Gardening Australia S36E7 ,
Gardening Australia Season 36 Episode 7 ,
Gardening Australia Season 36 ,
Gardening Australia ,
#GardeningAustralia
#FullEpisodes
#Season1
#SeriesYNovalasXTC
Gardening Australia Season 36 Episode 7 ,
Gardening Australia Season 36 ,
Gardening Australia ,
#GardeningAustralia
#FullEpisodes
#Season1
#SeriesYNovalasXTC
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Gardening Australia from the Wollongong Botanic Gardens. We've got a bit of
00:05everything on this week's show. Stories for indoor plant lovers, for veggie
00:10growers and for fans of native flora. So let's get straight into it.
00:18I've come to beautiful Bruni Island of Tasmania's south east coast to visit a
00:23market gardener who's created a thriving veggie patch to bring fresh, delicious
00:28produce to help feed the tiny Bruni Island community and visitors like me.
00:34So good eating fresh isn't it? The best fresh is best. Today I'm at the home of an
00:39internet sensation. You could call him a plant influencer whose passion for
00:45growing tropical plants on vertical poles has shot him to worldwide popularity.
00:52I'm going to explore some of the misinformation that's out there about
00:56our unique and beautiful native flora. Well folks, it's time for some myth busting.
01:02And I'm visiting a property where the lay of the land has made the unexpected possible.
01:08A tropical garden in the Perth hills.
01:12You know Millie, she never stops, always on the go, juggling multiple garden tasks with her
01:23trademark energy and enthusiasm. Well, here she is getting stuck into her autumn to-do list.
01:30A tropical garden in the Perth hills.
01:43A tropical garden in the Perth hills.
01:47A tropical garden in the Perth hills.
01:51A tropical garden in the Perth hills.
01:57Autumn is a beautiful time anywhere that you garden, but here in the central highlands of Victoria
02:03it is exquisite. Those first frosts are just around the corner and there is a real chill in the air.
02:10But there's so much you can do right now to keep you well fed for the months ahead.
02:22Of course, autumn is absolutely known as the harvest season in cooler climates.
02:27And I am harvesting, preserving and storing lots of things for the months ahead.
02:32Now, pumpkins are one of those fantastic crops.
02:34And I wait until this plant completely dies off, which has still got a bit of life in it,
02:39before I bring them all in.
02:40But I've cut this one to show you a few tips for harvesting and storing pumpkins well.
02:45One is to cut it with a really long stem.
02:47You don't want to cut too close.
02:49You risk damaging and that's where rot will enter.
02:51Also have a really good look at each of your pumpkins.
02:54If there's any blemishes or points where they're starting to rot,
02:57straight into the kitchen.
02:58It won't store well.
02:59And the third thing is pop your pumpkins out in the sun,
03:02turn them and let the sun harden that skin up a bit.
03:06It'll mean that you can store them much longer
03:08and you'll be having pumpkin soup for months to come.
03:14While it's an important season to harvest food for myself,
03:17it's also a key time for harvesting and saving seed of varieties you want to grow again.
03:23This Thai basil has been an absolute standout this year.
03:27So I really want to save some seed.
03:29Different seeds do require different methods for saving and some are more difficult than others.
03:34But this one is really easy.
03:36Now there's some green foliage down the bottom,
03:39but I can hear that it is starting to get ready for seed saving.
03:44Now that rustling indicates the bottom of some of these flower spikes is starting to dry off.
03:49Those little green seeds that are contained start to go black.
03:53So I just have a little look across and as I found a dry spike with ripe seed,
03:59I put it into a paper bag.
04:02I'll pop the paper bag into a warm and dry spot and over the next few weeks,
04:06those little seeds will ripen and fall to the bottom of the bag.
04:09Then I can just jar them up and pop them away until they're ready to sow next spring.
04:13Beans are another fantastic crop to save seed of,
04:26because those flowers actually pollinate in most cases before they open,
04:30so they'll stay true to type.
04:32Now this is one of my absolute favorites.
04:35It's a beautiful purple and white spotted seed and it is a really delicious bean.
04:40So I'm making sure that when they're fully dry on that plant and on a dry day,
04:45I pick them, dry them and then I can store them.
04:57This is a fantastic climbing food plant that this year I've grown out
05:02primarily to produce lots of seed.
05:04Now it's got lots of great names across different cultures.
05:07Some people call it kaiwa, others call it a chocha, others call it a slipper gourd,
05:12which gives you an indication of the size and shape of the fruit.
05:18When it gets to this size, some people also know it as the Bolivian stuffing cucumber,
05:22because that's what you do with it.
05:24You take the end off, hollow it out, stuff it with something delicious,
05:27cook it up and it is a great meal.
05:29But you can eat them at any size, either sliced up raw or even stir fried.
05:34Now to harvest the seed, it is really, really simple.
05:42Full of moisture.
05:44You can see these amazing dark seeds.
05:48I think they're one of the most incredible seeds I've ever seen.
05:50They look like a chip of bark.
05:52You wouldn't even see them on the forest floor, which I'm sure is why they look like that.
05:56They don't want to be eaten by any predators.
05:59But I'm going to save a whole lot of these and share some with some other gardeners this year.
06:04And it's as much of a good harvest as the food itself.
06:14Of course, you save seed so that you can sow them.
06:16So I've got a really basic mix here.
06:18It's just sieved potting mix and sieved leaf mould.
06:21And I want to sow something really, really special.
