Children's entertainer, Hi-5's Mary Lascaris, talks about getting dirty in her bountiful garden in Melbourne.
How did you become interested in gardening?
It's a family thing that's been passed down through the generations. My grandma had a garden. I'm from a Greek background so gardens are massive. I loved it as a kid, digging up all the old plants. We would never snack on junk food, we'd walk into the garden and pick some beans and eat tomatoes as though they were apples. Grandma had lots of fruit trees, the best blood plum tree, and an olive tree. My future house will have a pomegranate tree and a fig tree.
Can you explain your family's garden?
The backyard is quite large and when we did the concreting in the back yard we divided it into summer and winter.
In the summer garden we have tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh herbs, capsicum, zucchini, fresh chilli, broad beans - you name it it`s all there. At the back we have a lemon tree, orange tree and mandarin tree. In the winter area we've just planted broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.
Anything new you're experimenting with?
At the side of the house this year we grew corn. They grew so well but it was the first time we grew corn and we left it on the plant for too long, so when we picked them they were overdone. But I made an amazing corn soup out of them.
How much time do you spend in the garden?
I don't get much of a chance because of all the travelling with Hi-5. My mum is in there all the time.
Do you need to buy fruit and vegetables from the supermarket?
Any time we make salad we don't have to buy anything, it all comes form the garden.
Do you compost?
We've put a bucket in each of summer and winter gardens in the ground and cut a hole at the bottom and sides. After all the summer vegetables are finished we rip them out and put them in the compost bin.
Do you have a homemade pesticide recipe?
Boil garlic and chilli and strain it into a spray bottle, let it cool down, spray it on the plants and that will get rid of any pests.
Is there anything you can't grow?
One thing I struggle to grow are carrots. They grow into funny shapes. They turn out to be really tiny. My mum found one that looked like two people hugging, that was a nice one. I love carrots so much so I have to go to the supermarkets and buy carrots.
Do you have too much of any vegetables?
Our zucchinis grow to be huge, like they're on steroids. We've been having zucchini frittata every morning for months. We've had zucchini flowers stuffed and fried, zucchini patties, everything zucchini. One didn't even fit in the fridge it was so big.
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