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  • 2 days ago
Gardening Australia 2025 Episode 17
Transcript
00:00.
00:02.
00:04.
00:06Hey!
00:08.
00:10.
00:12.
00:14.
00:16.
00:18Hey, buddy.
00:20Hey!
00:22Hey!
00:24.
00:26Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia.
00:36We're back in sunny Sydney after so much fun in Melbourne.
00:41Here's what we've been cultivating for you from all corners of the continent.
00:46I'm visiting a garden where they're revegetating the bush,
00:52living lightly on the land, and they've got an experimental Australian plant garden.
00:58You'll be inspired.
01:00The creation of nature in miniature is an ancient tradition stretching back over 2,000 years.
01:06Today, I'm going to find out how to create a bonsai maple forest setting
01:10from a master of the craft and her apprentice.
01:13I'm helping protect some young silver princess gums
01:16with a bit of hardscaping and some native ground cover.
01:19And we meet a scientist formulating the perfect recipe to grow some delicious ingredients.
01:32There's nothing better than lucking an apple fresh off a tree and biting straight into it.
01:38The thing is, to produce good fruit, you've got to juggle the maintenance.
01:43And that involves pruning.
01:45Hannah's here to show us how.
01:47Good one.
01:49Good one.
02:05Here in Tassie in midwinter, you might think that there's not much to do in the garden,
02:09but you're absolutely wrong.
02:10There's heaps to do, including pruning your poem fruit trees.
02:15In case you don't know, a poem is a general term for thin-skinned fruits that lack a stone inside,
02:25and instead have pips.
02:27So think apples, pears and quinces.
02:30Yum!
02:31With any tree, you always want to check for the three Ds for any dead wood, diseased or damaged wood.
02:38This is my Magnus Surprise apple, and it's a few years old already.
02:43This tree already has a pretty good structure, just needs a few tweaks,
02:46including taking off some of the height off this fresh growth to make sure it doesn't get too tall.
02:52When it comes to pruning the tops of the trees, the new growth, there's two things to look for.
02:58First, is reducing the height.
03:00I'm going to take off at around a third of this little branch here.
03:03And the second thing is to look at where the buds are growing,
03:07because I want to choose a bud that's growing outside, away from the centre of the tree,
03:12around a third of the way down from the top, and I'm going to cut just above it on an angle.
03:17This means that the new growth will come out of that bud and grow away from the centre of the tree,
03:22instead of in towards it.
03:33I usually prune my fruit trees to an open vase shape like this one,
03:37so you have maximum access to harvest fruit,
03:40but also maximum airflow to prevent any disease from building up.
03:44So when I come over here, I've been looking at these four branches for the past year,
03:48wondering which ones to keep.
03:49Today, I'm going to take out this one here,
03:51because it's coming slightly towards the middle,
03:53which compromises the airflow and access.
03:56It's best to make the cut as close as possible without cutting into the collar.
04:01That's the swollen part where the branch meets the main stem.
04:05Home fruits develop from spurs, or short stubby branches with clusters of buds forming on top.
04:25So you really don't want to cut any of that old fruiting wood off.
04:29Here, I've got a couple of spayed apple trees,
04:32and this one here is the Cox's Orange Pippin.
04:36In between pruning all the fruit trees,
04:38I make sure I sterilise all the tools very thoroughly,
04:42to prevent any risk of disease spreading.
04:45Here, I'm just using a combination of methylated spirits and tea tree oil,
04:49which is nice and diluted.
04:52When it comes time to prune, you're looking for that old wood with the fruiting spurs.
04:57Here, I can see one, two, three spurs,
05:01which is where the apples will grow out of.
05:03I can also see this little spindly stick up here growing out of the same branch.
05:07I'm going to cut that one off,
05:09because it's going to steal all the energy away from the apples.
05:12So, off it comes.
05:14This tree doesn't have any diseased or dead wood,
05:27but it does have a little bit of damaged wood,
05:29which is really important I cut out.
05:31So, I'm going to track back a little bit and have a clean cut
05:35to make sure it's got a fresh start for next year.
05:40Unlike the fruit tree pruning shape,
05:42the espalier is very flat growing along a fence line,
05:46and that's wonderful.
05:47It's beautifully compact.
05:49The only risk with your fruiting spurs is that sometimes
05:52they can get very close together like these ones here,
05:55and the risk is that the fruit that does grow can't develop properly,
05:59and so don't be afraid to cut some off.
