Gardening Australia 2024 episode 24
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
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00:34Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia.
00:37Spring is in the air and the soil, the sun, the smiles and on the show.
00:43What better place to kick things off than in Nambour,
00:47here at the Queensland Garden Expo.
00:50While I do a hot lap here, get ready for everything you need
00:55to spring into action in the garden.
00:58Here's what's coming up.
01:02Who doesn't want to make gardening easier?
01:04That's why I've got so many wicking beds.
01:06But you can't entirely neglect them.
01:09So I'm going to show you how to keep them in optimal growing condition.
01:14Is your grapevine giving you grief?
01:16Well, I've got a grafting technique to share.
01:18One where you can keep your old rootstock
01:20and increase your fruit production.
01:23Hey Oliver.
01:24I'm visiting one of Victoria's most renowned market gardens
01:28to learn some secrets and see all of that skill it takes
01:32to produce some spectacular vegetables.
01:36And there's a lot more to a garden than plants.
01:39I'm taking a look at what happens when native bees
01:42and other beneficial insects become a gardener's priority.
01:52OK, here we go.
01:53After three.
01:54One, two, three.
01:55Ah!
01:56Ah!
01:57Ah!
02:00Ah!
02:01Ah!
02:02Ah!
02:03Well done.
02:04OK, three.
02:05Ah!
02:06Ah!
02:07Ah!
02:08Ah!
02:09Ah!
02:10Ah!
02:11Ah!
02:12Ah!
02:13Ah!
02:16The Queensland Garden Expo has been a must-grow event
02:19on the Sunshine Coast for 40 years.
02:22Head gardener, Marion Beasley, says it's better than ever and still growing.
02:27Marion, how did the Expo begin?
02:3040 years ago, it was actually a State of Origin night
02:34and a few of our local nursery people got together and said,
02:37how can we share our knowledge with the general public?
02:40And they came up with this plan to state an event.
02:45And from there on, it's grown.
02:47So what's on offer?
02:49Too much to do in one day, Costa.
02:52We've got a poultry display.
02:53We've got heaps of kids' activities.
02:56We've got a huge range of nursery products and plants
03:00and lots of talks and garden club displays and floral art displays
03:04and on and on it goes.
03:06And gardening's something that people of all ages and abilities can do
03:11and we welcome them and we cater to it.
03:13There's no doubt Australia's filled with amazing plant growers
03:17and Tammy's off to visit one of the best when it comes to fabulous foliage.
03:33I'm in a beautiful, bushy suburb northwest of Sydney
03:36and the plants I've come to see are over there
03:38in a series of purpose-built, temperature-controlled greenhouses.
03:48You'll have to fight your way through a little bit.
03:51There's an orchid there.
03:53Oh, this is a lovely plant.
03:55This is a philodendron squamiferum variegate.
03:59It's got a lovely, hairy petiole.
04:01Very, very popular.
04:03Yes.
04:04It's rare.
04:05This astonishing collection is like a who's who
04:08of the popular tropical plants of the world.
04:11It's got a lot of variety.
04:13This astonishing collection is like a who's who
04:16of the popular tropical plant world.
04:20They grow indoors. People can grow them indoors.
04:23They don't need a set-up like this.
04:25They are very, very good for indoor cultivation.
04:29You put in a humidifier and lighting and people get really involved.
04:36Darwin Stewart's collection is clearly the work of someone
04:39who has dedicated many years to learning and perfecting
04:42the needs of some of the most finicky plants.
04:45And over the years, through trial and error,
04:47her skills have grown.
04:49And so has her collection.
05:06I like to grow lots of different species, but I love orchids.
05:10I started off more in orchids and then had gradually grew
05:14into the aroids, but then I went into tackers
05:18and I went to sarracenias and the penalties.
05:21If it grows for me, I'm happy.
05:23And I seem to be lucky that most of the things I tackle I can grow
05:28and if I don't, I teach myself how to do it.
05:31That's the way it is, right?
05:33We're determined to grow things.
05:36Gowan's day job is in the fashion industry,
05:39and it turns out there's some crossover
05:41between fashionable clothes and fashionable foliage.
05:44Why do you think there's so much demand for these leaves?
05:47Because they're beautiful.
05:49Agreed.
05:51She's built a side hustle of growing impeccably lush leaves
05:55for high-end Sydney florists and floral artists.
05:59People get married, they want lovely floral displays,
06:04and apart from flowers, they also want lots of gorgeous leaves,
06:09and they last very well.
06:13And they have such a wonderful variety of shapes and textures,
06:17and they're just, they're spectacular.
06:20And when you say they last long, how long are we talking?
06:25I have had one leaf in a vial for six months.
06:31That was a freak, but they are the sort of leaf that you can cut
06:34and then use for an event, pull it out and use for another event,
06:38use for another event.
06:40So you can have them as a cut of foliage for two months, three months.
06:45Wow, so much better than cut flowers.
06:47Absolutely.
06:49And a lot of people like just green.
06:51A lot of people don't want necessarily a floral arrangement,
06:53but they'll be happy with the green arrangement.
06:57We have here the Thai Constellation.
07:00You can see that this plant is gradually maturing
07:03as we now have the fenestrations within the leaf.
07:06Because when they're little,
07:08they don't have these gaps that you see here.
07:12It is a climber.
07:14The roots are extremely fleshy and very, very strong
07:19and will wander around.
07:21And if it were growing wild, it would be wandering in the undergrowth.
07:25It is a stable variegated leaf.
07:28And you can see from this where it got its name
07:31because of the specks of cream,
07:35hence the name Thai Constellation,
07:37because it looks like a starburst.
07:40One of my favourite plants is this Bulbophyllum phalaenopsis.
07:45They come from New Guinea.
07:47I bought it from a small seed four years ago.
07:51I label everything with the dates.
07:54And you can see how the progression has gone from very tiny bulbs
07:59until we reach what it is today,
08:03which is quite large.
08:07And then we come down a bit further.
08:11Ah, here we have Anthurium baleoanum.
