He has grown ginseng and a stevia plant from seed that he kept alive through four Canberra winters. He says garlic is a favourite plant which has few demands but punches way above its weight in terms of payback. Peggy’s home garden is a sea of blue aquilegias and borage with its edible, bee-attracting flowers, there is a yuzu tree and a fig and Bob’s bed of soft neck garlic which has just been harvested.

Pialligo Garden Lots was the solution to the couple’s yearning for more space. Owner and farmer Roy Priest irrigates the plots three times a week and an annual fee includes Pialligo-grown lucerne mulch and a shed. They started with a 25 sqm plot and now garden 75 sqm on two plots with friends. Peggy calls the soil ‘luscious’.

When we met on site, Bob and Song Chen were pulling the first row of garlic. The second, third and fourth rows came from Wynlen House in Braidwood and include Turban, Monaro Purple, Italian and Spanish Roja which supply a mix of early and late harvest for storage.

Bob Hefner and Song Chen harvesting garlic at Pialligo Garden Lots. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

When they started at Pialligo last December, Bob and Peggy weeded and popped seeds of heirloom French Breakfast radishes into little hills and they were picking and eating them within four weeks. Other leaves appeared as ‘volunteers’ and turned out to be daikon.