06:01You want around 10 to 15 centimetres between each main cluster,
06:05and that means that the fruit that does grow
06:07can grow to its full potential.
06:12Quince is another popular tree in the poem family,
06:17but unlike apples, these ones grow on fruiting spurs
06:21close to the end or on the tip of each branch on new wood.
06:25New wood is simply the wood that's grown in the most recent season.
06:30You can tell the difference between new and old season wood
06:33by looking for the colour differences.
06:35The old wood is more of a silver brown,
06:38while the new wood is a rich, shiny brown.
06:41The new wood also feels quite smooth to touch compared to the old wood,
06:46which is a bit rougher.
06:47I've already pruned this fruit tree,
06:49but when it comes time for you to prune yours,
06:52make sure you leave lots of new season wood all over the tree
06:56so you can get lots of beautiful fruit.
07:02I'm saving my babies till last.
07:04Here I've got one of my nashi pear trees.
07:07It's already been in the ground for one year.
07:09So last year I did the main structural prune,
07:12so it's coming into a vase shape.
07:15I took out one big leader in the middle,
07:17and also I'm weighting one of these branches down
07:20to train it out for that vase shape.
07:23So this year all I have to do is take a bit of the length off
07:26the three main leaders, like so,
07:28and wait for it to grow.
07:37The chilly months are a fantastic time to take stock
07:40of what's happening with your palm trees
07:42and give them a little haircut
07:44to set them up for years of success.
07:49Yeah, good boy.
07:53Can plants create heat?
07:56Yes.
07:57Some plants can generate their own heat
07:59and even regulate their own temperature.
08:02One remarkable example is the sacred lotus,
08:05or Nalumbo nucifera.
08:07The sacred lotus can regulate its internal temperature
08:10to attract pollinators, particularly beetles.
08:14Researchers at the University of Adelaide
08:16discovered that the plant can maintain a temperature
08:19of around 30 to 35 degrees Celsius,
08:22even when the surrounding air is much cooler.
08:25This warmth helps to release volatile compounds
08:29that mimic the scent of a receptive female beetle,
08:32which helps to attract male beetles that aid in pollination.
08:36You might have heard the term pseudo-bulb
08:39and wondered what it meant.
08:41It is simply a flattened, bulbous shape
08:44at the base of the stems of orchids,
08:47and it's purely for storage of food and water.
08:50The term pseudo is simply to make the difference
08:53between a true bulb, which is below the ground,
08:56like an onion or a tulip.
08:58The pseudo-bulb is always above the ground.
09:01As your orchid grows, you'll get a clump of pseudo-bulbs forming,
09:06which you can separate and turn into new plants.
09:09And keep an eye on your pseudo-bulb's health.
09:12It should be plump, firm and green.
09:14What in blazes is happening to my broccoli?
09:17Well, this is a fungus called white broccoli blister,
09:20and it can infect a number of plants in that family
09:23in the vegetable garden.
09:24It is, of course, a fungus,
09:26which means it has all of these different parts
09:28of its life cycle.
09:29It has ooze spores, then zoo spores,
09:31and then vegetative spores,
09:33which, when the blister breaks, can spread around the garden.
09:36Now, as a fungus, you just need to treat it
09:39as you would any other,
09:40and that is with preventative measures.
09:42Make sure you don't water those plants at night,
09:45because sitting over wet can increase that occurrence.
09:48Make sure you have good airflow around them,
09:50space them well enough,
09:51and, of course, keep them as healthy as you can.
09:54But if you have had a really bad infestation,
09:56the best thing to do is rotate crops,
09:58don't grow anything from the family in the same area
10:01for a couple of years,
10:02and hopefully you can break the cycle.
10:09There's no doubt that West Australian plants
10:12steal many hearts.
10:14Their colour, form and downright durability are next level.
10:19But growing them outside their natural range
10:22can be a challenge.
10:24Jerry's found a couple who are making it look easy.
10:35We're in The Gap, a suburb in north-west Brisbane,
10:39and it's here that Katrina and David have built their forever home
10:43and an experimental Australian native plant garden.
10:49We started off being inner city apartment dwellers.
10:53I'm a palliative medicine specialist.
10:55And so I'm an emergency medicine specialist at a major hospital.
10:58When we were looking for a property,
11:00we wanted to have a haven.
11:02So how big is the entire block?
11:05The total area is 20,000 square metres,
11:07and about two-thirds of that would be bushlands that's regenerating.