08:15Beautiful thing. It will get bigger than that.
08:21Wow, these caladiums!
08:23They're beautiful, aren't they?
08:26Fabulous colour.
08:31Look at the size of this Dyscoria.
08:34Why have they never grown like that?
08:36The colour on the back is just gorgeous.
08:38Is that why they're known as a stained glass window plant?
08:42That's correct.
08:46Gowen, it's probably really hard to choose a favourite.
08:51I mean, you've got a lot to choose from,
08:54but if you had to, what would be yours?
08:57Ah!
08:59This changes.
09:01I do and always have had a real love for Warroquianums.
09:06They're nicknamed The Queen.
09:08I just call them Warrocks.
09:10But they refer to them as the queen of the aroid world
09:14and then the Veitchii is the king.
09:16They're beautiful.
09:18Oh, they are. Such gorgeous leaves and just the shine on them.
09:22They're wonderful as a cut foliage.
09:25Sort of, I cry every time I cut a really big one, but oh well.
09:36A lot of people watching this will have some serious leaf envy,
09:40so I asked Gowen to share her fertiliser tips.
09:43In addition to typical control-release fertiliser for indoor plants,
09:47she also has a weekly, weekly method,
09:50as in week strength every week.
09:54Gowen uses a diluted mixture through an in-line irrigation system,
09:58but at home you can mix it into a 10 or 20 litre bucket.
10:03Gowen, I understand you've got a day job,
10:05and so I guess this is considered the night job.
10:08How do you fit it all in?
10:11Well, I don't have too much of a love affair with my pillow, for a start.
10:16Yes, I try and get up, I do my day job and then I come home
10:20and if I have an order to do or something's coming through the day,
10:24it can be I'll be in the greenhouse till midnight sometimes.
10:28I guess it's lucky you don't like sleep.
10:30I love sleep, but it doesn't love me.
10:36Later in the show, Gowen is demonstrating what to do
10:39if your rainforest climber is about to hit the roof.
10:47Why do plant experts always use scientific names?
10:50Well, plant experts use scientific names because common names get confusing.
10:55A common name can apply to two or three different plants,
10:58and a good example is native fuchsia.
11:01Now, this can apply to Coria reflexa or Epicris,
11:04depending on whether you live in Victoria or New South Wales.
11:08The two plants aren't even related.
11:10Now, to confuse the issue, Eremophila maculata from the arid regions
11:14is also called native fuchsia.
11:16So scientific names are meant to minimise confusion.
11:20Scientific language was chosen as Latin in theory to be a neutral middle ground,
11:25but over time has evolved to be an eclectic mix of people and place names,
11:30other languages and cultural references.
11:34What's gone wrong with my fern?
11:36It's a common question, and nothing's gone wrong with your fern.
11:39If you find these dots on the back of the fronds or the leaves of your ferns,
11:44that's just natural.
11:45People often think it's like a pest or disease, but it's not.
11:49It's the natural way that all ferns reproduce.
11:53They're very primitive plants.
11:55They don't have flowers.
11:56They have these spore sacks that are filled with little spores that are like seeds.
12:01And with moisture and wind, they'll actually spread around,
12:04and eventually you'll see a little green patch like a liverwort,
12:08and that's where the new fern will grow from.
12:11It's a prothallus.
12:12Fantastic plants, ferns.
12:14Enjoy them.
12:15Don't worry too much.
12:16Just enjoy nature.
12:18Can I recommend a wattle for a small garden?
12:21Well, look no further than the Brisbane golden wattle.
12:25It's quick-growing.
12:26It only reaches three to four metres high.
12:29When it flowers in spring, it is spectacular and very fragrant.
12:34You can eat the young pods and you can roast the seed.
12:39It'll grow in pretty much any soil type right the way down the east coast of Australia,
12:44and it'll even tolerate frost.
12:52Spring is a great time to capture that energy in the air
12:56and find new jobs that will pay dividends come harvest time.
13:00Sophie's got some tips that'll help keep your wicking beds pumping.
13:11For many gardeners, wicking beds have been a bit of a revolution.
13:14They save water, provide consistent conditions
13:17and allow you to grow a garden on almost any surface.
13:21Any wonder I have over 20 of them.
13:24To be honest, if I'd known how good they were when I started this garden, I'd have more.
13:29They just make gardening so much easier.
13:32But while wicking beds can reduce your workload,
13:35no garden is completely set and forget,
13:38and you'll get the best out of them with a little bit of love.
13:41So I'm going to show you how to maintain, reset and replant your bed.
13:48If you're not familiar with a wicking bed,
13:50it's usually a garden bed or container with a water reservoir at the base
13:54and the growing bed above it.
13:56It's often separated by a geotextile fabric,
13:59which is a permeable synthetic material
14:02that helps to stop the fines of the soil silting up the reservoir layer.
14:07You can make wicking beds from scratch
14:09or retrofit existing raised garden beds,
14:11which are made from either wood or metal.
14:14I've used IBCs,
14:16which are intermediate bulk containers that I've cut in half.
14:20Then I've clad them with timber.
14:22This not only acts as insulation, keeping the soil cooler,
14:25but it also stops the light getting to the reservoir layer
14:28and turning the water green.
14:30Whatever they're made of, they'll all want the same attention.
14:34One of the key things to understand about maintaining a wicking bed is water.
14:39While the reservoir needs to hold water,
14:41I like to have the ability to be able to drain it completely.
14:44That means in winter, when I'm getting plenty of rain,
14:47I can let the water run through like a regular raised bed.
14:51So what I've done is position the overflow point
14:54right at the base of the reservoir
14:56with an elbow up to the level where the soil and the reservoir meet.
15:02When I want the water reservoir to hold water,
15:04I have the elbow in the upright position.
15:07And in winter, over the rainy months,
15:09I turn it to face downwards to allow the bed to drain.
15:14It also comes in handy
15:16if you've accidentally drained an organic fertiliser bottle in your bed,
15:20and then you can simply open up the reservoir
15:22and let the whole thing flush through.
