Gardening Australia - Season 36 Episode 5
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00:00Hooray!
00:06Yay!
00:20Hey buddy!
00:23Yay!
00:30Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia. We are full to bursting this week with just
00:39about everything you need to flick that inspiration switch. I know you're going to love it, so
00:45take a look. I'm visiting a garden packed with powerful plants, where modern science
00:53is researching traditional health benefits. Hannah checks in on some old friends. Right
01:05now, this worm farm is a little bit under the weather, so today I'm going to give it
01:09some TLC. We follow a young man on the trail of a horticultural giant. Jeez, this is cool.
01:18And we meet an artist finding forms in wood. By the end of it, you can really see what
01:24the artwork is going to be, and I think it's like a really beautiful thing. I really love
01:35how growing food can help enhance our urban fabric. Millie's visiting a rental gardener
01:41in Melbourne, who started with the front yard and is now well and truly on his way to transforming
01:47the entire street. There is no denying that when you're on your way to visit a garden
01:59for Gardening Australia, you will spot it well before you see the number on the fence.
02:03Hey Rishi, how are you doing? I'm in Laylaw in Melbourne's north to meet Rishi Ramgutty,
02:10who's created an abundant edible garden in the front yard of his rental home. Welcome
02:16to my front yard paradise. It's so gorgeous, there's so much going on. It's not a typical
02:22suburban plot. It's definitely not typical, that you can say. I've really packed in a lot
02:28of plants and veggies together, because I love the concept of an edimental garden. Edimental,
02:34so it looks as good as it tastes. Exactly, that's right. So a lot of flowers to look good,
02:38and a lot of veggies to keep me fed. It works for the garden to do that as well. It does work
02:43really well, and it brings in the bees and the butterflies and so many other insects,
02:48and I really love the fact that it's feeding the ecosystem around me and keeping things really
02:52alive. I noticed your kale, it's in rude health I would say. I think I'm really lucky with the
03:00kale actually, but it's also maybe just talking to them and giving them a little pat and really
03:05praising them for being so beautiful, and they keep growing nice and lush and they feed me.
03:11When you say giving them a little pat, you mean squishing the caterpillar eggs?
03:15Yes, that's what I'm talking about.
03:25So everything is natural over here. I don't use any kind of pesticides,
03:29so I just let nature do its thing, and you would find the ladybirds, the praying mantis,
03:35all the beneficial bugs just doing their little magic in the garden,
03:39and it's fascinating to observe, especially me being a photographer. I'm always with my camera
03:44and just looking under the leaves, and they keep me entertained, so it's the best of both worlds.
03:54Back in 2009, I left Mauritius to come and study in Australia. I thought it would be more or less
04:00similar to Mauritius, but the seasons are different. Here in Melbourne, you have extreme
04:05temperatures. Yeah, it was not something that I was ready for, but kind of like it now.
04:11Rishi, being a renter, what was here when you signed the lease? What was here before?
04:17It was just a barren piece of land. Even the weeds were scarce over here,
04:22and I saw this as a blank canvas for me to work my magic into it. I chose this spot because of
04:28the sun. It's in the right spot. It gets full sun most of the year. It's not a really big place,
04:34if you look at it. It's just 10 meters by 6 meters, so a total of around 67 square meters.
04:41So I started off with some very hard, barren clay soil, and I was all excited and ready to
04:47get gardening, and my axe pick just bounced off the soil. I could not believe it. I started off
04:54by doing a tiny raised bed. So as you can see, this is no more than 10 centimeters tall. It's
04:59just to give this little extra height and put in some new material on top.
05:05What is the reaction when you start putting vegetables in the front yard? It's not a typical
05:10kind of look around here. Yes, it's very unusual for the area. As you can see, all the other houses
05:15over here, it's very typical lawn and roses, and they do things very traditionally, as you can
05:22imagine. So the veggie patch is always in the backyard, but I wanted to change things up and
05:28get a beautiful front yard that pops.
05:39Morning. How are you? I'm all good. How are you? Good. What you got going in here? Oh,
05:44as usual, lots of things growing everywhere. Beetroot, some Swiss chard, some peppers,
05:50and zucchini is still going strong. Oh, wow. Look at these beauties.
05:55You'll enjoy them. Oh, wow. Yum. Awesome. All right, well, you have a good day. Yeah,
06:00take care. Nice seeing you. Bye-bye.
06:04Some neighbors were actually concerned about what was happening over here,
06:08and eventually when they saw me putting in flowers and all of that, then they were like,
06:12OK, something nice is happening over here. And they were stopping by all the time for a chat
06:18and asking me, hey, what are you planting? What's this plant? What's this flower?
06:22So it was a really beautiful experience to have it in the front yard.
06:31Good morning, Wish. Hello, Anthea. How are you? I'm coming to see your garden again.
06:36Did you pick anything this morning? Oh, yes, I picked some beautiful carrots
06:39this morning. You can actually have them because I have so many more. All of them? Yes,
06:44these are all yours. Always, you're very generous. Yes, yeah, yeah. I actually really love it. It
06:49brings the neighborhood together and we share seedlings, we share plants, we share veggies,
06:55we share banter and laughter, which is absolutely fantastic for this neighborhood.
06:59It's really beautiful. It's just positives. Yeah, they love it. Yeah.
07:05After about three years of gardening in this very productive patch, there was bad news.
