My Humble Veggie Patch update

By Kerrie Hill, love what you eat dietitian Maroochydore 

My herbs are thriving & I’m using them in salads, fruit salads, drinks (see previous post) & desserts.

I’ve also had a steady supply of salad leaves & cherry tomatoes to use in my salads each day. My heirloom tomatoes (yellow pear cherry tomato) has started to fruit & I’m patiently waiting for them to ripe (excited about these!!).

My baby eggplant though has not been so kind. I’ve had dozens of flowers but no fruit. Have done some asking around at my local nursery & researching gardening books, internet etc. I’ve tried fertilising with a liquid fertiliser fortnightly, but still no luck. I’m thinking it may be that there are just not enough bees in my garden to pollinate the flowers, so I’ve just planted a few Australian native flowering plants in my backyard to hopefully attract more bees. A fellow gardener had the same problem & had to put a bee hive in his garden, hopefully I won’t have to go quite that far! If you have any advice regarding my eggplants, please let me know!! Until next time, happy gardening x

Photo taken by Kerrie Hill

Ditch the soft drink!

We all know that sugary soft drinks are not great for our health & that water should be our drink of choice. But do you find water bland & a little boring? I know I do at times. Well I’ve recently discovered that water can be appealing AND delicious. It just needs a little help from some beautiful fresh fruit & fragrant fresh herbs. 

I recently tried my hand at making some fruit & herb infused water using some of the herbs from my flourishing herb garden. I must say I was pretty happy with the results!

Some of the delicious combinations that I tried were: 
– Strawberry, lemon & mint (this one is officially my new favourite Spring/Summer drink!)
– Watermelon & basil (yes basil really does work)
– Raspberry & lemon balm (lemon balm is a great herb, so easy to grow & it smells & tastes divine)

You can basically use any fruit or herbs you wish but here are some suggestions: lime, grapefruit, cherries, pineapple, mango, cantaloupe, blood orange, blueberries, kiwi fruit, paw paw, cucumber, ginger, blackberries.

Combine any of the above fruits with the following herbs: mint, coriander, lavender, basil, lemon balm, parsley, thyme, rosemary
To make the infused water it’s as simple as choosing your fruit & herb combo & combining all ingredients in a jug filled with ice & cold water. You can drink it straight away for a subtle flavour, or let the flavours steep in the fridge for a few hours or overnight for a more intense infusion.

So if you’re finding it hard to give up your daily soft drink habit, then I urge you to give this a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

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