11:13The steep sloping block backs onto National Park,
11:17but when they bought it, the property was infested with weeds.
11:21What were your worst weeds?
11:23Ochna.
11:24Oh, without a doubt, Madeira vine.
11:26Ah, yes.
11:27It's an absolute horror.
11:29It's almost like a zombie plant.
11:31You just have to persist with a weed like that.
11:33You sure do.
11:34When did you officially become gardeners?
11:40Pretty much when we moved in.
11:42Yeah, we'd only really had experience with pot plants before then.
11:45We'd had a running joke for a long time
11:47before we actually went ahead with this property
11:49about having just a gravel zen garden or a cactus or something.
11:58Katrina and David's vision was a terrace garden
12:01featuring West Australian plants
12:04and green roofs landscaped in dry rainforest
12:07and eastern coastal themes.
12:10The choice of plants was largely around what we thought
12:13would do well in these kind of conditions,
12:15but also trying to convey an overall look of a coastal theme.
12:18The larger of the two faces north-east
12:21with a beautiful panoramic view.
12:24But it's an aspect that is really exposed.
12:27So we had a few taller shrubs, banksia and western India,
12:31to create a bit of height and some strappy plants
12:34to look like those coastal dune sort of grasses,
12:37the lomandra cultivars, and also the nobby club rush.
12:40In terms of the ground covers,
12:42the pig face is completely bomb-proof.
12:45We've also got Sigavola emula
12:48and a couple of different myoporums.
12:50Well, it's all working really well.
12:52It's a credit to you.
13:06By contrast, the smaller roof garden is shadowed
13:09in the south-western side of the house.
13:12No less of a challenge when it comes to plant choice.
13:15We love this garden because we can look out and in.
13:19And it's a lovely change in experience
13:21because this is rainforest, isn't it?
13:24Yes.
13:25We've chosen little plants like this,
13:27the gorgeous cat's whiskers,
13:29which is a little burst of bright amongst the green
13:32and various bracken in there.
13:35It's keeping lovely and green and moist.
13:38Fantastic.
13:39And, of course, to frame it all, a lovely tree for...
13:42Yes, and it's only three years old.
13:44Wow!
13:45It's quite a young garden.
13:46Wow, that's done really well.
13:48The result is a cooling view from the bedroom
13:51of a rainforest rendered in miniature.
13:55Why Western Australian plants in Queensland?
13:58We like to have themes for our gardens.
14:00We didn't just want one or two Western Australian plants
14:03stuck in the middle of everything else.
14:05I think the plants just speak for themselves really,
14:07don't they?
14:08Particularly the proteaceae.
14:10The haecchias, grevilleas, banksias,
14:12I'm really drawn to them
14:13just for their fascinating foliage and flowers.
14:20When does your garden look its best?
14:22Well, it's been quite a tough summer
14:24because it's just been so wet and extremely hot.
14:26So I'd probably say the kangaroo paws are a major feature.
14:29There's just so much colour in all the oranges and reds
14:33and yellows when they're in full bloom.
14:34I think that's probably through spring and early summer
14:37is maybe when there's the most colour.
14:42The grass trees looking gorgeous.
14:44Yeah.
14:45They're a hybrid from East Coast species
14:49but I think they're too hard to differentiate
14:51from West Coast varieties.
14:53But they're hopefully going to grow quickly
14:55and become a major feature of the garden, I think, over time.
14:59They look stunning already.
15:01I love the fact that these prostrate banksias are surviving here.
15:07Now that takes me right back to Western Australia.
15:10Now all of your banksias look really healthy.
15:13Do you give them iron chelates at all?
15:16Not particularly.
15:17I use seaweed emulsion on a lot of the beds just occasionally.
15:22Mostly just watering and slow-release fertiliser pellets.
15:25Right.
15:26So, yeah, there's not a lot of regular maintenance of the garden
15:28except for wetting, pruning and watering when it's dry.
15:35Have you had any help in constructing the garden?
15:38Apart from getting machinery in to do our boulder walls,
15:42all of this is done ourselves.
15:44You've got a beautiful view here.
15:48Now this is your main garden.
15:50Yeah.
15:51What was it like when you first took over?
15:54We had a large pile of soil that was maybe 100 plus cubic metres
16:00and a bobcat was brought in to reconstitute all the soil
16:03and that was left in mounds around roughly where we wanted it to be.