07:11Unfortunately, as this is a rental, the landlord asked me to move out because he wanted to move in
07:18and it was a sad day for me. But fortunately, the landlord is really nice and he allows me
07:23to keep gardening and we share produce and we share good times now. So this isn't your garden
07:29anymore? It's not my garden anymore, but I still get to enjoy the fruits and the flowers over here.
07:35This is really unexpected. Then came another twist of fate. The landlord's brother bought
07:40the house next door and Rishi was invited to move back to the neighborhood. It's really unexpected
07:47when you think about it. So you say you live next door now? Yes, I live next door. Are you
07:51gardening there? Definitely. You know me. We better go and have a look. Let's go. Let's go.
07:58I love you have this empire of gardens. Yes, it is. This time Rishi has started in the back garden.
08:07Oh, what a great new garden. Yes, it's beautiful, isn't it? Not too big, not too small,
08:12just the right size. And you got this in straight away? Straight away. I did not waste a
08:17minute. So I moved in about two months ago. And that was the first thing that I did.
08:22You got a front yard next door. You got the backyard here. You've almost got a whole garden,
08:26Rishi. Almost, almost. We're getting there. And it's coming together.
08:30Fantastic. I reckon I need to try one of those tomatoes. Yes, go for it.
08:35Oh, it's firm. Yes.
08:40So sweet. How good is this?
08:43You can't get these at the supermarket.
08:49Mauritius to me sounds like it's an extraordinarily beautiful place.
08:52It is very beautiful. It's a little tropical island, beautiful sandy beaches and tropical
08:58forests. And it's a very nice place. You should visit sometime.
09:04I would love that. Were you a gardener there?
09:06I was not a gardener back then, but my parents were very avid gardeners.
09:10My mum used to plant a lot of flowers. My dad used to plant a lot of fruit trees.
09:15And maybe I got the best of both worlds. And I just love growing everything.
09:21It's clear that that is a really joyful garden that you've created there. Yes,
09:26it's a practical garden, but it's clearly something that you love.
09:29Yes, I've put in a lot of love into it. It's not just
09:32something mechanical to get veggies to eat. It's a labour of love. And I've really poured my heart
09:40and my soul into it. And I enjoyed every second of it. And it gave me back everything intentful,
09:46I can say. And it's a beautiful adventure. And it's just the beginning. That's what's
09:51even more exciting. So don't be afraid to approach
09:55your landlord if you've got dreams of cultivating a patch in your rental.
10:00I would encourage any renter to just start with what they have, where they are. Have fun,
10:06do it small, do it big, do it however you want. And it's going to reward you for sure.
10:12Do not hesitate, just go for it.
10:22Why are the leaves on my asperdistra turning brown? And what can I do about it? Well,
10:28one of the most common causes is sunburn. And that's what's happened here. Asperdistra prefers
10:34mild light. And these leaves have been burnt from a scorching hot day. What to do about it? Well,
10:40these leaves are permanently damaged. So you need to remove them by cutting the stems back
10:45at the base. And they'll reshoot from the rhizome, nice and fresh and green like that.
10:51To stop it happening again, just put some light shade cloth over them if the weather's going to
10:55be really hot, or move the plant to a shadier position. When are olives ripe? Olives are
11:02generally considered ripe for picking when they've reached their full size and undergone a colour
11:07change. The timing of harvest will depend on the olive variety, and whether you want to eat it or
11:13use it for oil. Green olives turn shades of red, purple or black when they're ripe. Although some
11:20varieties start off black when they're small. Ripe olives are plump, with a softer texture
11:26and a different skin feeling. And generally, they have a less bitter taste. Harvesting usually
11:33occurs from late summer into the winter months, although the exact timing depends on the region
11:39and the climate. Olives for oil are often harvested slightly earlier when they have a higher oil
11:46content. On the other hand, olives for table consumption are generally picked slightly later
11:52when they've developed a milder flavour. When is the best time of year to split a colony of
11:58stingless bees? Well, I guess it depends on where you live. You see, in warm temperate Sydney, you'd
12:03need to do it in summer because you have a shorter season. Here in subtropical Brisbane, we can do it
12:09in summer and in early autumn. When you split a hive, it's quite traumatic for the bees, so you've
12:16got to be sure you've got enough pollen, enough sugar bag and enough brood so they can recover
12:23and rebuild before they go into the cool winter weather. And in my case, I did some recently and
12:30there wasn't enough, so I've sealed the hives back over and I've got to wait for another year.
12:42This hydrangea quercifolia, or the oak leaf hydrangea, is a standout because of its flowers
12:48and in autumn, the oak-like foliage puts on a show that gradually turns bronze, crimson and
12:55then burgundy. It's one of the best flowering shrubs for the autumn garden. It grows to about
13:02a metre by a metre and it's best planted in moist acidic soils. Full sun's okay, but it does appreciate
13:09a little bit of afternoon shade so the leaves don't burn. Spread a thick layer of mulch over
13:14the roots after planting, just to retain soil moisture and there'll be no need to fertilise.
13:20It spreads by suckering and it's a beautiful plant. You'll see them as a hedge or a single plant.
13:26Have a look out for them.
13:27If you're a gardener, you know the power of plants to make us feel great when we're working with them
13:47and taste great when we're eating them. But many plants can also have powerful inherent properties
13:55that can be harnessed for our needs. Think about things like coffee and what about quinine
14:01and even aspirin that was originally derived from willow tree bark.
