Franklin is a recently established suburb to the east of Gungahlin. The main spine is lined with modern blocks of units and the tram route and houses beyond that. The road crosses Gungaderra Creek which is surrounded by recreational areas.
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Julia Rayner and Suhail Amod recently moved to a new ground-floor apartment in the Mosaic development and their second courtyard faces eucalypt-dotted open grassland. Julia says they particularly enjoy the access to Mulangarri Grasslands and Gubur Dhaura, a tract of open space.
She has inherited a passion for plants from her father, Chris, so both courtyards are filled with 60 varieties of edibles, many of them aromatic herbs including the unusual anise herb. Red vein sorrel is a favourite plant and there are seven types of mint, including a native Australian variety. Peas and salad greens are being harvested as well as mushrooms from homemade grow bags. Raised beds are filled with edible flowers including nasturtiums, calendula and cornflowers.
Julia says her summer plants had a head-start in her sunny, north-facing, sheltered courtyard so tomatoes, capsicums, chilli, scarlet runner beans, zucchini and eggplants are being transplanted into their permanent pots, with melons and pumpkins on their way.
It is a well-established kitchen garden growing out of pots and containers. With a creative touch, wicking beds have been made in galvanised tin drink storers and in two packing crates purchased from the Green Shed. There is a compost container and a worm farm. A bicycle wheel attached to a wall is there to support a blue butterfly pea plant which Julia plans to set as a die. She is also dyeing merino wool using eucalypt leaves.
She prefers to raise heirloom varieties as well as experimenting with young banana plants and avocados. The pomegranate bore fruit last year. There are three types of tomatoes - White Ice which is almost translucent, a tree tomato which grows to six metres tall and a cherry tomato plant. An unusual plant is the prolific cucamelon which has tiny fruit, the seeds came from Bunnings.
Hops is grown to use in kombucha while lemon verbena and lush camomile is grown for steeping in tea. Camomile is a co-plant to keep pests off the vegetables while nasturtiums deter insects in the kitchen. Borage is thriving with its blue flowers. Purple congo and kipfler potatoes have been planted in a bale of straw and passionfruit vine is climbing up a stick.
Among plants used for dessert are berry bushes including blueberries, yellow and red raspberries, blackberries and strawberries all planted in containers. An orange tree is getting fruit after being planted three years ago and there is a new yellow watermelon.
That's the thing as a renter, when you move around, plants in pots can go with you. A Meyer lemon tree has been espaliered on a frame Julia made from willow after she stripped the bark.
She has recently dipped her toes into fibre arts and uses the courtyards as a base for her plant fibre-based basketry. A lillypilly has produced two crops of fruit and it evokes memories from Julia's family childhood spent at Mystery Bay near Tilba Tilba when they first tasted lillypillies.
On weekends, a dish made often by Julia and Suhail using produce from their garden is a vegetable nacho mix. The recipe was one Julia's mother, Alison, made that her sister Olivia tweaked and which Julia has tweaked further. It can be made using whatever seasonal produce is on hand.
Vegetable nacho mix
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp ground coriander seed
- 4 cloves
- 2 tbsp garam masala
- 1 brown onion
- 1 green capsicum
- 2 cups of chopped leafy greens like silver beet, spinach, sorrel or kale (or a mixture)
- 1 tin of black beans or 2 cups of soaked black beans
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 2 cups or chopped fresh tomatoes
- 4 grate-able seasonal vegetables like zucchini, carrot, swede, turnip, parsnip, squash, capsicum
Method
Toast the spices, then either grate or blitz the onion and green capsicum. Saute in a large pot until most of the moisture has left the mixture, then add the toasted spices. Add the remaining ingredients and cover with water. Simmer on a medium heat for one to two hours, or until the vegetables are soft and falling apart, then reduce to thicken.
Serve with tortilla chips to scoop it up, or on top of roasted sweet potato.