06:23Now, one of my best winter greens is this.
06:26It's called mush or corn salad.
06:28And it is incredibly cold tolerant right through those cooler months.
06:31Even the hard frost, it produces the most luscious, nutty and buttery salad green.
06:37Now, normally it just self seeds lightly in the garden.
06:39And I might over sow with a little bit of extra seed.
06:42But last year I had a really special mush pop up.
06:45It was variegated.
06:46It had distinctly variegated white and green foliage.
06:49And so I saved the seed of that specific plant.
06:53And instead of sowing it right out in the garden where it might get lost,
06:55I'm going to put it into these pots so I can keep an eye on it
06:58and see if I get another crop of variegated mush.
07:12Just sieving a small amount of mix over the top to cover those seeds.
07:16And then I'll pop them in the nursery and give them a drink.
07:18And in a few weeks I should know whether these variegated mush seeds are going to persist
07:23and I'm going to have stripy salads.
07:25They might just revert to green.
07:27But that's the fun of seed saving.
07:29And you've got to risk it for the biscuit.
07:38The next crop I want to get in are the broad beans.
07:40And I sow them nice and early because we eat the leaves and the shoot tips right through winter
07:45before they even start to think about making seeds and pods.
07:49I've soaked some broad bean seeds in water overnight, including this Coles Dwarf variety.
07:55They are large seeds so you want to make sure you plant them a couple of knuckles deep.
07:59As they mature they'll want about 30 centimetres between each plant.
08:03But as a legume they're great for soil fertility.
08:06So I over sow and thin them out later.
08:09Of course as broad beans grow up they are really spindly and they do need some support.
08:14So I've left the tomato stakes in.
08:16I'm going to use them with some string to create like a little grid network that they can grow through.
08:21It'll stop them from blowing over in those big spring winds
08:24and hopefully it'll keep them well and truly in check.
08:35In the garden you celebrate the here and now but you are always looking forward.
08:40And winter is coming which is the perfect time to plant so many of those deciduous trees.
08:45Got a plan here for a wall of pear trees so it is a great time to prep the soil.
08:51Do the work now in autumn and by the time you're ready to plant in winter that soil is humming with life.
08:58Lazy lasagna soil prep is simple.
09:01I'm just forking to aerate the soil.
09:03I'm sprinkling on some gypsum because this is really heavy clay.
09:07Then a really thin layer of rotting straw.
09:10On top a good dose of healthy compost.
09:14And then a straw mulch on top to keep it all moist and warm.
09:18The beauty of this method is you don't have to do any more work.
09:22Let the worms do it for you.
09:31Of course of all the abundance, the jobs to do, the food to harvest,
09:35there is also an abundance of this stuff in autumn.
09:38Its leaves, it makes the best composted leaf mould.
09:41You'll use it for the rest of the year.
09:44Are you still here?
09:52Go on, it's time to leave.
09:57Yeah, good job.
10:03Is lichen on a tree trunk doing significant damage?
10:07Well, no, it's not.
10:08Lichen is a fascinating partnership of algae and fungi and it comes in all different colours.
10:14You can get green or yellow or greyish green.
10:17And it's actually a good indicator that you've got good clean air.
10:21And I just think you're going to do more harm than good if you try to take it off.
10:26So leave it be and then you can really appreciate the different colours and growths on it.
10:33It really is nature at its best.
10:36Why are my iceberg roses turning pink?
10:39Iceberg roses are famous for their bright white displays of flowers.
10:44And this pink is a result of a fungal infection caused by grey mould, Botrytis cinnarea.
10:51This is active in autumn.
10:53So if the petals become wet because of rainfall or overhead irrigation or even regular dew,
11:00this fungus can be a problem.
11:02What can I do?
11:03Well, you can deadhead the roses regularly or you could use a fungicide based on bicarbonate of soda.
11:11What's the difference between running and clumping bamboo?
11:15Running bamboo has long horizontal roots or rhizomes.
11:19They spread very quickly with new shoots emerging in places you may not want them.
11:24This growth is a lot like our common turf grasses and that's because bamboo is a grass.
11:30On the other hand, there are heaps of clumping bamboo cultivars out there.
11:34They have thicker rhizomes that spread much more slowly with new shoots popping up closer together,
11:40forming a clump.
11:42These are the recommended garden choices because they are low maintenance
11:46and they reduce spread into bushland or your neighbour's garden.
11:58Hello, my name is Jan, also known as Sydney Plant Guy.
12:00With close to a million online followers eager to hear what Jan Getman has to say about growing
12:08indoor tropical climbers, I thought I'd drop round and see just how this interest
12:14has captured a worldwide audience.
12:18German-born Jan lives in the northern Sydney suburb of Crow's Nest, where he's created a haven of plants
12:25he grows on moss poles. Vertical growing is his thing. Hi, Jan.
12:31Hi, Costa. Welcome to my jungle.
12:35Great to meet you, Jan. I can't wait to see the stars of the show.
12:38For sure. They're all inside.
12:41So where did your passion begin?
12:45Yeah, it started five years ago and as a renter, I figured I can't really do much about my apartment
12:52to improve on it apart from furniture and art. But I can't hang anything on the walls. So I thought
12:59plants was a really good way to bring nature inside, but also to just create a really nice atmosphere.
13:04So you now have your own online channel. How did that evolve?