14:08I'm at Southern Cross University in Lismore, New South Wales and spread out across the campus
14:15is an extraordinary collection of plants for study and research.
14:20It's a plant nerd's paradise and the perfect place for researchers
14:26to explore the powerful properties of plants.
14:30This here is the herbarium. Think of it as like a big plant library.
14:38There must be thousands of specimens in here. I can't wait to have a look around but
14:44I think I'll just have to look around.
14:46Peter Mowat is a pharmacognosist. That's a scientist who studies the chemistry of natural compounds.
14:56Peter, I knew I'd find you deep in the herbarium but
15:00what's so special about it that you can't find anywhere else in the world?
15:05Well, it's not just the plants. It's the plants themselves that make it so special.
15:10It's the plants themselves that make it so special.
15:12Peter, I knew I'd find you deep in the herbarium but
15:17tell me a little bit about this title of yours, pharmacognosist.
15:22Pharmacognosy is the science of understanding plants and plant drugs and so here we have a
15:28collection in the herbarium of plants that have been used historically for
15:33foods and herbs and medicines. So we look at their chemistry and their relationships
15:38and we find some pretty surprising, interesting things. So we can go and have a look at some of
15:42those if you're interested. Oh yeah, count me in for a surprise I'll tell you. Yeah, yeah, okay.
15:47Okay, which way? This way? This way, yeah.
15:50Like the garden, the purpose of the herbarium collection is to assist in the study and
15:55particularly the correct identification of plant species. Yeah, we'll have a look at this one.
16:09Oh okay, that's a rosemary. What's the surprise here?
16:13Well the surprising thing here in this case is the name of it. So we know it as rosemary,
16:17it's a common herb but what they've found is that when they've looked at the genetics it's closely
16:22related to the sage, the salvia, which is a very big genus of plants. So it's more than,
16:28it's about 15% of all the mint family. So this has been found now to be part of that same
16:35genus of plants. So what's its new name? Its new name is salvia rosmarinus.
16:44I mean it's the same plant to us, we all know rosemary, but the official name and designation
16:49and the relationships are changing and that's something we try and keep up with and understand.
16:56So the name change with rosemary, is it a one-off or are the changes more widespread?
17:01No, there's definitely changes much more widespread. So the whole of flowering plants
17:05or angiosperms, we're re-looking at a lot of the relationships because a lot of traditional plant
17:11naming and classification is based on their flowers and their morphology, their leaf shape.
17:17We have situations where you have kind of convergent evolution, so plants have developed
17:21similar forms and traits depending on the environment they might be growing in. And so
17:27what we thought might have been close related, we're actually now understanding different
17:31relationships. It's great to see plant people diving deep and using this new technology to
17:39to take our knowledge to the next level. Yeah and to an extent genetics allows us to actually look
17:44back deep in time to the relationships between plants because you know they've been evolving
17:51over millions of years on the earth and that's giving us new insight. And the genetic identification
17:58of plants can also reveal their extraordinary deep history. I was having a look at this and
18:05when I smelt it, it's got a really strong scent. What is this plant? This is an interesting one,
18:11so this is actually a native licorice, Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa. Mostly it grows around the riverland
18:17in Victoria into South Australia. It's most closely related to the other licorice from
18:22northern China. So this is like really isolated in southern Australia. Not many people are aware
18:28that we actually have a native licorice and that separation based on the genetics appears to have
18:34been about 2.8 million years ago. And it seems that the way that it got here, based on the fact
18:40that its fruit have quite spiky little things, is that it was probably carried here by birds
18:45that do the annual migration. They've actually picked up some of these fruit and sort of carried
18:50it here millions of years ago and it's become established and obviously adapted to the
18:56environment here. Along with their ancestral pedigrees, the scientific study of traditional
19:03uses of plants is a focus for research by Professor John Wardell. All right, this is our medicinal
19:11citrus section that actually has a lot more medicinal history and use than most people
19:15would probably realise. Look at this. What exactly is this fruit? Well, this is an orange, of course,
19:22but it's probably not the orange that most people would know. It's called a bitter orange, used in a
19:27lot of cultures traditionally for medicinal purposes. But this orange has been specifically
19:31bred for all those things we don't usually like in oranges and food. Bitterness, sourness,
19:37really good stuff. I love bitterness and sourness. Can I give it a taste? You go for it. Oh, that's
19:42something that I grew up with. You know, lemon and Greek go hand in hand. Here goes. I'm keen. I love bitter.
19:52It's a really thin skin, isn't it? It comes off quite thin and that's because, you know, the sort
19:56of things that we usually think of in pith, which are those, you know, bitter compounds, the pectins,
20:01they're kind of hidden in the orange itself. But as you chew more and more on that pectin
20:05and that sort of fibrous compound, the chewier it will get, the more bitter it will get.
20:12Yeah. Quite different, right?
20:19It's good. It's good. It's tangy. It's bitter. It gives you that. And it tastes good for you,
20:26right? So, you know, that bitterness, that sourness, you know, complements that sweetness.
20:33Yeah. Oh, I want more. And what's really interesting about this is that bitter taste
20:39has a lot of really interesting compounds that support digestion.
20:42And traditionally, that's what bitterness is used for.
