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The 2026 QLD Garden Show is done. Dusty before the showers on Friday morning, and spectacular for Saturday and Sunday.
An integral part of the show, and a draw card, is The Grow Kitchen Garden (synonym. The Giant Kitchen Garden). Established 22 years ago by a couple of local permaculture community groups and HMAA member Barb Wickes, the Kitchen Garden grew from a 6×3 marquee and some small surrounding beds to occupy the pony arena at the Nambour Show Grounds, an area about 1200 m³.
The display garden constantly morphs, often based on a random comment by a presenter the previous year. While the plants included are a rough constant from year to year, the story behind the display is always different.
Various themes have emerged over the years, including, Verge Gardening, Beneficial Bugs, The Origin of Food Plants, Tiny Homes, and Balcony Gardening, Cornucopia, Rainbow planting. I lose track.
This year was about comparing different styles of productive gardening and highlighting that no style or gardening philosophy is more valid than another. They are simply right for you with what you have available and what experience you have.
Visitors to the space were greeted with a neat, tidy 1950s quarter acre block style garden. Square garden beds with linear plantings, turf, BBQ, Hills Hoist, and family area, divided by a white picket fence. The flip side of the fence was a garden fully dedicated to productive gardening. Old lawnmowers became garden ornaments. The clothesline had passionfruit vine scrambling up it. Plantings in this space were mixed up, over planted, with flowering, seeding, dying plants still in the ground.
The Grow Kitchen Garden is very much dedicated to making all productive gardeners (wannabes, novices, and masters) feel at home and know there is always more to learn.
Support with installation and pull down of The Grow Kitchen Garden this year came from all over, however HMAA members provided the backbone. A big thank you goes to Barb Wickes, Jordan Alexander, Kat Pearson, and Sarah Heath.
A big shout out also goes to all the HMAA members who have presented on TGKG stage over the years. Without your commitment to educating gardeners, there would be no reason for the space.
One amazing aspect of this year’s display was that the family/urban back yard display was occupied by family groups all weekend.
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