With inflation acting as an unwelcome fertiliser on the price of vegetables, growing your own has never seemed so attractive.
To ensure you get the best yield and bang for your buck, MasterChef turned farmer and market gardener Nadia Lim recommends doing some planning and research before hitting the garden centre.
Lim’s bountiful backyard just out of Arrowtown produces enough to feed four families and 80 per cent of her produce is grown from seed. At the time of our catch-up, it was filled with Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, silverbeet, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Her mixed salad garden – housed in a half wine barrel near the kitchen – was ready for picking, as were parsley and coriander for adding flavour to curries and other dishes. Additionally, she and her husband Carlos Bagrie have a four-acre market garden at their farm, Royalburn Station.
“The best thing about having a vegetable garden is the reward of having your own fresh produce at your fingertips,” says Lim.
Lim took up gardening six years ago and the first thing she ever grew was a cherry tomato plant on the deck. Cooking with fresh produce over the years as well as memories of her nan’s garden have provided inspiration to dig in and grow her own vegetables.
“My nan was a really good gardener and she’d always send me out into the garden to get silverbeet or potatoes. I think we had silverbeet with every meal,” Lim laughs. “It was
