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00:00Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
00:06Hey!
00:07Hi!
00:20Hey, buddy!
00:23Hey!
00:31Hello, and welcome to Gardening Australia.
00:34This week, we've got all the inspiration, practical how-tos,
00:39tips and tricks you need to help make your garden grow.
00:44Time to get your hands into the good stuff.
00:47Here's what's in store.
00:51I'm looking at how to combine edible and ornamental plants
00:54to maximise colour, diversity and pollination.
00:58I'm visiting an iconic example of Tasmania's garden-to-plate culture.
01:03What treats do you have for me?
01:05Finding out how the team grow for both produce and beauty.
01:09Gerry shows us how to grow a plant with an appetite.
01:12They're very successful.
01:14And this one has had ants for lunch.
01:17And I'm visiting a native nursery in North Fremantle
01:21that's become an institution for local gardeners.
01:24Woo-hoo!
01:27Pamela Wallace is a self-taught, roll-up-your-sleeves
01:31and get-to-work gardener.
01:33And with an eye for good design and beautiful plants,
01:37Pamela's created a haven among the gum trees
01:40on a couple of hectares in Dural,
01:43a semi-rural area in north-west Sydney.
01:46It's a great place to grow your own produce.
01:49It's a great place to grow your own produce.
01:52Hello.
01:54Ah, Kesar!
01:56So pleased to see you.
01:58I let myself in.
02:00Oh, how lovely.
02:02Can't wait to look around.
02:04Yeah, let's go and have a little look.
02:06I was amazed when I came to Dural.
02:08There's a fabulous gardening community here.
02:10And I belong to the Galston Garden Club.
02:12We share a lot of things.
02:14And, you know, so many of the plants I've got in the garden
02:17are from cuttings that I've grown.
02:19So many of the plants I've got in the garden
02:21are from cuttings that I've got from the people there.
02:24But for me, I love sharing it with people
02:27that are enthusiastic gardeners
02:29because they're just into the same thing.
02:32If I didn't have any visitors, oh, my gosh,
02:34I think I'd still come out
02:36cos I'd just have to have it looking nice!
02:39In less than a decade,
02:41Pamela has transformed this acreage into her own art gallery.
02:46Mostly it was lawn and it was very easy to see the potential
02:50that I could turn it into the type of garden that I wanted
02:53and put my stamp on it.
02:55So are you wedded to a particular look?
02:58I probably am wedded to a particular look.
03:00I call it structure and profusion.
03:03So I'm a very romantic gardener.
03:06So I don't like straight lines.
03:08I love curves and flowing sort of things.
03:12I'm mad on flowers, mad on colour.
03:15Foliage.
03:16There's hardly a plant that I don't like.
03:18Everything's just done with my eye.
03:20I don't really put anything down on paper.
03:23What incubated that?
03:25Our mother was a very creative...
03:27She was a tailoress and gardener, cook.
03:30They all go together.
03:32My twin in New Zealand loves to garden as well
03:35and we can be on the phone talking about our gardens
03:38and sending each other photos of our gardens, you know, 24-7.
03:42But I think our mother created the...
03:45She's responsible.
03:46Oh, she's responsible for sure.
03:48She was a fantastic lady and very creative
03:51and a great gardener herself.
03:53So we just grew up wanting to create beauty.
03:56Creating a vision of beauty to me
03:59is the most calming, therapeutic thing that you could possibly do.
04:04So where is this little passageway taking us?
04:07Well, this passageway is getting narrower
04:10as the months go by and I can hardly get through here now.
04:14But it's full of roses.
04:16These are amazing, these carpet roses.
04:18They just flower non-stop.
04:20Yep.
04:21And dahlias.
04:22And it changes all the time.
04:24But this is a fantastic selvia, vanhooty,
04:28that will flower literally all year round.
04:31Great tones of red.
04:33And so you can see I've used the burgundy foliage.
04:36Really, one of the parts of the garden
04:38that I probably do do a bit more work in than others, but I love it.
04:43Wow!
04:44You know, it is lovely to create vistas in gardens
04:48and that's why I put the ball garden in the distance there
04:52as a lovely feature that your eye is just drawn to that vista.
04:58The woodland garden was created using a method
05:01which was brought about by a lady called Esther Deans.
05:04Yes.
05:05In the 70s, she was a huge icon
05:08who really believed that you could create gardens
05:11without disturbing the basic soil structure
05:14by adding layers and layers.
05:17I use this no-dig gardening system
05:19because the soil here is heavy compacted clay,
05:23very hard to dig holes in.
05:25Everywhere I dig, and of course with so many massive gums
05:28sucking up the moisture and creating quite a solid ground,
05:33honestly, it's a great way to establish gardens under gums
05:37because you just wet the newspaper and then you lay it down.
05:41And masses of mulch, anything that you can get your hands on,
05:44whether it's leaf litter, compost, manure, blood and bone,
05:48every stick, everything I cut down,
05:50would all get laid on top of this newspaper.
05:53And once that garden settles, you leave it,
05:57I normally try to leave it, I'm very impatient
05:59because I want to plant things in it as fast as possible,
06:02but I try to leave it over winter, then by spring I'm planting.
06:06And all of this garden here,
06:08I would say 80% of it has been grown from cuttings.
06:12So all of the irising, they grow so easily,
06:15I can basically hedge those,
06:17pick up a clump and throw them and they'll take root.
06:20All the plectranthus, ground cover, again all from cuttings.
06:23There's three varieties, there's a purple, pink and white,
06:26and they're just so easy in this climate,
06:28they love the subtropical climate.
06:33I hardly pull out a weed.
06:35It's more about keeping the lawn out of the garden.
06:38So if we edge constantly, it's pretty good.
06:41But in large spaces, you've got to use your stalwarts
06:45and the plants that you know are going to thrive in your climate.
