Autumn colour

Autumn here is a mild season. It is accented by a flush of flowers, from orchids to vegetables, but an outstanding group of plants now is the salvias. Here our Autumn colour comes from flowers rather than changing leaves. Pineapple sage has leaves with an attractive pineapple/tangerine scent which can be used like mint as a drink garnish. It also has bright red flowers. It is forming the middle layer of a nice tiered display in our herb garden at the moment, with basil in the foreground and chia (also a Salvia) reaching for the…

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Kimchi making season returns

Wom Bok, chinese cabbage, napa cabbage; whatever you call it, it’s a great vegetable to grow. It’s super quick and trouble free if you can keep the caterpillars off it. And on top of providing delicious greens for stir fries, soups or steaming, you can keep it and transform the flavour by making kimchi. Autumn is a good time to sow wom bok here in the subtropics. The plants reach picking size very quickly. I don’t leave them too long, as they will flower in the warm weather before they…

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