By James Wall
Sometimes a garden just clicks. Ok, to the actual gardeners responsible for it, this is surely not the case. But to the occassional visitor, they sure make it look easy.
That was the case when my family took a couple of days off over summer and ended up at a little pizza bar in Balnarring today. It is called Ciao Bella and the food has that simple fresh food that uses seasonal produce and is quite flavoursome. Pastas seem to be where they really excel.
But for me the highlight was the vegie garden. It was part of a larger grassed and treed area that is given a pounding in this child friendly restaurant. But the vegies and herbs are beautifully fenced off and the only interest the kids take, is learning from each other what the different things growing are.
Different types of wood have been used to extentuate, border and support the plants. The feeling is homely with a pang of a thought saying why can’t I create this at home. My vegie garden just doesn’t have the same emotion – yet !
What about the painstaking length people go to support their tomatoes. You can’t rush. A bit of pruning of the plants. An engineering feat with timber that has been intricately wired at certain points. Some string lines. Oh, they’ve just made it look so easy, and original.
And have a look at the quarter wine barrel on the wall idea – that is a good one, and perfect for these citrus.
An old fence that has probably only cost time. Time is not always money. You can’t put a price on the ambience, it just seems to evolve as this charming little vegie garden has.
Ciao Bella – get their early, or you might miss out !
http://www.ciaobellapizza.com.au/ciaobellapizza/Garden.html