16:06So a lot of the plants are built up in mounds.
16:10I notice your tilatuses are loving the weather at the moment.
16:13Yeah, that's one of the pleasant surprises.
16:16They're quite an iconic flower and very beautiful.
16:19Now you've got a haecchia flowering down there.
16:22That's a hybrid.
16:23It's a haecchia Burundong Beauty.
16:25It's just starting to come into flower now.
16:27It's really stunning when it's completely covered in blossoms
16:30and it gets absolutely swarmed by bees.
16:32Another plant that stands out is a leafless wattle.
16:38Now that's very West Australian.
16:41It's very tolerant of the wet conditions we've had so far,
16:44you know, given the fact it's an erased bed.
16:46And I just love the textures on it.
16:48The foliage is quite unique and quite beautiful.
16:51And right next to it, if my eyes don't deceive me,
16:55that looks like a one-sided bottle brush.
16:58It is, yeah.
16:59Again, another real winner.
17:00It just came out of pure experimentation.
17:02I understand it grows in somewhat heavier soils in WA,
17:06so that's yet another one I'm going to create more repetitions
17:09of throughout the garden because it's been so successful.
17:11What's the basic way in which you can keep
17:14West Australian natives going in a warm, wet summer?
17:18Is grafting part of the formula?
17:21Absolutely, yeah.
17:22The grafting really means that they're growing on roots
17:25that tolerate these conditions much better
17:27while still giving you the benefit of the Western Australian plant going on it.
17:30But this is amazing work how established it looks.
17:33The landscape is fully planted and you've got some drainage happening.
17:37Yeah, we're really pleased with how it's come out aesthetically.
17:40And the choice of the materials was meant to reflect the Western Australian theme.
17:45So the rusted iron edging sort of looks like the iron ore that's common in the Pilbara.
17:51And the gravel was just used to resemble dry creek beds.
17:56Have there been any failures?
17:58Of course.
17:59Every garden has failures.
18:01And that's a new spot for a new plant.
18:06Do you ever have any moments of regret that you didn't build that little zen garden?
18:11This place is a paradise and I think this is now our zen garden.
18:15Yeah, well I'm dead.
18:19It sounds like e Consulting is lettuce with personnages with a hearty or an evolution.
18:26It's all pretty painful that you are able to離pe a lot.
20:08When it comes to learning new skills in the garden, like most of us, Tammy is always hungry for more.
20:16So when she came across an old Gardening Australia story about a renowned Australian artist, she just had to pay a visit.
20:23I've always been fascinated by the miniature world created in nature by the art and craft bonsai.
20:33The skills originating in China and Japan have been passed down for millennia.
20:38Here in Australia, we have one of the most distinguished practitioners who has spent a lifetime learning and teaching the skills.
20:45Megumi Bennett lives north of Sydney and has a garden with hundreds of incredible examples of her skill, patience and dedication.
20:57Megumi, what a fabulous garden you've got here.
21:00Thank you very much.
21:01How many plants do you have here?
21:02I have 200 bonsai here.
21:18Megumi, with so many wonderful plants, it's clear that you're a master of your craft.
21:23How long have you been bonsaiing for?
21:25I have been growing bonsai for 50 years.
21:2950 years.
21:30And you haven't gotten bored?
21:32No, never.
21:34And what is bonsai?
21:37Bon means tray or a pot.
21:40Sai means cultivation.
21:42So cultivation in a tray or pot.
21:43Yes.
21:44And bonsai is quite an ancient tradition, isn't it?
21:47Yeah, it is.
21:48It is recorded in China 2,000 years ago.
21:53Already people enjoyed it and then came to Japan.
21:57There are 19 styles in Japan and five main styles.
22:03They are formal uplight, informal uplight, slanting style, cascade style and semi-cascade style.
22:12And would you say there are special tools or techniques that you use?
22:17Yes, there are very important tools.
22:20The branch cutters and scissors, wire cutters, pliers and raking when we do the reporting and chopsticks.
22:29Yeah, all sorts.
22:31And bonsais, they can live for a long time, don't they?
22:34Yes, they do.
22:35Bonsai in Japan, 450 years old, 350 years old is common.
22:41But my oldest bonsai is approximately 130 years old.
22:48And so this is your specimen here?
22:50Yes, that's right.
22:51This tree is Cedrus atlantica, atlas cedar.
22:56You can see the beautiful bark, show the edge.
23:00And this Cedrus atlantica?
