Cauliflower makes me think of winter comfort food, but few gardeners realise that NOW is the time to plant it for the best results.  This time of year the soil temperatures are still perfect for the rapid growth of seedlings, but importantly the cooler temperatures in several months are what's required to form beautiful white cauliflower heads or curds.

Wild weather in Australia's north has once again shown how vulnerable our food system can be.  With most of our banana crops coming from a few specific growing areas, we've seen prices shoot up as supply struggles to keep up with demand.  So it got me wondering what the chances were of growing my very own bananas in temperate Victoria?

Fortunately commercial nurseries are way ahead of me and have produced several cool climate banana varieties that offer the best chance of producing fruit this far south.

Believe it or not, corn is actually originated from a South American grass species called Teosinte.   If you've grown it before this may not be too much of a surprise as it grows so tall, so quickly in warm weather with adequate water.  With it's natural sugars turning to starch within hours of picking, fresh corn cobs from your own veggie patch are so sweet you'll be sure to plant it every year!  

As a teenager I was very interested in Australian bush food.  For a birthday gift one year I received a bush tucker book, which I excitedly thumbed through.  It ended up being a disappointing experience as all the plants were focused on the subtropics or tropics in northern Australia.  So you can imagine to my amazement that one passionate local - Wilma Trew - has been propagating and experimenting with highly localised bush foods in Geelong's northern suburbs.

If you think Zucchini is a watery vegetable with little taste and texture, you need to reintroduce yourself to this highly versatile vegetable.  This time of year the fruits will grow noticeably overnight providing a magic like attraction for kids - a great way to get them involved in the veggie patch.  Less utilised in Australia are the zucchini flowers.  I'm yet to see these in a local green grocer, hence they are a special treat for the home gardener.  This week I shallow fried some battered male zucchini flowers.  Summer on a plate.

Vegetables have undergone amazing changes since we started selective breeding and cultivating them a relatively short time ago.  These creations are hungry little monsters and need fertile soil and good nutrition.    With Australian soils being low in some nutrients, kitchen gardening can be a disappointing experience if you don't know a little about how to feed your veggies.

Surely one of the world's best known and loved herbs, NOW is the time to plant basil.  As a dried herb it's sadly disappointing and buying hydroponic plastic-wrapped 'fresh' basil from the supermarket just can't compete with picking your own.  In the late 1990s while working as a whole foods cook, the annual basil pesto making was a time where the kitchen was filled with the pungent scent of garlic and the sweet smell of basil.  How can you not love this herb?

A few years ago if you'd asked me whether I use mulch, I would have nodded knowingly like a permaculture missionary.  "Yep, mother nature drops litter on top of the soil, it holds moisture, prevents erosion and provides nutrition - we're just following her lead by mulching our veggie patches".  Not exactly.  This week we take a look at the pluses and minuses of using mulch.  

In 2010 Sustainability Victoria surveyed 1200 homes and found that 40% of household rubbish was food waste!  Blimey.  Growing your own food gives you a better appreciation for the effort that goes into filling a fridge, and trust me, if you've waited 3 months or so for a cabbage to mature you certainly avoid wasting it!  Lots of old recipes also take advantage of ingredients either past their prime or left over.  My great grandmother, Barbara McLaren, had 11 children and passed down several fantastic recipes which use stale bread including one of my favourite - chocolate bread pudding.  Perhaps it's an aphrodisiac?