Kitchen garden: At home with Sandra Norris

Many of the fruit trees are grown in preloved, recycled or reclaimed pots, and other fruit trees are espaliered to save space including a Valencia orange and eight stone fruit types on four trees in a five metre row alongside the house. A Meyer and Eureka lemon are grafted on one tree purchased at Willow Park in Pialligo. There is a kaffir lime and four cumquats, a 'Story' apricot tree from which Sandra made six pots of jam. Nellie Kelly passionfruit that has produced dozens of fruit this season which delights Peter who comes indoors with handfuls of his passionfruit which are his favourite.

Satin bower birds, lorikeets, king parrots, galahs, small corellas and cockatoos visit the garden and, from the fruit trees it is 50 per cent to the birds and bugs and 50 per cent to Sandra. However netting the peach trees this season was productive and resulted in lots of large fruit.

The garden is on a slope but is not terraced and Sandra says Peter has been the muscle, for which she is very grateful. A small riverbed takes heavy rain water down to an absorption pit and the garden uses water from three tanks. Sandra does not use chemicals in line with her philosophy of a sustainable environment, there is a compost heap and she makes her own potting mix.

The garden is called Ysadora for a goddess and used for wedding services for which Sandra has a Facebook page. It is kept very neat so all the plants can be seen, to identify any problems with them. Small spaces in the garden have been planned so they are useful, peaceful and practical and four grandchildren enjoy whimsical features including a fairy 'room', two hens called Cluck and Cluck and goldfish.

The kitchen harvest includes a honeydew melon ready to eat, 'Walnut' pumpkins, tomatoes, garlic, onions and chillies. Lettuces are thriving in raised beds and a kiwi fruit overhangs a garden seat. Sandra enjoys cooking, particularly Asian dishes, so kaffir lime and herbs such as coriander, Vietnamese mint, a bay tree and basil have been grown. Pickled leeks and a green tomato relish are favourites for which Sandra has shared the recipes.

Ysadora, 7 Cochrane Crescent, Theodore will be open on 18 and 19 March from 10am to 4pm as part of Open Gardens Canberra, entry $8pp, children under 18 free. Tea and coffee will be provided and some light refreshments. For the local Cancer Support Group which has 950 patients of all ages and with all types of cancer, Sandra is raising money at the open weekend by selling plants that she has been potting up during the past ten months. There will also be giant sunflower seeds and camellia seeds for sale.

4 cups water

2 cups apple cider

1 cup sugar

1 tsp whole cloves

2 tsp fennel seed

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tso yellow mustard seeds

2 whole bay leaves

cinnamon stick, broken in half

4 kaffir lime leaves, deveined and thinly sliced

juice of 1 kaffir lime

2 tsp chopped basil

1 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a large heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5-1- minutes. You can use the liquid strained or unstrained. Pour into sterilised jars filled with raw or blanched vegetables. Sandra pours the pickle mix onto fresh, clean, sliced leeks and uses them in soups and stir-fries.

1 litre malt vinegar

600g soft brown sugar

2.5kg green tomatoes, roughly chopped

4 large finely sliced white, red or brown onions

2cm piece of grated root ginger

4 cloves of chopped garlic

6 or 7 small chillies, chopped

2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp salt

Place vinegar and sugar in a large saucepan and stir until sugar has dissolved. Add the remaining ingredients (tomatoes, onions, garlic, chillies, ginger, salt and pepper) and boil gently for 1.5 to 2 hours stirring occasionally until it is thick. Pour into sterilised jars.

The winners of our books giveaway (Kitchen Garden February 21) are: Pickled to Jane Scroope of Griffith who is growing horseradish which she wants to make into her favourite condiment and serve with bbq'd steak, home grown tomatoes and potatoes; and a copy of All Natural Beauty to Susie Maroc, of Aranda, who sent us her own original sonnet.

Susan Parsons is a Canberra writer.