06:49And it's all year round colour.
06:51Where did the lake come into the picture?
06:54I like the way you call it a lake, Kosta,
06:56because it's really just a dam.
06:58It was probably the hardest area in the entire garden
07:02to create a garden around because the dam, I'm sure,
07:05when it was created was all compacted clay.
07:08Very, very hard.
07:10All of this, again, no dig gardening.
07:12What are some of the plants that you enjoy?
07:15You can see in the distance the musa enda,
07:18which is a fantastic subtropical plant.
07:21It quite likes that spot, I think,
07:23because you'll never grow it if you get frost,
07:25but being by the water, it's obviously enjoying that microclimate.
07:30And I found the things like the helichrysum.
07:33You could basically grow those anywhere.
07:35That is a terrific ground cover and weed suppressor.
07:38And the yellow selvia madrensis is also terrific
07:42and flowers for a long, long time.
07:44And these cordyline electorate pinks,
07:46they always grow bigger here, I don't know what it is.
07:49Maybe because they know I love them so much.
07:52It is really my favourite part of the garden.
07:54I like the informality.
07:56You get the texture, the colour, movement.
07:59It's all about making an interesting garden.
08:02The fountain certainly creates a soundscape of its own.
08:07I love the effect, the ripples on the water during the day,
08:10but I really did put it in there as an aerator.
08:13Here's a little project for you.
08:15I reckon you could get some nice submerged plant life in there
08:20to help with the water quality.
08:22It's a very good idea and I'm going to do that.
08:24Thank you, Costa.
08:31These trees are spectacular.
08:34They're huge, aren't they? Yeah.
08:36I think they must just love this place so much
08:39because they are solid, very, very good quality gums.
08:43When we first came here, I looked at these gums and thought,
08:46my God, how on earth am I going to cope with all these gum trees?
08:49And I have a bit of a love-hate relationship
08:51with these trees because they do create a lot of work
08:54and in storms they are quite scary.
08:57However, they give such a sense of maturity to this garden
09:01that makes it look a lot older and a lot bigger than you'd imagine.
09:05They give a really beautiful ring of protection
09:09and microclimate in this garden, so the frost is not a problem.
09:12It's amazing what I've grown.
09:14I mean, I've literally gardened around every single gum.
09:17That's just for a lot of enriching your soil.
09:20Persistence. Oh, constant, yeah.
09:23And the sheer look of these grey box.
09:25Well, the bark actually changes through the seasons
09:28and I've noticed sometimes after the rain at various times of the year
09:32that's almost bright, sort of a tanny red.
09:35It looks like someone's just painted it with a paintbrush.
09:38It's really amazing.
09:40Also, having a borrowed vista
09:42of this fabulous turpentine forest here is just gorgeous.
09:46I think how wonderful it's just going to be there forever
09:48because it's protected.
09:52I created this garden because it was during the time
09:56my mother was very ill and I couldn't go and visit her in COVID.
10:00And she passed three years ago
10:03and I decided to create this garden in her memory.
10:06She was a wonderful gardener.
10:08So this rose actually is called Garden Friend
10:11and one of the best hybrid teas that you could possibly get in Sydney.
10:15It just never gets black spot.
10:17It's extraordinarily healthy.
10:19It's a great hedging rose and I really don't do much to it.
10:23If I probably did more to it, it'd be even better.
10:26I love the Keith Hammett dahlias.
10:29His dahlias don't need staking and they are phenomenal
10:32and you throw the seeds and they just come up everywhere.
10:35There's one over there.
10:36And they are the best bee-attracting plants.
10:39And I think my mother would have loved this garden
10:42because she loved this colour.
10:46I love that memory association with plants and with gardens.
10:51Do you feel like when you sit on that bench
10:54you get a chance to think of her and she's around?
10:58Yes, that's a lovely thought.
11:00But to be perfectly honest, I never get the chance to sit.
11:08Where to from here?
11:09Oh, Costa.
11:10I think basically now it's all about maintaining the garden
11:14and really looking after what I've got.
11:16It is so, so rewarding.
11:29What is pyrethrum?
11:31When looking for a natural insecticide,
11:33pyrethrum is a common option.
11:35Pyrethrum is a now obsolete genus
11:37that included chrysanthemums and tannosetums,
11:40popular garden plants.
11:42The active insecticidal chemicals in these flowers
11:45are called pyrethrins,
11:46though many commercial products use a synthetic equivalent.
11:50This Hoya has merely bug
11:52and pyrethrum will kill this pest on contact.
11:54It also breaks down quickly in the environment.
11:57But don't go blanket spraying your garden
11:59as it will kill all insects, including beneficials.
12:02Instead, aim directly at the pest and use it sparingly.
12:07Can I recommend a Banksia for Brisbane?
12:10Well, look no further.
12:12This is my baby.
12:14It's a Wallum Banksia, Banksia emula.
12:16It's 20 years old and it's been growing here in full sun.
12:21It loves the heat and humidity
12:23and this rain is going to produce loads of new growth
12:27and new flowers.
12:28It's a signature plant for a threatened plant community,
12:32Wallum Heathland, and it loves Brisbane.
12:35There's one thing I've learnt about this.
12:38While it does love our climate and it performs beautifully,
12:42it doesn't like drought.
12:44So during really long extended droughts,
12:47I give it a good drink once every week.
12:50And if you want the full deal,
12:52give it a dose of iron chelates in spring and autumn.
12:56It'll blossom well.
12:58And otherwise, what a beauty.
13:00When's the best time to plant tube stock?
13:03Well, it varies on your climate and, of course, what you're planting,
13:06but the general advice is autumn,
13:08when there's more water around to help them establish
13:10and the soil still contains some residual warmth.
13:13Now, try not to plant in summer or in dry periods
13:16to reduce the amount of irrigation required
13:18and so too the coldest parts of the year
13:21when the plants avoid growth.
