
In a small pan lightly fry your halloumi until it is slightly golden. About 1minute on each side. Set aside to cool while you prepare the leaf wraps.
Place a large pan of water to simmer. The pan needs to be big enough to fit your leaves. A wok or a wide frypan works best. Place a dish of water with a few ice cubes beside the stovetop to transfer the leaves to after they have blanched. Add your leaves one at a time to the simmering water for 40secounds and then transfer to the iced water. This will soften the leaves and keep them a vibrant green colour.
Once they have cooled place them on a tea towel and carefully dry off the excess water.
Lay the leaves flat with the top facing down. Add your filling to the widest part near the base of the leaves. Ensure there is about an inch of the empty leaf down the sides. Spoon on some sauce above the filling.
Start rolling the leave from the base and then fold the left side in. Do a half roll again and add the right side. Carefully keep rolling and tucking the sides in as best you can. The bigger the leaf and the more room you have, the easier this will be. At the end, you may need to dab some water on the tip of the leaf to allow it to stick.
Rainbow chard is a standout plant in the garden with its vibrant coloured stems and lush green leaves. Chard is super easy to grow and will produce an abundance of edible leaves quickly. You can harvest the outer leaves as you need them and the plant will continue to produce more. This powerhouse vegetable is packed full of vitamins and minerals and can be used in many dishes. It is so versatile!
Watch out for slugs, snails, aphids and caterpillars.
HARVEST
8 + weeks. Harvest outer leaves throughout the season.
REPRODUCE
Biannual. Seed pods appear from a central flowers in the second year of growth.
Rainbow Chard
Rainbow Chard or Swiss Chard is actually part of the Beetroot family – Beta vulgaris. Although Rainbow Chard doesn’t form a root-like beetroot, it does have beautiful lush leaves with colourful stems. Rainbow chard is a staple crop to grow because it produces a lot of food on just a couple of plants. It also adds beautiful colour to your garden and dishes during the winter months.
How to Grow Rainbow Chard
Rainbow Chardlikes cool temperatures and a sunny location. It will also grow in dappled shade at a slower rate which can be good because it is such a generous plant. This slower growth can be a strategic move if you want to plant multiple colour varieties and not be overwhelmed with too much produce. Rainbow Chard grows best in rich, moist soil with a soil pH between 6.0 and 6.8. Plant your seeds or seedlings about 30cm apart in compost-rich soil, and water your seed or seedlings directly after planting. You can direct sow seeds in location or plant them in trays and transplant them when they have produced their first 4 leaves.
When to Plant Rainbow Chard
Rainbow chard can be grown all year round in some climates. It is usually best to grow Rainbow Chard over Autumn and winter as it does not like hot weather. Sow your seeds in the last few months of Summer or during Autumn. Choose a sunny location to plant your Rainbow Chard. You may get away with growing chard over summer if you plant it in a cool shaded area of your garden. In warm weather, the chard leaves will go limp and may get burnt or bolt and go straight to seed. Here in Perth, our summers tend to be too hot for Rainbow Chard but I have had success growing it in shaded areas and making sure it receives water in the mornings. Rainbow chard can handle some frosts.
Care/ Maintenance
Rainbow Chard grows in such abundance so it is best to pick the outer leaves regularly. Keep the plants well-watered on warm days.
Pests / Disease
Chard is pretty hardy against pests but slugs, snails and slatters can be a problem, especially while the plants are young. Plant a few extras throughout your garden and you will be sure to have more than enough chard to eat! Click here for more natural pet management to help keep the pests at bay.
Reproducing / Saving Seeds
Chard seeds can be saved but they usually will only go to seed after their second season as they are Biennial crops. Once the weather gets too hot they will send up flowers and these will turn to seeds. Save the seeds and keep them in a cool, dry, dark space to plant the following Autumn.
Cooking and using Rainbow Chard
Rainbow chard not only brings colour to the garden, but also to the plate. Use chard leaves just like spinach and the colourful stems can be stir-fried, sautéed or even pickled. Add Rainbow Chard to the end of any meal such as curry, soup, stir-fry, omelette or in a salad. Just like spinach, chard cooks down to a small amount so don’t be afraid to add in a little extra. The leaves can be blanched and used to make wraps or dolmades. The Rainbow Chard leaves can be added to pesto. Sautéed Rainbow Chard in butter and garlic makes a quick and easy side dish.
Preserving the Harvest
Rainbow Chard can be frozen to add to soups and stocks. To prepare the Chard, rinse the leaves and remove the stalks. The stalks will take longer to cook so I like to freeze them separately. Blanch the leaves in boiling water for 40seconds – 1minute then add to a bowl of iced water. Do the same with the stalks but blanch for 2 minutes and then add to the ice water until completely cool. Shake off the excess water and add to freezer bags or ziplock bags. Try to remove as much of the air from the bags as possible to reduce freezer burn. Keep frozen and use within 6 months. The colourful stems can also be pickled and stored in the refrigerator. Another way to use up your harvest is to make pesto and freeze it in ice cubes. This is great to add extra greens to a dish or for a small serving of pesto for entertaining.
Make these Easy Organic Fertilizers at home using everyday ingredients so that you can feed your plants naturally and grow lots more food! It is important to feed your plants as they use up the nutrients in the soil to grow and produce food. It is also important to use organic, natural fertilizers so that we..
1 – don’t consume harmful synthetic toxins but also..