15:27While you might be tempted to keep your reservoir layer constantly full,
15:31I find it's better to let the water level go up and down.
15:35I've found with these beds in summer,
15:37I need to top them up once a week,
15:39maybe twice a week in a heatwave,
15:41depending on the size of the plant.
15:44Just like a garden in the ground,
15:46the soil in your wicking bed is also essential,
15:49not only for plant health,
15:51but also for the function of the bed.
15:53For soil to act as a wick, it has to be high in organic matter.
15:57While you might have used a good quality mix when you set up your bed,
16:01over time, plants and soil microorganisms break it down.
16:06So every time you plant,
16:08you should also add organics.
16:10I use compost
16:12and an organic slow-release fertiliser
16:14to keep my plants healthy.
16:20Now it's time for some new crops.
16:25I've got some lettuces that are ready to be planted.
16:28I find I can fit two punnets of lettuce
16:31I find I can fit two punnets of loose-leaf lettuces in
16:34and use them as cut-and-come-again crops.
16:41And just as you would for any other plant,
16:43you need to add mulch.
16:45This reduces evaporation of moisture from the soil,
16:48insulates the soil and adds extra organic matter as it breaks down.
16:57As the plant's roots are starting to dry,
17:00and the plant's roots establish,
17:02they'll be able to access water from below.
17:04But it's important to water them in at the start
17:07and keep a careful watch for the first few weeks.
17:15The wicking revolution is a boon for busy gardeners,
17:18growing huge harvests for even less effort.
17:21But like everything,
17:23they'll always thrive with a little attention.
17:25So wick away!
17:31One of the best things about being a gardener
17:34is we get a front-row seat
17:36to see so much of Australia's biodiversity.
17:39But we can also play a role
17:42and help protect the plants and animals we love
17:45by selecting the right species for our patch
17:48and keeping an eye out for pests and disease.
17:51The Sunshine Coast Biodiversity crew
17:54are out there busily educating an army of gardeners.
18:00Rita, what is it that makes the Sunshine Coast here so special?
18:04Of course, there's so many things that make the Sunshine Coast great.
18:07Our beautiful rainforest or our beaches.
18:10But to me, it's our unique wildlife.
18:13What are some of the threats that you're facing up here?
18:16We've identified some priority species,
18:18so you don't have to go far to see the sand dunes
18:21with the basket asparagus fern,
18:23or the cat's claw is threatening our hinterland environment.
18:26As gardeners, we want to help contribute to the solutions.
18:29What can we do day-to-day?
18:31Find out what's going on in your own backyard,
18:33manage pests best you can,
18:35take care of your soils, plant native plants
18:38for the benefit of your birds and your insects,
18:41and go visit a native nursery
18:43and go pick up a plant and get amongst it.
18:45Let's catch up with Josh now,
18:47who's found a gardener in WA
18:49who uncovered a whole new world
18:51when she started to look and learn
18:54about the biodiversity around her.
19:00Gardens are different things to different people.
19:05But there's one thing common to everyone's gardening experience,
19:10and that is, regardless of whether you're a beginner
19:13or you've had your hands in the soil for years,
19:17there's always something to learn.
19:23And this can open our eyes to a world
19:25we may never have really noticed.
19:27That's what Mel Lugozo experienced
19:29when setting up her garden in Lake Coogee,
19:33a coastal suburb south of Perth.
19:35Where are you going to put it?
19:37Mel, before we delve into what your garden has become,
19:40what did you have in mind when you first started?
19:43Well, when we first moved in,
19:46this whole backyard was paved
19:48with the exception of these amazing fruit trees.
19:51We're lucky enough to have a huge mango tree,
19:53We've got two pear trees, a peach tree, an orange tree,
19:56and we've popped in an apple tree and a fig tree.
20:00It made sense to continue my food forest dream
20:04and pop a veggie patch in front of these fruit trees.
20:08I think I maybe had it there for about 18 months.
20:11So I did two winters and a summer,
20:13and I noticed very fast that the winter sun
20:17was coming out of the fruit trees.
20:20I noticed very fast that the winter sun was lacking.
20:24There was almost none.
20:26With that and the combination of the north-facing hot wall,
20:30a veggie patch didn't go to plan in that area.
20:34Good job.
20:39It's now a child's playground,
20:41and we've moved our veggie patch to a more suitable location.
20:45Wow, can you see it?
20:47So you've chased the sun out the front,
20:49and clearly it's been a success.
20:51Well, yeah, it absolutely has,
20:53and I'm having a lot more success with this area.
20:56At the moment I've got silverbeet, broccoli, lettuce,
21:00broad beans, carrots, a lot of staple food, really,
21:03and a lot of pollinator-friendly plants.
21:07I don't spray anything in my garden,
21:09so having a lot of flowering plants,
21:12even herbs and letting my brassicas and such go to flower,
21:17has really brought in a lot of predators,
21:20so stuff like aphids.
21:22I don't really have such a huge outbreak of those
21:25because I have the flowers the wasps need to feed on
21:29and then the aphids that they nest in,
21:32so the flowers have made a huge difference
21:35in the way that I garden.
21:37Once I started to look around,
21:39I realised that I had a lot of, like,
21:41predatory wasps and parasitic wasps.
21:43I also have a lot of ladybirds, lacewings,
21:46and it kind of started this little fascination
21:48where I'd take photos of them
21:50and start to learn about the insects that were in my garden
21:54and I became obsessed with finding out what they were
21:58and taking photos and footage of them in action.
22:04I can see your love of flowers spills out onto the verge.
22:07I wanted to create a haven out the front
22:09to attract more native insects into my garden
22:12and also native birds as well,
22:14so they act as my pest control in my veggie patch.
22:24It's hard to beat the beauty of a display of everlastings.
22:27Absolutely.
22:28They provide so much colour right here on my verge.
22:34If you leave them long enough, they will self-sow,
22:36which is fantastic because then they create
22:39a different little pattern or colour scheme in different spots
22:42or you can collect the seed and sow them again next year.