13:28Flowers, food, foliage.
13:31Are you the type of person that loves to have it all in the garden?
13:35I mean, why should you have to choose?
13:38More is more, that's what I say.
13:40Well, Sophie's here to show us that we can have our cake and eat it too.
13:49Often our gardens are split into sections,
13:52separating ornamental plants from edibles.
13:55And while there's no problem with structuring a garden that way,
13:58in smaller gardens where there are limited possibilities
14:01for perfect microclimates,
14:03growing more collaboratively maximises space, beauty and pollinators.
14:09For example, if you have one full sun corner,
14:13you might want to grow both colourful flowers and fruit
14:16or natives and vegetables.
14:19You can have both.
14:21As with all garden planning,
14:23it starts with getting to know your plants
14:25and choosing varieties that have similar growing conditions to live together.
14:30Plenty of edibles are ornamental too,
14:32with attractive flower or foliage features.
14:35Take these trailing herbs.
14:37We've got prostrate rosemary, oregano and thyme.
14:40Now these look fabulous spilling out of a pot or hanging down a rockery
14:45and they have beautiful foliage which is aromatic and pretty flowers.
14:49And then there's silverbeet.
14:51While the common silverbeet has green leaves and white stems,
14:54the rainbow variety of silverbeet, sometimes called chart,
14:58has fabulously coloured foliage and stems
15:01and can be scattered through a bed.
15:04Annual veggies and annual ornamentals
15:06often have very similar growing requirements.
15:09They're quick growing, they like a lot of food
15:12and they make a big show at a certain season.
15:15Try combining low ornamentals like violas,
15:19alyssum or marigolds with your veggies.
15:22They won't take up much space.
15:24If you want something a bit taller,
15:26try cornflowers, snapdragons or paper daisies
15:29for a show-stopping display.
15:32Now, planting these flowers first
15:34will actually create a home for predatory and pollinating insects
15:38and you can do successional planting just like you would do with veggies
15:42so that you've got a display all year round.
15:52Native plants are usually separated from edibles and with good reason
15:56because members of the proteaceae family,
15:58they're sensitive to phosphorus,
16:00which is in general purpose fertilisers.
16:03However, there are many wildflowers
16:05that can grow well between native food plants.
16:08So here I've got rosella, bush tomato and muntrees
16:11and you could be planting yellowbuttons, billybuttons
16:14and native violet between them to fill in the gaps.
16:18Scattered chives and spring onions
16:20wherever you've got space and sunlight,
16:22they don't take up much room
16:24and they're easy to identify amongst drifts of other plants.
16:28The great thing about these too is being alliums,
16:31they produce humble-shaped flowers
16:33which stand up high above the foliage,
16:35look really pretty and attract beneficial bugs.
16:39Blueberries are long-lived plants
16:41but they prefer acid soil
16:43so they combine really well
16:45with plants like camellias and azaleas.
16:50Perennial plants such as strawberries
16:52like a balanced fertiliser
16:54but they also like a bit of a boost of potash
16:56which makes them flower and fruit really well.
16:59So if you're feeding them,
17:01why not combine it with another ornamental plant
17:04that likes that sort of feeding too,
17:06like daisies or roses.
17:08This is a rose called Aussie mango.
17:11This is a rose called Aussie magic.
17:13It gets to about 60 centimetres high by the same wide
17:16and I can combine it in this pot with three strawberries
17:19which are going to hang over the edge and fruit.
17:23Basically get creative
17:25and start thinking outside of the boxes
17:27of edibles and ornamentals
17:29to cultivate the perfect patch
17:31to suit your space and needs.
17:53MUSIC
18:01While gardening is considered
18:03a calming and gentle pastime,
18:05it's not without risk
18:07if you're not paying attention.
18:11Eye injuries are all too common,
18:13either from sharp or spiny material
18:16causing physical damage
18:18or things like sap, pollen
18:20or flecks of dust, mulch and grit
18:22getting in your eyes and causing irritation
18:25and then infection,
18:27which is why, when not on camera,
18:29I always wear good quality sunglasses
18:31as my first line of eye defence.
18:35If I'm doing something that's a little more heavy duty
18:38in terms of requiring eye protection,
18:41activities like pruning prickly shrubs
18:43or things overhead, using power tools
18:46or laying out mulch,
18:48safety glasses with wraparound protection
18:51are a must.
18:59Gardeners know that some of the best quality ingredients
19:02are often the things you've grown yourself.
19:05It's something we have in common
19:07with many of the country's best chefs and restaurants.
19:10Hannah is checking out
19:12one of Tassie's finest kitchen gardens
19:15and uncovering some serious Veggie Patch goals.
19:27I'm 40 minutes north of Hobart in New Norfolk,
19:31home to a stunning market garden
19:33that's quite literally dripping with fresh produce.
19:38It's an acre of neat veggie beds,
19:40fruit trees, orchards, flowers,
19:43patch greenhouses and there's even a pond,
19:47all encased within these huge concrete walls.
19:52And the man behind these beautiful gardens
19:55is Rodney Dunn.
19:57Rodney, tell me about the history of this unique site.
20:00Yes, it is an incredibly unique site.
20:03The first mental asylum in the Southern Hemisphere
20:06and the longest running.
20:08The area we're standing in now
20:10is the old exercise yard for the ward behind me,
20:14which was a prison ward for men.
20:16And we've got just over an acre in space here
20:19with these wonderful thick walls.
20:21Rodney may be a familiar face
20:23to some of our Gardening Australia viewers.
20:25Farm and cooking school of one of Tasmania's top chefs,
20:29Rodney Dunn.
20:30I would describe myself as primarily a cook,
20:33but a cook who's curious about where my ingredients come from.