2 – don’t have harmful toxins upsetting the microbiology and killing off all the amazing beneficial insects and pollinators.
There are a bunch of natural ingredients you use every day that can be easily turned into natural, organic fertilizers to help feed and nourish your plants. There are also some plants that you can specifically grow to make your own organic fertilizers. Keep reading below to find out how you can level up your garden’s production with these easy organic fertilizers.
Plus, it’s a great way to reduce waste and get the most out of everything in your home. We can be so quick to throw things out or put them straight in the compost but many items can be used again first! This also means you are getting more bang for your buck and saves you spending money on fertilizers. So you can spend more money on plants.
The water that is left behind after rice has been cooked makes an easy organic fertilizer for your plants. It contains starch and small amounts of NPK. Which are Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium. These are all essential for plant health and growth. In basic terms, Nitrogen is good for producing leaves and greens but if your soil is too high in Nitrogen, you will get all leaves and no actual fruit or vegetable. Phosphorus is good for cell growth and division, so it is essential for seedlings. Potassium is great for promoting fruiting and flowering in plants. Having a good balance of NPK in your soil is important. As your plants grow they will use up different levels of each so it is important to replenish with fertilizers.
The NPK in Rice water is low in quantity so you won’t have to worry about over-fertilizing and it helps you build healthy soil, whilst minimizing waste. Make sure that you don’t add salt to the water or this will not be good for your plants. It is also important to make sure the water has completely cooled down first. Use the rice water fresh as you make it as it doesn’t store well.
2. Pasta Water
Just like the rice water, pasta water will leave behind starch, which can be used to feed your plants. Dilute the mixture if it looks too cloudy or there is not much liquid and this will give you more fertilizer and ensure you don’t overfeed.
3. Potato Water
When you have boiled potatoes, the leftover water will be full of starch and beneficial nutrients. Again, similar to the Rice and Pasta, make sure you haven’t added salt and let the water cool completely.
4. Eggshell Water
Don’t throw out the water left over after boiling eggs. Let it cool, and use it to feed and water your plants. This is such an easy organic fertilizer! This water will add a small boost of nutrients and calcium to the soil. You can also boil leftover eggshells that have been cracked to fry eggs or have been used for baking. Then after that, crush up the eggshells and add them to the compost for extra calcium or sprinkle them around your seedlings as natural pest control to help deter slugs and snails. There are so many ways eggshells can be used to boost your garden’s health.
5. Vegetable Water
Reuse the leftover water from boiling or steaming vegetables as a natural organic fertilizer. For most vegetables that you boil or steam, the water can be used to fertilize your plants. Just be aware that some ingredients may cause strong odors so for Brassicas, Broccoli, Cauliflower, or Cabbage. Only use on outdoor plants as the water will start to have a strong odor. No one wants their house to start smelling like farts!
6. Banana Peels
Banana peels are something that many of us have at home, and they make a great natural fertilizer for your plants. As many of you might know, bananas are high in Potassium and in the plant world Potassium is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Here in Perth, our sandy soils often leach out Potassium, so it is important that we add it back in regularly. Fruiting plants can often require extra Potassium to produce good yields, improve the flavour of the fruit, and increase flower production. Potassium also helps strengthen plants – it thickens their cell walls to make them grow big and strong. I will often prioritize feeding my fruit trees when I’m making this Banana Peel Fertilizer.
There are a few different ways to make Banana Peel Fertilizer and I rotate through using them all. The easiest way by far is just to put the peel in the compost or bury the banana peel in the garden. This will slowly break down and release nutrients into the soil to feed your plants. However, there are a few ways to speed up the process of extracting the nutrients.
Chop up your banana peel and add it to a jar of water. I leave this on my bench with a cloth over the top. You don’t want bugs to get in, but you want it to breathe. Then over the next few days, as I only eat one banana a day, I add it to the jar. You can start using this after one day, but I like to let mine go for about 3 day,s stirring it each time I add another peel. Then you can strain off the banana peels, keep them to add to the compost or bury them in the garden. Then dilute your water by 50% or more. If I just have one banana peel, I may not dilute I,t but with three, there are plenty of nutrients to be diluted and spread across more plants.
You can also chop up your banana peels and let them dry out in the sun and then blitz them up into a powder. Add this powder to water or just sprinkle it around your plants.
7. Coffee Grounds
Used coffee grounds are great for the garden and can add a boost of nutrition to your plants while building healthy soil. Used coffee grounds ( filtered through water) are nearly pH neutral. They are rich in Nitrogen and Potassium, which are both essential nutrients. Although they are brown in colour, they are rich in Nitrogen, so coffee grounds are classed as “green” when you are composting.
There are heaps of ways to incorporate coffee grounds into your garden. You can add them straight to your compost, sprinkle them around your plants or dilute them with water for a liquid fertilizer. Coffee Grounds are also great for natural pest management and can deter lots of unwanted pests from your delicate seedlings. I have even read that coffee grounds can deter cats, so if you are having a problem with cats in your garden, this is worth a try as it only benefits the soil and the plants.
To make the liquid fertilizer from Coffee Grounds, add a cup of used coffee grounds to a bucket of water and let it sit for a day or so. Then you have a liquid fertilizer to feed your plants. If you don’t have any coffee grounds, try visiting your local barista or cafe as they often just throw away the grounds and would be happy for you to take them off their hands! A win for them, your garden, and the planet!