20:46Growing up Greek, bitter was a big part of it. Lemon was involved in so many foods, but
20:54also bitter greens, horta, such a staple at every meal. And it got you used to that,
21:01that it wasn't all about sweet and salty. Yeah. And when you look at modern food,
21:07we bred all that out and tried to make things sweeter and juicier and get rid of all that
21:12problematic texture and, you know, bitterness. But when you actually look at where these things
21:18come from, every citrus, you know, apart from the first four, pomelo, tree mandarin,
21:22kumquat and citron have all been developed. They're all human made. So these oranges have
21:28been developed over hundreds and thousands of years to be as bitter and as sour as possible,
21:32because that's where the interesting medicinal use is. And that's what traditional medicine
21:37did. And that's why we here at this university are trying to work from plant to patient to find
21:42out more about what we can learn from traditional knowledge and actually start validating the
21:47science. Not everything will work, but, you know, we can actually learn a lot from the ways that
21:52traditional knowledge owners actually used these kind of foods and medicinal plants. And, you know,
21:58we're using that to actually start the process of finding what does work and what doesn't work.
22:03There may be huge opportunities for health science in the study of traditional medicine.
22:09This is our bush food and bush medicine garden. And John and his colleagues are keen to see the
22:15honours shared. What do you see looking forward when it comes to the important role of plants and
22:23our plant driven future, really? Yeah, look, I think, you know, we're really passionate about
22:29what potential can come from plant medicines, but we're also really passionate that
22:32the traditions from which those plants come are also properly respected. And here at our
22:38university, we're really lucky to have an incredible Pukana woman leading Australia's
22:42first Indigenous-led First Nations medicines program, Dr. Alana Gall. Dr. Gall is actually
22:47in Geneva working with the World Intellectual Property Organisation, developing protections and
22:52frameworks to make sure that, you know, knowledge owners are actually not excluded from any benefits
22:56that might come from plant medicines and that, you know, any company that might want to actually
23:00work with them actually, you know, really engage with those communities and benefit sharing and
23:04recognition. As gardeners, we all know that plants are powerful. They're the source of so
23:13much good health in our lives and in our gardens. And they're the foundation of many of our medicines
23:20as well. But as traditional and new uses are researched and identified, it's critical
23:28that the plants and more so the knowledge itself is respected.
23:38Keeping an eye on my worm farm is very satisfying. It is super pleasing to see my worms being so
23:44happy and healthy. But right now, this worm farm is a little bit under the weather. So today,
23:49I'm going to give it some TLC. Worm farms are a wonderful way to turn your kitchen waste into
23:56valuable resources. Worm castings as soil conditioner and worm tea for liquid feeds
24:02for your garden. About once a week, I like to come down and have a good rummage through and
24:07check up on my worms and make sure they're all happy. And of course, I come down as needed and
24:12pop in the scraps of my kitchen. And you'll see a few different things in here, including
24:17onions and citrus skin. And it's totally fine to include both of those things.
24:23Ideally, you chop them up a bit smaller than this one, but it'll still break down eventually.
24:28But generally, just make sure you have a good diverse range of food scraps all mixed in together
24:32and you're totally fine. We put a lot of cardboard into worm farms often as the topping to keep
24:39moisture in and moderate temperature. The worms love cardboard. They get inside the corrugations
24:44and basically eat it from the inside out. So eventually there'll be no cardboard left,
24:48you have to replace it. Meantime, they're having a good feed. If you see a few maggots in there,
24:53don't be alarmed as they won't affect your worms too much. In fact, you'll see all sorts
24:58of creepy crawlies in a healthy worm farm. So embrace it. You might notice my worm farm's
25:04pretty big. It's actually made from a recycled bathtub and I treat it like two compartments.
25:09I feed one side first and let the worms do their thing. Once that's full, I then move over to the
25:14other side and the worms just kind of move back and forth. When one side is full, I just let it
25:19rest for quite a few months. And when it resembles beautiful brown soil, that's the worm castings,
25:25it can all come out back onto my garden. If you see little vinegar flies buzzing inside your worm
25:31farm, just add some more carbon rich brown materials like newspaper clippings or straw.
25:36Hey Ollie. Hey mate. You need any help, buddy? Need some helping? I'm just mixing through some
25:42straw to help balance out those vinegar flies. But also I had too many food scraps in there,
25:46so it's getting a bit stinky. Adding that dry brown straw will get rid of any smell and restore
25:52balance. Worm farms also need insulation, especially when the weather gets too hot or
25:58too cold. Today, I'm just going to pop on some old brown cardboard. And I've also got a towel,
26:04which is 100% cotton, which is ready to retire to the garden. Tuck it in.
26:11And we're also going to water it in to make sure it's got good moisture content.
26:16Worms love their water, but it's kind of like Goldilocks conditions because it has to be just
26:21right. So not too wet, not too dry, not too hot, and not too cold. Just right. That ought to be
26:29enough. And here we've got some worm tea, which is the brown leachate that comes off your worm
26:36farm. Importantly, it has to pass through some mature worm castings and not just food scraps
26:42for it to be fertile. Mix it one part worm tea to 10 parts water and then pop it on your garden.
26:51A well looked after worm farm is a garden treasure. So by doing these few simple welfare
26:56checks, you can keep your worms thriving and your garden humming.
27:06Which native plants should I source for my green wall? And with a limited soil profile and often
27:11very exposed conditions, plants for green walls and roofs need to be both tough and adaptable.