13:08Yeah, I mean, I was really heavily influenced by social media and I learned a lot about my hobby
13:12from social media. So I thought it was just fair to give back and share my journey on there and
13:18inspire other people to maybe also discover plants for themselves. I would actually say that content
13:24creation takes up about 75% of my plant hobby at this stage. The actual plant maintenance is just a
13:31small aspect of what I do. I was able to quit my corporate job and actually grow plants full time.
13:37Well, should I show you what I grow inside? Oh yeah, I'm good.
13:40That is spectacular. They're massive. Like, I mean, you talk about your passion for this as art. I mean,
14:01each one of those leaves is a piece of art in itself.
14:05Yes. And it's kind of like a green wall, but as a renter, I can't actually have a green wall. So it's
14:10kind of like a modular green wall that I can piece together. I can swap plants around and I can also
14:16take it with me whenever I move.
14:17You know, the interesting thing when you look at it, you've got literally floor to ceiling,
14:24but the footprint on the floorboards is really small pots.
14:29Yes. I want to have as many plants as possible. And as a renter, space is precious. So I grow them
14:38in really small pots, but I grow them on poles and the poles act as a vertical extension of the pot.
14:44So they're actually doubling the volume of root mass that the plant can produce. Really,
14:50any growing medium could work.
14:51Yeah. Like coconut coir, coconut chip, and even orchid bark.
14:57Yeah, exactly. You just want it to be a growing medium so that the plant can actually grow the roots
15:01into it.
15:03So who are these different family members?
15:06Yes. I have a specific taste. I like philodendron. I like the velvet texture of them,
15:12and I like veining. So over here, we have mainly climbing philodendron. In general,
15:18most of the plants I grow are within the Aeroid family. They make a great house plant.
15:23These plants would be about three to four years old, but all of the plants that I get start off
15:29really small. It's just more cost effective. And I actually enjoy the process of growing them up
15:34and seeing them mature. So I converted this little cabinet over here into like a little indoor
15:39greenhouse and all of my smaller plants live in there. When they're smaller, they're a bit more
15:44vulnerable. So I want to make sure that they get the optimal conditions to grow up as fast as possible.
15:51So what are some of the plants that you're growing up at the moment?
15:55Yeah. Still all Aeroids. I really like my Aeroids. So in there, I've got a few Anthuriums. I've got a few
16:04philodendron. For example, a philodendron Melanocrysum. I've got a philodendron
16:08rugosum, also called pigskin, has a really nice texture. Just some smaller plants here and there that
16:14I think would have great potential in growing up eventually.
16:21Jan, I notice that you've got the plants all clustered in little islands. Is that predominantly
16:28about the light? Yes, precisely. Light will always set the growth potential. So I'm choosing corners of
16:35my apartment that I feel like offer the plants good enough light to actually grow them to maturity.
16:41What other aspects are you working on? Yeah, we can generalise it and say conditions
16:47set the growth potential. So, I mean, light, temperature, humidity, as well as airflow. Now,
16:53living in Sydney, I'm pretty lucky. The temperatures are usually fine. In those few cold months during
16:58winter, I'm heating my house anyway. So it doesn't really drop below 20 degrees, which serves these
17:04tropical Aeroids really well. I also live quite close to the ocean, so naturally humidity is high.
17:10Approximately 60%, which again suits them really well. And when it comes to airflow, I don't mean
17:16blasting them with wind or cool draft, but I just mean fresh air and air circulation. And that just really
17:22makes the plant grow strong and healthy and prevents fungal diseases or fungal issues with your plants.
17:29So how do you water and feed them? It's actually super easy and efficient. I just have a bottle with water and nutrients in here,
17:36and I flip it upside down on the moss pole and I let gravity do the rest for me.
17:44So Costa, when the plants outgrow my indoor space, they go out here. Look at this. I mean, that is a really
17:52impressive green wall. And again, you've just got small pots, yet all of this foliage and growth in a screen to,
18:01you know, two and a bit metres. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty much instant privacy from the neighbours.
18:07But yeah, it's this same approach as inside. I just use moss poles and I just arrange them and I can just
18:13switch them around. It's that modular approach in creating a green wall to fill a space, but I can
18:19always take it with me wherever I go. How lovely is it that plants have really captured not just your
18:27heart now, but your whole life? Yeah, definitely was life changing for me. The whole journey started off
18:33by just trying to grow plants as artworks in my house. I'm drawn to these aeroids because they have
18:40these stunning foliage, like anthuriums with their velvets and the veining. But over the years, I've really
18:46developed this heightened appreciation for plants and nature at large. And I really enjoy the journey
18:52that I've made as a result of that.
19:03From an indoor jungle to the bracing sea air of Tassie now, as we join Hannah on her journey to an
19:10extraordinary, productive garden. I'm taking a trip off Tasmania's south east coast to wild and beautiful
19:18Bruni Island. And as we cross the Don Tricasto Channel, it really does feel like we're travelling to a special place.
19:34Bruni Island is really two land masses joined by a sandy isthmus known as the neck.
19:40Bruni Island is really one of the most important things that we have in the world.
19:42Apart from the absolutely stunning views up here on this lookout, you can also clearly see
19:47north and south Bruni. Now, both have the same cool temperate climate. However,
19:53south Bruni has more rain, while north Bruni is a bit drier. And that's where I'm heading today.
20:00Off to visit a market gardener, who still managed to create an incredibly productive patch,
20:05despite north Bruni's sometimes challenging conditions.
