Susan Parsons: Tracey Ryan of Ainslie wins eco-warrior title

Tracey Ryan of Ainslie was the April winner in our eco-tips competition for her recycling innovation. She cuts plastic bottles in half and uses them as self-watering pots with holes in the lids made with a thumb tack. She sent photos of plants thriving in the mini greenhouses.

Tracey and her husband Michael Wood grow vegetables because they love the taste of homegrown, like the idea of self-sufficiency and just because it is a good excuse for being in the garden.

Tracey heard about wicking beds and was motivated to put them in, initially, to keep tree roots out of the vegie patch. She loves the trees and hedge surrounding the garden as they create a bit of a microclimate, particularly in summer but their roots put up a savage competition with her vegetables. The wicking beds are a good solution because each bed is a closed system.

Wicking beds work by drawing moisture up from a reservoir built into the bottom of the bed. The reservoir is made with builders plastic and filled with ag pipe and gravel. They also put weed mat under the plastic layer. That was covered with a geotextile to keep the soil out of the reservoir and they installed an overflow outlet so the plants would not be drowned. Tracey says it is supposed to be a very efficient way of watering as there is less evaporation and you can see when you are overwatering.

In each of their rectangular wicking beds, Tracey has installed worm towers. She came across the idea on the internet and used the instructions from milkweed.net to build them. It is a great method for getting the worms to do the work for you and, as the beds are cut off from the surrounding garden, the towers add some life.

The first wicking bed plantings are Italian purple garlic corms from Diggers Club in Victoria. They are planting out leafy greens, spinach and bok choy, and a bed of broad beans and peas and a green manure crop.

In spring, Tracey will move all the tender perennials out of her greenhouse and plant out the spring vegetables. Their potatoes are grown in a separate wire cage so Tracey can hill them up. The family also has a perennial garden out the back with berries, asparagus and artichokes and a herb garden too.

In a sunken courtyard, protected by seven-year-old dog Marley and his doggy pal three-month-old Pepper, the family's collection of citrus trees includes a Meyer lemon and a dwarf Meyer lemon, a Tahitian lime, a native finger lime, a makrut lime and a limequat. As Tracey says, "One can never have too many citrus!"

Mike does most of the family cooking and he is a vegetarian, so Tracey says he keeps up an endless demand for quality vegies. The giveaway eco-tip prize was Matt's Kitchen Garden Cookbook (by chef Matt Moran) from which the family's favourite recipe is the baked spiced pumpkin. It suggests half spaghetti squash and half pumpkin but they used all pumpkin.

Baked spiced pumpkin with lime-roasted almonds

2 dumpling pumpkins
½ tsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 cloves garlic, halved
20g butter, chopped
salt and pepper
2½ tbsp olive oil
1½ tbsp chardonnay vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1 pickled jalapeno (shop bought)
micro-coriander, to garnish
Lime roasted almonds:
1 egg white
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
½ cup blanched almonds

Lime yoghurt:

80g Greek-style yoghurt
finely grated zest and juice of l lime

Almonds: Preheat oven to 180C. Use electric mixer to whisk egg white in a small bowl to soft peaks, then whisk in lime zest and juice. Using a slotted spoon, coat the almonds in the egg white mixture, drain off excess and scatter over a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for six minutes, until the nuts are golden. Remove from oven, set aside to cool, then cut almonds in half.

Lime yoghurt: Whisk together yoghurt, lime zest and juice. Season with salt then cover in plastic film and put in fridge.

Cut pumpkin in half and scoop out seeds. Sprinkle the inside of the pumpkin with five-spice, dot garlic and butter over spice and season with salt and pepper. Put pumpkin halves back together and wrap in foil, bake for 30-40 minutes, until pumpkin is soft. Remove from oven, remove foil, cut pumpkin into small wedges leaving skin intact. Serve scattered with almonds, jalapeno and drizzled with the yoghurt. Garnish with micro-coriander and serve.

Susan Parsons is a Canberra writer.