Metlink Edible Garden @ Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 2010
If you are in Melbourne and happen to be near City Square, you definitely have to check out the Metlink Edible Garden they have set up for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival this year. Imagine a whole edible garden in your backyard where you can just pick any fruit or vegetable and take a bite as you frolicking through the foliage, how cool would that be?
Helen (Grab Your Fork) and I went to check out the Metlink Edible Garden over the weekend and it was truly fascinating with so much fruits and vegetables that I’ve never heard of and also a few tropical plants that I am surprised to see them able to grow in the Australia’s climate.
Clockwise L to R: a cool display on how to make your own compost; beautiful vibrant capsicums on display; The colorful table setting for the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation lunch
I have to admit I am a self-confessed plant killer, me and gardening don’t mix. I have blogged about my herb garden over a year ago, and guess what, my herb garden is still growing strong a year later and now I have a good collection of herb plants including bird’s eye chilli, spring onion, rosemary, basil, parsley, lemon thyme, aji chilli and a few different type of mint. They are my pride and joy that I often used in my cooking. The reason why they are surviving is because they are edible, which somewhat motivates me to take extra care of the plant. If they are just flowers, I probably couldn’t care less… is true.
My next addition to my little edible garden will be a mandarin tree. I am very excited about that because I already started this little project on my friend Big D’s mandarin tree few months back. The little incision I’ve made on one of the stems is already growing roots, is time to be cut and transplant into a pot. Hopefully, the first harvest will be in a year’s time. Wish me luck!
baby heirloom tomatoes
My edible garden is definitely not as impressive as the Metlink Edible Garden, but I do find growing, harvesting and cooking your own fruits and vegetables gives me a sense of satisfaction and even it may sound cliche, but definitely tastes million times better than store bought. I don’t think you can have any excuse that because you live in a tiny apartment in Sydney and there is no space for an edible garden. Bullshit! If Indira Naidoo can sustain an edible garden on her apartment’s balcony, so can everybody else! You definitely have to check out her impressive edible garden on her blog. It’s worth it.
I’ll finish up this post with a few photos I’ve taken from the Metlink Edible Garden.
Tips: If you want to practice you food photography, the Edible Garden is already perfectly set up for you and the best backdrop you could have ever asked for.
colorful heirlooms, cherry tomatoes and kumatoes
seductively sexy black pearl chillies
color coded wild corns
squash, melon and pumpkins
Metlink Edible Garden will be on display at the City Square in Melbourne, from 10am – 7.30pm daily until March 19, 2010. Entry is free.
[ A Table For Two attended the events at Melbourne Food & Wine Festival as a guest of Tourism Victoria ]
A Table For Two (ATFT) is Billy Law's food blog that features best eats in Sydney and around the world with drool-worthy food photography to salivate your appetite. I also throw in a smidgen of my food and travel photography for good measure. Billy Law also happened to be a contestant on MasterChef Australia 2011. 
Gorgeous shots Billy. I am a plant killer too. I just don’t have a green thumb. My dad on the other hand has a green thumb. He can chuck seeds on soil and get a lush plant out of it. The wild corn shot is great.
.-= Katherine´s last blog ..Banana Pudding from Magnolia Bakery New York =-.
yeah some people are just good at gardening. I guess I dont have the patience! heheheh
Well done on your thriving herb garden. I’m notorious to killing plants too, but I agree, if there was edible reward involved I think I’d be much more likely to invest the time and effort in maintenance!
.-= Helen (grabyourfork)´s last blog ..Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 2010: The Edible Garden; and Aussie Bacon Week =-.
I never involved myself in any form of gardening either. No green fingers, only buttered.
Nice shots, and I do agree that snapping around in a brightly-lit garden makes great practice.
.-= J2Kfm´s last blog ..Taste of Foochow @ Jalan Gajah, Pudu =-.
Way to go! I have 1 hectare on the verdant north coast, but think it would be sufficient and very interesting to see what could be grown on a small balcony/terrace/suburban garden. Larger areas tend to waste space, fuel, time etc. I do have a small bit of regenerated rainforest and think it would be interesting to plant tropical fruits around the outside (Jackfruit, mangosteen).
Great post.
wow Jeff, that’s very lucky to have a nice piece of land to do whatever you like. I would be interested to see what you are going to plant. Keep me posted!
Love the sneaky shot of the baby tomatoes! and everything looks so fresh and vibrant!
Lovely shoots of all the veggies Billy! I really like the baby heirloom tomatoes shot you took there. What a fantastic place to be for the freshest veggies. I’m facsinated by the black pearl chilli, did you get to try it?
.-= Phuoc’n Delicious´s last blog ..Reminiscing: Limoncello in the City of Lemons (Sorrento) =-.
hey no, i didnt try the black pearl chilli, wish there is sampling. I did try some fruit, cant remember the name now… ha!
Some nice photos. Looks like this would have been an interesting destination to visit, for the photography alone, let alone the produce