Those luscious tomatoes bursting with juice, the tender broccoli, the crunch and flavour of a freshly picked carrot.

Then we grew up, got busy, and started relying on store-bought vegetables to nourish our bodies.

After all, growing your own is too time consuming. Right?

Actually, it’s not.

Step onto the Talking Gardens tour on Sunday and you’ll see firsthand how growing food in the backyard is a solid financial investment, and a tasty reward for parting with your hard-earned dollars.

Taking a closer look at a chaotic food garden, a neat and tidy cottage-style vegetable garden, and a community garden, will unveil the possibilities.

And a trip to an Oakhampton property with very poor soil will prove that growing food is still achievable. 

Slow Food Hunter Valley’s Liz Griffiths and Anne Kelly are behind the tour. 

Both are passionate foodies who want Maitland to retain its agriculture roots and for those in suburbia to realise how they can use the space around their house to help feed themselves.

“We’re hoping they will be inspired to create food sources in their own gardens, and realise how much seasonal food we can grow here … We have so much to offer in Maitland,” Ms Griffiths said. 

“Sometimes people are put off by a food garden because it might look a bit ratty but it doesn’t have to – and I think they’ll see that.”

Growing your own food also saves money. 

“We have a very clear food budget every week and we can really affect that by the things that we don’t throw out. I can leave something another day or two until I’m ready to eat it,” Ms Griffiths said. “I can go out to my garden at lunch time and pick some lettuce leaves, some herbs, a few tomatoes and I have the basis of a salad.”

The tour departs on a bus at 8.45am in East Maitland and finishes at 4.30pm. 

Cost is $70 for Slow Food members and $80 for non-members. It includes morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. 

To book click here