27:18Fortunately, there is a huge range of Australian natives that are proving they can work in these
27:24applications with both drought resilience as one factor and also dense fibrous roots as another.
27:31It's no use if a plant can withstand the dry by using a 50 centimetre tap root if the green roof
27:36or the green wall only has a 30 centimetre deep growing medium. Now rounded noonflower,
27:42also known as cacala, is a succulent similar to pig face, which works really well on a vertical
27:48wall or your living sculpture. Still to come on Gardening Australia, we find out how to unearth
27:56a monster. Tammy gives us all the juice on apples and we meet a sculptor working with the grain.
28:07My father was an incredible gardener. We lived off all the fruit and veg that dad grew. And so we
28:16always had lots of veggies. I love the garden. Yeah, my dad, my dad taught me to garden.
28:25Someone who inspired me for the love of growing was probably Peter Cundall. He was probably
28:33Peter Cundall. He was probably a big inspiration on like the vegetable garden. When I was in year
28:43five, I got into like a part school parliament thing. And I was environment minister. And I
28:49started the veggie garden. And it was really good. So I'm fortunate that I come from a family of
28:55gardeners. But my biggest inspiration is my granny Pat, who's here with us today. She's always since
29:01I was very young, taught me different gardening, especially roses. When I would go and visit,
29:06she would have a single stem brown rose by my bedside table, specially grown for me that was
29:12always really special. And even now we garden together every time we meet. And every time I
29:19grow something special, it reminds me of her. Probably my mum. Yeah, because mum was always
29:26into the gardening. And I think I just sort of followed suit. My Nana, I feel like so many people
29:32have the same answer. My Nana had this big, beautiful still does has a big, beautiful garden
29:36down in near Port Ferry, Killarney. And all of the grandchildren, we all would go out in the garden
29:43and just play all day. It was the most beautiful memories. And I hope that I can kind of do the
29:48same thing for my kids. And maybe grandkids. Yeah, when I was young, it was my auntie like we call
29:54her mama. Yeah, because she used to sing with her plants in her plants. Yeah, because she always say,
30:00you need to talk to the plants and you need to sing to them because
30:04they also have life and they have energy.
30:12In 2022, we met 15 year old Brisbane gardener, Aiden. And I was totally blown away by his passion
30:20for regeneration and native plants. This is my centrepiece. This is a Brachycyton species Ormo.
30:28So it's the Ormo bottle tree. There's only, I think, less than 200 left in the wild.
30:34And it'll hopefully count towards the conservation of the species
30:39into the future. So it's a win win, I guess.
30:43Well, we got wind of something big going down in his hometown, something we knew that he'd love to see.
30:51So I asked him if he'd cover it for us. Take it away, Aiden.
30:59I'm in Clontarf, a coastal suburb in the city of Moreton Bay, about 35 kilometres north of Brisbane.
31:06Like lots of our urban areas, it's a suburb undergoing change.
31:10As more people move here, housing is being subdivided, demolished and otherwise renovated.
31:16Often, this means less space for mature, established gardens and trees.
31:21But it's not all bad news, and change can bring opportunities.
31:24Today, I'm at a fairly typical suburban block and house to see something inspiring.
31:31The owners of this house are renovating to create more space for their growing family.
31:3560 years ago, someone thought to plant this beautiful tree.
31:38And today, we're going to see it safe in the skip as it's dug up, taken to its new home and replanted.
31:51Arborist Julian Ford and Michelle Tompkins specialise in transplanting rare and sensitive trees.
31:58Their first task is to protect the trunk of this Brachycoidon rupestris,
32:02so it can be craned up, out of the ground and safely moved to the Sherwood Arboretum, 48 kilometres away.
32:12Next task is to safely dig out the root ball.
32:16Yes, it's got it on the outside of that.
32:19Yeah, about a metre.
32:21The couple keep an eye out for any large lateral roots.
32:27Oh, look at that big sucker.
32:29And these are trimmed while still in the soil,
32:31using a reciprocating saw to minimise disturbance of the remaining root ball.
32:36The benefits of standing on the inside of the root ball while the excavator is digging
32:39is that we can actually feel him picking up lateral roots or bigger roots.
32:44And like right now, you know, if he's picking up roots,
32:48the whole thing is starting to fall apart and they're just rolling around.
32:51And so it's a bit of a challenge to get a good grip on it and get it in there.
32:57I'm going to try and get it in there.
32:59And it's in.
33:01It's in.
33:02or bigger roots and like right now you know if he's picking that up and if he's
33:06gonna damage that root I would feel it move here and I would get him to stop
33:10instantly so I can trim the root so there's no damage to the tree and we can
33:14save that root.
33:22Yeah that's looking good. Oh yes sweet as. So far everything's gone really good.
33:27I'm super excited and very happy. Oh that's great. Yeah. How are you handling it?
33:31Oh it's pretty interesting I'm excited to see all the I'm excited to see the
33:36excavation and see how deep the roots go. Me too. Yeah it'll be interesting to see
33:41once it gets put up on the crane and everything. Hopefully not too much deeper
33:44probably about another 30 minutes of digging and then the crane will be
33:48ready to pick it up. While Miss and Jules prepare the bottle tree neck to receive
33:54the crane arms I'm taking a look at how much crane you need to make a bottle
33:58tree fly.
