Artist Michele England lives in Braddon where she has created a potager-style garden. In the throes of winter she says the garden is a bit bare and there is lots of pruning lying around or yet to be done. However, with a busy life, she says looking a bit messy is the usual state of affairs. Michele and her husband Andrew England and their family moved to Braddon in 2008 and extended the charming 1924 house. Red bricks have been used to create paths and nooks and, in front of a garden studio, there are pots of fruit trees including a plum, crabapple, apricot, fig and nectarine. Son Jacob is a sculptor and he and Michele created timber and metal accent works and garden dividers. Daughter Lottie suggested a fire pit in the garden and that is surrounded by a pebble bed planted with herbs.
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In raised vegetable beds there are leeks, spring onions, peas, lettuce, kale, shallots, coriander and celery and a block of broad beans are supported by bamboo stakes. Parsley and rocket are thriving and a clump of fennel is so vigorous that Michele harvested five jars of seed which she uses in cooking. Strawberries have grown in abundance, covering the ground and Michele plans to create a vertical wall of them.
Two mature and productive citrus trees, a lemon and an orange, were planted by a former owner and they bask in the reflected warmth of a west facing wall. Soil in the garden is rich with manures, lucerne, chook poo and green crops which are grown and dug in. Michele gets sheep manure from the local Scouts three times a year. There are compost containers and two worm farms in the garden and the worm casting and worm wee are used as fertilisers. She also makes "weed tea" from pulled weeds that are soaked in water.
There are four chickens, three of which are the heritage varieties Welsummer, a Dutch breed, an Orpington from Kent in England and a Lacewinged Wyandotte which originated in the United States. There is also a huge Sussex crossed Rhode Island Red. Son Henry and Michele made a hen hutch out of old pallets and a separate section was built as an outdoor place for a pair of budgerigars. The run is well protected from foxes and, in beds surrounding it, are the perennials asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes and globe artichokes.
A low fence is used as a frame for a pair of step-over apple trees, a Jonathan and Cox's Orange Pippin. My favourite decorative feature created by Michele was a pod made from metal placed in a forge then beaten which holds five peas made from water tank floats.
Along a narrow side garden, against a black painted house wall, is a pair of espaliered pear trees. Most of the fruit planted in the ground, including a persimmon and quince tree, are dwarf varieties. In a new front bed are a blue painted timber bottomless birdcage and a gilded wire one. They protect silver beet plants from the possums which ate the rhubarb down to the crown.
In the Canberra Organic Growers Society garden in Dickson, where she is Convenor, Michele has a plot which has been planted with Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, mustard greens, onions, radish, beetroot and garlic all for harvesting from winter into spring. She uses seeds from Diggers.
She says her Dad was a keen vegetable gardener, he grew up in the Depression when everyone had to grow their own and her Mum liked ornamental gardening, growing flowers. Michele is a keen cook, particularly making preserves and jams and she enjoys watching programs like the original "River Cottage" program from the UK and the Australian version with Paul West. She believes growing and eating your own vegetables and fruit is good for one's health, for the environment and for the health of the planet.
Michele's Lemon and Coconut Cake
125g unsalted softened butter
two-thirds cup caster sugar
2 tbsp finely grated lemon rind (can substitute with lime or orange)
3 eggs
1 cup sifted self-raising flour
three-quarters cup desiccated coconut
half cup lemon juice (or lime or orange)
Glaze:
1 tbsp castor sugar
one-third cup of lemon juice
a dob of butter
Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease and line a 10x20cm loaf pan or 20cm round tin. Place butter and caster sugar in a large bowl and beat with electric beater until light and creamy. Add lemon rind. Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition until the mixture ias well combined.
Spoon the mixture into the lined pan, smooth the surface. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Make glaze by melting the sugar with lemon juice and dob of butter in a saucepan. Pour over cake while still warm.
Kitchen Garden Seeds
Like Michele, many of our Kitchen Gardeners use seed ordered from Diggers in Victoria or purchased at the Heritage Nursery in Yarralumla. All readers of this column are offered a free copy of the just released colourful Diggers Seed Annual 2016-2017. Email: info@diggers.com.au
Susan Parsons is a Canberra writer