20:38After running his two businesses from his home and farm,
20:41the opportunity arose to lease one incredible space
20:44for his restaurant and cooking school
20:46and to create the kitchen garden of his dreams.
20:50What inspired the move to come down to this property?
20:53The opportunity existed and to bring everything under one roof,
20:57to move it out of our home and to create what it is today.
21:01So you've got the restaurant, the cooking school.
21:03Yeah, and the centre to it all is this garden.
21:05The garden. It's all based in the garden.
21:07Of course.
21:09What's your philosophy for this whole venture?
21:12Well, it's to give the customers amazing inspiration.
21:15I like to be inspired and therefore I like to pass that on,
21:19but also the experience to eat the best possible fruit
21:23and vegetables they can ever eat.
21:25GardenWorks began in 2021 and by 2023,
21:29they were pumping out all the produce Rodney needed.
21:34Now you've got an incredible team of staff here
21:37and Mitch in particular was instrumental
21:39in kick-starting this garden.
21:41Mitch is like me but in the garden
21:43and to have someone with his passion and his vision,
21:46we see eye to eye on everything,
21:49just means that I can entrust this space to him
21:54and know that it's exactly what I would have done
21:57if I was doing it myself.
21:59Mitch, what was your vision for the garden?
22:02Well, the garden first and foremost is a production space,
22:05so it's to provide veggies and flowers and fruits,
22:08but the underlying vision was as a working example
22:12of a regenerative growing space.
22:14Now you and Rodney were both chefs before this.
22:17Has that made a difference in how you've planned
22:20or work with the garden?
22:22Well, it does because I guess chefs love food,
22:24so you're inspired.
22:26I think that dictates the deciding of the crops we grow
22:31and the style that we grow them and then also, I guess,
22:33attention to detail carries through a lot, I think,
22:36from the kitchen into the garden.
22:38There's three of us in total, myself, Otto and Josh.
22:42What are you growing in the garden at the moment, Josh?
22:44Well, we've got a very diverse selection of vegetables,
22:48fruits and herbs, an incredible berry orchard too.
22:51That's very, very productive
22:53and really we're just spoilt for choice here.
22:55It's incredible.
22:57Let's go have a closer look.
22:58Yeah, that sounds good.
23:01The garden is divided into over a dozen zones.
23:05So we wanted a diverse range of ornamentals
23:07for all the cut flowers for the restaurant,
23:10so natives and exotics and lots of perennials and annuals,
23:14stone fruit to take advantage of the warm space in here
23:17and then lots of different heirloom veg.
23:20What's happening up here, Josh?
23:22Towering above the marigold,
23:24we've actually got some beautiful heirloom tomato varieties.
23:27So many different types.
23:28The colours just really pop, don't they?
23:30Yeah, we've got about 16 different tomato varieties.
23:33That's gorgeous.
23:34Pretty impressive, yeah.
23:35And what's happening on this side, Mitch?
23:37We've just come past our sort of legume block,
23:39which is now in our summer beans
23:41and now it's sort of morphing into our autumn crops,
23:43so we've just started planting our brassicas.
23:45Here is our cucurbit block,
23:47so we've got outdoor cucumbers, zucchinis.
23:51And I imagine these massive concrete walls
23:54create a bit of a microclimate.
23:56Functionally, the walls are radiating all of this heat,
23:59they're deflecting all of this light,
24:01acting as a bit of a windbreak, you know,
24:04and keeping out those wallabies and those possums and rabbits,
24:07so very, very great.
24:08Yeah, that's probably the big one, isn't it?
24:10Yeah, that's the winner.
24:11And I also hear you've got some more tropical plants
24:13that you're growing in your greenhouse.
24:15Yeah, we do.
24:16All the crops that we can't grow outside,
24:18we've snuck into our little tropical space.
24:20I'm going to have to see those.
24:22Oh, let's go.
24:23MUSIC
24:28Hannah, in here we have a diverse selection of tropical plants.
24:32Oh, gorgeous.
24:33Plants that you don't typically associate with Tasmania.
24:36Bananas.
24:37Bananas, of course.
24:38There's also curry leaf, macadamia, turmeric, finger limes
24:43and, of course, more tomatoes.
24:47Hello, fellas.
24:48Hello, Rod.
24:49Hello, Rod.
24:50What treats do you have for me?
24:53How does it feel to have such an incredibly abundant market garden
24:57literally at the kitchen doorstep?
24:59We're incredibly spoiled as chefs
25:01and I often say it's like an artist with a palette of paint.
25:05The more colours you've got, the more vegetables you've got,
25:09the richer your plate can be.
25:11You've actually got quite a lot of flowers happening as well.
25:14Flowers were never really part of my initial garden
25:17and we needed to decorate that beautiful restaurant space
25:20and put some of that garden in for people to look at.
25:22And so the natural step was to grow some of our own flowers
25:27and that just enables us to be able to attract insects into the garden
25:31so is that wonderful double benefit.
25:34But I've really fallen in love with flowers
25:36and, you know, really learned to appreciate them.
25:40Everyone here agrees that the most important part of the garden
25:43is the compost.
25:46Imagine you get quite a lot of resources
25:48between the garden and the restaurant
25:50for all this amazing compost creation.
25:52We do and really this is kind of the core of the garden, you know.
25:56It's cliche to say but we say the cooking starts in the garden
25:59and if it starts anywhere, it starts with the compost.
26:01And so I think we calculated about 12 tonnes of food waste a year
26:05we get coming through the kitchen
26:07and so we collect all of that from paper to bones and shells
26:11and meat scraps and we separate out a few items
26:13and then that's what goes into this composting system here.
26:16And does that include meats, oils, all the things?
26:19Everything. Everything.
26:21Everything. Yeah.
26:22So Josh, what do you do with all the bones coming out of the restaurant?
26:25So we actually use the wood fire oven here on site
26:27to create this environment where we turn these bones
26:31essentially into charcoal, otherwise known as biochar.