8. Fish Tank Water
If you have freshwater fish tanks, ponds, or aquaponic systems, the water is a great liquid fertilizer to feed your plants. The fish poop and plant matter will be great for your garden. Don’t use saltwater tank water as this will probably kill your plants, which we don’t want.
If you have freshwater fish tanks, ponds, or aquaponic systems, the water is a great liquid fertilizer to feed your plants. The fish poop and plant matter will be great for your garden. Don’t use saltwater tank water as this will probably kill your plants, which we don’t want.
9. Wood Ash
The leftover ash from your wood fire is great to feed your garden. Use the light grey coloured ash at the bottom of your fireplace not the black chunks of coal. This one can be a little more technical for beginner gardeners so it might be best to try the other fertilizer options first. Wood ash is high in Potassium and raises the pH of your soil. So do not use it on acidic-loving plants such as Blueberries.
It’s best to add wood ash in small quantities and mix it through your gardens or compost so as to not raise the pH of your soil too much (unless this is something you are trying to achieve). Also, it is very important to note: only use wood ash from chemical-free, untreated wood. Burnt wood that is treated with chemicals will still have traces left over and that is not okay for edible plants.
10. Compost Tea
Compost tea is great if you have potted plants and don’t have room to add extra soil to top up the nutrients. To make this easy organic fertilizer, place a few handfuls of compost in a bucket of water and stir. Allow it to sit for 2- 24 hours to mix and infuse into the water. With all fertilizers, use rainwater when possible, as tap water is often treated with chemicals that can actually kill off all the good bacteria that we are trying to feed. If you only have access to tap water, you can let it sit in a bucket for a day, and a lot of the chlorine will evaporate off. Next time it’s raining, chuck a bucket out and capture some of that amazing natural water to use. It really does make a big difference!
11. Liquid Seaweed
You can buy organic seaweed concentrates to mix with water and make liquid fertilizers. This is something that I always have on hand and is the only fertilizer that I buy. But, if you live near the ocean, you can make your own! Be aware of your local rules and regulations as it is illegal to remove seaweed in some locations. Even if it has washed up on the beach. If you can source seaweed, ferment it in a bucket of water for a week or more, and brew up your own organic fertilizer. Once the water is a dark colour, it will definitely have a strong, smelly pong to it! Strain off the liquid and dilute it with more water. Add the leftover seaweed to the compost or the garden to fully break down asa slow-release fertilizer.
12. Comfrey Tea
Comfrey is great to grow in your garden, purely to help you build good soil. The Comfrey plant contains high levels of NPK, which as we now know are essential for plant health. It also contains many other beneficial nutrients and minerals. Comfrey also provides a great cover for your soil and a habitat for beneficial insects. It also has beautiful flowers for pollinators. Because of all these great relationships, Comfrey is a top permaculture plant. If you plan on growing your own food, you may as well grow your own organic fertilizer!
Comfrey has deep roots that go deep down and draw up all the good nutrients. It produces lots of big, lush leaves, which can add great plant matter, nutrients and fibre to your soils. Sandy or clay-rich soils need lots of fibre added to either help retain moisture (sandy soils) or break up the soil and allow better drainage (clay-rich soils). Here in Perth, my soils are super sandy. I often chop and drop layers of mulch to add more fibre and help reduce the concentration of sand. Sandy soils let all the moisture and nutrients drain away and we don’t want that!
Just like the banana peels, there are multiple ways to extract the nutrients from the Comfrey plant. One way is to just “chop and drop”. That is a term I use quite a lot as it’s one of my favourite methods because so easy! It is important to have some easy methods when gardening so that you are more likely to do them regularly. To do the “chop and drop” method, simply chop the leaves off and spread them around your plants as a mulch.
The other way you can use Comfrey leaves is to bury them in the garden. This is great when you are creating new beds or replanting at the end of a season. Add a layer of Comfrey leaves under your compost or topsoil and they will break down and feed your plants.
Another way to extract the nutrients from the Comfrey plant is to chop the leaves off and chuck them in a bucket of water to ferment. Make sure you place some sort of breathable fabric on top, otherwise, you may also breed some mosquitoes! Once they start rotting down over 1-2 weeks (yes, heads up… this will smell), give them a stir to help release the nutrients into the water. Then you can strain off the leaves – chuck them in the compost or garden and dilute your tea down to feed your plants. I use an easy Spray gun that automatically dilutes the mix.
13. Worm Tea/ Wee
Worm farms are a great way to use up excess food scraps at home and they also produce liquid fertilizer for free! It is full of amazing nutrients that your plants will LOVE! Worms are absolute powerhouses for edible gardens and an incredible asset to any home garden. Plus, you can farm your own organic fertilizers with very little effort!
14. Poo Tea / Composted Animal Manure Fertilizer
Composted animal manure is great for feeding the garden. Don’t use fresh, raw manure as it is high in urea and will burn the roots of your small plants. Composted or aged manure is best to use in your home gardens. Ensure that it is organic manure so it doesn’t have residual pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or antibiotics from the animals. It is also important that it is composted so that any grass seeds consumed by the animal are destroyed. Otherwise, you may have lots of grasses and weeds popping up in your garden.
The composted or aged manure can be mixed into your garden beds or mixed with water to make a liquid fertilizer to spray on your gardens. To make easy organic fertilizers from manure, add a handful of aged manure into a bucket of water and allow it to mix and infuse for a day or so. Giving it a good stir every now and then. This water will then be ready to feed your plants.
