It is the perfect height for doing these things, and is located along a narrow part of the garden that would otherwise go to waste. It is right next to the garden tap and this part of the garden is largely protected from the wind – an ideal site for a backyard plant nursery.
At the beginning of summer it was here that I planted out half-a-dozen chilli seeds, as part of a goal I set myself last year. My goal was to grow all of the ingredients needed for a favourite recipe: this spicy lemongrass and chilli salsa. The recipe calls for lime juice, lemongrass, ginger, chilli and Thai-style herbs such as coriander and basil.
To date I have:
- Nurtured and divided up a small lemongrass plant so that I now have three healthy clumps of lemongrass.
- Successfully grown several types of basil - Greek, Thai and sweet - from seeds and from cuttings.
- Planted a lime tree.
- Propagated several ginger plants from the one organic tuber I bought from a local market.
- Grown four varieties of chillis: three from seedlings I bought, and the fourth from those seeds I mention above.
- Had limited success growing coriander – but I will keep persisting with this delicious herb in a different part of the garden and try some in a container.
Yesterday, from my kitchen window, I spied that red-ripe chilli glowing in the afternoon sun and I went out and picked it. It was perfect – just the right amount of fiery heat that the lemongrass salsa requires.
There is nothing quite like the buzz you get from walking out your door and picking food from your garden and taking it back into the kitchen and preparing a meal from it. It is such a great feeling.
I am still relatively new to growing food – but I have learned a thing or two these past couple of seasons and the best advice I can give to anyone who is starting out is this: Grow what you like to eat!
At the beginning of summer it was here that I planted out half-a-dozen chilli seeds, as part of a goal I set myself last year. My goal was to grow all of the ingredients needed for a favourite recipe: this spicy lemongrass and chilli salsa. The recipe calls for lime juice, lemongrass, ginger, chilli and Thai-style herbs such as coriander and basil.
To date I have:
- Nurtured and divided up a small lemongrass plant so that I now have three healthy clumps of lemongrass.
- Successfully grown several types of basil - Greek, Thai and sweet - from seeds and from cuttings.
- Planted a lime tree.
- Propagated several ginger plants from the one organic tuber I bought from a local market.
- Grown four varieties of chillis: three from seedlings I bought, and the fourth from those seeds I mention above.
- Had limited success growing coriander – but I will keep persisting with this delicious herb in a different part of the garden and try some in a container.
Yesterday, from my kitchen window, I spied that red-ripe chilli glowing in the afternoon sun and I went out and picked it. It was perfect – just the right amount of fiery heat that the lemongrass salsa requires.
There is nothing quite like the buzz you get from walking out your door and picking food from your garden and taking it back into the kitchen and preparing a meal from it. It is such a great feeling.
I am still relatively new to growing food – but I have learned a thing or two these past couple of seasons and the best advice I can give to anyone who is starting out is this: Grow what you like to eat!
It’s so simple, but, like many gardeners before me, I have succumbed to growing food I didn’t even like just because that was the advice I was given at a plant nursery or because that was what was in season… However, in a small-scale backyard food garden you can’t afford to waste precious resources on foods you don’t even like to eat.
Do you have a favourite recipe? Perhaps, like I did, you can use that as the basis for starting a food garden. It may take some time before you have all of the ingredients growing in your garden (my lime tree will take a couple of years yet before we are picking limes for this recipe), but it is a sensible place to start.
I like eating chillis. What do you like to eat? Can you grow it yourself? (I bet you can!)
Do you have a favourite recipe? Perhaps, like I did, you can use that as the basis for starting a food garden. It may take some time before you have all of the ingredients growing in your garden (my lime tree will take a couple of years yet before we are picking limes for this recipe), but it is a sensible place to start.
I like eating chillis. What do you like to eat? Can you grow it yourself? (I bet you can!)
x
Megan
Hi Megan!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of growing all the elements needed for a favourite recipe!
Is your coriander challenge with it bolting or just in the growing of it? I found this link to be helpful in the way that I approached coriander growing : http://www.sunset.com/garden/flowers-plants/better-way-grow-cilantro-00400000017171/
I've had some luck a couple of months ago but am starting to run thin again. I am using my own saved seeds from a place we previously lived.
I am hoping to pick a chilli sauce (think mexican hot sauce) recipe to try soon. I would also really like to grow Jalapenos but haven't gotten around to trying to grow from seed with non-expired seed!
Melania
Thanks for that link, Melania.
DeleteMy problem has been that it bolts on me. And the snails or slugs love it. I will come out in the morning and nothing else will be touched except my coriander!
Jakepenos... they would be good to try :)
Oh I do like the idea of starting with a recipe and growing those ingredients. I would love to have a vegie patch but find it so daunting after failing miserably at it. Herbs I can do :)
ReplyDeletex
Herbs are also my speciality! (Except coriander...)
DeleteHerbs are beautiful to fill a garden with and so handy for cooking. Pretty and practical.
I can appreciate that feeling of being daunted - but you will be less daunted as each season goes on and you start seeing results.
x
With my coriander, I got a bag of seed from the spice shop and scattered it freely thorough my garden beds. It comes up when it is ready and grows huge before seeding and scattering and cycling again. This has been so successful that it has become a bit of a weed for us, it grows in between the pavers and all sorts :) But I believe you live in a warm climate? Ours always surprises us and comes up as the weather cools. It grows through winter (in Canberra so pretty cold) so I am pretty sure it doesn't like it too hot as that is when ours bolts or doesn't do much growing.
ReplyDeleteI think you may be right - it is the heat that does it to the coriander. They like the cool, buy our sub-tropical summers are so harsh, even if I plant them in the shade. I will try again this autumn/winter.
DeleteI love your idea of scattering the seed around the whole garden... might do that :)
So true about growing things you don't even like! Now I'm becoming more discerning.
ReplyDeleteYour salsa recipe sounds delicious and much more interesting than my plain chilli one. I picked my chillis yesterday and pulled out the plants as I need their space to plant other things. I have made salsa, chilli jam, frozen chillis and have chillis hanging up drying, I have given many away but still they came, the best thing I've grown - evah! Next year it will be one plant and one plant only.
I have never had luck with coriander, maybe it's too hot here in Sydney too, but I'll have another go. My next buy is some lemongrass. It's always fun to make something from all that you've grown yourself.
Your gardening sounds so accomplished! We have 8 heirloom chilli plants in our veggie garden at the moment and they are doing really well. I like making hot sauce with left over chillis!
ReplyDelete