22:48I really wanted to create an ecosystem full of biodiversity
22:53that benefits both my community and also my garden as well.
22:58I really wanted to make sure
23:00that there was something in flower all year round,
23:03so at least a few different types of plants in flower
23:07for different insects or birds.
23:10And I also had to make sure
23:12that the plants could survive in my local soil,
23:16so I don't water out here at all.
23:18So plant selection was key for me.
23:21I've chosen mallee eucalypts, camelosium, kangaroo paws,
23:27grevilleas, aromea.
23:30The key really is diversity.
23:33So this is council land out here.
23:35You're local council supportive of verge gardens?
23:38Yeah, I guess we're really lucky here in Perth.
23:40My council's actually really proactive
23:42and I've created this all in line with their guidelines.
23:48So I'm getting a lot of different wildlife in here
23:52in such a short period of time.
23:54I've got resin bees.
23:56So they will nest in logs where I've either drilled holes
24:00or sourced logs that have the natural beetle boring holes.
24:05Leafcutter bees.
24:06They tend to pinch the leaves from my pear trees
24:09to actually create their little nesting walls
24:12and some of them nest in the hotels as well
24:14and some nest in the ground.
24:16Blue-banded bees buzz through my tomatoes
24:18and eggplants in my veggie patch.
24:20I'm also really lucky that I've seen them nesting in my garden.
24:23I also get cuckoo bees,
24:25which nest inside the blue-banded bee nests,
24:29so they're really cool and they're really pretty as well.
24:32I also get mast bees and they nest in the hotels or the logs
24:36and there's also a lot of different ground-nesting bees
24:40that I get in my yard.
24:42Sometimes I see them between the pavers
24:44or out here on the verge or even in my backyard.
24:52I've got everlastings down the side of my house
24:54and I've created another little habitat garden as well
24:57with ponds with hopefully some frogs that'll visit soon.
25:01I've got dragonfly nymphs that moved in almost right away,
25:05western pygmy perch that control the mozzies,
25:07so that's been fantastic.
25:09I've also reused all the pavers
25:13that I lifted from my backyard
25:16into these gabion walls to create more habitat
25:19around my patio for lizards, hopefully frogs,
25:22spiders, bees.
25:25I've created this ecosystem with less pests,
25:29more beneficial insects and I get better crops in return.
25:33Over time I've realised it's all connected.
25:36I can actually see it happening in my veggie patch
25:39and out here on my verge.
25:41Most of all, I find it really fascinating to see.
25:55It won't be long before we're swimming
25:58in all that delicious summer fruit.
26:00Have a look at these passion fruit.
26:03And I've heard it through the grapevine
26:05that Hannah's got a technique
26:07that could set you up for a bumper crop.
26:11Gardening is such an exciting challenge.
26:14There are so many techniques to master
26:16to improve output and efficiency.
26:19While I do heaps of propagation here
26:21to grow plants from scratch,
26:23I'm going to show you a grafting technique
26:25that will help you get more produce quicker.
26:28Grafting is basically joining two plants
26:30into a single garden.
26:32It's called grafting,
26:34and it's a technique that allows you
26:37Grafting is basically joining two plants together.
26:40It's about making the most of hardy and strong root systems
26:43that are more suited to your local area
26:45by attaching one fruiting variety
26:47on top of a suitable rootstock plant.
26:49It's a standard technique used for many fruiting
26:52and ornamental trees, plus some annual crops
26:55like tomatoes and eggplants.
26:59While I've grafted lots of plums and fruit trees in the past,
27:02I'm keen to graft a special grape variety.
27:05These existing vines aren't overly productive.
27:08It produces green grapes, which are delicious to eat,
27:11but unfortunately it's prone to downy mildew
27:14and has really suffered over our past three mild summers.
27:18But the old vines still got a good root system
27:21and I don't want that to go to waste.
27:24So I've got my hands on a more resilient variety called Isabella.
27:28I picked it up from a local gardener
27:30and I'm going to graft this scion wood onto our existing vines
27:33and they're going to produce beautiful red fruit.
27:37There are different layers within the stem
27:39and they each have different functions.
27:41On the outside is the protective bark layer
27:44and on the very inside is the wood.
27:46But between them is the all-important green cambium layer of the stem.
27:51This is where all the active growth occurs.
27:53There's also the xylem and phloem layers,
27:56which are the food and water transport systems,
27:58and they'll join up too.
28:00New cells are produced over time to join the wood together.
28:04This way the new scion branch becomes part of the original plant.
28:11There's lots of different types of grafts you can do,
28:14even if the roots and the shoots are different sizes.
28:17Today I'm going to be doing the chip graft,
28:20but no matter what method you do,
28:22the best time to do it is in early spring.
28:26Before you start, it's really important to sterilise your tools.
28:29I'm using a blend of metho and water.
28:33I cut back the vine around one week ago
28:35and I've taken off more than 90% of the plant.
28:38I could have left more, but if I graft higher in the plant,
28:41it means I have to manage two different varieties,
28:44which is a bit trickier.
28:46Instead I've taken it way back to a stump,
28:48which means I just manage one superior variety.
28:51But before you get grafting, there's something you should know.
28:54You have to come and do a pre-cut a few days before you actually graft
28:57with your pruning saw or your grafting knife
28:59below the point you're going to graft at.
29:02This releases the sap's pressure and it'll flow down the trunk.
29:05You'll see it.
29:06If you don't do this,
29:08the sap will actually come and push your graft out, destroying it.
29:16I start by scraping back the rough bark.
29:20Then I make a crescent moon shape at the base, creating a small shelf.
29:24I slice off a small section of bark above this.
29:29Now it's time to get some scion wood and I cut off any excess stem.
29:36Then, using a sharp grafting knife, I slice off a bud
29:39and keep it moist until you're ready to use it.
29:47I then gently wedge the bud into the shelf,
29:50making sure I've lined up the cambium layers on one of the edges.
29:55Finally, I secure it by wrapping it up with some grafting tape.