20:13Twelve years ago, Jo Smith moved from her Hobart apartment to north Bruni Island.
20:18G'day Jo. Oh, hi Hannah. How are you going?
20:21Oh, so happy to be here. So nice to see you. Welcome to our garden.
20:25It's looking so beautiful. Oh, thank you. Yes, we're just trying to
20:30plant every nook and cranny with seedlings. I can see that. It's definitely full of everything,
20:36but so much life everywhere. Yeah, yeah. Do you want to come and have a look?
20:39I'd love to. Yeah, come on then.
20:43So what kind of things are happening at this time of the year, Jo?
20:45Well, it's so busy. We're transitioning from our summer crops with the pumpkin,
20:51and then we're moving into the autumn winter gardens, where we've got the kales and the brassicas,
20:56the broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, which is all my favourite. I love growing in autumn.
21:00Do you know what's really cool? The fact that 12 years ago, you didn't know any of this.
21:04I didn't even know how to grow a carrot, Hannah. So I've taught myself basically everything,
21:11and I've just really connected to the season and what's going on with the climate,
21:16and just taught myself how to grow food. It's so great to remember that even in cool temperate
21:21Tasmania, you can grow and eat all year round. Yeah, so we eat mostly all our own produce,
21:27all year round, and it's just about the timing.
21:36We've got the kiwi fruit here. Yep. And then through here, beautiful silver beet.
21:42Pumping along. Pumping along with lettuces.
21:45Oh, it's so big. I just love these sunflowers. I know.
21:48So beautiful. I want to pat them. I know.
21:53So Jo, when you first got here, this whole area was just a compacted, empty paddock.
21:58How have we managed to grow such a pumping garden? Yeah, so it was a whole paddock of capeweed,
22:03and we wanted to really preserve the land and to regenerate the land, and so we started with a
22:10no-dig approach. So a layer of cardboard, and so we did the whole paddock in cardboard,
22:17and then a layer of straw, and then lots of manure, and then compost. And then we just kept going and
22:24like we built like a big healthy lasagna. And the best thing is about it is that you can plant in it
22:29straight away, which I love. And you can see just what an amazing, productive garden that creates.
22:35Yeah, I think it's one of the best ways to garden, especially for us, because we have clay soil,
22:39so you can't even get a crowbar into the earth. I imagine creating this productive garden has helped
22:47integrate yourself with the broader Bruni Island community. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I love giving
22:53people food. I love supporting their health and their wellbeing. But not only that, I love seeing
22:59like my children in the garden with their friends and running through and getting berries or carrots
23:03out of the ground. And it just feels really wholesome, really nourishing. Only around 1,000 people
23:12live year-round on Bruni, and there's very limited access to fresh food. Jo started selling and donating
23:20veggie boxes to community members, and nowadays she also supplies fresh organic produce to local
23:26restaurants and chefs. Oh, fantastic. While I've been getting a tour, Jo's friend and local chef,
23:34Simon Ford, has been whipping up a delicious lunch for us, using fresh organic produce from the garden.
23:42What have we got in all this amazing food, Simon? I've just done a frittata with just whatever she had.
23:48She's got some squash in there, tomatoes. There's some chicken eggs from Jo as well,
23:53and there's the eggplant kasundi on top. Everything comes straight out of the ground
23:57and basically onto the plate. So it's just fantastic. Doesn't get any better than that. No, it doesn't.
24:08That kasundi is delicious. With produce, it's good. It sounds funny coming from a chef,
24:14but it requires very little intervention from me. You know, a bit of salt and pepper,
24:19a little bit of butter, because I am a chef. That's about it most of the time.
24:24Yeah, the food speaks for itself, doesn't it? The flavours are already there. It's got to let them shine through.
24:30You can't beat homegrown veggies at all. It's the best, Jo.
24:34Oh, no, thank you. Yeah, good job, Simon. Yeah, well done, Simon.
24:43For people who are watching along at home, Jo, they might think you actually have some pretty
24:46easy growing here, because everything looks so lush. Yeah, well, that's thanks to no-dig gardening,
24:52but you would say that we grow in a dry climate. It's so dry here. I kind of wish I knew that when we
25:00brought the land, and I probably would have, you know, purchased a house down south of the island,
25:05because they get a lot more rainfall down south. You know, if it's going to be 20 mils of rain for
25:10Bruni Island, we'll probably get five mil, you know, because that's how dry it is. And not only
25:16that we have less rainfall, but we also struggle with the wind here. We have winds coming in sometimes
25:23at 80 to 100km smashing through the garden, so it's a really hard place to grow food. And so we've
25:31put in lots of microclimates. I think that's really important to do, whether it's like adding in,
25:36like, the wind breaks, as we've done with the corrugated iron, or, you know, planting trees,
25:41and then you've just got to work with Mother Nature, you know, fortunately, unfortunately.
25:45Yeah.
25:53There are two dams on the four hectare property, which have helped keep the garden going during dry times.
26:05As well as contending with challenging growing conditions on North Bruni.
26:08Hello, Mango. Hi, Mango.
26:11Jo's also faced some difficult personal times here.
26:15There's lots of reasons why I've started this garden. Obviously, I wanted to grow food to be
26:19more self-sufficient. And I think that's really important. But the other thing that I really
26:27love about this garden in particular is it's got me through postnatal depression.
