Life is sweet in this bloomin' garden
by
Rebecca Jenkins
With names like chocolate capsicums and strawberry guavas, some of
the things growing in Jayne Ayliffe’s garden sound more like confections
from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory than humble fruit and veg.
But in her quest to create an edible landscape, there is no variety the disability adviser at UniSA’s Learning Connection isn’t prepared to try.
Ayliffe and partner Mark Wittervan, who is the Flexible Learning Centre’s online projects manager, have transformed their front garden into a bountiful vegetable patch, with peas, eggplants and bush tomatoes just a few of the many foods now in season.
“My papa is my inspiration. He had a big veggie patch and fruit trees as well as compost bins and worm farms,” Ayliffe said.
“I have fond memories as a kid picking food from the garden and eating lots of homemade jams, sauces and preserved fruit – they always taste better and you know what is in them.”
The pair bought their Millswood home about three years ago, after almost a decade in Sydney. Ayliffe had recently completed a permaculture course which helped her with the basics of designing the vegetable patch in the front garden.
They also have fruit trees, planted strategically around the property, chickens and a compost heap.
Ayliffe said she was always keen to try different varieties, hence the chocolate capsicums which are a beautiful cocoa colour and the strawberry guava, an exotic fruit which tastes similar to a pineapple.
The garden has helped to teach their two children, Jordie aged six and Jaimee aged seven, where food comes from and has encouraged them to try different foods – jam made from the berries of lilli pilli trees was a smash hit.
“It is so satisfying to be eating food that you have grown from seed,” Ayliffe said.
“I just love to sit on the patio, drinking a cuppa and just watch the garden
grow and change – the smells, the sounds, the colours. It is so beautiful and
relaxing.”