15. Weed Tea Fertilizer
Weed tea is made just like comfrey tea. It is a great way to turn pesky weeds into something that actually benefits your garden! Weeds thrive and are full of good nutrients that can be turned into easy organic fertilizers. I have a video on how to make weed tea so I will link that here. The main thing to consider when making weed tea is to kill off and destroy any of the seeds. The rotting process will damage the seeds and stop grasses from being spread around your garden.
Click to WATCH or Read below – 15 Easy Organic Fertilizers to Make at Home
There are so many ways to make easy Organic Fertilizers at home to feed your plants, reduce waste and grow lots more nutritious food! Let me know what you use? Do you use any of these methods or do you have other natural fertilizers?
EXTRA TIP: When using fertilizers in the garden, pull back the mulch to apply the fertilizer. Otherwise, the bark or mulch may absorb all the nutrients and they won’t make it to the plant’s root systems. Pull back the mulch, apply the fertilizer and wait for it to absorb into the soil before recovering with the mulch.
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Easy steps on how to overwinter your chilli and capsicum plants to have mature plants and bigger harvests for next season. If you have grown chillies, peppers or capsicums over the summer months, you may be able to overwinter them to keep for the next season. Around this time of year, in Autumn, you will notice your chilli and capsicum plants start to die off, lose their leaves or stop producing full-sized fruit. Chilli or peppers are warm-loving plants and do not like the cooler days of autumn and winter. It is around this time that aphids and other bugs will arrive and attack your plants when they are in a vulnerable state. Rather than ripping them out and starting again next season, you can prepare to overwinter your plants.
What does “Overwintering” Mean?
“Overwintering” is a term used when you prepare your plants to keep them alive/ semi-dormant through winter, and then they will be able to be planted out during the warmer spring months. Some plants are classed as annuals because they die off in cool weather, and then you need to replant them in Spring and Summer. But if you overwinter them and keep them somewhere warm, you will be able to convert them into perennials and grow more food without spending any extra money next season.
Why do you Overwinter Chilli Plants?
There are some great benefits to overwintering your plants. They already have an established root system, and this means the plant will be able to start back up again when the conditions are right and will produce quicker and in more abundance than a new young plant. This means your second-year chilli or capsicum harvests will often be earlier and much more fruitful! Which is definitely something we want!
How to Overwinter Chilli Pepper plants?
There are a few ways to overwinter your chilli and capsicum, and most of it comes down to how cold your climate is. Here in Perth, we get very little frost so I leave my plants where they are over winter. If you live in a colder climate where you get dramatic drops in temperature and frosts, then you will want to pot up your chilli and bring them into a warm spot in your patio, greenhouse or inside. I grow mine in my pallet planters, which, in winter, I move so they receive sun nearly all day. They are also in a sheltered spot close to the house and fence, so they seem to do well overwintering in situ.
The two chilli plants I have in this planter have been here for 2 or 3 seasons and produced so many chillies this summer!
To prepare them for winter:
1. Prune Your Plants
I cut the plants back to around 50% or about 20 cm high. This can seem brutal, but it means the plant has fewer branches to feed and can concentrate its energy on staying alive. Make your cuts at “major intersections”. This is where multiple stems shoot out from one node.
2. Keep Them Frost Free
If you live in a colder climate that gets frosts, then carefully dig your plants out of the garden and plant them in a pot. Keep your potted chilli plant somewhere warm and sunny until the last frost has passed in Spring before planting them back out.
How to Prepare Overwintered Chilli Plants for Spring?
Once spring arrives and there are no more frosty days, plant the potted Chilli plants back into a warm, full sun location. Give the plants a good feed of organic seaweed fertiliser and they will shoot off lots of new growth. It won’t take long until they will have new growth and will start producing flowers and fruit.
If you have any questions on how to overwinter chilli pepper plants, leave me a comment below 🙂
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On a journey to grow your own food and live more sustainably, it is important to grow a selection of staple base crops to set yourself up for success. Base crops are ones that produce a large amount of food and will provide a great platform to build complete dishes. Just like we have staples in the pantry to create meals, it is important to have staples in the garden to carry us through each season. Base crops are easy to grow, harvest and store and will provide a good level of calorie-dense nutrition and carbohydrates. They also include things that can be grown in bulk and used throughout the year. Below are some of my favourite annual base crops.
Autumn / WinterCrops
Cabbage
Cabbage is a hearty winter vegetable to grow that provides a lot of food for one plant. A single cabbage can go a long way when creating meals for your family. Cabbage can be preserved to use throughout the year by fermenting it and making sauerkraut. This is a great way to use up lots of your cabbage and is also great for your gut health. Cabbage is a great way to bulk up salads, stirfries, or sauteed as a side dish of its own. Cabbage can also be used for bunless burgers and steaks. I can’t wait to showcase as many cabbage recipes as I can.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is another hearty winter crop that can be the base of many different meals. You can also use the leaves of the cauliflower as another form of leafy greens for vitamins and nutrients. Cauliflower can be pickled or frozen to use throughout the year. Cauliflower has so many uses and can be used to replace rice and flour in many dishes. Cauliflower can be blitzed to make pizza bases, bread, rice, pasta, or a substitute for mashed potato. Cauliflower can be roasted whole or the florets used in stirfries, curry, and soups. You can also slice it into steaks and oven-roast it. There are just so many ways to create wholesome dishes with the humble cauliflower. Cauliflower sushi is one of my favourites! Cauliflower also comes in many varieties and colours including purples and green!
