With Common Ground Property Services busier than ever, it has been hard to find the time to work on my own garden lately. But with the long weekend upon us, I decided to bite the bullet and mow my lawn, plant out my herb garden and restart my worm farm.

These jobs only took a couple of hours, and now we are ready to reap the benefits of fresh herbs, veggies and fruit, and we’ll be able to keep the plants well fed with worm castings and ‘worm juice’ – a liquid gold fertilizer. In Brisbane, April is the perfect time to plant a range of plants for the veggie patch, now that the sun is losing some of its punch and the nights are cooling down (which helps to control many pests that are keen to dine out on your herbs and veggies).

As I only work with a small veggie patch, I tend to plant out high yielding plants, many of which can be ‘grazed’ for a few leaves each day or will provide multiple crops. I also stick with plants that I know are easy to grow and that I will definitely use in the kitchen. For example, this season I have planted kale, spinach, bok choi, chilies, cherry tomatoes, coriander, garlic chives and sweet basil, as well as passionfruit and red papaya. I have also planted a herb called brahmi, which is apparently good for memory.

With work now expected to slow down for the winter months, I’m looking forward to getting more gardening jobs done around home on the weekends.

I would encourage everyone to get out and plant some herbs or veggies at this time of year. Even if you start small and only put in a few plants, the health benefits and satisfaction you get from growing your own food are undeniable!