26:31It really got me through some really dark times. So if you can imagine, I'm a brand new mum,
26:37I've come home from hospital to what can be an isolating island. And it was just a way for me to,
26:45I don't know, find myself again. Not that I was ever lost. But when you're a brand new mother to twins,
26:53it's really hard. And it was just a way for me to kind of nurture myself and get my hands into the
27:02earth. And that's really, really supportive to one's wellbeing is when your hands are in the soil.
27:08It's like my meditation. It's like, I come out here and I don't have to think. I don't have to,
27:14I can just let go of the world.
27:19I love this community so much. Like, they're really special to me. And I love nurturing them.
27:24And I get really emotional about it because you have to be really resilient here to live here.
27:31And I think that I've worked so hard in this garden. And I think it really does mean a lot to
27:38the community. Yeah. What would you say to Jo 12 years ago from Jo today?
27:45Well done, Jo. You did it. It's been really hard work, Hannah, but it's been really worth it.
27:53Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you.
27:55Still to come on Gardening Australia,
28:01Gerry's busting some myths about growing natives.
28:06Sophie profiles some hardy Mediterranean plants that could be useful in your garden.
28:11And Josh is in the tropics. Well, an unlikely tropical garden in the Perth Hills.
28:25Flowers are so beautiful, but they only bloom for a short time and then they're gone.
28:30But what about if you could have them as a keepsake forever? Well, now you can,
28:35using a nifty process using clear resin to make some flower coasters. With this method,
28:41the flowers keep their colour and their shape and stay protected, and will make a stylish addition
28:46to your home decor. Even though we're going to shape them into coasters to put your drink on,
28:52you can apply the same technique using different moulds to make things like jewellery and Christmas
28:56decorations. To make the coasters, here's what you'll need. Dried flowers,
29:03resin kit, available at craft stores. Silicone mould, the resin won't stick to the silicone.
29:09Eye protection, gloves, and a mixer, like a chopstick or ice cream stick.
29:17Before we start mixing, let's sort out our flowers. We need to use dried flowers because we need to stop
29:23the moisture in the flowers from creating pockets of mould inside the resin. Flowers can be picked from
29:29your garden and left to dry on a paper towel by a sunny windowsill. It should take about a week.
29:34Try to avoid fleshy flowers, like camellias and roses, as they're too hard to dry out properly.
29:42Assemble your flowers in the base of the mould. Feel free to try a few different patterns,
29:47because once the resin's poured in, there's no going back.
29:57Now it's time to mix the resin, but before we do, a couple of precautions.
30:02We're using two chemical components triggering a reaction to create a solid. It's very important to
30:08do this outside in a well-ventilated area. Have protective gloves, glasses and a mask. Resin drips
30:15don't come out of clothing, so maybe wear something from the back of the closet. Also,
30:20any equipment we use cannot be reused for food purposes. You'll need to know the capacity of your mould
30:26to understand how much resin and hardener you'll need. For example, if your mould was 50ml,
30:33you'll need 25ml of resin and 25ml of hardener. Once you've measured them out, pour them both into
30:41a mixing jug and mix the contents with a paddle pop stick or disposable chopstick. Make sure you mix
30:48slowly, because otherwise if you do it too quickly, you'll create air bubbles and you don't want that.
30:57Now slowly pour the resin into the mould over the top of the flowers.
31:03You may need to use your paddle pop stick to press the leaves or the flowers to the base of the mould.
31:19They have a tendency to float to the top when you pour the resin in. And if you've got any air bubbles,
31:25I've got a tip for you. Use alcohol spray and just gently spray the surface.
31:33Now let your coaster set for about 24 hours.
31:43Now that it's hard, we can remove it from its mould.
31:48Doesn't it look great? The good thing about this coaster is that it's unique,
31:53one of a kind, and you can remember your garden every time you have a drink.
32:07The good thing about this coaster is that it's hard to do with your garden.
32:11Did you enjoy our native plant special last week? If you missed it, head on over to iview and catch up.
32:19I know you'll enjoy it. Now we hope it inspired you to get experimenting with growing natives in your garden.
32:29But look, if you're still sitting on the fence,
32:31Gerry's here to push you over the edge by busting a few common myths.
32:37Australia is home to a beautiful diversity of native plants.
32:50There's at least 23,000 species and counting that can be found here.
32:55Many are well-suited additions to any garden, where they provide visual appeal, seasonal interest,
33:03habitat for local wildlife and an authentic sense of place.
33:08But as the industry has grown, so too has some of the misinformation about what it takes to garden with these unique plants.
33:18So it's time to put some of these ideas to bed once and for all, and to do some native plant myth-busting.
33:29The first myth going around about Australian native plants is that they're all drought-loving survivors,
33:35happy in arid environments, dry soils and roasting sunlight.
33:40But it's not true. Plants that are native to wet tropical cairns or soggy parts of southwest Tasmania
33:48are just as native as the plants that grow in the goldfields of Western Australia.
33:53But there are some plants that must have some water just to survive.
33:59And here's two examples. This delicious native mint
34:02and this wonderful herb, paddy herb from northern Queensland.
34:10For home gardeners, this means if there's a damp, shady corner in your garden,
34:15or a pond, a dam or even a birdbath, there's plenty of native plants to fill that hole.
34:22Some of my favourites are Crinum Asiaticum Variety Pedunculatum, the world's largest bulb,
34:30and my Pouteria Australis, or rainforest plum, which hails from wet rainforests.
34:36And there's my Boenia cycad and fork fern.
