Lately we have been getting into blackberry cobblers/pudding. As kids summers were spent picking blackberries and making blackberry pie. Now with our own kids now we have rediscovered the the joy of picking blackberries. We have some great bushes on our block. So long story short we have been making lots of these easy blackberry cobblers recently. The recipe is below: Ingredients 3 cups blackberries 1 cup sugar 1 cup plain flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup salted butter, melted  1 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Zest of 1 lemon Method Preheat the oven to 170°C . Grease a 25cmx25 ..read more

Scabiosa, a terrible name for what is a really beautiful flower, fluffy flower heads and long straight stems. There are a few different types of scabiosa flower that make wonderful cut flowers. Scabiosa caucasica - perennial, the scabiosa fama flowers in huge deep blue and white with frilly petals, scabiosa stellata - annual, also known as moon flower or drumbstick it produces wonderful seed heads at the end of flowering and scabiosa atropurprea - annual, beautiful flowers in a range of colours; salmon rose, black knight, oxford blue, fata moragana apricot, snowmaidan white and ..read more

We would love to hear about Alma/Proust and how it all began, where did the love affair start with flowers?  Paris and I set up our business separately and established a friendship through our love and obsession with flowers. We would go in together on our annual trade orders for bulbs and corms, but by 2021, I had been bed-bound by hyperemesis gravidarum during my pregnancy, and I reached out to Paris for some help. In a serendipitous twist of fates, Paris had just lost access to the land where she grew her crops. We were both facing losing what we had built, and after just 8 mon ..read more

  Lucia Fischer is the the talent behind Wild Raven a range of Botanical products made by hand in the little country village of Woodbridge, Southern Tasmania. We chatted to her recently: What led you to starting your small business Wild Raven? I grew up with a few influential female figures who were keen gardeners, but my family rented and we moved a lot. My dream was to own my own home and grow my own garden. So I've always been into plants and herbs but when I was in my 20s I got heavily interested in herbal remedies and DIY skincare. I started making all my own products for myself ..read more

Following a recent glut of zucchini in the garden our family has been living off this sometimes forgotten favorite - zucchini slice.  Ingredients 2 zucchini grated 1 onion finely chopped  3 rashers bacon finely chopped 1 cup of corn 1 cup tasty cheese grated 1 cup SR flour ½ cup of oil 5 eggs salt/pepper to taste Method Preheat oven to 170°C, grease and line a slice tin. Saute onion and bacon in a pan. Mix zucchini, onion, bacon, flour, cheese, oil, and eggs. Pour into the tin. Season, bake for 35-40 mins, cool before cutting. Shop Our Zucchini Seeds Here ..read more

Nasturtium may not be on the top of your grow list but I LOVE them. The trailing varieties spread out and around other flowers keeping the weeds at bay and creating a bit of a messy cottage garden look. Compact varieties do really well in pots and hanging baskets. The entire plant can be eaten... seeds, leaves and flowers! The edible flowers go well in salads or chopped and put in butter. Unripened seeds can be pickled and made into a "poor mans capers". The leaves are edible and can be made into nasturtium leaf pesto (recipes coming). Nasturtium plants are very easy to care for and low m ..read more

Natural pest control - Bugs for Bugs As summer heats up and the garden is in full swing this can sometimes mean as well as attracting beneficial insects, it can also mean some unwanted visitors.  We touched base with Dan the Entomologist from Bugs for Bugs and asked a few question which we thought would be interesting for our readers. Can you tell us a bit about Bugs for Bugs? Bugs for Bugs specialises in integrated pest management (IPM) and is one of Australia’s leading suppliers of biological control agents. Since 1981, our mission has been to help Australian growe ..read more

Sowing Ranunculus Seeds Ranunculus are a much sort after cut flower, renowned for the fluffy double flowers in a rainbow of beautiful colours - from soft pastels to deep, rich maroons. Ranunculus are a cool - temperate climate flower, seeds can be sown earlier than corms from late January to April. Flowering will occur later if growing ranunculus from seed in comparison to growing from corms, growing from seed will just take a little longer and a bit more patience which is ingrained in all of us flower growers! Ranunculus need a long cool growing season and do not like temperatures exce ..read more

Last Thursday Sam (brother, VFGS photographer & website guru) and I visited a very special school that’s on an Island off an Island and the only way to get there is by ferry.  Bruny Island District School is made up of 62 children and a total population of the Island of 1008. Bruny Island is a place very close to mine and Sam’s heart. We have a family shack there and spent our childhood holidays there on the beach and bush, and now take our own kids there. On arrival we meet with one of my oldest friends Karen whose family has lived on the island for many generation ..read more

As the name suggests, companion planting involves strategically positioning plants that offer mutual benefits to each other, such as suppressing weeds, providing habitats for beneficial insects, enhancing pollination, controlling pests and optimising your space. Some of the most well known combinations include the basil, marigold and tomato friendship. Some gardeners say that planting tomatoes and basil together increases growth and amplifies the flavour of both plants. I definitely know freshly picked tomatoes and basil from the garden taste really good together! Whilst marigolds repel the ..read more