Onions
Onions are the base of many dishes and are a staple flavour-enhancing vegetable. The great thing about onions is that they store well and can be dried and kept for many months after harvesting. Onions can also be dehydrated, pickled or frozen to use throughout the year. They are also easy vegetables to grow and grow well in many different conditions. Onions prefer the cooler weather of Autumn here in Western Australia and in colder climates, they can be sown in Spring. The onion family come in many shapes and sizes from spring onions, red onions, bunching onion, pickling onions, white onions and many more. They are a great staple vegetable to add flavour to many dishes.
Garlic
Just like the onions, Garlic is another staple flavour enhancer. You can grow a large crop of garlic and use it throughout the year. Garlic is not only great for enhancing the flavour of your food but is also medicinal with antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. It is a great allrounder for your health, home and kitchen needs.
Rainbow Chard
Rainbow chard or Swiss Chard are powerhouse greens for your edible garden. They are easy to grow and produce an abundance of nutrient-dense food. You can pickle or freeze your extra produce to eat throughout the year. I choose to grow the rainbow chard because I love the pop of colour in my winter garden and in the meals I produce with it. You can use chard in so many dishes from stirfries, curry, soup, omelette, pesto, salads and as a stand-alone side dish. Chard can also be used as an alternative to wraps.
Spring / SummerCrops
Pumpkins
Pumpkins are a fantastic vegetable to grow as they produce a lot of food and can be easily stored to use throughout the year. Pumpkins are easy to grow and prefer warm dry weather. It is important to water pumpkins in the morning or under the leaves as they can be prone to mildew if their leaves remain moist for too long. Pumpkins can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes and a single pumpkin can go a long way to help provide garden-to-plate meals. Watch how to preserve pumpkins for storage in this linked video.
Sweet Potato
Growing Sweet Potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) in your home garden is a great step towards self-sufficiency. Sweet Potatoes are my favourite permaculture plant and are an easy crop to grow for beginner gardeners. It is important to grow plants that support and encourage other plants and beneficial insects in your garden. Creating a cohesive ecosystem that promotes the growth and success of your garden’s health and supports abundant harvests. The leaves of the sweet potato are also edible which provides a great source of greens whilst your crop is growing. Sweet potato are very versatile in the kitchen and can be used for both sweet and savoury dishes.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are a plant that grows in abundance during summer and can easily be preserved to use throughout the year. You can grow a huge amount of tomatoes on just a few plants which makes them a great staple for self-sufficiency. You can preserve your tomatoes by canning, bottling, making sauce, chutney, relish, soup, dehydrating or simply freezing them whole. Whole frozen tomatoes can be used to make sauces or relish at a later date or added to soups and dishes throughout the year.
Beans
Beans are another vegetable that produces a huge abundance in a small time frame. You can grow a lot of beans in a small space by creating a vertical trellis to grow them up. Beans can be frozen, fermented, or bottled/canned to preserve for use throughout the year. Beans are an easy vegetable to throw into many meals such as stir-fries, curries, soups, salads, and as a side dish on their own.
Fruit Trees
Apple
Apple trees are a great staple fruit tree for a home garden because they can be used in so many ways. Apples are an extremely versatile fruit. You can preserve apples by freezing slices or puree, dehydrating or canning in juice or syrup. Apples can be used to form the base of many homemade sauce recipes, relish, chutney and jams. Apple sauce can even be added to baking in replace of eggs to retain moisture as well as to bulk up a fruit pie.
Lemon
Lemon is another great staple tree to start with on your journey to self-sufficiency. Lemons can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes and are a great flavour enhancer. Lemons can also be used to aid health and wellness or in-home cleaning products. They are a staple all-round fruit. You can preserve lemons by dehydrating, juicing, freezing, preserving in salt, or making into lemon butter.
Choosing what vegetables to grow at home can be so hard! But this selection of staples will help you form a good base to work from. Having vegetables preserved will help you during the slower months or when your garden is transitioning between seasons.
Autumn is often a slow time in my urban permaculture garden. Summer annuals are ending and the Winter seeds and seedlings are not yet up and running. There is a calmness to autumn which I love. I have filmed a new garden tour of my Urban Permaculture Gardens that you can watch below. For more garden tours and videos head over and subscribe to my YouTube Channel. That way you will get a notification each time I upload a new video (hopefully weekly!).
Here come the Feijoas!
Growing Feijoas here in Perth is a little piece of home that I cherish. They are the first fruit trees we planted here at our house and I have been lovingly caring for them for the past 5 years. Every year I get so excited and hope for fruit. They started producing in their 3rd year with just a couple of small fruit. The next year there was around 10 and this year there will be over 30. Hopefully now, each year there will be hundreds! Gardening definitely requires some patience, but it is so worth it in the end. I am celebrating this win!
What are Feijoas and Why Grow Them?
I definitely need to do a whole video on the Feijoa as they are one of my favourite fruit trees for any home garden. Feijoa or Pineapple Guava – Acca sellowiana is an evergreen fruit tree. They produce fragrant green fruit that are sweet and taste like a mix of pineapple /guava. Feijoa foliage is lush, thick, and grows quickly, which makes them a great option for a hedge or fence screening. Plus, an edible hedge is the best kind of hedge! They are also known to have fire retardant qualities so it can be a good idea to plant along with your fire-prone boundaries.