34:40The second myth is that native plants are messy.
34:45Some people are hesitant to take the plunge into the native plant world
34:50because they fear those plants won't fit their particular garden aesthetic,
34:55something which is neat, trimmed and tidy.
35:02Many native plants look better if they're allowed to achieve their natural form,
35:06a bit like this pandanus. But there are plenty which respond really well to a heavy prune,
35:13and some can even be hedged.
35:17One of the most popular hedging plants around is claret tops. This Melaleuca can be trimmed to any
35:23shape or size. You can even bonsai them. Also, Great Balls of Fire is a bottle brush which makes a
35:31beautiful, lush, neat hedge. It pays to experiment. This is a hedge of Hibiscus insularis. There's only
35:39one plant left in the wild. It doesn't get rarer than that. But what I was looking for when I created
35:46this hedge were two things. Firstly, there's a short internode. That's the gap between the branches,
35:54and that allows you to clip a plant into tight, interesting shapes.
35:59The other thing is small leaves. They don't look bad and tatty after you've done the trimming.
36:05So if you have a native plant with both of those characteristics in your garden,
36:10you might be able to create an entirely unique hedge.
36:14Westringer is another native classic widely used exactly because it can be pruned and clipped into
36:21almost any shape required. Even Malleucalyptus can be coppiced right down to the base,
36:28from where they'll happily regrow. If you're not sure how a native plant will respond to pruning,
36:35ask at the nursery or have a look online and you'll find some really inspirational ways that
36:41people are using them in their gardens. The next myth I'd like to bust is that native plants don't need
36:49much care. Part of the fun when looking for new things for your garden is looking for new varieties
36:58of plants. Things like new flower colours or new forms or perhaps some fun frilly foliage.
37:06Many of these creations are what's known as cultivars, varieties of plants created by plant breeders
37:14for specific characteristics like flower size and colour, habit, shape or overall size.
37:22These are distinct from the wild type species which remain unchanged from those that you would see
37:30growing in natural areas. Native plants are no exception and indeed many of our favourite plants
37:37are actually cultivars. Grevillea robbing gordon, Banksia birthday candles and Hardenbergia happy
37:44wanderer are three famous examples. Compared to their original wild parents, the cultivars will often
37:51have larger flowers, leaves and grow in a particular form. Generally speaking, cultivars require more
37:59water, fertiliser and care than their wild ancestors needed and that's because they've been specifically
38:07bred to look pretty in a garden or to fruit rather than subsist on what mother nature throws at them.
38:16For example, this finger lime is grafted so it can grow on a wide range of soil types. For the first
38:2310 years I got hardly any fruit at all because I didn't understand just how much water this needs to
38:29fruit prolifically. For the home gardener this means if you buy a cultivar be aware it will need
38:37slightly more upkeep to perform at its best. And the last myth that I'm busting is native plants aren't weeds.
38:48Weeds are a serious problem in Australia. Every year they cost the government, us, billions of dollars
38:56to limit the damage they cause. Worse, they threaten the livelihoods of our precious native plants and
39:03animals. Unfortunately, many of them arrived as innocent garden plants. While the vast majority
39:12of environmental weeds are exotic species, some are from Australia, including our national wattle,
39:19Acacia pycnantha. And along the east coast of Australia, the umbrella tree from North Queensland can
39:26be a significant weed. It is known to produce 300 seedlings per square metre in Brisbane. Australia is
39:35a big place. And when certain species are planted in an area where they never naturally occur, they may
39:42have a sudden opportunity to exploit the environment in a way that nature never intended. Another good example
39:50is Acacia baileana or Cootamundra wattle. Originally hailing from a very limited pocket of inland southern New
39:57South Wales, its use in gardens and as a street tree spread it around where it was able to shed copious seeds.
40:06As a result, it's become naturalised and a weed in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and
40:14the ACT. And wherever it's been planted overseas, it's become a common weed. Ask any gardener in South
40:22Africa, New Zealand or the USA. As home gardeners, it's important for us to do the responsible thing.
40:33Check your plant wishlist for potential weeds. You see, the wrong native plant in the wrong place
40:40can be just as problematic as an exotic one. So, don't let myths and misconceptions get in the way of
40:49your gardening game. Do the research and, in full knowledge, enjoy!
41:04When people ask what plants to choose that are stylish, water-wise and easy to grow,
41:10Mediterranean plants quickly come to mind. It's a rich vein to mine for horticultural inspiration.
41:16There are literally thousands of plants that are not only highly ornamental, they'll also survive and
41:22thrive in uncompromising weather, which is handy if you live in a climate such as mine.
41:29This is Flomus or Jerusalem sage. It gets its name from its furry foliage, which looks like culinary sage,
41:36but this is not one that you can eat. It's a family of plants and most have yellow or lemon flowers.
41:42And they're characterised by these interesting hooded flowers that come in whirls up the stem.
41:47This one's been flowering for several months and they usually flower from spring till autumn.
41:53The interesting thing about them is that when they finish flowering, if you look down the stem,
41:58you'll see new shoots coming and you cut just above that. It's showing you where to prune it.
42:05Artemisia or wormwood is a family of fabulous foliage plants. They range from ground covers up
42:12to tall hedges and most of them have silvery, ferny foliage. This particular one is called Artemisia
42:19absinthum. It's what they make absinth from and it grows to about a metre high. Whereas I also grow the
42:25taller hedging variety called tree wormwood, Artemisia arborescens, which can get two metres high and forms
42:32a great hedge. Salvias are garden staples and with good reason. They're adaptable, reliable and so
42:44generous with their colour. So it's little wonder that you see them on Gardening Australia all the time.