23:01Yeah.
23:02I'm guessing this is the slanting style?
23:04Yes, it is.
23:06Yes.
23:07Base of the trunk and then apex is far away.
23:10So slanting, growing.
23:13And so does bonsai extend the life of a tree?
23:16Yes, they do.
23:17Yeah.
23:17Because we're pruning roots and then old roots removed and then let young root system to grow and then longer life.
23:30Bonsai helps extend the life of a tree, but you also make it look old too, is that right?
23:35Yes, that's right.
23:36The appearance of the age of the trees is art of bonsai.
23:42So Megumi, I can see that you've got a couple of native trees in your collection, especially figs.
23:59Yes, my interest was how Australian figs can adapt as a bonsai culture.
24:08And how many native figs do you have?
24:10Probably I have about 70 figs, bonsai.
24:15Different species, probably 20, 25, yeah.
24:19Altogether in Australia, 44 species.
24:23So you have about half that just in your garden?
24:25Yeah.
24:26Wow, you really do love figs.
24:27Yes.
24:29And I can see like they've got very strong roots.
24:32Is that all part of the look?
24:34It's not necessary.
24:35Port Jackson fig, Morton Bay fig.
24:38They are very strong trunk lines and root system.
24:42But some are very slender and forming aerial roots as well.
24:48And what are aerial roots?
24:50Well, aerial roots means root system developed from trunk and branches.
24:57Lots of fig produce aerial roots.
25:00This I created in 2011 from aerial roots.
25:06And I call this style aerial roots trunk style.
25:11So this is a root?
25:12Yes.
25:13That becomes a trunk.
25:15Wow, that's impressive.
25:17No wonder you like figs.
25:18Yes, very interesting.
25:20Yes, very interesting.
25:50We need a bonsai pot.
25:51We need the actual trees, the soil, bonsai soil mix, wire to tie the trees down into position,
25:57the mesh to cover over the drainage holes, and our set of bonsai tools.
26:01And why the trident maples?
26:04The trident maples are very good for forest settings because we can chop the roots back
26:07really hard and fit it into a pot quite successfully.
26:12We are trimming the tree so we can balance the tree shape in combination with the other
26:17trees that we intend to put in there.
26:19We start with the main one first and we work our way down.
26:27This is just breaking it open until it's loosened enough so I can get the scissors and then cut.
26:34More than 50-60% of the roots will be removed.
26:37Now it's about positioning the tree in the pot.
26:40We start from a descending order from the tallest tree down.
26:44I break the pot into thirds and I divide it again in half.
26:48I have the first tree here on my right.
26:53This is the second tree.
26:55The third tree is with the main tree.
26:58The fourth and there's the fifth.
27:01We try to introduce movement and flow within the setting.
27:04You can see that one is slightly off to the other.
27:07By doing that they're all creating a bit of tension and movement within the setting.
27:10We add moss because it helps with insulation of the soil.
27:24What a beautiful little world you've created Alex.
27:31There's so much to it.
27:32The proportionality, the placement of the moss and the rocks.
27:36It's a real work of art.
27:40So Mugumi, what do you think of your son's handiwork?
27:43It's very beautiful.
27:44Aww.
27:45So he's done a pretty good job.
27:46I think so.
27:48Congratulations.
27:52Alex, how much of your work and passion would you credit to your mum?
27:57From a very young age, my passion was created from my mother.
28:02And as I've continued on with my bonsai journey, my mother's advice has certainly continued
28:07to help hone my own art.
28:18Still to come on Gardening Australia, Sophie sheds some light on shade.
28:26Josh learns about a project growing fresh food in the toughest conditions.
28:33If there's one thing that I'm a bit obsessive about, it's plants in trouble.
28:50I just can't walk past them.
28:52I need to offer some assistance.
28:54They can't walk to the tap when they're thirsty.
28:57They can't shift themselves into the sun if they're a bit cold and it's windy.
29:03I feel like I need to intervene.
29:05And there's someone else who I think feels exactly the same way.
29:10Clarence.
29:11Clarence.
29:12This is Gangaroo or Eucalyptus caesia.
29:24It's also known as silver princess.
29:32And they are budding, about to burst into flower.