Most feijoa plants are self-pollinating, however, having multiple trees will increase your pollination rate and produce better yields. I highly recommend choosing named varieties rather than generic seedlings as they produce much quicker and better quality fruit. You can find these at your local fruit tree nursery.
Autumn Urban Permaculture Garden
My summer annuals have just about all finished with just some basil and capsicums holding on. All my winter seeds and seedling are in and are starting to take off with a little bit of recent rain. This can be a slow time in the garden but I do have some cross-overs with my fruit trees and perennials to keep my food production up. The Feijoa and Hawaiian Guava are starting to ripen and the Lemons are coming through thick and fast. I also have plenty of sweet potatoes which not only provide large tubers for eating but also bucket loads of edible leaves which can be a great substitute for spinach. The banana capsicums are still producing and I have lots of herbs such as basil, parsley, rosemary, and sage. So there are still plenty of meals to be made using my homegrown ingredients.
Edible Front Garden
My front garden has transformed from a pumpkin patch into a cabbage patch with lots of red cabbage and brassicas. I have also interplanted with rainbow chard and flowers. It is a great space for all my larger vegetables as they take up too much real estate in the pallet planters. The front fruit trees are flourishing and I have one blood orange fruit, 3 lemonades, and a million baby limes coming through.
Pallet Planter Boxes
The pallet planters are where I grow most of my annuals and quick-picking greens and herbs. These are great because I can move them about to get the best sunlight during the winter months. In summer I am busy doing the opposite and giving them shade from the burning heat! My pallet planters are all mixed in with lots of brassicas, rainbow chard, edible flowers, lettuce, onion, and Asian greens. I also plant radish in between all my crops because they are ready to harvest from seed in just 28 days, so they will be ready before the main crops are overcrowded. This is a great way to maximize space in a small urban garden. Plus it’s a great way to get some quick food during a slower transition phase in the garden.
It is important to take down notes at the end of a season and that way you can make improvements for the next one. I have created these seasonal gardening review sheets which have helped me establish when things fruit and where the gaps are in my food production.
Let me know if you would like to see more regular garden tours maybe Monthly?
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!
Preserving herbs from your garden is a great way to make the most of their abundance and store them for the winter months when many herbs will not be growing. Herbs are a great way to add flavour to any dish and once you make your own dried mixed herbs you will never want to buy them ever again!
Click below to watch
In this video I share how I pick, dry and preserve my herbs for both a dried mixed herb blend and also to make tea blends.
Why Grow Herbs?
Herbs are the easiest thing to start growing because they are hardy and less susceptible to pests. They also do not require a lot of room to grow. So you can grow herbs in pots or containers if you do not have room for a garden. It is absolutely achievable and you never know where the journey will take you.
Grow Abundant Herbs
Nature provides so much abundance when we learn to see and utilise it. Sometimes cutting your plants can spark new growth and they will continue to flourish in new directions. Young new growth is much nicer to eat than the older woody growth too. Preserving your harvests also allows you to slow down and reconnect with where your food comes from. It just feels so right to go out to the garden and pick food that you know exactly what has gone into creating it. No chemicals, pesticides, or nasty sprays.
Basil is a warm climate herb and will start to die off as the temperatures decrease. So harvesting and storing basil will mean I will be able to have it available during winter. Basil also responds so well to being cut. Especially towards the end of the season as it starts going to flower. By cutting the tops off, it will grow out thicker and will also help prolong the life of the plant.
Take Cuttings for Gifts
My rosemary is growing a little wild and has even collapsed in the middle under the weight. So I am going to take some cutting to replant and also harvest a big bunch to dry and preserve. Taking cuttings to regrow will give me new plants to gift and trade. It is always good to have some on the go for last minute gifting.
When to Harvest Herbs?
The best time of day to harvest your herbs is first thing in the morning. This is when the plants are hydrated and full of life. As the day goes on they will lose moisture and not be as fresh and vibrant. Early in the morning, the bees are not yet active. As the sun comes up and the dew drys, the bees will be about in a hive of activity. So if you do pick later in the day just be slow and cautious not stress them out and avoid getting stung.
Take time to Slow Down
Spending time in the garden harvesting and caring for your plants allows so much time to observe and learn from your garden.
To slow down and reconnect. Giving your mind time to think. Some of my most creative ideas come when I can quiet the rest of the world. Harvesting also gives such a sense of pride. That you have grown all this delicious food is so special.
How to Preserve and Dry Herbs?
To preserve these herbs I first rinse them off in the sink. Next, I separate the stems and lay the leaves out on my dehydrator trays. I put a layer of brown baking paper to stop them from falling through the tray grid. I keep and reuse the brown baking paper for future dehydrating. I then pop them in the dehydrator on the lowest temperature setting. Between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius. You can also do this in the oven but just be aware it may take 5-8 hours to dry depending on the thickness of the herbs. So it is important you are home when using the oven. To air-dry your herbs, hang them upside down but make sure you have a dry and warm climate. If you live in an area with humidity I would avoid air-drying. You want the herbs to dry as fast as possible.
Dry the herbs until they feel crispy as you do not want any moisture still left in the leaves. If there is still moisture they may spoil or grow mould in the storage process.
Once they are completely dry you can pop them straight into clean, dry jars or storage containers. If you want to save room you can crush them up using a mortar and pestle. Mix some of your herbs together to make a mixed her blend ready for all your winter soups and meals.
