Here’s a true fact: I am not blessed with a Green Thumb. The closest I got was playing a bad rendition of Greensleeves on my organ when I was 10 (yes, I know- absolutely irrelevant except for the word green). I have bought many plants through the years, none surviving more than a year. So much so there’s a sort of Death Corner in my apartment where no breezes stir, haunted by the ghosts of ferns past.
And yet why do I suddenly yearn to grow my own vegetables? I blame it on my visit to Metlink Edible Garden and Veggie Swap. The people here are so passionate, their zeal for growing things so infectious, I’m contemplating installing a metal arch in the middle of my poky apartment just so I can drape rattlesnake beans around them.
During the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in March, they brought some of the edible flora from Heronswood right to the middle of the city. The Diggers Club, Australia's largest gardening club has a simple mantra, “anyone can grow a garden, no matter how small, even if you only have a balcony.” Okay here’s a pickle Diggeroos, I don’t even have a balcony- can I perhaps grow hydroponic plants in my guest bathroom?
One of the great things that the Diggers Club is doing is the preservation of heirloom plants. Once a seed is gone, then you loose it forever. There are many types of edible plants that immigrants in the past bring over to Australia years ago but because produce is getting more homogenous and no one is planting them anymore, slowly these seeds are disappearing. Did you know that nearly 30% of the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is caused by us not growing our own food? This is because non-renewable energy is used to plough fields, the use of pesticides and let’s not get started on seed patenting. For a more in depth look into this you just have to watch Food Inc.
Plants, vegetables and flowers of every hue.
Indeed walking around the plants in the Edible section is a bit like candyland for vegetarians. Fat orange peppers, leaves from the emerald hues of mint to the bloodshot sprouts of a beetroot. And edible flowers, there’s loads of them.
And then, there’s the produce section. Eggplant of different purples thrust up daring you to pick them. Squashes of every size, maize in mauve and ochre. The colours, the shapes- it’s bringing back individuality to vegetables and fruits.
Who knew there were so many different kinds of tomatoes
And the tomatoes… oh the tomatoes… reds, yellows, cheeky vermilions. Round, oval, bulb-shaped, smooth, gnarled, some like fat fingers others speckled, egg-like plump teardrops. I stood for more than a minute in front of the tomatoes just ogling at them. I love living in Malaysia for the sheer variety of local fruits but tomato-wise we are paupers. And nothing beats a wonderful vine-ripened tomato. The kind that bursts in your mouth with a savoury-sweetness. The kind that transports you to a sun-filled field, the smell of fresh earth at your feet and a wholesome wholeness of food grown right and with honest love.
"Suddenly every fibre of my being wanted to grow tomatoes"
I imagine the satisfaction of growing my own succulent tomatoes and then I look at my Death Fingers in dismay. I popped a yellow currant tomato and let it fill my mouth with its honeyed flavour. Best to eat my fill while I’m in Melbourne.
The juicy and sweet Yellow Currants
Talei Kenyon from the
Diggers Club explained that it started 30 years ago by Clive and Penny Blazey who wanted a garden company with a difference. Back in the 80’s they encouraged cottage gardening. In the 90’s their mission was to get heirloom vegetables back onto people’s plates. Now in the naughties it’s edible landscape. “You can grow fruit trees against a wall if you don’t have the space. Or get an arch and have vine fruits and vegetables twining it. It’ll give you food and shade, a garden should be beautiful and bountiful,” she concluded.
They also do school gardens teaching children the integrity of growing sustainable food. They also teach people to compost, renewing soil and bringing everything full circle.
Next to the Edible Garden is a Veggie Swap. It’s barter trading at its simplest. Say you grow some vegetables and fruits and are unable to eat them all. A veggie swap means you can meet other micro farmers and swap your produce for theirs. Get some beetroot for your rhubarb. Again the people chilling out here are cool, hippyish, environmentally conscious. Growing some of your own food is a growing trend. There seemed to be an underlying fear that one day the world will run out of food and forget about Australia.
Outback Spirit also had a stall there and they sell sauces, chutneys and jams made from typically Australian plants like lemon mrytle and the wonderfully nutty wattle seeds.
So the contentment comes from being self-sufficent. From composting and doing your bit. From seeing your garden thrive. So how do you start here? Home-farming in our weather might not be a popular hobby. However start by supporting your local farmers. Make the effort to go to Pasar Tani’s. See if you can get some of your produce from a direct source.
Back home, my sister exclaimed, “but why didn’t you bring back any tomato seeds?” My sister is a horticulturist. Through the years she has nursed back many of my plants, those able to escape my Death Corner before it’s too late. There’s a whole corner of her garden reserved for my orphan plants. They are happy there and I get visitation rights.
“You mean we can grow good tomatoes here?” This is nothing short of a revelation to me. “I thought the humidity puts too much water content in them, hence that’s why tomatoes here are watery.”
“Nonsense,” she huffed. “It’s all about the soil. If you get the right soil, there are plenty of tomato breeds that will thrive here.”
“Really?” I am elated. Now I just need to get seeds and negotiate a small patch in my sister’s garden. Imagine that, I might be able to eat my own tomatoes someday. What a beautiful dream…
If anyone is able to send me any tomato seeds please e-mail me at , I promise not to kill them.
Stay Tuned. We have video interviews of The Veggie Swap and Edible Garden coming up soon!
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