Connect and Learn - Asian Inspired Food Garden

Connect & Learn + Share Table

Asian Inspired Food Garden

presented by Debbie Bassingthwaighte

Monday 17 March 2025

6.30 pm - 8.30 pm

at Level 3 Meeting Rooms, Toowoomba City Library, Corner of Herries and Victoria Streets, Toowoomba, QLD 4350

or online via Zoom

You'll receive the Zoom link after you book.

This event is organised by Permaculture Toowoomba Inc.

Bookings are Essential

Please book so we have your contact details and know how many will be attending. 

If your circumstances change and you can no longer attend, please cancel your booking.

What We'll Do

6.30 pm - Learn - Asian Inspired Food Garden

Presented by Debbie Bassingthwaighte

Debbie and her husband Brodie have developed a protected area between their house and garage at Madingley Homestead to grow a range of Asian inspired food plants. 

We'll hear:

• details of Debbie's draft plan for this garden (including sector analysis and selecting a suitable position)
• the list of Asian inspired food plants that are flourishing in this microclimate (more than 120 different plants in approximately 100 m2 including many you might not know you can grow)
• tips on how to easily grow these plants in your own garden
• strategies to encourage biodiversity using organic approaches

The Story Behind this Garden

The main purpose of this Asian inspired food garden is to grow a range of beautiful, edible (mostly tropical) plants that can easily be plucked for immediate use in the kitchen. It’s sited within permaculture zone 1 (which requires regular human input and is visited multiple times each day) for easy access, observation and harvesting.

The location has been carefully selected for the protected microclimate it provides. The mostly tropical food plants are unlikely to thrive in other areas of the property because they grow naturally in rainforest understorey habitats, are frost-sensitive and require filtered sunlight and consistent water. However, they are flourishing here.

This garden area is informal and densely planted with gently curving paths, dappled shade trellises, productive raised beds, and rotund terracotta pots.

The aim is to have leafy greens, fruit, and aromatic spices to stimulate culinary creativity and wellbeing. The colours and scents of foliage, fruits and flowers have been selected to weave a year-long tapestry.

Some features include:

• large pots for easy harvest of rhizomes such as ginger, turmeric and galangal
• bog garden pots for water-loving plants
• deciduous and evergreen fruit trees, vertical climbing vines, and perennial and annual ground covers
• a colour palette of tropical shades of green, contrasted with hues of yellow, orange and purple foliage, with fruit and flowers across all seasons.

Debbie Bassingthwaighte

Debbie is a backyard gardener who loves to use produce plucked directly from her edible garden. As a learning specialist and designer she has a deep interest in permaculture-inspired resilience, self-reliance and abundance, and loves to inspire others to live their best lives within our resilient community.  Debbie was the founding President of Permaculture Toowoomba Inc. and continues to enjoy an active involvement on the management committee. She feels consciously interconnected with nature and community, and strives to live a simple, proactive life where her positive handprint is greater than her negative footprint. 

You might also like to see Debbie’s website, Nurtured Life, focused on empowering resilience and self-reliance as a curator of living wisdom.  It includes a potpourri of blog posts for inspiration, links to events, and resources (recipes, plant profiles, and bookshelf) to build skills and knowledge.

7.45 pm – Connect – Light Supper (provided) and Share Table

A light supper will be served (including Gluten Free and Vegan options).

Please bring your own KeepCup or mug so we can reduce waste.

Sharing of produce on the Share Table opens after the presentation to allow plenty of time for everyone to place their donations, and then allow you to browse, connect and make your selections during supper

Parking

Free off-street parking is available under the library (enter from Victoria Street).

Access

The venue has access for wheelchairs, walking frames, and strollers as needed. Everyone is welcome (including children with parental supervision).

We hope we see you there!

What to Bring

• KeepCup or similar for your drink at supper (we're trying to minimise waste) 
• Donations of surplus produce for the Share Table

Share Table

Do you have surplus?

We encourage you to bring your surplus produce, plants, seeds, books, craft supplies, and resources to share with others at our events.

Some ideas of what you could bring include – fruit, vegetables, herbs, eggs, honey, milk, jams, pickles, preserves, jars, ferments, starters, SCOBYs, seeds, plants, seedlings, cuttings, tubers, pots, tools, gardening magazines, permaculture books, recipes, patterns, manure, coffee grounds, compost additives, worms, mealworms, wool, fabric, craft supplies, soap, natural cleaning products, plastic alternatives, produce bags – the list is extensive.

Please bring whatever you can and then take home whatever you need within our culture of generosity and free sharing

Cost

• Financial Members of Permaculture Toowoomba Inc. - Free
• First-time Visitors to a Permaculture Toowoomba Inc. Event - $10 per person
• Non-Members - $20 per person
• Children attending with an Adult - Free (but please book so we know the total numbers)

Membership 2025

Annual Membership of Permaculture Toowoomba Inc. is due by 31 December each year. It's only $50 per person or $40 for a second or subsequent adult living in the same home.  

Financial Members can attend events and workshops during the year at no cost. 

You can pay your membership for 2025 at checkout when you book to attend this event.

Membership forms will be available at the event for anyone wishing to join, or available here for download at http://www.permaculturetoowoomba.com.au/membership/