Productive Gardens

I’m pleased to announce that we will now be stockists of the renowned Earth Box. A shipment will be arriving in the next week, just in time for selecting as a Christmas gift. Ideal for growing some of your larger vegetables in. Ideal as a space saver or where you haven’t got room to put in a vegie garden.

Make sure you have signed up to receive the healthy eating tips as you will also receive our free Productive Kitchen series – recipes for the time starved. Today, Louie from the award winning Stella Star restaurant at Lota handed over some of his special recipes for me to pass on to you.

For example Lactuca sativa or lettuce as we call it.

Lettuce is in the Family called Asteraceae or the daisy family. All plants in this family will have similar characteristics.

Lactuca is the Genis name. Plants of a genis are usually quite easily recognisable as being in the same group. Lactuca is latin for having ” milky ” sap.

sativa is the species. Always spelt with a small letter and usually describing some part of the plant. sativa is latin for “cultivated” or “sown”.

Then there is the variety which is the name we usually hear. Such as “Green Cos”, “Freckles”, “Tom Thumb” or “Great Lakes”.

I really enjoy reading your newletters and as a late blooming gardener I am getting a real kick out of seeing seeds I have sown emerge and produce really good tucker sometimes with a little help from product purchased from your good self. I only have a small lot but boy is it fun and you certainly help me remain enthusiastic.

Bob from Bulimba

Thanks Bob!

With the price of established seedlings rising, it is becoming more and more attractive to raise your own plants from seeds. A packet of Oakleaf lettuce for example, contain over 1200 seeds. Even if you had the blackest of thumbs and 99% of them died, you would still end up with barrow loads of fresh produce! It really is like paying wholesale for your fresh food. To help get your seedlings established, I have sourced some of the best aids available like the little Jiffy plant starters and the Propagating Sets. Get into the habit of planting a seed a day and you’ll always have something in season ready to go into your meals. Get started today in the section Sprouting Kits and Vegetable Seeds.