26:35We shred all of that, mix it in a cement mixer with sawdust
26:39that's been used as stable bedding, that's our carbon
26:41and then we add our inoculate and then it all goes into a green wheelie bin
26:45where it will sit and ferment and then it's turned into the big bay
26:49behind us here.
26:50And how long does this whole process take?
26:52It takes about a year.
26:54We're looking for at least a year of sort of curing
26:57because we find after that year we're getting this big explosion
27:00of biology and it seems to be at its most diverse
27:03and really that's what we're trying to get into the garden space.
27:06So diverting the 12 tonnes of food waste has been great
27:09but then through that process now we don't actually have
27:12to import any fertilisers into the garden.
27:14So you don't buy any compost in at all?
27:16No.
27:20Both Josh and I talk about how lucky we are
27:22and we feel very privileged to have the job that we do.
27:25I think really getting to work with a lot of inspiring people,
27:28working in a beautiful space outdoors
27:31and I think just working together towards something bigger
27:35with lots of people.
27:44Jane, you're obviously many people's gardening heroes,
27:47including ours, but I'm sure there's some skeletons
27:50in the closet.
27:52Tell me, is there a really precious plant that you've actually killed?
27:56Well, we could all say many but the one I bought my mum and dad,
28:00a 50th wedding anniversary rose, golden celebration.
28:04When they moved from Mildura down to Melbourne,
28:06I bought it with and it died.
28:08Oh.
28:09Anyway, you have to move on, don't you?
28:11Yes.
28:12Have you got anything?
28:13Oh, yes.
28:14Mine hurts too.
28:15It was a variegated monstera, kind of just before the hype
28:18but still it was expensive.
28:20Overwarded.
28:22I tell people don't, you know, just...
28:25But, hey, don't...
28:26Yeah, you know what, you can't fret about it.
28:29It's still inside.
28:31I'm sorry to bring it up.
28:32It's still inside, yes.
28:34I've lost count of how many things I've killed
28:36or how much money I've spent on plants that I don't even ever pot up
28:40but I think my worst, and I still carry it with me,
28:43was actually killing a plant of a client's.
28:46I pruned it too hard.
28:47It was an old peach tree and I'd done that before with other trees
28:50but it was just a different location, different soil, salt winds
28:53and it never really came back.
28:55I learned a big lesson.
28:57Were the clients happy or not?
28:59They were very forgiving and kind people but, yeah, look,
29:03we all kill plants.
29:04If you're not killing plants, you're not gardening.
29:06It's a learning experience.
29:08Still to come on Gardening Australia,
29:11Josh checks out a native plant institution in WA.
29:17Clarence shows us how to cover a lot of ground,
29:20with natives, of course.
29:23And we meet an inspiring gardener
29:25who looks at her garden a little differently.
29:38Penthes, or pitcher plants, are like nothing else.
29:42These are tropical carnivorous plants.
29:45Most of them come from Southeast Asia.
29:48The one thing they have in common are these traps
29:51which they use to catch and digest their prey.
29:54There are huge variations on this theme
29:58but they're very successful
30:00and this one has had ants for lunch.
30:04They come in all shapes, sizes and colours
30:07and they delight beginners and collectors alike.
30:10And the pitchers they use to drown and digest their prey
30:14are as beautiful and intricate as they are morbid.
30:18They're pretty easy to grow
30:20but in a cooler climate, they're best grown indoors.
30:23In the tropics and subtropics, they're easily grown outdoors
30:27but there are a few quirks to growing them successfully.
30:31The first thing to do is to pick the right sort.
30:34There's over 150 species of nepenthes
30:38but your best bet is a hybrid variety.
30:41These have been bred specially for their resilience and vigorous growth
30:45meaning it's no problem to grow them without the aid of a greenhouse.
30:49The hybrids know how to grow fast.
30:53The key thing to growing nepenthes successfully
30:56is not to use regular potting mix.
30:58You see, in the wild, they grow in hollows in trees or fissures in rocks
31:03and in both places, they're packed with organic matter
31:07but they're freely draining.
31:09So the medium you grow them in
31:11has to mimic what they experience in the wild.
31:15This is a pre-made mix
31:17and it contains composted bark, chunky perlite and chunks of coir.
31:23You don't use granular coir for these plants.
31:27Now at home, I use equal parts of all three things
31:31and both this mix and my own mix work really well
31:34for a wide range of epiphytes including nepenthes.
31:38They're moisture-retentive and yet they're full of air pockets
31:42which is perfect.
31:44Keep the mix wet but not submerged
31:47and your nepenthes will thrive.
31:49Fertilise twice a year using a slow-release fertiliser for orchids.
31:54Once in spring and once in summer for maximum growth.
32:00Nepenthes have a habit of climbing or scrambling through other plants
32:04and they'll hold onto them with tendrils.
32:06So the best way to position them
32:09is against a lattice or like this in a hanging basket
32:13but give them plenty of space.
32:16Nepenthes can be thirsty plants.
32:19When I grew them, I used to stand them in troughs of water
32:22but look at this birdbath.
32:24It may be a little bit too deep
32:26but you can stand a plant on a tile
32:28and it can drink all it wants.
32:31Plus, the shape is like a hanging basket
32:34so it can grow down all over.
32:36This is a perfect way to grow and display nepenthes.
32:42There's some mixed information out there
32:44about how much sun these plants can take
32:47but remember, some of these will grow on cliff faces
32:51and so when the clouds part, they're exposed to full UV
32:55and the hybrids can be quite sun tolerant.
32:58So in my experience, a north-facing position
33:01where they can get up to four hours sunshine a day
33:04can bring out the best in these plants.
33:08That's it.
33:09Enjoy these unique plants at your place.
