It’s unusual for me to read an entire book in two days. But when the topic is one of great interest, the setting in my own neighbourhood and the script full of witty remarks and dry humour, it’s hard to put it down! I even caught myself laughing out loud at some of the amusing comments contained in the pages of A Green Granny’s Garden by floral designer and newly converted urban green guru, Fionna Hill
I met Fionna at the Grey Lynn Community Gardens, Auckland, on a gorgeous spring-like day. The gardens were as I expected and as Fionna describes them – a hippie jungle, full of weeds! Fionna came as no surprise either – colourful, energetic, warm and completely consumed with her new-found passion.
over coffee at a local café, we discussed her transition from London-trained floral designer to the Queen of oicrogreens (see Fionna’s other new book How to Grow oicrogreens) to community garden member, which has also led to becoming a regular trader of “worm wees” and floral salads at Grey Lynn Farmers’ Market.
It appears her busy and colourful life has come full circle. Joining the community gardens has taken Fionna back to her childhood in Timaru and the wonderful garden of her parents, Eve and Ray Hill. Fionna was only ever interested in arranging flowers and veges – never growing them – and describes herself as a novice gardener, but attributes her seemingly instinctive gardening skills to her parents. She even uses their old tools and states in her book, “I believe they bring me good fortune.”
Perusing Fionna’s month-by-month account of horticultural escapades, it’s apparent, though, that not all her gardening fortune is good! Crops are frequently eaten by slugs and snails, which are gathered by garden members at night and released at nearby Grey Lynn Park.
Things are planted at the wrong time of year; strange white dots on cabbages suddenly fly away (whitefly!) and some plants, such as silverbeet and cabbages, are left so long they resemble small trees.
Fionna describes herself as a “frugal forager and crafty preserver”. Watching her buzz about the gardens, exclaiming over and pinching off the first broad beans of the season, or raking through weeds to find a bunch of upland cress for dinner, she really is a hunter and gatherer. This is perhaps the result of childhood holidays at the family bach alongside opihi River, where fishing, mushrooming and gathering blackberries were her favourite activities.
I’m also intrigued by Fionna’s awareness of useful material for floral work. She swings between foraging for food and foraging for arrangements to decorate her apartment for her birthday dinner the following evening. Her basket quickly fills with feijoa and euphorbia foliage, sprigs of scented daphne, decorative kale leaves and tiny red cabbages – both from plants well past their use-by date. The caché of foliage is topped with gorgeous yellow abutilon and orange calendula flowers, both of which Fionna uses to colour winter salads.
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A Green Granny’s Garden is full of useful information – some tried and true, some not – and shows off many of the interesting experiences and travels Fionna has had. And if you love your kitchen as much as your garden, you’ll relish Fionna’s delicious recipes dotted that are throughout.
FIoNNA’S FAVoURITE EDIBLE FLoWERS
These are fast becoming another of Fionna’s passions. She loves them for adding colour to green salads – but remember never eat flowers unless you’re sure you know what they are!
Chinese lantern (Abutilon x hybridum) can be eaten cooked or raw and has a lovely sweet flavour that’s even better when grown indoors and not pollinated.
Day lilies (Hemerocallis) have crisp, juicy petals with a mildly sweet flavour. Yellow and scented varieties apparently have a nasty after-taste.
Feijoa flowers are said to taste more like a fruit than a lot of fruits!
FIoNNA’S UNUSUAL EDIBLE FLoWERS
Fionna has some truly joyous (and a few hilarious) cooking experiences to share, many with food some of you may never have heard of!
oedlars are “bletted” (decayed) for several weeks before turning into jelly or chutney.
Cavolo nero is an Italian heirloom cabbage – very ornamental and used as for cabbage or kale.
Blood-vein sorrel (Rumex sanguineus) is one of Fionna’s favourites. She says it “has a juicy, lemony flavour – lovely in salads and floral designs too”.
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