34:02Some extra protection for the trunk is added and the harness is connected to
34:11the crane. Hey Matt could I get you on the bucket? Yep. Yeah we'll just dig
34:17around in this front corner. Before the first stage of the lift a final dig
34:22around the root ball is done to ensure it comes away cleanly.
34:27Oh nice. Alrighty how much do you guys think it weighs? Well look I reckon it
34:35weighs six and a half. Alrighty. That's enough ton. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna go with 6.8 ton. What are you
34:41going with Aiden? Oh I don't know mate. I'll go seven. Seven? Alright. What's the weight?
34:49It weighs a half ton. Hey you were close. Now it's out of the ground it's time to wrap up the root ball to protect it during the
34:58journey to its new home. Oh zippies will be fine. I actually want my pegs. It's
35:04pretty compact. Yeah.
35:09And with the wrapping done the nail-biting begins.
35:19This is the stage where the tree is most at risk. All eight and a half tons needs
35:26to be lifted over adjacent properties and then gently placed on its side to be
35:30transported. Jeez this is tall. Yeah. Yeah. Real big. We've got to lay it over now. Uh-huh.
35:39I can see that Michelle and Julian are worried that the trees not well enough
35:44supported to be tipped on its side.
35:47Fortunately none of the major branches were damaged so now it's time to firmly
36:15strap it down to the trailer. I need those tires covered.
36:30All right so you were just sliding this tree onto the truck and then the
36:34unexpected happened. Tell us about it. Yeah mate my heart skipped. I don't know
36:38about yours. I think everybody else's did. But as they were loading it the we had a
36:42bit of a shift in weight and it came down just a bit faster than what we'd
36:46like. But otherwise everything's all good. Lost a few skinny little branches but
36:51we're all sweet. Oh that's good. Nothing to worry about.
36:58And so the next stage begins. The 48 kilometre drive to Sherwood Arboretum
37:03just west of Brisbane CBD. One key feature of Brachycottenbury
37:09Pestris is its remarkable water storage. The tree's swollen trunk acts as a
37:13natural reservoir helping it thrive during long dry periods. It also means
37:18that these trees have a great success rate when they're transplanted. So Prue
37:22tell me about Sherwood Arboretum. So Sherwood Arboretum is our heritage
37:26listed collection of trees. We're the third botanic garden for Brisbane and we
37:31feature over 1,300 trees from 250 species. It's a 15 hectare site
37:38and this is a very special arboretum because it's exclusively Australian
37:43native trees. There's really nothing else like it in southeast Queensland. So what
37:48made you choose this particular tree? I love this particular tree because of
37:51its low squat form. It's got a really wide trunk on this tree. We have a number
37:56of other Brachycottenbury Pestris on site but nothing like this one. They're all
38:01individual in their form and this one you'll see is really going to be a
38:05standout piece in the arboretum. And how difficult is this tree to plant? So this
38:10tree will take really successfully. There's almost a hundred percent success
38:14rate in translocating. Well what about the weather this afternoon? Well you know
38:18at least we won't have to water it in. Oh and it'll be great for the plants as
38:21well. Yeah absolutely it's gonna love it.
38:26Unload it on the ground here. Stand it up. Yeah. Hunt it in. And hopefully you can beat
38:35the storm. Alright. I don't think the storm's gonna have
38:39happen today. I hope not.
38:56After a few false starts, the team worked out the safest way into the
39:01arboretum for the tree. We'll get you to continue that.
39:09That's good. Yeah. That's a good high. I didn't want to go too deep. I want to have a
39:15little proud. Same. Yeah. Hey and what we're doing here at the moment is we're gonna
39:21take off the slings from the crane, re-sling it so we can lift it up straight
39:26up and then we can spin it around all day long until we've decided exactly how
39:31we want it to face and then we can play with the height of the root ball. Because
39:35you don't want these bottle trees being deeper than the ground level. Uh-huh. You
39:39want them a little bit proud. Sounds good. It allows you to really customize where you
39:43sort of put it and what aspect you want in the position. So this sounds great.
39:49That's weighed off isn't it? Put it in a hole hey? As easy as that.
39:59Shouldn't come down too high.
40:04I'll see how it's gonna get. The other side of the root ball should stop it from...
40:10Oh. It's not too bad. Not too bad. Sweet. Good work Terry. I'll see how it slides into place now.
40:27So it sort of slides upright as you've re-jigged it. I wish we had another sling.
40:35All right bring it in. Beautiful. Yeah let's get in.
40:55Yeah we've got this guy here.
41:05Yeah we're still too high aren't we? So what's going on here? We have to make the hole a little bit different?
41:17Yeah the hole wasn't deep enough. Well we need to dig it out just probably about
41:21300 mil extra and it wasn't wide enough as well. So we're digging it out wider as
41:27well and then we'll add some new soil and hopefully that'll do it. Oh that's fair.
41:32Well fingers crossed. The dance continues. The dance continues to try and fit that root ball isn't it?
41:37It's like a puzzle. Yeah it's like a puzzle and you just gotta keep working it and make sure you can
41:42get that puzzle to fit. A bit of experimentation. It's like a puzzle but you don't know the
41:47answer yet so you gotta figure it out. And it keeps getting funner and funner. Here's the rain so
41:52hopefully thunder doesn't hit the crane. Oh true. That'll make good TV wouldn't it? That'll make very good TV.
41:58Oh no. And boy did it rain.