33:17Climbing plants can be some of the most beautiful
33:19and useful in the garden
33:21but you've got to choose carefully
33:23because the wrong climbing plant can quickly get out of hand.
33:26They can be a monster to maintain.
33:28So I have a few tips for choosing well.
33:31The first one is ask yourself what job you want that plant to do.
33:34Do you want it to provide a huge amount of shade
33:36or does it just need to grow up and cover a fence?
33:38If so, don't choose a giant plant.
33:41Or better still, you can even a spaly or a shrub,
33:43it'll do the same job
33:45and once it gets to that height, it won't need loads of maintenance.
33:49The second thing is when you've got your climbing plant,
33:51you need to think about how you're going to support it.
33:53Some are happy on a light wire or even a few bits of string
33:57while others need some serious framework behind them.
34:00And the third thing is when you put your climber in the ground,
34:03you need to train it from the start.
34:05The last thing you want is all of the growth at the top.
34:08Let it go horizontally.
34:09Train it along that frame
34:11and you'll get much better coverage in the long run.
34:13But the most important thing is to choose your climbing plants carefully
34:17because they are for life.
34:21If you're lucky enough to have a local native plant nursery,
34:29you'll know just how valuable it is.
34:32It's not just about the plants on offer,
34:35it's also a community group,
34:37a place where people can pool resources
34:40and connect and share a common love of plants and the environment.
34:45Josh has found one in Perth
34:48that's a bona fide local legend.
34:54Like us gardeners, nurseries and garden centres are a broad church.
34:59We all have our favourites that suit our needs and the way we garden.
35:04Some are conveniently located retailers of plants and garden supplies
35:09that are an easy in and out on a busy Saturday morning.
35:14Then again, some become part of the very fabric of a community
35:18because they offer something beyond the transactional.
35:21The nursery is a place to be.
35:23It's the place that connects humanity and nature.
35:28So the more down-to-earth a nursery can be,
35:31the more choices it can have,
35:33the more spaces it can give people,
35:36more people will come.
35:38And the longer a nursery's been there, it evolves.
35:42I began gardening as a kid not far from here in the 1980s,
35:46about the same time that this nursery was getting established
35:50on the banks of the Swan River in North Fremantle.
35:53For a lot of us in these surrounding suburbs,
35:56this place has been a key part of our gardening journey,
36:00but for reasons that are as individual as each of us are.
36:06Joanna Hayter heads up the team at a Pace nursery
36:10and is in no doubt about what this place has come to mean
36:14to the local community.
36:16The vision that we have here is for a greener planet
36:19and a more connected world.
36:21We've always been about that,
36:23trying to advance environmental sustainability
36:26but also amplify social cohesion.
36:29Even within our own sort of workforce,
36:32a lot of those people are volunteers
36:34and many of those volunteers are people with real diversity of abilities.
36:40A Pace started with a very small group
36:44of local residents and researchers,
36:47like-minded in love for plants
36:50but also a deeper concern about ecology.
36:53So that was in the early 80s.
36:56So she's in her mid-40s now.
36:58She's ageing beautifully, gracefully, with dignity.
37:02But, yeah, it really was literally driven by the people of North Fremantle.
37:07We propagate the native plants of the Swan Coastal Plain
37:11and the Darling Scarp,
37:13and that's everything from the seed collection
37:15of the provenance of this land
37:17right through to the propagation
37:19and revegetation services that go with that.
37:22Who are you servicing? Who are your main clients?
37:24It is really diverse.
37:26The whole thing of teach me,
37:28I know I need something and I want it to be native, yeah,
37:32right through to much more long-term
37:35and complex commercial arrangements, I guess,
37:38where we have a massive propagation
37:41for plant subsidy schemes once a year.
37:44We're working with 14 local councils at the moment.
37:47Those that are the nearest, the city of Frio,
37:50the city of Cockburn, buy plants from us
37:53to be able to subsidise and distribute
37:55to the ratepayers of those suburbs, which is brilliant,
37:58and also to other sort of environmental groups as well.
38:03So it's almost like the seed knows more than what we do.
38:06While the retail of local plants continues to grow,
38:09as more Perth gardeners become aware
38:11of the benefits of using native species,
38:14this is still a relatively modest portion of the nursery's output.
38:18How many plants do you and the team produce each year?
38:21We produce close to 600,000 to 650,000 plants, Josh.
38:26Really? Across how many species?
38:28You're looking at around 300-plus.
38:30About 85% of that goes back into land care or into reveg,
38:34and about 15% goes out through the retail section.
38:37If you hear from the beginning of crop season
38:39and then you hear at the very end
38:41when the plants are going out the door,
38:43it's quite a special feeling when you look at a label
38:46and you see your initial on the back
38:48and you know that you've been there from seed to sowing to care
38:52to a healthy plant that is then going out the door.
38:55I love plants.
38:56Look, I'm going to ask a really hard question
38:58and something that you really shouldn't put to a nursery manager.
39:01Yeah, OK. Oh, jeez.
39:03If you had to pick a few favourites amongst all of this...
39:06Yes, yeah, yeah. ..what would they be?
39:08I have to include a banksia because we are in Perth...
39:12Respect.
39:13..and we are the only city in the world
39:15surrounded by a banksia woodland,
39:17and it's a beautiful little banksia menziesii.
39:19Nice. Yeah.
39:20You can get them in dwarf form or fully grown.
39:22They're incredible for habitat as a cut flower.
39:25They're beautiful.
39:26Well, you've sold me on that one, so yes.
39:28Yes, props to banksia menziesii.
39:30Yeah, well done.
39:31Another one of my favourites would have to be Leptocarpus.
39:34This is Leptocarpus discipiens.
39:36There's a few different ones around.
39:38It's a bit hard to see,
39:40but it has the most striking little burgundy sheaths
39:43on the side of them.
39:44You would find this in freshwater regions,
39:47not so much saliney, salty water,
39:49but rushes are fantastic for habitat.