42:50There are two that are my particular favourites. This one is called African Skies. It comes from South
42:57Africa. It has hardy fresh green leaves and smothered itself with these beautiful blue flowers for most of
43:04the year. Another one is Celestial Blue. That comes from California. It's got greyish aromatic foliage and
43:12interesting whirls of flowers up the stems. It also flowers for a long period from spring till autumn and
43:19both of these take full sun, harsh conditions and once established they'll even survive here without
43:26supplementary watering. If you're looking for a tough plant that will bloom for many months with
43:33very little pampering and won't get ahead of itself, well you can't go past Nepeta or Catmint. There are
43:39lots of different forms. The most popular form is the low one called Walker's Blue or Walker's Low.
43:45It gets to about 30 centimetres high, flowers from spring till autumn with beautiful purple blue
43:51flowers and makes a great edging for a garden bed. This is a taller form called Six Hill Giants. It's still
43:58just as beautiful, doesn't flower quite as long but it's just as popular with the bees and gardeners
44:03around the world so why not give one a go. Of all the things I love about working on Gardening Australia
44:18and look I use the word work very loosely, it would be the opportunity to uncover so many delightfully
44:26surprising gardens. Well Josh has found an absolute cracker in the Perth Hills.
44:35Perth may be situated on the west coast but residents here in the hills of the city's eastern fringe
44:42are the last to feel the cooling afternoon sea breeze.
44:48In summer it gets hot so coming up here to find a tropical oasis is a lush and cooling surprise.
44:56All of this is the work of Hazel Granville whose knack for gardening goes hand in hand with the design
45:10and construction talents of her husband Alec. Hello, welcome Josh. Thank you. Wow, look at this.
45:19Oh yes, I love my tropical garden. I feel like I've been transported to an exotic location.
45:27What inspired you to create this style of garden? Well, I was born in Malaysia and grew up in Penang
45:33and so to me a garden is lush, lots of green, lots of foliage and when I became interested in gardening
45:41many many years later I thought I wanted to recreate something of my childhood. It was going to be a
45:46tropical look garden so that's what we came up with. It's amazing looking out into this lush canopy
45:52but I've got this sense I want to get down there and have a close look. Yes, there are lots of nooks and
45:57crannies you can get around to and twists and turns you can get lost down there.
46:07This type of garden does rely heavily on water. What is it about this site that's made that possible?
46:13Well, when we first bought the block there was nothing. It was swamp. So we tried our first garden.
46:20It was a normal garden. We had lawn for the children to play on, to run, to play cricket.
46:26But it was too wet. It just didn't grow. We grew trees to try and soak up the water. We had
46:31melaleucas down the bottom. They're enormous now but it still wasn't successful. This was just a mud hole.
46:38So we thought we'd go with the flow. We'd plant things that like the water. So we experimented and
46:46anything that grew well we just kept repeating and that's what we've ended up with. You've got a range
46:52of palm types here. How did you go about choosing the right ones for this spot? Well, when we first
46:59started, we didn't have much money. We wanted something that was quick growing. So we didn't
47:04know much about palms. So we found banglows. We've got alexandras. We have the phoenix robellini,
47:13the little pygmy date palm. We have the flamethrower palm, which is one of my favourites. We have the
47:19queen palm. I can't remember all the other palms. I love them all. But my favourites are the tree ferns.
47:27They've just grown huge and now they're self-perpetuating. I don't even have to buy any
47:32more tree ferns. It's such a thrill to see a little bit of green and then eventually it
47:38shoots up into a little tree fern.
47:47The tropical vibe moves out into your mixed orchard here as well.
47:50Well, I started off with two candlenut trees. They were this big and now they've grown enormous.
47:57I use the candlenut for Indonesian cooking for rendang. It makes it really nice and rich.
48:02I've also got a longan. This year it's full of blossom and I know I will get lots of visitors
48:08when the fruit are right. Family love them. My other favourite is my lychee. This is a good year,
48:14full of blossom. We must net it before the possums beat me to the fruit. I've also got mangoes, guava,
48:22avocado, lime, persimmon. When they're ripe, we just pop out here and we pick a fruit or two
48:29and carry on working in the garden.
48:31And you found a sunny spot for your veggie garden. About the only sunny spot in the whole garden
48:43here. We've got rotational beds, we've got worm farm, we've got compost and the chickens. It works
48:51really well and you know what? I learnt that from Gardening Australia. Keep it all together and it's
48:56successful. We've done it. Well it looks great and well done for you for putting it all into practice.
49:02And me, I felt so recalling lawn. Because we moved here in 1983. We didn't actually start the garden
49:11at that time. We started it quite a bit later. Probably 20 years ago is when we worked on it in
49:18earnest. When the children were a bit older, we had more time and a bit more money and we had the vision
49:24then. Not in the very beginning. I love that bit up there.
