Food, Health & Nutrition

Lettuce tastes best when grown rapidly in well-fertilised soil in lots of sunshine, and with a steady supply of water. Prepare the soil well beforehand: add plenty of chicken poo (eg, Dynamic Lifter) and compost and dig it in well. To plant seedlings: just remove each...

In the January 2009 issue of Burke’s Backyard magazine, which goes on sale on Monday, December 29, our Kitchen Garden section has a special feature on snacking gardens – food plants which you can snack on while you’re out in the garden. These include: •...

This recipe was provided to us by Robyn Richards Dear Don, This recipe was given to me after attending a cooking class at a restaurant in Coolum called Spirit House. Regards, Robyn Richards ingredients 250 grns cooked prawns peeled and deveined 250 grns squid cleaned...

Rosemary is an easy to grow herb. For average backyards, just one plant will provide you with more rosemary than you’ll ever be able to use in cooking. While it can grow up to a height of 1.8m, rosemary is also a terrific hedging plant than can be kept trimmed to any...

Like most herbs, parsley likes to be grown in a mostly sunny spot, but parsley is versatile in that it can take some shade through the day. In fact, in very hot parts of Australia, some shade during the middle of the day, or the afternoon, would be preferable....

Quinces The quince (Cydonia oblonga ) is an excellent backyard fruit tree for cooler parts of Australia. No wonder it is becoming trendy again, because it has several things going for it: it’s small (around 4-5m, but they can be kept smaller with pruning), it puts on...

Antonio’s tomato toast crusty bread, sliced thickly (sourdough is ideal) several large garlic cloves, cut in half several ripe tomatoes, cut in half olive oil, for drizzling salt, for sprinkling 1. Put the bread under a griller or on top of a barbecue, and lightly...

Silver beet: also called Swiss chard. Silver beet can look terrific in the kitchen garden as it comes in several colours. The colour differences are mostly in the stalks, which can be white, yellow, orange, red or pink, although you can get some varieties with red...

What to grow Salad greens are one of the best things you can grow in a kitchen garden, and spring is the ideal time to get started. As well as growing lettuce, and there are many varieties to choose from, it’s good to add variety to your salad with other greens such...

Best orange varieties for backyards Valencia: the seedless ‘Valencia’ orange is the best orange variety for most areas of Australia. It has few or no seeds. It is a fast-growing, hardy tree. The fruit ripen early (mid-September), but hold well on the tree for many...