39:52Frogs, think about our little marsupials.
39:54It makes a wonderful cut flower as well, which is great,
39:57and they look really aesthetically.
39:59The third plant that I have selected,
40:02it's mostly...
40:03I feel like casuarinas or allocasuarinas
40:05are often overlooked.
40:06They are.
40:07And the location of a pace, right here,
40:09we're nestled on Derbyll Yerrigan, Swan River,
40:12and what lines the river is these beautiful casuarina obesas.
40:16We don't realise, but we'll meet and gather there by the river,
40:19and often what we're standing under is a casuarina obesa.
40:23So they're a spectacular plant,
40:25again, very good for endemic biodiversity,
40:28habitat, shade.
40:30I think it is a wonderful tree.
40:32Mate, I reckon you've picked three rippers,
40:34and for great reasons.
40:35Well done.
40:36Yes.
40:40It's a very broad, diverse atmosphere and workplace, really.
40:45Not because it's the right thing to do, although it is,
40:48it's also the fun thing to do.
40:50For example, we pay our staff to come to morning tea.
40:55Why do we do that?
40:56Well, because about half of our workforce are also volunteers.
41:00It's a very deliberate point of saying,
41:02morning tea's really important, that's where we tell stories.
41:07Only rule is, not allowed to talk work, and we hang out.
41:11How does the community garden fit into the bigger picture?
41:15It's just part of the picture of what we are.
41:18You know, it is a place for all.
41:21I think, for me, the heart in that garden is very important.
41:29The beauty of life, that you plant something and grows,
41:33and you produce something that wasn't there before.
41:37It's magic.
41:39Lately, I changed a little the design,
41:43in the sense that I lost my husband and I'm only one,
41:48taking care of the plot.
41:51It's a social activity without a gardener,
41:54and you become a big family.
41:56And I just love it.
42:00Clearly, planting endemic native species
42:04is really good for this planet.
42:06And so we want to be part of not just the education
42:10and ability to help people to admire and love these plants,
42:16it's also that community and connection space as well.
42:20Joining other people in campaigns,
42:22standing by people that are doing good work
42:25in terms of protecting or maintaining land,
42:29or flora, or fauna, or reefs, or oceans,
42:33or this is all part of who we are.
42:35It's a philosophy that says we care about the planet.
42:39Greener planet, connected world.
42:49Some ground covers are better than others at keeping out weeds.
42:52The best are those that can form a thick mat,
42:55and also, they have a bit of wolf about them.
42:57They'll outlast and vigorously compete with any weeds
43:01that might try to take hold.
43:03When planting in plenty of sun,
43:05Connedia is a very pretty trailing ground cover.
43:09But I do find it's a little bit too open
43:11to stop weeds from coming through.
43:13Whereas, Myoporum parvifolium can create a dense cover
43:17in a short amount of time.
43:19Also, in full sun, you could try low-growing grevilleas.
43:23And go for the dense forms
43:25where there's layers of overlapping branches and leaves.
43:29Things get a bit tricky in shady areas.
43:31This is a fantastic ground cover.
43:33These are prostrate forms of Godinia ovata.
43:36And whilst it'll grow in sunshine,
43:38they're also happy in semi-shaded positions
43:40and can handle full shade.
43:42The thing with shade is that any native ground cover
43:45is probably going to be slower at growing
43:47than any shade-adapted weeds they're supposed to be competing with.
43:50But never give up.
43:52If you plant at closer spacing than you would
43:54if you were planting in full sun,
43:56that'll help to create a dense mat sooner.
43:59And also, in the interim, remain vigilant.
44:02Pull out any weed seedlings.
44:04And then, once established, in the shady area,
44:07Godinia is as good as gold at keeping out the weeds.
44:11Whether you're growing in sun or shade,
44:13if weeds are a constant problem,
44:15try to lessen their impact
44:17through things like sheet mulching with cardboard
44:20and a layer of good-quality mulch
44:22to give new plants a head start getting established.
44:25acoustic guitar plays softly
44:55acoustic guitar plays softly
45:25acoustic guitar plays softly
45:55acoustic guitar plays softly
46:25acoustic guitar plays softly
46:47In our My Garden Path segment this week,
46:49we meet a passionate grower and cultivator.
46:52From her roots as an environmental scientist
46:55to an advocate for her community,
46:57her family garden in Lismore has inspired it all.
47:17So this is my front yard.
47:20There's so many random things planted here.
47:24We also have our chickens in this part of the garden.
47:29And I've learned that you've got to plant plenty of things
47:32so there's enough to share between us and the chickens.
47:38I plant closely together
47:40so that the chickens avoid that particular area.
47:44And I feel like we've achieved a really good balance
47:47so that it's my garden,
47:49but it's also a space that the chickens can enjoy as well.
47:58My name is Sigrid.
48:00This is my sign name.
48:02My sign name is a little bit random.
48:04It was given to me by my brother
48:06who gave me, like, a nickname.
48:11Doodoo.
48:12Doodoo.
48:13And so that kind of stuck.
48:15That's the sign for doodoo.
48:22Yeah, I get so easily lost in the details in this garden.
48:27I'm also a very sensory type of person,
48:30so I love to feel things.
48:33I like to look at things closely and just imagine.
48:37When I was younger, I always imagined myself as incredibly small
48:42and what the world would look like.
48:45From that perspective.
48:50So moss has always given me
48:54kind of like an escape.
48:57I can shrink myself and shrink my thoughts even.
49:04When I look in the garden,
49:06I love seeing that the moss is there
49:08and being able to just run my hands over it is so lovely.
49:12And I just, I feel so happy from it.
49:14And it also shows just how healthy the system is here.
49:21So I use Auslan, Australian Sign Language.
49:25A-U-S-L-A-N is spelled,
49:27the abbreviation of Australian Sign Language.
