Looking for the perfect dish to cook with your homegrown produce? Look no further! Scroll down to search for whatever you’re growing and then click through to browse my seasonal recipes that feature it.
Please note, the majority of these recipes are only available to members of the Wild Garden Club. To join the club and access the full archive of recipes and newsletters, you can click the button below and upgrade your membership to ‘Wild Garden club member’.
Asparagus
One of the first vegetables to appear in the spring garden, asparagus spears burst out of the earth, heralding the arrival of warm weather crops. Eat them as fresh as you possibly can, fry them in butter and garlic, throw them raw and roughly chopped into salads and notice (with atrocious levels of smugness) how much sweeter they taste when you grow them yourself.
Browse the full archive of asparagus recipes here.
Basil
The most fragrant and versatile herb of summer. Pair basil with fresh tomatoes, crush it into a pesto with pine nuts or almonds, layer it on a crusty roll with slices of mozzarella and a drizzle of olive oil, or throw it into a quick, fresh garden salad.
Browse the full archive of basil recipes here.
Carrots
The humble carrot: a stalwart member of every veggie patch and, look, I know you can buy them in 5kg bags for like 99c from the shops but trust me, they’re SO much better when you grow them yourself! If you have never tasted a homegrown carrot it might be hard to imagine just how intensely carrot-y and delicious a carrot can be. The only way to find out: grow some!
Browse the full archive of carrot recipes here.
Cherry Tomatoes
If you grow nothing else in your lifetime, you must grow cherry tomatoes. Bold statement, I know. But I swear it’s true: no supermarket cherry tomatoes can hold a candle to the flavours and sweetness you’ll get in a homegrown cherry tomato. It’s transcendental.
Browse the full archive of cherry tomato recipes here.
Chilli
Chillies belong in every garden except, perhaps, my mother’s. If that woman so much as looks at a capsicum she’ll start to sweat. For the rest of us, chillies are a versatile ingredient that add another dimension to so many dishes and - if you eat them in large enough doses - leave you with a reckless, panting and giddy euphoria. Add them to absolutely everything.
Browse the full archive of chilli recipes here.
Cucumber
The purest vegetable in the summer garden, cucumbers are part of the pumpkin family, but - unlike pumpkin - you harvest them when they’re young and tender and delicious. They don’t make it into our kitchen all that often - I eat most of them in the garden when they’re still warm from the midday sun.
Browse the full archive of cucumber recipes here.
Eggplant
Eggplants belong to the Nightshade family along with tomatoes, potatoes, capsicums and chillies. They have some of the most beautiful flowers of any vegetable, and they’re a great addition to the veggie patch. I love to slow roast them (drizzled with olive oil) then throw them into pasta sauces or top them with pomegranate seeds and a tahini dressing.
Browse the full archive of eggplant recipes here.
Fennel
Fennel is quite possibly the best and most versatile plant I grow in my garden. This single plant produces bulbs that can be fried in butter until they caramelise, frothy leaves that can be thrown into salads to impart a subtle, aniseed-y flavour, bright yellow flowers that taste like liquorice (and attract plenty of bees and wasps), and beautiful, structural seed heads that are truly delicious in a heap of dishes.
Browse the full archive of fennel recipes here.
Figs
Figs from the shops are, without fail, overripe and bruised or underripe and bland, and they are always, always overpriced. Homegrown figs are a caramelised dream, their spicy sweet fragrance pairs gloriously with goat’s cheese, gorgonzola, pancetta, ricotta and honey.
Browse the full archive of fig recipes here.
Garlic
What a dull, beige world this would be if it weren’t for garlic. I can think of almost no savoury dish that isn’t improved with a few roughly crushed cloves. Garlic is strong, spicy, rich, earthy and my love for it is as deep as a thousand oceans. Oceans filled with garlic.
Browse the full archive of garlic recipes here.
Kale
Kale is a reliable, sturdy and versatile member of any good veggie patch. Although I must admit that for a long time I didn’t find it very exciting to eat. That all changed when I learned one secret: rub freshly picked kale with olive oil and a pinch of salt before you add it to your salads. This softens and flavours the leaves and totally transforms their texture and it is amazing.
Browse the full archive of kale recipes here.
Lemon
No garden is truly complete without a lemon tree. They are tough, hardy, beautiful and willingly provide you with multiple flushes of fruit a year. Fruit that costs an offensive amount if you buy it from the shops. They add a lightness and brightness to anything you cook with them, whether you’re drizzling a sugary lemon syrup over a strawberry and honey teacake, grating the sunshine yellow rind on top of a cheesy risotto or roasting thick slices whole, throwing them into a salad once they’ve achieved a surprisingly sweet caramelised perfection. Grow them always. Eat them forever.
Browse the full archive of lemon recipes here.
Parsnips
A relative of parsley, carrots, coriander and caraway, parsnips belong to the Umbel family (they produce flowers that bloom on ‘spokes’, giving them the appearance of little yellow, lacy umbrellas). Their root is less sweet than a carrot, mild but earthy in flavour. They are a fantastic addition to a vegetable roast, they can be grated and fried into hash browns or latkes, and add a welcome, rich dimension to a winter soup.
Browse the full archive of parsnip recipes here.