42:19So with the bottle tree well watered in it's set for its next 60 years at least.
42:28Well I had the best time today. Thanks for having us Pru and Aidan it was a pleasure meeting you
42:37today and working with you. Oh likewise it was great to great to be out and see all the amazing
42:41work you guys do. Yeah I just hope everyone will come out and see our beautiful new addition in our
42:46Bottle Tree Grove.
42:56An apple a day keeps a doctor away. So they say. Therefore growing your own apple trees must ensure
43:02a long and healthy life. You can grow them against a wall, on a trellis, in the garden or create a
43:09small orchard if you have the room. Here six different heirloom apple varieties are being
43:16grown. They fruit from January to June providing a succession of crop for much of the year.
43:24Heirloom apples are really worth investigating. They are passed down through multiple generations
43:30and have unique colours, textures and tastes. Apple trees can grow too large for most gardens
43:37but these are espalier which is an ancient tradition of growing that controls the tree
43:41size by tying and pruning. For restricted places like a wall in your backyard it's a great way to
43:47grow. These apple varieties have been grafted onto dwarf rootstock to help keep them more compact.
43:54The branches are trained to grow horizontally from the main stem at intervals. Just remember
43:59to place the ties at the knee, the navel, the nipple and the nose and this ensures you can
44:04easily pick your apples and net the trees too. Magnus Summer Surprise was developed in Tasmania.
44:11An unusual scarlet skinned apple that tastes a bit like berries. The fruit is small to medium
44:16with a sweet flavour. The tree produces numerous fruits regularly making it a lunchbox favourite.
44:23The added bonus is you can either store, dry, freeze, bottle or juice the surplus. Heirloom
44:30varieties of apples stand out from the crowd. They're good lookers, crunchy and children will
44:35love them and if you plant several different trees to prolong the harvest throughout the year
44:40you'll probably keep the doctor away for a very long time.
44:53Our next story is with a Perth artist who's creating real works of art
44:58through their connection with the timber.
45:13Working with timber it's such a warm and inviting material. I think that it's a material that
45:19everyone's quite familiar with because we've all grown up with timber elements in our homes. I
45:24think it's a material we all know the touch of, we all know that kind of warmth. I think because
45:30it comes from a living thing as well it's quite connected to our own matter.
45:37There's a real tactility to the work. It's a material that just invites touch.
45:46My name is Olive Gilhealy and I'm an artist, sculptor and designer based in Western Australia.
45:52I mostly work with native Australian hardwoods so things like jarrah, things like karri and also
45:59she-oak. There are other timbers like tuart which are a little bit more rare because they grow only
46:03on such a specific little patch of land. They're probably the four top timbers that I work with
46:08that are native West Australian hardwoods. I try to source timber as ethically as possible so
46:17it's usually salvaged timbers. I'm very lucky that I've got beautiful friends and family that
46:22have property in the southwest. It'll be a matter of going on to people's farms or to people's
46:27properties and finding timber that's already been felled. I try to find things that are essentially
46:33what I call roadkill timber. Sometimes it will have fallen naturally through storms or sometimes
46:39it might be power lines coming in and it needing to be cut down. When I go out into nature and I
46:46try and source these fallen timbers, often I'll be looking at the shapes even within the wood.
46:51When I get to a kind of gnarled or unruly piece of timber, it is about following some of the
46:58shapes that are already within it and sort of working in a collaboration with the natural forms.
47:06I come from a family of artists. Both of my parents were painters actually and I think I was
47:11always drawn to being an artist. I've always used my hands to make things. Making has always been a
47:16really big part of my everyday life. When I was 18 I moved to Melbourne and studied at Victorian
47:22College of the Arts. I studied sculpture and spatial practice and I tried out a variety of
47:27different mediums like I did sewing, I did carving, casting, just a variety of different materials as
47:34well. But I had always been quite drawn to timber as a material and in order to explore that I
47:39actually went to RMIT after that and studied furniture design where I really learned how to
47:45use woodworking equipment and really fell in love with working with timber.
47:53I ended up moving back to Perth because my dad was quite sick and it was just timing really but in
47:59that process I really fell in love with living in WA. I'm really glad that he kind of brought me
48:04back home because it is such a big part of my artwork and my art practice. I feel so connected
48:12to the natural environment and so connected to the coastline and the landscape. I feel like
48:18there is a beauty working in this kind of solitude as well and within this sort of natural
48:22environment. I spend a lot of time on my own in the bush or at the beach. It's really about being
48:29connected to nature. I live and work in Fremantle, the home that me and my partner share. It's got a
48:38wonderful garden. Such a big part of my practice is being in the natural environment and we try to
48:44bring some of that into our home so we plant natives. My boyfriend's a wonderful gardener.
48:51He has made a beautiful space here. It is a really calm place. There's something really
48:57wonderfully calm about living so close to the ocean. So when I go into the forest or the bush
49:04I'll look for something I call Goldilocks timber. So timber that isn't too degraded and isn't
49:09habitat. It hasn't dissolved into the soil. Something that while it isn't too far gone it
49:15also isn't too green because it still has to be a little bit seasoned, a little bit cured so that I
49:19know it's not going to crack in weird ways. And at the studio I'll remove a lot of the bark and a lot
49:25of the soil from the work and from there I'll kind of attack it with chainsaws and my more
49:31aggressive wood carving bits and remove a lot of the outer layers. Once I see the general shape that
49:43I like I'll more intuitively carve it. So I'll start grading away and to reveal whatever the
49:50underlying shape may be. Sometimes it'll be heavily manipulated by myself and other times
49:55it might be more gentle. It might be more what I leave as well as what I remove.
