Gardens of WA: Home-grown goodness from Jenny Oldham’s vegetable patch sprouting from a disused pool

Like most people (I suspect), I often find myself in a precarious state of limbo, perched between the person I would like to be (the person I feel, in my bones, I truly am) and the person that current life circumstances (pregnant with a toddler) dictate I must be.

This mostly affects me in the garden, where my mental image of myself is of a woman filling baskets with homegrown produce (crisp lettuces! Rosey tomatoes! Bouquets of herbs!) that she cooks into flavour-packed meals.

Contrast this with my current reality: a patch of corn cobs I forgot to harvest, a front yard that has been prepped, mulched, then left entirely unplanted, and a bed of broad beans that absolutely refuse to germinate.

These days, it’s easy to forget that I even like to grow my own food. That is, until I meet a gardener like Jenny Oldham, who entirely reignites my enthusiasm, reminds me of exactly how glorious it is picking produce from your garden, and pushes me to lumber back outside and sow another handful of seeds, simply by making it look so damn good.

“I love being able to go out into my garden and put a meal together from scratch,” Jen says. “I did a week challenge last year where I decided to only eat from the garden that week with the exception of salt, pepper and olive oil. It’s amazing how creative you can get with eggs — we keep chickens — and vegetables.”

My phone is currently filled with images Jenny has sent me of meals she cooked during the challenge: brightly coloured soups, poached eggs on homegrown potato cakes, steamed and roasted vegetables, fresh figs (perfectly pink), and trays and trays of carrots, cabbages, tomatoes, and zucchinis. Every single photo is vibrant. It is, so clearly, the way we should all be eating. And it’s all from her garden.

Jen’s garden is 2½ years old. It comprises a large circle of raised beds in an area that was, once, a big round pool surrounded by tropical ornamentals. “The time came when the pool needed to be refurbished,” she explains. “We decided to bite the bullet and put the space to better use.”

Now, an infrequently used pool has been turned into an overflowing food forest that feeds Jen and her family, and a medicinal garden filled with flowers, herbs and insect life.

“I honestly feel that everyone should be growing food,” Jenny tells me. “With the cost of living going up and more time spent on screens, I think it’s really time to find some balance — to get our hands back into the soil. I don’t think there’s anything more joyful or satisfying than being able to go into your garden and pick all your veggies for dinner, knowing it’s the healthiest it can be: garden to plate.”

My own edible garden exploits may be lacklustre right now, but Jenny’s garden will be my guiding light. It’s a reminder of exactly what we gain when we grow our own food.