30:03And then I repeat the whole process on the other side of the rootstock.
30:06This gives me a couple of options of how I want to train it,
30:09whether it's up over this archway or along the fence line.
30:12But more importantly, it guarantees success
30:15because I'm doubling my chances of the graft taking.
30:18This is looking pretty good.
30:20This warmer weather will help the grafts heal and grow beautifully.
30:23And hopefully, in a couple of seasons, I'll be feasting on these new grapes.
30:29Still to come on Gardening Australia...
30:32Clarence hedges his bets.
30:36Tammy's shown how to make room to grow.
30:40And a collaboration between an artist and a garden designer
30:44that grows joy at work.
30:49I don't know about you, but at this time of the year,
30:52I get hungry just thinking about all of the crops
30:56I'm going to plant, harvest and eat over the months ahead.
31:01But what about people growing professionally?
31:04Well, Millie's dropping in on one of the best in the business
31:08to find out what goes into growing
31:11some of the most in-demand produce around.
31:19The Dandenong Ranges, east of Melbourne,
31:22are known for their rich soil and high rainfall,
31:25making it perfect for growing anything, but especially food.
31:29Here in the aptly named suburb, The Patch,
31:32I'm visiting a market garden brimming with delectable fruit and vegetables
31:36that are picked fresh on the day before they head to city restaurants.
31:40It's headed up by owner and ex-restaurant manager, Oliver Shorthouse.
31:45Hey Oliver.
31:46Hey.
31:47Come on in.
31:48Oh wow.
31:49Just picked this morning.
31:50Fantastic.
31:51And then it all comes into our packing shed for sorting, washing
31:55and then eventual packing on for the restaurants.
31:57What a bunch of treasure.
31:59Such gorgeous produce.
32:01And the colours here.
32:02Particularly at winter when we've got all these beautiful radicchios
32:05and different brassicas.
32:07Having worked in restaurants for, I suppose,
32:09all my life up to five or six years ago,
32:11I wanted to be still part of restaurants, but not working in restaurants.
32:15And so this gives me a real opportunity to still be part of the industry
32:18and part of the scene, but not actually have to work on the floor every night.
32:22So we bought this property 10 years ago
32:24and really began farming kind of by accident.
32:27In our apartment in Carlton that we were living in,
32:29we had 300 little tomato plants and we started transplanting them
32:33by hand as soon as we got here and it was too hard,
32:35so we thought we'll go out and buy a tractor attachment.
32:38Once we had the tractor attachment to get them in the ground,
32:41it all went from there.
32:43As the business expanded, so did the need for more growing space.
32:47Luckily, not far away, there was land for lease with 46 polytunnels.
32:53What are you focusing on growing?
32:55We grow everything.
32:56So we grow 100, 150 different things over the years.
32:59And then we study menus and we look at the different seed catalogues
33:03and we try and find little things that are a little bit different
33:06that we know chefs will love.
33:08Oh, wow.
33:09Wow!
33:12Such an abundant space.
33:15How big are these glasshouses?
33:16Each one is 3,000 square metres.
33:19Wow, that's a lot of space.
33:20It is a lot of space.
33:22So what we're growing here is what's called a rosa
33:25and it's a pink radicchio and very unusual and very diverse.
33:29Absolutely gorgeous.
33:30It's got quite, it's not a big heart like some of the other varieties.
33:35No, and it will develop one.
33:36This one's probably a few weeks younger than it needs to be.
33:39You can already see the colour that it's developing
33:42and it's also a lot less bitter, you know,
33:45supermarket radicchio to be as well.
33:47Can I try?
33:48Go for it.
33:54Mmm, it's still bitter.
33:56Like it's got a solid bitterness but you wouldn't pull back from it.
33:59And it's very tender leaves as well.
34:02They're very soft and the colour is just next level.
34:05That is so beautiful.
34:07Pure white through to pink and bits of sort of bronze and green as well.
34:12And what are the keys for you, do you think, to growing it?
34:16I mean timing's a big one, yeah?
34:17Timing's the biggest one.
34:18So you want to get these in late summer at a time
34:22where you can grow them to a really great size
34:25before the days start to shorten and before the temperature starts to drop.
34:29Now then once the temperature has dropped, they'll fatten out.
34:33They might rot a little bit and that's when you get the sweeter radicchio,
34:38that's when you get the better colour
34:40and that's when the radicchio really comes into its own.
34:48What a beautiful centre.
34:50And so you're actually protecting that by tying the leaves together?
34:54That's right.
34:55So it's what's called a broadleaf endive
34:57and it grows beautifully as a cooking green.
35:00But what you can do and what we do is once it reaches a certain size,
35:04we bring all the leaves together.
35:06You wrap a rubber band around it, an elastic band,
35:09and then this is three weeks blanched.
35:12So you're not very much time.
35:13You get this amazing white, the leaves turn more yellow
35:17and the flavour is less bitter.
35:20And it's essentially just robbing those leaves of light
35:23which means those cells stretch a bit, they become softer, more supple.
35:27It's a negative thing in some gardening situations
35:30but here you can use it to your advantage.
35:32Yeah, sometimes we rely on the genetics to bring us a product
35:35and sometimes we influence that as well.
35:42Oliver credits growing success to both the infrastructure
35:45and using organic practices.
35:48We add compost, a little bit of lime and that's about it.
35:52The tunnels provide an amazing temperature
35:55and environment for year-round growing.
35:57So most of the things that we're growing now, we grow year-round
36:01and they grow differently and they grow at different speeds
36:04but we can essentially grow most of our crops 52 weeks of the year.
36:08It allows us to have a full-time team
36:12and also provides consistency for customers too.
36:15Ex-chef Rochelle Van Diggle has been working at the farm
36:18for the past couple of years.
36:20I think it's so important for us just to be able to have that connection
36:24with our food, have a connection with the land
36:27and have a connection of the way that food then interacts with our bodies.
36:31I think it's just a full cycle
36:33and we're just missing that one piece of that puzzle.
