Visit Tea Tree Kathy and Tom 2026

The last visit of the Southern 25-26 season was to the rural property of Kathy and Tom at Tea Tree near Richmond. Looking from the road at the turn-of-the-century weatherboard farm house, you wouldn't expect it, but behind it we found one of the most delightful and expertly-designed food gardens we have visited in a long time.

These pigeons are keen on the Black Cherry tomatoes

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me first introduce you to, on the left, Kathy who designed most of what we saw here today, and next to her, Tom, maker-extraordinaire of whatever Kathy came up with, be it stone, metal, brick, glass or wood. 

On the right, today's visit-organiser and coordinator, Dirk. He doesn't look so happy in this photo, but that was only for a short moment. He and everyone else had a brilliant time today!

There is a lot in this visit-post about 'infrastructure', because there was so much of it, and it all looked great, well-thought-out, and expertly-built.

For a start, in the photo behind Dirk, you can just see the contours of the studio that was designed by Kathy and built by Tom out of stone and timber - see below. Just delightful!

 

Past the studio you arrive at the veggie garden. And look at this .... 

In the foreground on the right is what is known in Great Britain and Europe as a 'cold frame'. It is a low ground-level hot house. You rarely see these in Australia. I said so to Kathy, and she said that she is often inspired by how food gardens looked a century ago in those countries.

The bottom-half of each window-panel can be opened for ventilation. Pots sit on a frame, whereas in conventional gold frames, seeds or seedlings are planted in the garden soil below. 

The frame sits in containers filled with water, so snails can't reach the juicy young growth. A water tap on the side of the cold frame can be opened to irrigate the inside of the cold frame with a nice misty spray.

At the back of the veggie garden (photo above) is a long high wall, expertly built out of really nice bricks. It provides protection against strong winds that regularly come from beyond. It also stores heat that benefits crops that are growing next to the wall.

Storing heat and creating an environment in which heat is retained is important in this garden because, as Kathy commented, last night (today is the 19th of April) they already had their first frost. There are many frosts here over winter, sometimes severe.

Queensland Blue pumpkins were still 'on the vine' in the veggie garden. I asked Kathie when she brings her pumpkins in, and clearly she had already brought some in, because I was shown where they are stored:

What a great spot! Shade, ventilation, and such a good use of space that otherwise would be unused. But would possums easily get to this crop? Kathy commented that they have one 'house possum' that is no problem. What? Every year our  house possum gets one baby that is shooed away when it is mature enough, because possums are very territorial, and our house possum is no problem! This must be true because otherwise everything in their wonderful veggie garden would be eaten and destroyed, but it is so different from what other food gardeners say about possums.

Back to the pumpkin question: when do you bring them inside? Kathie answered that she leaves many of them out until there have been a few frosts, because that makes them sweeter, but it depends on the variety. Queensland Blue must be a hardy variety then, because they were still out.

One winter Kathy left a pumpkin out nearly all winter, and it was still okay when it was finally opened. That can't have been a Butternut, because they turn to mush if they are exposed to too much frost.

Here are a few more crops that were growing in the veggie garden (April):

 

The little seedling-protection cages in the righthand photo Kathy found in a mainland shop. She has not found a regular supplier of these handy little cages.

 

On the other side of the veggie garden wall is a new large completely self-built hot house. It means that both sides of the wall are used to maximum effect!

Here are some of the crops in the hot house (Rams Horn tomato and Lebanese-style cucumber):

 

 

There are no plastic pots in this hot house because Kathy and Tom avoid using plastic as much as possible. Crops are grown in two long raised beds that don't have concrete or bricks or gravel at the bottom, so soil life can enter the hothouse or leave as they wish. The brick walls of the raised beds retain the heat.

 

The photo on the right shows the ventilation hedges in the top of the roof. They include sturdy mesh to make sure that wildlife can't enter.  

On the shade side of the hot house, sharing its brick wall, are four sturdy well-designed compost bins:

The long metal stick is a compost-thermometer that measures the temperature within the heap.

Further up the slope past this part of the garden is another patch, for crops that need more room to spread out.  The garden then continues with a meandering path around the upper paddock, lined with European trees in one section and a larger native section beyond. and with seats along the way.  

A map of the property that Kathy gave to everyone

Centred in the paddock is a tall dolerite columnar rock, called "Quoin Rock" which Tom brought from his previous property. This pleasant path ends at a Prayer House and also the donkey paddock, where two friendly donkeys were waiting to be patted.

Everything on this property is so well thought out, the word 'permaculture' comes to mind, and yes, Kathie did a certificate course with Bill Mollison 20 or so years ago. She also learnt a lot at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland.

Beyond the hot house/compost bin area is an orchard with chooks and two chook houses that are worth showing:

 

Eggs are collected by lifting the lid on the side of the building. A weight at the end of a rope makes the lifting and closing of the large lid a smooth movement.

And here is the nearby chick nursery:

A cage completely made out of metal protects strawberries on the side wall of the studio. It has three sections that can be lifted off individually. Kathy explained that she doesn't want to use plastic in the garden, so no plastic netting, or plastic pots, or plastic cages where possible.  She pointed out that she is trying to make everything on the property and in the house as natural as possible.

The produce tables were laden ... and the many contributions to the morning tea table made everyone very spoiled.

A big thank you to Kathy and Tom for showing us their really inspired and inspiring food garden and property!

Thank you, everyone who came to Southern food garden visits this season, for making our 15th season a real success.

Thank you, Dirk and Pauline, for being part of the organising team!