The tragedy of the brutal fires sweeping through eastern Australia, with images of apocalypse-red skies and horror stories of loss and grief, seems to keep on unfolding, grimly marching onwards as the weeks go by. It’s only the beginning of January - the fire season has at least another two months to run. It feels as if we’re in for the long haul. Thankfully we are still safe here in Canberra from any imminent bushfire threat, although the terrible air quality poses its own significant health risks.

This autumn we harvested summer beans until almost the end of April - an unexpected bonus harvest because the frosts took so long to arrive this year. This may be part of an emerging trend. Did you know that Canberra’s winter nights are forecast to get warmer over the coming years? This will mean fewer and fewer frosty nights over the coming decades. Could this eventually change what we can grow here in Canberra?

Since 1 January 2019, we have grown over 300 kg of fresh produce in our moderately sized suburban Canberra garden: from tomatoes, zucchini, tomatilloes, green and purple beans, and herbs over summer to Jerusalem artichokes, perennial leeks, parsley, Asian greens and kale now it's winter. But we'd like to let you into a little secret: we have done this without using any insecticides, bug killing sprays, or chemical fertilisers. Read on to learn how we did it, and why it matters so much. We'll share our 7 key principles to get you started.

There are many edible plants that you can grow successfully in Canberra, but here is a list of five stand-out plants that grow here very easily and with relatively little maintenance. We chose these five plants because they also produce a lot of food for relatively little input from you.

Read on to discover why we think these five plants are so awesome!

It's been a hot, dry summer this year. But, in spite of this (and perhaps because of it) we've recorded our biggest ever two-month harvest - almost 140kg. The freezer is bursting and we already have a year's supply of tomato passata! Read on to learn the 5 key lessons we've learned in growing vegetables productively in a regular Canberra suburban garden with the usual uninspiring clay to begin with... 

Seriously, this has been the most exciting tomato year ever! 

In fact, until this year, I can't say we have ever had that much success with tomatoes, and I was actually a bit skeptical that this year would be any different. But something changed this year and the result has been a harvest of over 50 kilos of tomatoes so far!!

Ever wanted to know what to do with all that lemon balm that keeps popping up all over your garden? Here's a recipe to make use of it..

So we dug up the lawn and planted up the beds, and then because we're a bit nerdy, we started weighing all the produce that came in...

And the results were really interesting. Here's our list of what grew well, not so well, and what grew extremely well over the summer of 2017/18...

If you are wondering why the blog went a bit quiet over the last couple of months, this is why. For the past few months I've been thoroughly caught up in the management of the 14th Australasian Permaculture Convergence (APC 14 for short) which was held in Canberra for the very first time this April.

There's a bit of press out there about eating weeds and how healthy they are. But really, is it worth it? I am always game to try new things and have been experimenting all summer with some edible weeds. The verdict: some are a bit naah, but fat hen passes all the taste tests with flying colours. It tastes just like spinach - only it's nicer. No kidding, it really is! If there's one weed worth eating, this is it...