36:36So are you going back into the kitchen?
36:38I'm always in the kitchen.
36:40If you want to grow food, you have to know how to cook.
36:42They go hand in hand.
36:44It's true, there's not many gardeners I know who aren't great eaters as well.
36:47Yeah, exactly. I love eating.
36:51I'm excited to see this here
36:56because a few years ago I grew a beautiful crop of it
36:59and I just could not work out how to eat it.
37:01Yeah, so this is an Italian puntarelle
37:04which means a little pointed one.
37:06And it's a chicory again, Catalonia chicory
37:10and you can eat the leaves of course.
37:12They're quite bitter but great braised.
37:14But what we grow it for is these things which are the puntarelle
37:18and it's something unique to this plant.
37:20But this is like the flower spike, yeah.
37:22So it's a totally different part of these plants that you're eating.
37:27That's right. So these will turn into flowers and beautiful blue flowers.
37:30But what we do is we get rid of all of that external growth
37:34and julienne them, very, very thinly sliced, in iced water.
37:38And what that does is it sucks up all the water,
37:40makes it super crispy and mild.
37:42They go all curly and then you do an anchovy dressing.
37:46And it's very, very typically Roman of a certain time of the year.
37:49And are they hollow in the middle? Do you want to snap one open?
37:59And as soon as these vegetables are out of the ground,
38:01it's not long before they wind up on dinner plates.
38:05We harvest every single item to water
38:09and within 12 or 18 hours it can be in the kitchens in front of a chef.
38:14Wow.
38:15And that's a real critical part of what we do.
38:17And without those chefs who are capable to transform what we do
38:21in creative ways, we wouldn't exist.
38:25What have you personally taken from this experience?
38:28Food is so diverse.
38:30We only see such a small section of it in the supermarkets.
38:33And coming here you see there's thousands of varieties
38:36we haven't touched yet.
38:37So I think getting more unusual food and making a more market for it,
38:41that's where we want to be heading.
38:44Without great farmers,
38:45I don't think you're going to get great restaurants.
38:47And without great restaurants,
38:48you don't have great produce coming in as well.
38:50So we work together and create something I think
38:52which is really special and unique.
39:07If you're after new foliage friends to invite into your garden,
39:10then look no further than the saltbush family.
39:12There's loads to choose from and different species grow
39:15all over the country.
39:19One of my favourites is old man's saltbush, Atroplex numelaria.
39:23Now it's a great plant for many tricky situations.
39:26They'll take the wind, they'll cop salt-laden soils and belting heat.
39:31Now they grow great on rooftop gardens
39:33and they can survive a 40-plus degree day.
39:36Now it grows into a beautiful billowy shrub
39:40between one to two metres tall.
39:42And the silver-grey leaves,
39:44well, they add a steel-coloured splash to a green garden.
39:48The leaves can also be plucked and flash-fried in hot oil
39:52where they become salty and crispy like a little salty chip.
39:56Yum, they are great.
40:00Rigodia spinescens is an equally adaptable species.
40:03Now it has a lovely spreading form
40:05and it can grow up to about 1.5 metres high
40:08as well as 4 metres wide.
40:10Now it's great as a low hedge and for smothering the ground
40:13so the weeds can't get a foothold.
40:16And if you're after something a bit different again,
40:19take a look at Anardia nutans, climbing saltbush.
40:22Now this little one likes a sunny, warm position
40:25and it will climb or crawl
40:27so you could plant it en masse as a ground cover.
40:31Perhaps best of all, by planting saltbushes,
40:34you'll also be bringing in biodiversity.
40:36Now some produce a small edible berry
40:39but I leave those for the birds and the lizards who love them.
40:42Some are host species for butterflies.
40:45The saltbush blue butterfly, also known as checker blue,
40:49and its caterpillar larvae feed mainly on saltbushes.
40:53The saltbush family is full of rugged, interesting, low-fuss plants.
40:58So whether you're growing on a balcony, a rooftop or a backyard,
41:02go on, invite a few of the saltbush family
41:05to your garden party this weekend.
41:17Indoor plants can be addictive and when you have success,
41:21some of the collection will outgrow you.
41:24They'll definitely outgrow me.
41:26Tammy is heading back to Foliage Central
41:29to learn how trimming them down to size
41:32can help multiply the rewards.
41:39Rainforest climbers have overtaken the indoor plant world
41:42and are growing in living rooms all over the country.
41:45In Latin, philodendron means tree hugger
41:49and many plants in these families grow vertically up trees to find light.
41:53A key to Gowan's success is that she's giving her plants
41:56something solid to cling to and climb.
41:59And considering some plants would naturally clamber up 10 metres tall,
42:03she has tips to keep them contained to a more manageable height.
42:08Gowan, what plant is this and why do people love it?
42:12It's a philodendron glorius,
42:14which is a primary hybrid between melanochrysum and gloriosum.
42:18Hence these beautiful heart-shaped leaves.
42:20That's correct. Velvet. Velvet.
42:22Beautiful.
42:23And it's getting a little bit tall, so what's the plan?
42:27Well, I think it's time to give it a chop.
42:30Sounds brutal.
42:31Absolutely.
42:34We're going to untangle the roots.
42:36You can see they're quite attached.
42:38Now, you often see these poles wrapped in coconut coir.
42:42Yes.
42:43But the roots don't often attach.
42:45How did you get yours to attach so fiercely?
42:47I actually water the pole to keep it moist
42:50so the roots are searching for the moisture.
42:53So what we're going to do is we're going to cut there
42:56to get a bit of length.
42:58And then these two roots at the top here
43:01are firmly embedded into the pole,
43:03so I'm going to cut those as that's less traumatic for the plant.
43:09And now we're going to go down
43:11and cut approximately halfway between those two.
43:15And with this stump here, will it just grow out from the node?
43:18It will grow from that little node there,
43:20as it has done down here in the past,
43:23where I've chopped it in the past.
43:25And from the node below that,
43:28it has started to put out this offset that you can see here.