Share and Inspire Others
These dried herbs also make great gifts. Taking gifts from your garden to friends and family is something that should become a regular ritual. They will so feel special and you will also feel joy and pride in sharing your homegrown produce. Sharing from the garden can also spark others to try to grow their own food too. You have no idea how many people can be inspired to make changes from your single action of sharing. It should be the way of the future. Because what we are doing in the world right now is not sustainable.
I hope you feel inspired to grow your own herbs at home and make your own dried mixed herbs. They are so easy to make and so vibrant and full of flavour. Nothing like the dull grey herbs you find at the supermarket.
If you have any questions leave me a comment below.
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 for you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
This curried sweet potato soup is my FAVOURITE! Preparing batches of soup is a great way to have extra meals on hand in the freezer. Preparing meals ahead of time means you will have options for a quick and easy lunch or dinner and won’t be as tempted to buy takeout. Saving you money and a more eco-friendly option.
This sweet potato soup is topped with vegetable peel chips which taste amazing! So crunchy and quick to make. You can make these with any meals you are making where you want to peel the vegetables first. For this soup, you don’t need to peel the vegetables first but I like to just so I can create these crunchy chips to serve on top! A great way to get kids more excited for soups.
Curried Sweet Potato Soup
Yield: Serves 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour35 minutes
This hearty, winter warming soup is packed full of flavour and topped with crunchy vegetable skin chips. A great way to get the most out of your Sweet Potatoes.
Ingredients
3 Medium Sweet Potato
2 Carrots
1 Fresh Red Chilli
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Medium Onion
1 Can Organic Coconut milk or Cream (400ml)
1 tsp Coconut oil
1 TBS Curry Powder
1 TBS Tumeric Powder
1 tsp Mixed Dried Herbs
2 tsp Tamari Sauce
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tsp Salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius on fan bake.
Wash and peel the vegetables placing the skins in a bowl, coat with the coconut oil, and set aside. Roughly chop the Sweet Potato into 5cm Chunks. Cut the carrots lengthwise down the middle and in half across the width.
Place the chopped vegetables in a roasting dish and coat them in vegetable oil. Sprinkle on the Curry Powder, Tumeric, and mixed herbs and mix to coat.
Cook in the oven for 45-50minutes until slightly golden and easy to pierce with a fork.
While that is cooking dice up your onion and add to the frypan with 1 TBSP oil and saute until cooked. Add in the garlic and chilli and cook for a further few minutes until the garlic is slightly brown. Remove from the heat and add to a large pot.
Once the vegetables are cooked add them to the large pot along with the onion mix. Add 1/2 cup hot water to the roasting pan and use a spoon to get all the flavor off the bottom and side. Add this to the pot too.
Pour in the can of coconut milk or cream. Then add half of the can with water and stir to get the residual coconut milk from the sides. Add this to the pot too.
Add the tamari, salt, and apple cider vinegar to the pot and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes mashing the vegetables in every now and then. Once the vegetables have all been integrated and mashed. Turn the heat off and allow it to cool slightly.
Place your vegetable skins on a baking tray and sprinkle with a little salt. Cook at 190 degrees celsius for about 5 minutes turning once halfway through. Keep an eye on them as they are so thin they will overcook easily. Remove when they are golden and slightly crispy. They will also crisp up as they cool.
Blend your soup. I like to use a stick mixer in the same pot but you could do two batches in a blender ( just be careful not to blend very hot soup or it may explode out the top!).
Add your soup to a bowl and top with the crunchy skins. I have also added basil flowers and baby sweet potato leaves to serve.
Notes
You can swap out some of the sweet Potato or Carrot for Pumpkin or Potato. To make a Thai Style soup just add a crushed lemongrass stalk in to the pot while it simmers, then remove before you blend it.
Growing your own homegrown fruit and vegetables does not automatically equal natural, healthy food. We are sold so many things for our home gardens that are actually toxic or full of nasty chemicals.
What we put into our soils will be drawn up through the plants and into the food they produce. Some plants will accumulate and retain more chemical and trace elements than others. Root vegetables and leafy greens are more at risk than those that form from flowers such as fruit, broccoli, eggplant, melons etc. Root vegetables such as carrots and potatoes have constant and direct contact with any contaminants in the soil or water. Fruit bearing plants will often be able to process and reduce any contaminants before it reaches the reproductive flowers and fruit.
Choosing to grow in toxic free soil and not using chemicals or pesticides on your plants will mean your food will be less at risk for harmful contamination. Growing food naturally and sustainably is a big learning journey and below are some ways to avoid harmful contaminants in your food. Actionable steps to grow food naturally and avoid any nasties at the shops.
1. Choose Organic Soil
The soil you grow your food in is absolute key! Not all soils are made the same. Spend a little time doing some research to determine if the soil you are purchasing is organic and free from any nasties. Ask questions, read labels and it may cost a little extra but it will be worth it! Do the same with composts and animal manure. Animal manure is great for your gardens but it is important to know what you are buying! Animals that are eating food with chemicals and sprays or are on medications may transfer contaminates through to their manure. Once you have your base soil sorted, composting and building soil at home is a great way to top up your garden beds with your own organic soil.
2. Select your Seeds and Seedlings Wisely
Seeds can be coated in chemicals! This was something I did not realise when I started this journey. “Roundup Ready seed” was not a term I had heard before but now I can’t un-hear it. Many seeds created by large manufacturers are coated in pesticides so you can spray for weeds and bugs without killing the seed. If you have ever bought seeds that are bright pink or other unnatural looking colours with speckles, this is most likely why. It’s hard to find information on what chemicals or pesticides these coatings contain and I would just avoid them all together. These seeds are also often grown in contaminated soils with chemical fertilisers and pesticides to mass produce large, productive plants to save seeds from.