49:30I was born deaf.
49:35My family did notice that I wasn't responsive to sound
49:39and my father was working out in the backyard.
49:42He's a builder.
49:45He was using power tools.
49:48And I was asleep, peacefully asleep.
49:52And at the same time, my grandfather said,
49:55I don't think Sigrid's hearing this.
50:00So I was tested and diagnosed at nine months of age.
50:05My family, my parents, my grandparents,
50:09on both sides of the family,
50:11so all four grandparents and my parents,
50:14would then go to TAFE and they learned Auslan.
50:20They actually learned Signed English, sorry, at that time.
50:23And they straight away fed that back to me
50:26and I was able to communicate with them.
50:29But they also introduced me to the deaf community,
50:32which meant that I was able to pick up Auslan as well.
50:37So I had access to language straight away.
50:42Most deaf people are born to a hearing family
50:46and they do face barriers.
50:49Access to language, language deprivation is a huge issue.
50:55I felt so lucky to have been born in this area
50:58because I had access to the deaf community,
51:01which is actually incredibly rare outside of capital cities.
51:12Yeah, I've been gardening since I was young.
51:15Because it's something that my family has done
51:17on both sides of my family for some time,
51:19we've always had gardens, different styles of gardens,
51:22but I've learnt a lot from both sides of my family.
51:25My mother's father, my grandfather,
51:27he's always been a gardener.
51:30Most of the plants that I have here are from my grandfather
51:33or from friends and family.
51:35And when I walk around, I feel like just such a strong connection
51:40with different people.
51:42If I spot a plant, I think of the person that gifted me that plant.
51:49It feels like a really...
51:51It's like I'm in good company with my garden.
51:54I'm never lonely.
51:57I feel like everything I give to the garden,
52:00the garden gives back to me.
52:03MUSIC PLAYS
52:10If the plant community only has one type of plant,
52:13it's not a strong community.
52:15There isn't the ability for it to be resilient.
52:18It's more vulnerable and can break down quickly.
52:21But if you have a diverse community within the plant realm,
52:25different animals, different types of plants,
52:28different types of bacteria and all of those types of things,
52:32that ends up being a stronger community,
52:34which will actually survive through time.
52:40And how everything is interconnected.
52:42It doesn't matter how small it is.
52:45If you can't see it or if it's huge, everything is connected.
52:50Diversity is important.
52:52MUSIC PLAYS
52:57I feel like the deaf community is so similar
53:00to the mushroom and fungi family.
53:05I'm so connected to that.
53:07I love seeing the deaf community like the mycelium network.
53:11There's connections.
53:13Though they're distant, they're strong.
53:16It's healthy.
53:19And when the conditions are perfect, the support is there,
53:23the access is there for the deaf community,
53:25then everyone pops up and you're able to see them.
53:28The community becomes more visible and aware of all of those things.
53:40MUSIC PLAYS
53:42MUSIC STOPS
53:47It's time to make those gardening dreams a reality.
53:50Here's your list of jobs for the weekend.
53:57In cool areas, native grasses like poa lat can be cut back hard now,
54:02so they stay looking fresh and green.
54:05If you're drowning in zucchini,
54:07head into the kitchen to preserve the harvest.
54:10Knock up a giardiniera by soaking in vinegar and salt overnight,
54:15then layering in sterilised jars with olive oil.
54:19Inspect your beehives.
54:21If you see honeycomb on the lip,
54:23it may be time to give them more room by adding a super.
54:28In warm, temperate areas, it's passata-making time.
54:32Break out the bottles and fire up the spremi pomodoro
54:36and you'll be tasting summer all year long.
54:40Set up some habitat for lizards so they can overwinter at your place.
54:45Large rocks, broken terracotta and corrugated iron
54:49are the current must-haves in reptile real estate.
54:53Agapanthus are about to start dropping seed everywhere,
54:57so thoroughly deadhead to stop them becoming a problem in your area.
55:03In the subtropics, if your banana is overloaded with fruit,
55:07prop bunches with bamboo poles
55:09as heavyweight harvests can snap the entire plant.
55:13While you're at it, throw down some poultry manure.
55:16Bananas have an insatiable appetite
55:19and monthly feedings will keep the bunches coming.
55:22Macadamia harvest is just around the corner,
55:25but remember to apply mulch to keep the roots cool
55:29and ensure good fruit set.
55:32Fruiting now in tropical areas is the sea almond.
55:36The large woody stone inside the fruit can be cracked
55:40to reach the tasty kernel inside,
55:43a favourite snack in the Torres Strait.
55:46Cucumber can be grown from seed now.
55:49If you're short on room, try compact varieties like Space Master.
55:54If your mangoes finish fruiting,
55:56give it a good prune to remove upward growth and old flowering stems.
56:01Arid gardeners, if your crops are struggling in the hottest part of the year,
56:05roll out some shade cloth during the day to help get them through.
56:10Brussels sprouts must be planted now
56:13so they have enough time to mature in the colder weather.
56:17Flowering now is the desert fuchsia, or Eremophila macdonnellii.
56:23This tidy shrub only gets to a half a metre tall
56:27and is covered in impressive purple flowers.
56:30Remember, if you've missed any episodes of Gardening Australia,
56:34you can catch up on iView anytime.
56:43Well, that's it for this week,
56:45but there is plenty left in the barrow to spread around for next time.
56:50Here's what's in store.
56:54I'm finding out what it takes to produce this delicious and bitter crop
57:00that needs to grow not only once, but twice.
57:03I'm visiting the home collection of the President
57:06of the Cactus and Succulent Society of Queensland,
57:09and I'm very excited.
57:12And we meet someone living the country gardening dream.
57:16It really, for me, is a beautiful celebration of colour and form and texture.
57:22For me, a small garden has got to work hard.