Peach
Possibly the most delightful stone fruit of summer (although the competition between peaches, nectarines and plums is, admittedly, stiff) peaches work in so many dishes. You might blitz them - fresh - add them to a creamy custard and freeze them into ice-cream (add a teaspoon of miso paste to give your ice-cream an almost caramel flavour), you might slice them into halves and serve them with fresh sage, almond flakes, ricotta and honey drizzled over, or grill them and add them to a tangy summer salad. The possibilities are only as endless as your pink skinned, fuzzy imagination.
Browse the full archive of peach recipes here.
Pomegranate
If you want to make something look fancy without doing any actual work, sprinkle pomegranate jewels on top of it right before serving. These tiny, ruby coloured bursts of flavour pop in the mouth, adding a juicy, crunchy sweetness to whatever you’re eating. They are wonderful added to eggplant halves that have been roasted so long the flesh has turned to silk. Scatter them on top and serve with a tahini dressing for a Middle Eastern feast.
Browse the full archive of pomegranate recipes here.
Potato
Of all the root vegetables, the one I’d miss the most on an alien planet would be potato. Maybe that’s why Matt Damon decided to grow potatoes in his own ‘humanure’ in The Martian. I’m certainly not advocating that you do that, but, just in case humanity ever does have to up and move to another planet, I recommend you enjoy them now, as often as humanly possible. Roast them, fry them, steam them, mash them, and - if you’re feeling very wholesome - grow them yourself!
Browse the full archive of potato recipes here.
Pumpkin
My best garden pumpkins have always grown out of the compost pile. In fact, some historians theorise that pumpkins sprouting from compost heaps were one of the first ways our ancestors inadvertently began to farm their own food. I don’t know about that, but I do know that slow-roasting a butternut squash until it turns golden brown and sugary sweet is the first step in so many delightful recipes.
Browse the full archive of pumpkin recipes here.
Rockmelon
Rockmelons are fast growers with big fruits, large leaves that extend from creeping vines and tendrils that wrap around nearby objects, turning them into ad-hoc climbing frames. I like to add them, sliced to salads, scoop out the centre and fill each half with greek yoghurt and fresh passionfruit, or splash a little port onto a plateful of them (sliced) and call it a ‘palate cleanser’ between hedonistic courses of cheese.
Browse the full archive of rockmelon recipes here.
Strawberry
Strawberries, mulberries and asparagus are some of the most quintessentially springtimey ingredients you’ll ever have the pleasure of chopping up and devouring. They appear just as the wet, cold days are giving way to crisp, clear mornings and the first courages bees are venturing out. I like to grow my strawberries at the edges big pots, encouraging the fruit to droop over the side of the pot where it is safe(r) from bugs. You don’t need much (or anything) to do a homegrown strawberry justice. Although it wouldn’t hurt to add some lightly sweetened cream… and maybe a few slices of honey-laced tea cake. And maybe some Pimms, for good measure.
Browse the full archive of strawberry recipes here.
Sweetcorn
Homegrown sweetcorn belongs to that group of plants that taste NOTHING like the shop bought version. In fact, it’s irresponsible to grow your own corn because once you’ve tried fresh corn, picked minutes before eating, you’ll want to set fire to every sub-standard ear you’ve ever let sully your mouth.
Browse the full archive of sweetcorn recipes here.
Sweet potato
Sweet potatoes are one of the easiest and most productive root vegetables you can grow. I grow mine from supermarket sweet potatoes that have sprouted and begun sending their snaking tendrils around our pantry like creepy green aliens. Next time you go to the shops, get a sweet potato, pop it at the back of a dry, airy pantry and ignore it for a few months until it starts to shoot, the bury it in a very big pot filled with good quality potting mix, with the new green tendril shoots. above the soil. While it grows, you can harvest and eat the leaves. After about 6-12 months, start digging in the soil and harvesting sweet potato tubers as needed.
Browse the full archive of sweet potato recipes here.
Tomato
Tomatoes are the one vegetable that may, eventually, convince me to build a greenhouse. I need to eat them all year, and a dearth of tomatoes over winter leaves me bereft and bored. They just go with everything! If Maslow revised his hierarchy with vegetable in mind he would certainly put tomatoes at the base of the pyramid, along with air, water, shelter and safety. (Almost) every salad needs at least one ripe tomato. Fresh pasta, tossed with garlic and butter, clamours out for a thick Napolitana sauce and I’ve never met a pizza that couldn’t have been improved by the addition of some slow roasted toms. To grow them is to love them.
Browse the full archive of tomato recipes here.
Zucchini
The summer fruit that always overwhelms first time veggie growers, zucchinis produce prolifically and one plant is usually enough for an entire family. But - usually - we plant at least six plants and are promptly inundated with more zucchinis than we could ever possibly eat. In the face of endless fruits, we panic. And while we panic, we dither. And while we dither, the fruit gets ever more obscenely big and long, until we find ourselves embarking on elaborate pickling, canning and storing ventures in order to just get through the fruit. My advice? Plant just ONE zucchini and, if you are becoming overwhelmed with fruits, pick them early - as flowers for the top of your homemade pizzas (or to stuff with ricotta and bake), or as baby zucchinis to chop up fresh and throw into your salads.