The best seeds to purchase are heirloom varieties from local distributors. Choosing seeds that have been grown organically in your local area will have a higher success rate. These plants will be adapted to your local climate rather than those imported and grown in a completely different climate. You can find local seed suppliers at your nearest nurseries and plant stores. Take a look online as well to find local organic seed companies. It all starts with a single seed.
Seedlings will be exactly the same. Choose local, organic seedlings and ask questions. Seedlings for mass production will often be grown from pesticide coated or genetically modified seeds, fed with synthetic fertilizers to boost their growth and provide the public with a product that will have a “high success rate”. But of course that does not equate to natural healthy food. A little bit of research and you will find lots of healthy seedlings to purchase. Farmers markets can also be a great place to find locally grown seedlings and you will be able to find out directly from the grower what has gone into their production.
3. Use Natural Pest Management
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. Traditionally, gardeners are taught and marketed to 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.
Growing food naturally and sustainably can often mean we need to relearn old ways and not be afraid to fail. Ditch the need to constantly control the situation and start working with nature to find a balance. A balanced ecosystem where everything works together will not only be healthier for you but also less work in the long run.
There are lots of ways we can use what we have to add healthy vitamins and nutrients into our soil. These will help replenish what the plants have extracted from the soil and give your new plants a boost they need to thrive. Natural fertiliser ideas such as:
Weed Tea– are your weeds thriving? They will be full of vitamin and minerals that can be fermented into a fertiliser for your gardens.
Composting – Composting is a great way to return plant matter and nutrients back into the soil.
Worm Farms and Worm Tea – worms are powerhouses in the garden! Harness their energy by starting a worm farm and turn your recycling and scraps into nutrient rich fertilisers.
Banana Skins or Banana Tea Fertiliser – Chop and sprinkle banana skins in your soil or add to water to make a potassium rich natural fertiliser. This is great for fruiting trees as it promotes fruit production.
Coffee Grounds – Coffee grounds are high in potassium and nitrogen which are both great for the garden. By themselves, they can be quite acidic, so its best to add them into your compost or mix through soil and spread it out.
Mulching – mulching not only helps retain moisture in your soils but also add nutrients as it breaks down. Each time you add fresh mulch on top you are adding new layers of soil. So it is again important to choose natural and organic mulch.
Chop and drop – this is a technique I use often with my gardens. It can look a little messy but adds nutrients back into the soil. When you trim your trees roughly chop up the branches and place them on the surface of your gardens as mulch. This works best with fruit trees or low maintenance gardens. Fruit trees will benefit from the fungal activity of the branches as they break down.
5. Grow away from Roadsides and Contaminates
Cars and high traffic areas will give off a lot of atmospheric pollution. It is best to avoid growing in these places. There are a few ways you can reduce the risk of your gardens being contaminated such as:
Plant trees or hedges to create a barrier and diffuse some of the dust and fumes.
Choose to grow fruit trees rather than leafy greens to avoid directly consuming the contaminates.
Be sure to wash the fruit well before use.
6. Buy Local and Organic
If you are supplementing your food supply with bought produce, choose to purchase local and organically grown for a reduced risk of contamination. Knowing where your food has come from and being able to talk to the grower will give you peace of mind in what you are consuming. There is so much unknown in what goes into fruit and vegetables at the supermarket. Many vegetables will be grown in contaminated soils, constantly sprayed with harmful pesticides and chemical fertilisers. These accumulate and transfer into the food we eat. Many of these contaminants will be used from the beginning seed and then many times during the growth, harvest and transportation of the produce. All to increase production and shelf life.
It is hard to know what exactly you are eating when you purchase commercially grown produce. The best way to reduce harmful toxins is to buy your fruit and veggies from local organic growers and eat fresh!
7. Wash your Fruit and Vegetables
Washing your fruit and vegetables can help remove some of the toxins but not all of them. To wash your fruit and veggies – place them in the kitchen sink with 3 parts water and 1 part white vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Give them a good rub to remove any wax or sprays, then dry them and put them away.
8. Don’t get Caught out with “Natural” “Organic” Marketing
Most companies have invested thousands into their marketing and advertising to attract more customers. Using natural green and brown colours, patterns and textures, plants and insect imagery as wells as “sustainable” language. These strategies can trick us into thinking these products are good for us and the environment. Certified organic products are best and will have the accreditations on the labels. Next time you are shopping for gardening or food products take a second to read and evaluate what you are buying. Don’t get tricked with natural and sustainable looking imagery and advertising.
Growing naturally without harmful pesticides and fertilisers is not only better for you but will also make a huge difference to the health and wellbeing of local pollinators and insects. Pollinators are small and very at risk from contaminated gardens. Pollinators help our gardens thrive and produce more food so it is important that we care for them too.
Overall, the best way to eliminate toxic contaminants from our home and gardens is to slow down, read, ask questions and make informed decisions. Growing naturally and sustainably is something that will take work and many failures. Not having instant chemical fixes to problems but to learn to embrace failures and learn from any mistakes.
Sometimes failure is the best way to learn and move forward.
Happy gardening!
Holly
If you have any questions please leave me a comment below.