50:01After I've carved it and there's often a lot of texture left behind sometimes I really like the
50:05texture. It might be you know scalloped and quite beautiful repetitive sort of shapes but then other
50:11times I want to remove that. Using orbital sanders I'll go up from you know 40 grit all the way up to
50:19240 grit and really polish the work so that it gets to a smooth finish.
50:27It's quite a transformative process. By the end of it you can really see what the artwork is
50:33going to be and I think it's like a really beautiful thing. And after it's sanded there's
50:37a series of hand sandings that happen. Something special about Jarrah and also about Sheoak and
50:45Kari is that it's timber that's very high in tannins. The tannins within these red timbers
50:50actually have this wonderful natural reaction with a vinegar iron oxide solution that is the
50:57ebonizing solution. So with that I'll apply it to the finished product and it'll turn into this
51:04wonderful black color which I think really highlights the form of the work. I think what's
51:09really lovely about ebonizing is that it's not like just painting the work and removing any sign
51:15of the grain. There's this lovely natural quality of it which isn't artificial. It's almost like the
51:20timber's speaking itself. There are some pieces of work that happen so naturally they just feel
51:29so freeing and so easy because I feel very connected to that piece. And then there are
51:34other pieces of timber that are a struggle the whole time and in some ways those artworks are
51:41more rewarding because they've been that much harder to make but in other ways they can be
51:46quite difficult. I try my best to bring a fairly young female perspective to the work. A lot of the
51:55shapes and forms that you see in my work it'll be about my surroundings so it'll be about the
52:00natural environment that I'm so drawn to but it'll also be about my own shapes and my own
52:05forms that I have on my body. I think the work is really reflecting on the things I know. I work in
52:13a realm of woodworking and sculpture and I think those are two things that have been really male
52:19dominated throughout time. I feel like there's a long history of men sort of admiring women's
52:24shapes and creating work in an almost voyeuristic way whereas I feel like I take those shapes and
52:31I try to make them into almost a form of self-portraiture really. It's the shape or
52:36form that I really know because it's my own or it's my girlfriend's. A big part of each individual
52:42piece is the narrative surrounding it so the narrative really starts with the tree from where
52:48the timber comes from and then from that it's the narrative I view in the work so the process
52:53continues with me making each individual piece and I think what's really interesting is that
52:59after I've worked with the timber it starts a new life in someone's home as a new object so
53:06there's a real life cycle to each of the works, the living tree, the dead timber and then reworked into
53:14an art object.
53:24The garden never stops and there's always something out there to do
53:29so we've got your jobs for the weekend ready and waiting.
53:39In cool areas wind down your watering of indoor plants as the temperatures drop. Cold plants plus
53:45excess water equals root rot. Autumn's the best time to plant local native tube stock so head on
53:52down to your local indigenous plant nursery to pick up some favourites. It's a great weekend to
53:58sow mitsuba seeds, an unusual and aromatic Asian herb. In warm temperate areas if the flowers on
54:06your curry bush have finished give it a good prune to maintain shape. Cut flowers will dry well.
54:13Make the most of the extra rain and warmth left in the soil and sow coriander from seed. Winter
54:20cover crops like oats and mustard can be sown now to improve the soil fertility of dormant beds
54:26for future crops. In the subtropics give your turf a good air rate this weekend ahead of autumn and
54:33winter rains. Plant subtropical bulbs like blood lily whose otherworldly foliage and flower will
54:41fascinate any gardener. Can't keep up with your custard apple? Remove and freeze flesh for a sweet
54:48treat in the heat. In the tropics if your papaya isn't as productive as it used to be it might be
54:54time to take it out. They only last about three years so put in a new one in a different spot
55:01to avoid disease crossover. Why not try something a little different and grow a mushroom plant?
55:07A quick grower in tropical areas the edible raw leaves have a delicious mushroom flavour.
55:14Pump up the protein in your patch and plant some snake beans. It's a fast grower and expect
55:20harvests within seven weeks. In arid areas now's the time to plant fennel either sown directly
55:27or planted in pods for transplanting later. Notice little moving dots and fine webs on the edges of
55:34leaves? It's spider mite. Sort it out with regular sprays from the hose and a good hard prune. If your
55:41date palm is setting fruit cover bunches with a muslin bag. This will protect it from birds and
55:47insects and catch ripening dates as they drop off. And remember you can always head to our website
55:54to catch up on info you may have missed including all the plants featured on the show.
55:59Well that's all we could squeeze in this time but join us next week for our native plant special.
56:13I think you'll love it. What could be more special than an abundance of native blooms?
56:20I'm at a flower farm to get tips on growing your own bouquet of beauty. We've developed this method
56:26of growing them in containers in our greenhouse and we grow them quite well now. On visiting
56:31Goulburn Wetlands a community and wildlife hub with two stunning native gardens made possible
56:39by the collaborative efforts of local volunteers. Everything that's grown in here is local prominence.
56:46And if you wanted to create the perfect native habitat I found just the person to help us all
56:51understand what to be choosing for our gardens and how to grow it from seed. This is Australia,
56:57Australian animals need Australian plants.