The chef and owner of Melbourne’s three-hatted restaurant Attica in Ripponlea has designed an edible garden for Australian Unity’s The Grace at Albert Park Lake, a new 18-storey vertical retirement village in south Melbourne.

 

Shewry who has been a pioneer of edible gardens in local restaurants for the past 10 years doesn’t usually do consulting jobs but really loved the whole concept as it sat with their ethos and the restaurant - every Attica dish is infused with plant foods from the nearby Ripponlea mansion estate.

 

Village residents in the 79 apartments will be able to grow produce to cook in their own kitchens – an attractive option for prospective residents considering the trend towards ‘growing your own”.

As Shewry says ‘‘It tastes so much better. And there’s a social aspect to gardening. Gardeners love to talk to other gardeners.”

 

Shewry's recommendations include cherry tomatoes, which are easy to grow, lettuces, basil, spinach, and indigenous herbs.