49:29Anything with the actual gardening is Hazel's responsibility. Anything about creating things
49:35that are not gardens is mine. One of the main reasons for getting this part of the garden done
49:42was our daughter's wedding. She wanted to get married in our garden and we had only eight months
49:48to do it. My daughter said, I'd really like to have a photograph of all the people in the wedding
49:54in this position, but I can't do it in the middle of a creek bed, so can you build a boardwalk over
50:01the top, Dad? Ah, yes dear. So I did. What has been your design process here? After our first initial
50:11mistakes, we read a lot and we drew up a plan because all the books say you've got to draw a plan,
50:17you've got to have an idea. So we did and we plotted out the plant. We didn't plot specific
50:22plants. We just said we need a fast growing one here. We need shade plants here and then
50:27then we sourced the plants. It grew that way, but then it's kind of taken over on its own now. We
50:33we started that way, but now the garden has grown organically. Yeah and we really wanted to make it look
50:39as if the garden's been here for a long time and we've moved into it, not the other way around. I think
50:45we hopefully have achieved that. Water is necessary in a tropical garden, but it's the sound of water
50:56that really is nice as well. We have the the main pond with the fish in. I pump the water up into
51:02this pond and it gravity feeds back. So we have a swimming pool, which is actually an above ground pool,
51:10but I've built a deck around it. So yeah, we really like water in this garden. Whilst tropical plantings
51:17are a key feature of this part of the garden, I see that you've also got an area dedicated to native
51:22species. Yes. Well, when I was young at university, I learned about the Wallace Line. It fascinated me.
51:30You're referring to the biogeographical boundary that separates species
51:34from Australia and Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia. That's right. When we were building this house,
51:40the top half of the garden was natural bush anyway. So I thought, why don't we go with the flow and make
51:47that the Australian side. That's the other side of the Wallace Line and the house and the driveway are
51:52the line. So we've got both worlds meeting, you see, the Australian side and then the Asian side.
51:58Oh, great, Alec. Yeah, I'm here. Good. Has designing the garden into these different zones helped you
52:08manage your watering and fertilising needs? Definitely. Definitely. So much easier. The top garden
52:13doesn't need as much water. So the plants there are thriving. We have mainly plants that are native to
52:20this area and plants that would attract the birds and the insects of Australia. This part of the garden
52:27actually requires very little fertilising. A lot of leaf litter and a lot of natural fertilising.
52:33It certainly is a lot less maintenance down here now. There's no weeds. All the mulch and the leaf litter
52:40that stops the weeds from growing. And as the mulch ages, we throw the old mulch into the garden,
52:45into the plants, and then Alec refreshes it with new mulch.
52:49We've worked together pretty well, I think. Yeah, I think we do. Yeah. I feel like there's no major
52:58projects to go anymore now. It's really just maintenance and relaxing and enjoying it, you know.
53:04Come out here and have a coffee on the deck in the morning. It's really just lovely being in this nice environment.
53:10We're happy. We're happy with what we've done. We love it here.
53:25You know what I'm delivering in my cart right now? It's your list of jobs for the weekend.
53:30So head on out there and tick a few off. Enjoy your time in the garden.
53:41In cool areas of the country, it's time to get your garlic in. Remember to soak cloves in water
53:47overnight before planting. Give summer flowering perennials a good tidy up prune to keep the good
53:54times rolling for next year. If you're giving woody herbs like rosemary and lavender an autumn cutback,
54:02remember to save and dry the clippings to keep your linen cupboards smelling fresh.
54:08In warm temperate areas, look out for aphids on epiphytic orchids like dendrobiums.
54:14Take them out with your fingers or apply pyrethrum. Sow broad beans directly into the soil.
54:21To avoid over-watering, water at planting and then hold off until you see two open leaves.
54:28Looking for a quick feed in the turnover between summer and winter crops? Plant seedlings of Asian
54:34greens now. Subtropical gardeners, apply some sieved compost to your lawn to build up nutrients
54:42before winter rains. Plant ochre tubers after chilling in the crisper of your fridge for a few weeks.
54:49Harvest before the humidity of summer starts. As multiplier leaks start to resume growth,
54:56lift and divide any offsets to replant or share. In the tropics, if the foliage of your
55:02galangal has started to die back, it's time to harvest the rhizome. Watermelon seed can go in now.
55:10Sow direct in raised mounds and make sure there's enough room for them to grow.
55:15Snowpea seeds can also go in. Try super-sized varieties like Oregon Giant and Mammoth for ginormous results.
55:24Arid gardeners, now's the time to plant passion fruit. Remember they like company, so plant two
55:32spaced 50 centimetres apart. Get your hands on the tough native lemongrass to add some verve to your
55:40herb bed. Ethiopian cabbage can be grown year-round in arid areas, but the best time to sow is now.
55:47Autumn's a great time to be out in the garden. Let us know what you've been up to in your patch
55:54by heading over to the Gardening Australia pages on social media.
56:06I say it often, but seriously, where did that hour go? Time flies when you're lost in a garden,
56:13and we hope that it flies by until next week when we can all be together again. Here's what's in store.
56:23I've got the lowdown on where our chocolate comes from, as well as some ideas to decorate your eggs,
56:31using plants of course, and we find out how the RSPCA is helping rescue bunnies feel right at home.
56:40Did I mention plants are the key? It's time to think about autumn planting, and we've all got
56:46places in the garden that need a change or a complete reset. I'm going to take this native
56:50frangipani as part a place in the centre of some beautiful native colour, convert this into a garden
56:55space that gives you rewards rolling into summer and many years to come. I'm thrilled to be visiting
57:01the home veggie garden. I'm an Australian legend, the incomparable Maggie Deer, and I'm hoping I might even
57:09get to sample some of her cooking.