43:31So the plant will be pushed into action to make a new offset.
43:36And now with this one,
43:38do we have to do anything special with the cut end?
43:40Damp it with cinnamon.
43:42Cinnamon's very good as an antibacterial agent in plants.
43:46Then we can pot it all up.
43:47You can pot it up.
43:48Great.
43:50Add some heavy rocks to the bottom of your pot.
43:53The poles can become top-heavy and this helps with stability.
43:57Then centre your new pole.
44:00Nestle the cutting against the pole
44:02and position it so it has maximum contact.
44:05Place it deep enough so that the bottom node
44:08would just touch the potting mix.
44:12Using plant ties, firmly secure the stem to the pole
44:15so it can't move.
44:18Add your potting mix.
44:19For mature aroids, Gowan uses equal parts coconut coir chunks,
44:23super coarse perlite and orchid bark.
44:26She also adds some charcoal and coconut peat.
44:31Gently compact it so the plant and pole are nice and stable.
44:36To give the cutting a good start,
44:37top dress with some slow-release fertiliser.
44:40We've completed it!
44:41That's enough?
44:42Yeah.
44:43Beautiful.
44:44Oh, isn't she beautiful?
44:45She's gorgeous.
44:48I'm going to give her some water.
44:49Now I'm watering up the new coil pole.
44:51Yes, a secret.
44:52Making sure we've got even watering
44:55and again up the pole again.
44:57And there we're done.
44:59And now we went from one plant to two.
45:04You can use this chop and extend method
45:06on other vertical-growing philodendrons,
45:08monsera, pothos or ipiprimnum.
45:11It's a great way to clone your favourite plant
45:14and keep it below the roofline.
45:23I love seeing the creative ways people use plants
45:26to bring a bit of nature back into city gardens.
45:30Our next story is with an artist and a garden designer
45:35whose collaboration is unexpected,
45:38detailed and beautifully creative.
45:41I know you're going to love it.
45:53My name's Becky Orfin.
45:54I'm an artist.
45:55What inspires my work is nature within an urban environment.
46:00We're in Brunswick in the inner north of Melbourne.
46:03I live and work here.
46:05It's kind of grit and it's sort of light industrial.
46:08It also has a really great art community.
46:10Lots of galleries, lots of artist studios,
46:12lots of like-minded people in the area.
46:15I've always been a city girl and I love living in the city,
46:18but I also love nature in the city.
46:21So one of the things I do love about Brunswick
46:23is there's quite a lot of parks
46:25and you can still seek out those bits of sort of nature
46:28like possums.
46:29There's some tawny frogmouths in the park near my house.
46:32Things like that really inspire me.
46:34I guess it's that element of things being able to survive
46:37in the city and adapt instead of being driven out.
46:49This is my studio garden, also known as the secret garden,
46:52and I love that it's right outside of where I work.
47:02Having the garden definitely helps the art.
47:04Even if I'm not working on something
47:06that's specifically plant or nature-based,
47:08it still can provide a really good mental break
47:10if you're stuck or if you just need to sort of
47:13change the environment up a little bit.
47:15Sometimes my work is quite abstract,
47:17so it is just literally looking at shapes.
47:19So being able to go out to the garden
47:21and get sort of shape inspiration is really good too.
47:27I was lucky enough to be surrounded by lots of gardens
47:30as a child and definitely used to visit
47:32the Melbourne Botanic Gardens and the Fitzroy Gardens
47:35quite a lot.
47:36When I first moved here, the graffiti was already on the walls
47:40and lots of people asked me if I was going to paint a mural
47:43because that's part of my work, and I said absolutely not.
47:46I love the graffiti.
47:47I love that it was already here.
47:49It makes it feel almost like a ruin, I guess.
47:52And the graffiti is such a nice contrast,
47:55all the plants and the colours,
47:57and they actually work so beautifully together.
48:00Colour is a really big part of my work,
48:02so flowers and the varying degrees of green within nature,
48:06the textures, the shapes, forms in nature
48:09are always really, really inspiring,
48:11and often I look out to the garden or to flowers
48:14to look for new sort of shapes and forms.
48:17This garden is around 12 metres by 12 metres.
48:20I rented this space around two years ago.
48:23It was just all weeds.
48:24I knew what kind of gardens I liked,
48:26which was sort of that wild style, prairie, meadowsque type garden.
48:31One of the people I discovered when I was looking at gardens
48:34was Piet Oordorff, who's a Dutch gardener.
48:37He designed the Highline Garden in New York.
48:40The Highline is a garden which has been created on an old train line
48:45that's become public space,
48:46so that idea of a wild garden against a sort of urban backdrop
48:51was really inspiring to me.
48:56A friend said to me,
48:57oh, you should speak to my partner, Jimmy,
48:59who loves this style of gardens and is a gardener.
49:03And then once I met Jimmy, we worked together
49:06and he just created this absolute dream out here.
49:09I'm Jimmy Singh.
49:10I was a DJ, used to run nightclubs, now I design gardens.
49:16Meeting Becky and talking to her
49:18about what she would like to see in a studio garden
49:22was so exciting because you can see in her work
49:25that she loves flowers, loves colour,
49:28and we talked about how to do this in a really exaggerated way.
49:33The planting is an unreal version of a meadow, a grassland,
49:39a prairie type of setting.
49:41This means that we have pops of colour and different foliage forms
49:46popping up through the grasses at all stages of the year.
49:50This is one of the indigenous grasses that's planted,
49:54Dicolachne crinita.
49:56It's native to our local grasslands here.
50:00Love these plumes.
50:01Yeah, these are my favourite bits.
50:03They look like antennae or little tails.
50:06For Becky, I had a real lookout for plants
50:09that are like characters themselves.
50:11You know, this idea that if you put two googly eyes on it,
50:15what would they express?
50:16And for that, I'd like to think of giving Becky all these characters
50:21to keep her company at her studio.
50:31This is a really great surprise that just popped up over the last week.
50:35I've never seen a flower before.
50:37Yeah, this one's Angelica gigas.
