Planting the seeds in time for spring

We've been colleagues for close to 30 years (which might surprise you given how young and sprightly we both are) and friends for just as long.

Susan wrote her first column for The Canberra Times in 1983, (I was actually still in high school then) it was called Sunday Gardener, and since then she has snuck into people's gardens for a poke around every week.

Sometimes she convinces them to feed her - and sometimes a poor starving photographer - with bounty from their garden. She has a knack of getting people to share their stories, and their asparagus, like no one else I know.

The one garden I have been unable to lure Susan into is my own. I get huffy with her sometimes; she once spent a whole column writing about some jar of jam, or something, that former Food & Wine editor and now restaurant reviewer Kirsten Lawson had made. But can I get her into my most wonderful courtyard garden? No.

When I moved house a year ago, it was vital to my wellbeing that I have a space I could call a garden, even if I had nothing but a smallish courtyard.

I wanted to be able to grow my food, invite the birds and bees in, and have a space to sit and enjoy it all while something delicious bubbled away in my barbecue.

Thanks to the clever team at Foxy's Landscapes I have all that and it makes me very happy.

Almost as happy as something I read in Susan's upcoming column for Tuesday's Food & Wine section.

She visited Dimity May at Reid Tiny Farm, and I won't give too much away, go and buy Tuesday's paper, but just to say it's inspired me to give this month's selection of fabulous things a gardening theme.

Ok, this is giving a little bit away. May's little farm in Reid offers seasonal seedling boxes, following the principles of the Community Supported Agriculture veggie box model, where you pay a fee, annually or by season, and receive a box of locally grown, organic vegetable seedlings.

Sign me up. Now.

A large box (suitable for families or enthusiastic growers with a bit of extra room) will set you back $200, for four deliveries a year.

I've signed up for a little box ($120 annually). My spring box might include Asian greens, spinach, broccoli, lettuce, silverbeet, celery, spring onions, beetroots and leeks. You can also order them one season at a time.

I am beyond excited. Find out more information here reidtinyfarm.com.au.

After talking to Matthew Evans about his fabulous book Soil in the past week, I've been inspired to start thinking properly about composting.

I don't have space in said garden to have a pile up against a fence, say, and most weeks it's just me and my potato peelings so I don't need a large set-up.

I've been wondering if countertop company buckets work. Would love to hear if you've had success with them, or indeed if you have any ideas on how I can best start composting for one.

In the meantime I like the look of this set-up from Seed & Sprout. Their five-litre mini compost bin ($59) has a charcoal filter and looks like it would be right at home in my kitchen.

How do I start?

And you have to look good while you're gardening.

Especially if you need to pop over to Bunnings, you never know what handsome man you might find in aisle six. You know the aisle I mean.

I like this little gardening apron I found on Etsy from Sydandco.

This utility apron features a little zippered pocket as well as a large jean-style pocket.

You can even personalise the embroidered design to suit your favourite plant lady. Miss Susan would look perfect on a pocket.

Check it out on Etsy here.