Garden and Potting Shed

Large balls of string
For tying together bamboo stakes, tying plants & lots of other uses

String on a stake
The most useful piece of kit you can imagine!

Watering cans
In various shapes & sizes

Plant labels
Sensible ones like those in the garden here

Dibbers
Very useful for making small planting holes

Baskets
Wire, wicker or jute, for collecting your fruit & veg – (I find wire for root veg the best)

Oriental parasols
For when you’re NOT working

Mud Room / Laundry

Extra virgin olive oil soap
Made in Australia from all natural ingredients, these are so kind to your hands in Rosemary/Lavender/Orange, Geranium/Lavender/Lemon or Chamomile/Lavender

Savon de Marseilles
Also for getting rid of all that muck on your hands!

Nailbrushes
Oak (oiled or natural) – you’ll be needing them!

Wire baskets
For holding all those glass jars you will need for jam-making

Hands

Special remedies
Est products are divine to use & hand mixed in Melbourne from all natural ingredients –your hands need all the help they can get. Botanical Salve, Beeswax Body Butter, Lavender & Tea-tree Balm, Rose & Honey Remedy & Botanical Body Scrub

Organic handcream
French lavender in a tube – too divine to resist!

Orange Blossom or Fig
Extra pure hand cream (one for the kitchen bench & one for your bag)

Kitchen

Jugs, pitchers & other vessels
Ceramic and tinware for all the herbs you will collect & enjoy on your kitchen windowsill

Scented Candles
All made in Australia from natural products – Clean Cotton (you’ll think someone’s done all the ironing), Frangipani (because we can’t live without it), Mandarin (to get rid of fishy smells in the kitchen), or Tomato or Rhubarb (made in France but I couldn’t resist!)

Liquid Soap
Orange Blossom or Fig – my favourite scents

The Table

Linen Tablecloth
All natural linen & so beautiful

Frayed runners
All natural linen & irresistible

Lengths of sacking
Old, French, blue & white, also irresistible!

Tea towels
Good linen ones, ideal as table-runners when you can’t be bothered with a cloth

Off to the market

Baskets
French & can’t live without them!

Books

Cabbages & Roses
Guide to Natural Housekeeping by Christina Strutt. Absolutely invaluable in these environmentally challenging times!!

The Essential Kit Collection will grow in time, just like the garden …
The Barn is open to Kitchen Gardening participants and by appointment.