50:39It's a biennial, so it only flowers every two years.
50:44It comes out of these big muscular type of strange pods
50:49and opens up into this globe form.
50:52I like this bit because it looks like a fairy swimming pool.
50:56Definitely imagine some fairies having a good time in there.
50:59Yeah, who's in there?
51:02I've planted very densely.
51:05In 100 square metres, we have 700 plants put in here.
51:13I really love these ones.
51:15Obviously, I love the yellow petals, but when they fall off,
51:18I love the height of this centre bit and the texture.
51:22And they stay for quite a long time and it looks really beautiful,
51:25the way they move in the wind.
51:27Yeah, they'll be our main vertical.
51:29All through winter, they'll be standing.
51:31Their prairie plant, they're your namesake.
51:33Yes.
51:34Rubeccia maxima.
51:36Beautiful, big foliage down the bottom.
51:38It's pretty rare for a grassland plant to have such big leaves.
51:43MUSIC
51:50This is the blue devil, one of my favourites.
51:53It's another grassland species from around our area.
51:57But I love it when it's given some space out,
52:00just ranges out, finds its way across other plants.
52:04Makes like a constellation almost of stars.
52:07I'm really taken by the colour, this sort of blue colour.
52:10It looks otherworldly.
52:11I can't believe it exists.
52:12It looks like it's out of a Pantone book.
52:14When you think of Indigenous plants,
52:16you don't think of them being bright blue.
52:18True.
52:19MUSIC
52:21I feel like working with Jimmy was a dream.
52:24He was so great at taking my very rough idea
52:28and turning it into this incredible garden that we have here.
52:32I think we worked really well together, just personality-wise.
52:36We became friends in the process, which was really great.
52:39We shared a love for similar aesthetics and plants,
52:43which made us smile.
52:44It's been beautiful just continuing to discover them
52:47with Becky as they come up in the garden.
52:50MUSIC
52:54The garden makes me feel completely joyous
52:57and literally pinch myself every day
52:59that I get to look out at this incredible space
53:02that we created together.
53:03MUSIC
53:05It's a really beautiful space.
53:07It's really calming.
53:08I also wanted it to be a space where my friends
53:11and creative community could benefit from and gather,
53:14and it's definitely become that as well.
53:17Cheers.
53:18MUSIC
53:29Time to dust off the cobwebs and get the blood pumping.
53:34Here's your list of jobs for the weekend.
53:36MUSIC
53:41In cool temperate areas, warming weather sees aphids active,
53:45so keep an eye out,
53:46especially on the underside of brassica leaves.
53:49Squash them if you see them to deter their mates.
53:52Spring salads and sangas are not the same without lettuce,
53:56so for a twist on these lovely leaves,
53:58direct sow the seeds of heirloom varieties
54:01like freckles, merlot and red velvet now.
54:04Another sandwich staple is beetroot,
54:06and it's time to harvest those sown in winter.
54:09The most obliging of root veggies,
54:11you can see their crown above the soil surface.
54:14The smaller the crown, the more tender the beet.
54:17In warm temperate gardens, the smell of sweet peas is in the air.
54:21Cut some blooms for a vase.
54:23You'll encourage further flowers
54:25and get to enjoy the intoxicating scent indoors.
54:29The grass is growing, so it's the perfect time to dethatch your lawn.
54:33Using a thatching rake, remove any dead stems
54:36and other debris that's collected between the grass and the soil.
54:40With passion fruits harvested,
54:42it's time to give overgrown vines a haircut.
54:45Remove deadwood and prune back to one metre diameter from the trunk.
54:49Your vine will be happier, healthier and more productive for it.
54:54In the subtropics, broad beans are starting to flower,
54:57but they won't set fruit until the weather warms up a little more.
55:01Keep the water up to them, give them a feed and wait.
55:05Whether you dig sweets or savouries, cordial or cocktails,
55:08you can't go past a homegrown lime or two.
55:12Plant a Tahitian lime for tart, juicy fruits
55:15and a mackerel for its foliage and zest.
55:18Cyclamens are coming to the close of their fab floral show,
55:22so it's time to give them a rest.
55:24Allow the tubers to dry out and place them on their sides
55:28under the shade of a tree until next year.
55:32Tropical gardeners, the sun has a bite to it,
55:35and if you're feeling it, so is your garden.
55:37Knock together some shade cloth covers and tipis
55:40to protect vulnerable and sensitive plants.
55:43Easy to grow and generous once they fruit, so pumpkin seeds now.
55:48Make sure they have room to roam
55:50and don't be afraid to experiment with different varieties,
55:53like Turk's turban.
55:55Two spotted mite are emerging after winter,
55:58mottling leaves, distorting buds and leaving webbing on plants.
56:02Treat these sap suckers by wiping both sides of affected foliage
56:06with a damp cloth daily for a week.
56:09Gardeners in arid zones, if you're looking for a basil
56:12that won't get busted by grasshoppers or hit by the heat,
56:15try a Thai basil, tough and tasty with its aromatic anise flavour.
56:21Caterpillars are getting busy
56:23and many can make short work of young plants.
56:26Remove them by hand, but remember, not all caterpillars are garden pests,
56:31so check before you collect.
56:33If you notice small white marks on the bark of your citrus trees,
56:37it's likely white louse scale.
56:39Treat with a horticultural oil
56:41before it affects the health and vigour of your plant.
56:44Have a fantastic weekend in the great outdoors, gardeners,
56:48and don't forget to subscribe to our e-newsletter
56:51for regular updates, tips, tricks and more great gardening info.
57:01Well, that's all we can fit into the cart for this week,
57:05but we're already sowing the seeds for next time.
57:09Here's what's coming up.
57:11I meet a seed scientist
57:13who specialises in collecting rare and threatened species
57:16from our native rainforests.
57:18I'm making a simple pond
57:20that we could all have a go at in a small space.
57:23Yeah, just let them go anywhere.
57:27That's it.
57:29And we meet a horticulturist looking to pump up the colour.