Green Thumb

I have a burgeoning fruit and vegetable garden happening here and I thought I would share some photos.  With horticulture being the family business, my parents have often lamented the fact that none of their 3 children had a green thumb. Their dreams are finally coming true, as I am loving tending to my little garden and watching things get bigger and start to produce  fruit, vegetables and herbs to use in my cooking.

The passionfruit vine is technically planted on the neighbour’s side of the fence, but it has climbed all over our side of the fence and is creeping over the front fence as well. It is absolutely laden with passionfruit and I can’t wait to use these on pavlovas, in fruit salads and I also have a delicious tart recipe in mind. I was wondering when I should pick them but some googling has told me that they will simply drop to the ground when they are ripe and ready for use.

Lonely tomato

My 4 tomato plants are thriving – this is the only tomato that has grown so far, and it seems to be growing about as fast as a turtle moves! Hurry up little tomato! I am hoping we will get a good batch of tomatoes from these plants, as I use them frequently and they haven’t been the cheapest thing recently.

Eggplant

My 6 eggplants seem to be going well – not sure when these will start to produce, but for now they are green, happy and seem to be getting bigger by the week. I never used to like eggplant, but it has grown on me and I am a huge fan of eggplant in lasagne.

Strawberry

The strawberry plant is a new addition and I am hoping that it thrives – I think strawberries look so pretty in a garden! I came across an amazing recipe for roasted strawberries, chocolate and brie grilled cheese that I think would taste AMAZING! I have this recipe pegged as the first thing to eat when my braces come off and I can bite into things again.

Various happy herbs

This garden bed contains my coriander, rocket, lemongrass, lemon balm and mint. The coriander, rocket and mint are being frequently used in my kitchen, and once the lemongrass is more advanced it will be used a lot too. But I have NO IDEA what to do with lemon balm? I bought it because it smells amazing but I am sure it has some practical uses, any ideas?

Cucumber

My cucumber plant seems to be trying to take over the garden,I definitely underestimated the amount of space it needed! i love the fresh taste of cucumbers and use it in lots of salads, so I hope this plants starts producing soon!

Chilli

Each of my 4 chilli plants has a single chilli growing. They are all green at the moment, but this morning I noticed they are finally starting to turn red. I love red chillies and I am planning on using these to make my own Harissa, using this recipe from Delicieux.

Basil

My basil is growing fantastically – i have 5 plants, all of which are bushy and fragrant. I need to get a new food processor so I can make my own pesto – I am having a complete love affair with pesto at the moment.

In addition, I have a snow pea plant (sadly looks to be on the way out), an amazing chocolate mint plant, a capsicum plant (50/50 chance of survival) and various unidentified citrus trees – i know one is lemon, but not sure what the others are. They are producing fruit now so I will soon find out. I haven’t actually done much (any) research into what grows well in the tropics, as I assumed that if Bunnings was selling it, then it would grow here. I am planning to do a little bit of research so I can plant some more edible items, and I would like to learn about companion planting and how I can make my plants as productive as possible. Also need some flowers in this garden, it’s a little bit sparse on the flower front at the moment!

Orange brioche loaf

Yesterday we had no food in the house due to total avoidance of going to the supermarket, which both my pilot and I do not enjoy. I decided to make some bread and put a very half-baked attempt into making this orange brioche recipe. Making bread seemed a far simpler option than driving the 5 minutes to the supermarket (my logic was flawed due to severe hunger). To be very honest, I skipped steps 4 through 7. After covering it and letting it rise (the start of step 4), I put it into a loaf tin and let the oven do its thing. I did forget the egg wash so it didn’t have a gloriously shiny top, but it tasted pretty damn good and not just because I was hungry! I plan to make brioche again when I am not so deliriously hungry and fatigued, but I would like to make little mini buns because they look far cuter.

I have a desperate yearn to bake but my pilot has me on strict NO BAKING JUNK FOOD orders as it is 3 weeks out from his triathlon and our holiday. Please hit me with some healthy baking recipes, sweet or savoury!