Kitchen in the Garden

A wonderful addition to the beautiful Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens is the Kitchen in the Garden, an open-air outdoor teaching facility set right in the middle of the Kitchen Garden, where you’ll discover a world of seasonal and perennial edibles growing.

As you stroll through the precinct, which overlooks the Ross McKinnon Lagoon, its great to know that the plants around you are all those that can be successfully grown at home here in the Brisbane climate, with attention given to being mindful of water usage along with small garden limitations and even balcony gardens.

The common names of the plants are displayed on garden stakes, and whilst you can’t take pick any of the plants to taste or take with you, you are encouraged to take a picture so that you can find it at your local nursery.

Depending on the time of year, there are a vibrant mix of herbs, fruits and vegetables, and, of course, loads of brilliant flowers to bring in the bees for pollination.

A range of popular events and educational workshops for kids and adults are held in this area promoting the benefits of growing your own fruit and vegetables and how to turn what you’ve grown into healthy and nutritious dishes.

This garden-to-gourmet workshop concept embraces many different activities including learning how to garden sustainably, how to create a wicking garden (this is where the plants are watered from below, rather than from above), how to build your own solar cooker right through to experimenting with food fermentation, plus others.

The Brisbane City Council also run hands-on classes for schools to take part in, and each of the lessons is aligned with the National Curriculum from Prep to Year 12.

Nice to know – The Kitchen Garden is maintained by Mt Coot-Tha Botanical Garden professional gardeners, plus a host of volunteers who are part of Friends of Brisbane Botanic Gardens & Sherwood Arboretum group.

If you're looking for ideas on what to plant in Autumn in Brisbane, take a moment to read through our guide here.

By Danella Perrins