We featured Edwina Robinson on the deck of her duplex in O'Connor (Kitchen Garden, September 2, 2014) where she was growing fruit trees in tubs, keeping chooks and was experimenting with aquaponics. Last week she said one of the team managing the climate-wise booklet had purchased her house in O'Connor in 2019 and loved the garden there. They knew Edwina had been writing about creating an outdoor haven that could cope with climate change and running short online design courses for beginners.

The booklet features climate-wise and low-maintenance gardens and courtyards but our main interest was the section on the edible garden. Edwina says if you are starting one, grow the foods you and your household like to eat. You need great soil so add lots of organics and a site with four to six hours of sun per day is ideal, plus a northern aspect. Leafy greens need less sunlight. Mulching is important.

Improving your garden is about trial and error. Edwina is still learning after 30 years. She watches gardening shows on television, reads gardening books and seeks advice from great gardener friends.

For renters she recommends growing edibles in wicking pots that you can take with you when you move. She created edible wicking gardens called "Edible Micro-Forests" on Lonsdale Street, Braddon for the City Renewal Authority. They include tough trees like mulberry and figs with an understorey of feijoa, pomegranate, herbs and bush foods like saltbush and warrigal greens.

Herbs include rosemary which is easy to grow from cuttings and great for pollinators, thyme, oregano and parsley. Edwina made a wicking bed recently for an audience at the BentSpoke Brewpub and included the deciduous pomegranate "Wonderful" surrounded by herbs. It is now at her small townhouse in Lyneham where she grows strawberries in wicking pots (mulched with pine needles gleaned from nearby trees), and citrus in pots including Kaffir lime, lemonade and cumquat. These trees came from her garden in O'Connor.

In 2019 Edwina started the social enterprise The Climate Factory, as Australia sweltered through its hottest and driest year on record. Trees and shrubs in Canberra's gardens and on public land were dying and she was alarmed. The main aim of the micro-forests is to cool the local environment. They built a trial project in Downer over 2020-2021 and have micro-forests funded in Watson and Holt. Each one is led by a team of volunteers.

In 2016 Edwina and her partner Peter Daniell bought a block in Moruya only 20m wide but 100m long with north to the long axis and a creek at the bottom. Peter built them a solar passive house and they have created a dense garden. Her work is predominately Canberra-based so she usually spends four to five days a fortnight in Canberra and the rest of the time remote working in Moruya.

Each year they grow all their garlic in raised beds - currently 120 plants which will be harvested mid to late October. The mild climate and more rainfall than Canberra means many vegetables and herbs self-seed like lettuce, rocket, sprouting broccoli and Brussels sprouts. They grow turmeric which she is turning into turmeric powder following a method seen on Gardening Australia on August 20.

A favourite spring recipe came from The Canberra Times many years ago. It uses lots of aromatics from the garden including turmeric, chilli, ginger and garlic.

Ingredients

500g beef or chicken cut into fine strips (you could substitute eggplants or soy as the protein)

2 lemongrass bases

fresh garlic (use as much as you like, hopefully you've grown it)

chilli (as much as you like)

5cm chunk of ginger

1 tbsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp black pepper

1 onion, diced

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp sesame oil

sesame seeds

Method

1. Pound lemongrass, garlic, chilli, pepper and ginger with mortar and pestle or blender.

2. Place meat, sesame oil and onion in a bowl with turmeric and add aromatics. Add sugar and fish sauce.

3. Marinate in fridge for at least one hour but best left for 24 hours.

4. Stir-fry over high heat and at the last minute add sesame seeds to the wok. Serve with rice.

READ MORE FOOD & WINE:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: