Soil Searching Diaries
Plants, recipes, ideas, thoughts, musings, questions

3 min read

City Farmer in Vancouver: an urban wonderland

I spent a lovely couple of hours on two occasions visiting the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden, AKA City Farmer, exploring this...

4 min read

Compost in Battery Park City and remembering 9/11

After reading about Battery Park City Authority's dog waste composting program, I was very interested to find out more. It was amazing to...

2 min read

Autumn flowers in Brisbane

Autumn is my favourite season in Brisbane. Long sunny days, mild nights and good rainfall keep everything from drying out and becoming...

7 min read

A garden for chickens

Chooks are a joy to live with. Their unique personalities are wonderful to get to know and their antics are really entertaining....

1 min read

Woman of the flower

Suzanne Cox, 2018 This painting came after looking at a yellow rose and seeing the swirl of the petals and how they looked like the...

2 min read

Garlic chives and society garlic- delicious and attractive

Easy to grow, tasty and healthy these flat leaved chives keep giving. Garlic chives and society garlic are very similar in appearance -...

2 min read

A tea garden

Teas can be made from leaves, roots, flowers, fruits, stem or seeds. Whether they are iced or hot, relaxing, refreshing or medical they...

1 min read

Edible flowers - garnishes and decoration

Flowers can be used to decorate cakes, pancakes, drinks, breads and almost anything. Although it generally makes sense to match flavours...

1 min read

Edible flowers through the rainbow

Grow your own flowers to add to salads, cakes, teas or simply as a garnish for colour and beauty. Commercially grown flowers are usually...

2 min read

Salad from the garden - greens, fruits, flowers and seeds

Salads are a great opportunity to explore a variety of raw green leaves to add flavour, nutrition, colour and texture. Look for the young...

1 min read

Radish

There are many different types of radish The root is eaten raw in salads or as a garnish but can also be pickled or added to soups and...

1 min read

Nasturtium - spicy and beautiful

Nasturtium is an easy to grow flowering ground cover. Both its leaves and flowers make a spicy addition to salads, used as a garnish,...