Wayside Chapel - Vertical plantings

Well today was our last gardening blitz before the May 19th official opening of the new Wayside Chapel redevelopment in Potts Point. The Waydide's rooftop veggie garden is just one of several green initiatives that makes the building very special indeed. The others include - the use of natural air flow rather than air-conditioning, rain water ranks and solar panels.

Our gardening team gathered at 9am to plant up edible hanging baskets which will sit on the western fence of the roof garden.

Generously donated by Eden Gardens and Community Greening we planted up a collection of lettuces, herbs, and edible flowers into rectangular planting boxes.

Two hours later our roof top veggie garden looked pretty swish.

You can come along and take a look for yourself when our opening day street party on Hughes St Potts Point kicks off next Saturday May 19th at 10am.

See you there!

Edible Inspiration - Justin North

                                              (Picture courtesy of The Daily Telegraph)

I have many food heroes. Most I admire from a distance but some I am lucky to see in action at close range.

Justin North of Becasse fame was banging on about 'local' well before it became hip. He is a magnificent champion of fresh, seasonal and locavore eating. Combine that with his exceptional technical skills and it's no wonder Becasse is always a special dining experience.

Every few months Justin hosts a lunch featuring local producers from around New South Wales.

This week it was the the wonderful free-range pork from Melanda Park on the Hawkesbury River, Bilpin Apple cider and the incredible Maya Sunny Honey from Mudgee.

Alto marinated Volos olives

Warm salad of autumn vegetable slow cooked in olive oil with marinated confit blue eye

Mosaic of Pork shoulder, neck, smoked hock and pickled tongue

Pork loin and belly, Jerusalem artichoke, pear, celeriac, and licorice

the crackling was like wafers of porky caramel

Ironbark honey cream and mousseline with compressed melon and melon sorbet

the textures were ethereal

And some of the little critters who helped make the honey were on display at the restaurant

There were about 20,000 bees in this glass urn.

Third generation Bee-keeper Andrew Wyszynski, using a secret techique he has developed, is able to entice the bees into individual jars where they make natural honeycomb and honey. 

After a good bank of honey has built up, he coaxes them out again leaving the honeycomb and raw natural honey in the jar which just needs to have a lid screwed on.

It doesn't come more natural than that!

The Edible Balcony - May 8th

Well winter has really set in here in Sydney. I've been watering the plants in the mornings wearing ugh boots, mittens and a beanie!

Amazingly there are still some San Marzano tomatoes on the vine, and some capsicums struggling to turn fire engine red.

The warrigal greens on the vertical wall all soaking up the winter sun and I'm harvesting them every week. My favourite snack at the moment is mixing up some finely chopped warrigals with chickpea flour, some baking powder, Indian spices and a little water and frying them into little crunchy pakoras . So addictive.

The chives in the hanging basket in the corner have erupted requiring almost a daily haircut to contain them.

My four varieties of basil are still bushy providing me with my secret elixir - pesto!

As soon as the tomatoes and capsicums are truly done I'll clear those pots and plant some heirloom carrots, radishes and maybe some onions.

Balcony life isn't too bad.

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 !