Heronswood, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

Every gardener has their fantasy garden. Mine is Heronswood headquarters of the Diggers gardening empire in Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula.

The homestead was completed in 1871 by Edward Latrobe Bateman and is now National Trust listed.  

The architectural style of the house is quite striking and is often described as Gothic Revival. It's constructed from granite blocks and has many medieval-inspired features such as the spires and bell-cast roofs.

Heronswood contains five separate vegetable gardens (oh the indulgence to have soooo much room to grow!), and it was the first garden in Australia to be certified organic. It supplies seeds, seedlings and plants to gardens across the country. I even have some Diggers plants growing on my little balcony.

This beautiful sculpted hedge of rosemary borders the side lawn.

A striking feature of the garden is the integration of vegetables and flowers with fruits and herbs. This inter-planting prevents the build up of pest problems.

Priscilla takes us on a tour of the estate which will end with an Edible Balcony book talk from moi, and lunch at the Heronswood resturant.

Priscilla explains how one of these rectangular beds can feed a family of two.

She explains how productivity can be improved when you plant in squares rather than in rows.

If you're tight for space, fruit trees can be espaliered as these apples have been.

It's chilly and drizzly. Great gardening weather.

tamarillos...

Avocadoes...

A magnificent Moreton Bay Fig tree

an infinity pool

An edible salad table..

And an assortment of heirloom pumpkins and squashes

...just beautiful....

Then it's off to the kitchen garden which supplies produce year-round for the cafe and restaurant.

Everything is grown in terraced beds

A colourful crop of rainbow silverbeet.

End of season basil and tuscan cabbage or kale

The thick rubbery leaves of kale can be added to soups and stews and pasta dishes.I even blitz it into a pesto.

last of the season cherry tomatoes

And a crimson purple cauliflower almost ready for harvesting.

Then it's time to head out of the cold for our warming lunch of roasted kitchen garden vegetables and double-baked cheese souffles - cooked from my recipe from The Edible Balcony. The chefs do a marvellous job. Of course it tastes better than whenever I've cooked them! I want to live here.

Author In The Window

To coincide with the lead up to the Sydney Writers Festival, The Macleay Bookshop in Potts Point is featuring some of the area's best-selling authors in its window - literally!

My first stint yesterday went well. I met some lovely locals enticed into the shop with free samples of my pesto made from a recipe in my book The Edible Balcony.

I'm back in the Macleay Bookshop window next Saturday May 12th at 1pm with more pesto so drop by if you are in the neighbourhood. Love to see you !

Hotel Realm - Canberra

I've managed to squeeze a weekend away to Canberra. It's autumn, the grapes in the vineyards are ripe for the picking and it's Harvest Festival time.

Good opportunity to try out some new digs that have hotted up the Canberra accommodation scene recently.

Hotel Realm is a new 5 star sprawling accommodation, spa and entertainment hub in the Canberra suburb of Barton just behind Parliament House.

Its cavernous entrance atrium certainly announces its cool, global vibe. And we receive a smooth, friendly and unobtrusive check-in. Full marks.

The atrium installation is several stories high...

We stayed in a one-bedroom apartment with a balcony overlooking a park and Parliament house in the distance. There are 186 rooms in total.

Really comfortable beds and linen -  although we did find the room temperature difficult to stablise - either a little too hot or too cold!

These apartments are going to be a hit with Canberra's itinerant public servants and long-stay guests - full size kitchen with all the gadgetry including sharp knives. There was also a washing machine and dryer.

A fruit plate on arrival....

Stylish and well laid-out bathroom..

...designed with woman in mind. A good make up mirror and plenty of space for toiletries..

a good-sized bath that sadly we didn't have time to sample..

The view from the balcony

and the fiery sky at sunset.

The Hotel Realm has three restaurants and a bar with a very uber-chic courtyard. It was hard to believe we were still in suburban Canberra.

For dinner we went for the wood-fired marguerita pizza..

... with a caprese salad. Excellently prepared with fresh ingredients. Highly recommend it.

The next morning -  less than 20 mins away -  the Lerida Estate and Lark Hill wineries beckoned...

chooks scratching amongst the vines for bugs

And a quartet playing some chilled jazz..

The Hotel Realm is going to really shake-up the Canberra scene not only for travellers but for locals who now have a very cool quarter that will put Canberra on the international map.

Saucy Onion stayed as a guest of the Hotel Realm.

Costa visits the Edible Balcony

Ok. I've almost stopped hyperventilating. Costa Georgiadis, the new host of Gardening Australia, visited the Edible Balcony this morning. And his verdict? He said he was inspired. My guru said he was 'inspired'!!! How to melt a girl's heart Costa!

Costa met my capsicums, San Marzano tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, lemons and herbs. They were a little star struck but behaved themseleves.

Then it was time to sample my produce. Using the tomatoes and basil I whipped up a buffalo mozzarella salad. And yes maybe one day there may even be a buffalo on my balcony. Who knows?

The mozzarella was creamy and chewy, the balcony tomatoes were sweet and juicy and the pesto from balcony basil packed a bit of punch with some garlic.

It made Costa's eyes pop!

Even the TV crew enjoyed the balcony bounty!

Tune in to Gardening Australia at 6.30pm on Saturday June the 2nd to see the full story.