I've compiled a list of 150 edible and functional plants growing in my permaculture garden. These are growing in a diverse polyculture on our one acre plot within Crystal Waters Permaculture Village, the Australian ecovillage. My subtropical garden has received an edible landscape award and I open it periodically for workshops and tours.
I love foraging in my garden. There's always something new happening. It is a place of much joy and connection for me, and I've set it up so it's not at all hard work. In many ways the garden is a central part of our lives. It's my children's classroom. It is our pantry. It's our medicine cabinet. It's our source of table flowers and natural dyes. It's the basis of my livelihood and it our resilience. It is a place of learning, teaching, inquiry, creativity and discovery. It is a source too of many gifts, abundance and happiness. Over 10,000 edible perennial cuttings and many 1000s of easy to grow seeds have been given away from this garden.
Back in winter, my brother and I made this short film - the first of the weekly films on my YouTube Channel: Our Permaculture Life. Perhaps you may have already seen it. In this film I take you on a walkabout deep into my edible landscape - the kitchen garden and food forest - sharing design ideas, my low-input garden philosophy and introducing the first 50 or so plants on the list below and explaining their uses.
Today I have added the common names of another 100 edible, medicinal and useful plants that I have in my edible eco-system. This is not a complete list of my plants - still working on that, and of course it is seasonal too.
Lemon Myrtle - Backhousia citriodora
Cranberry Hibiscus - Hibiscus acetosella
Society Garlic - Tulbaghia violecea
Mustard Spinach - Brassica juncea
Snow Peas - Pisum sativum var. saccharatum
Carrot - Daucus carota subsp. sativus
Sweet Potato - Ipomoea batatas
Pumpkin - Cucurbita pepo
Pepino - Solanum muricatum
Dwarf Washington Navel Orange - Citrus sinensis 'Washington Navel’