29:35Caesia is Latin for blue-grey and it really shows in the silver of the trunks and of course
29:42silver princess. This beautiful colour extends all the way to the buds and it has this massive
29:48contrast when the flowers do open. So the silver up against the pink of the bloom and those little
29:54pollen tips that are gold and yellow, absolutely stunning. Now these three have only recently
30:01been planted and as they established they will look fantastic. They've been staked to keep them
30:05growing straight but there are a few issues because of the steepness of the block that they're
30:10planted in and from the look of some of these leaves there's one tree in particular that needs help
30:16urgently. Now this tree is really struggling and hopefully I can bring it back but part of the
30:24reason the slope of this bed water is just washing down root zone isn't getting a chance to take up
30:30that water. You can see here where all the mulch from here is washed all the way down the hill,
30:36everything's ended up the bottom and I'll really work this to hold some water so that the roots
30:41can take it up. Hopefully we'll bring this fella back. Trees will naturally grow on a slope but in a
30:56natural environment rainfall is slowed down by ground covers, rocks, logs or leak litter. But there's a
31:04simple intervention that can also work a treat. It's a rain catching trench called a swale. Now the thing
31:13with a swale without showing too many technical drawings is if your slope's like this you don't want
31:19your swale cutting across it needs to go with the topography so that it catches the water and holds
31:25with that line. So the water comes in to the trench at the front we have a small mound at the back
31:31this water holes penetrate into the ground the roots below this swale will take up the water. Often
31:38people will put a swale at the bottom catches it fine but the water's only going down the hill everything
31:44goes with gravity so you want it to catch here penetrate catch the roots for this fella.
31:50To stop your swale washing away give it a good beat.
31:57Once we've got the shape we want an even better way to hold let's get yourself a bit of ground cover.
32:02Plants the roots will go down they'll take up water as well but they'll also hold everything in place
32:07give a nice green cover to this beautiful little bed.
32:09This one Grevillea lanagira, Mount Tamburetha. Beautiful little prostrate Grevillea that'll
32:17cover this and hold our swale in place. Absolute beauty.
32:25Grevillea is perfect for this space because it really hugs the ground.
32:29Now it thrives in sunny well-drained conditions and should spread out over this area stabilising these
32:35swales and improving soil structure. Eventually they'll throw out soft pink to red flowers that
32:42the local pollinators will love.
32:48Last but not least, if you've got a few rocks or logs handy just put them around.
32:54Do what nature does. Slow the water down that way.
32:57Solid. Now I've got three swales here, one for each of these trees.
33:15If you are planting on a slope, swales are a great idea to hold water and to stop erosion.
33:21But you do have to check them every couple of days after you've installed them.
33:24Make sure that they hold. Make sure they're following the contour of the slope.
33:28When you water, water into the swale so that the water permeates into the root zone.
33:34You can put as little or as much ground cover in as you like. Lots of colour, lots of movement.
33:39Silver Princess will really enjoy the company. Remember to keep the nutrients up because you
33:43don't want these plants competing against each other. But for now, my job's done.
33:54All plants have a range of light they can adapt to survive within. Adaptations include the elongation
34:11of stems as they reach for the light. That's known as etiolation. Some plants change colour and you
34:17might have seen this with succulents whose leaves go red or orange when they get exposed to strong
34:22sunlight. However, there are limits. When plants get beyond the point of tolerance, they'll start to
34:28show symptoms of distress such as burnt or bleached leaves, stunted growth and a lack of flowers.
34:36Plants that have a wide tolerance of light are really useful for areas in the garden that change
34:41seasonally. Examples include Plectranthus. If they're grown in too much shade they get leggy and daggy but
34:48they respond well to pruning when the season changes. Dianellas are really hardy but their growth might
34:55slow down if there's not enough light. Then there's plants like Hoicra and Aduga. Both will take sun or
35:02semi-shade and even Camellias, while we often think of them as shade lovers. Sesenquas, of which this is one,
35:08are actually tolerant of more sunlight. Then there's some succulents that will take different shades
35:14of light and then we've got herbaceous perennials such as Rudbeckia and bulbs. Because they die down
35:21at that period of time they don't need light at all. If you're going to move one of these plants from the
35:27shade into the sun, do it gradually so they have time to adapt. Keep up the water so they don't go into
35:33total shock from drying out. And try to keep their roots out of the sun. Ideally keep their roots in
35:40the shade and their foliage in the sun. There are lots of cultivars bred to be more shade or sun tolerant
35:47so it's worthwhile doing your homework to make sure you get the right plant for you.
35:51For a lot of us gardeners it's really easy to take our water supply for granted. We literally just
36:05turn on the tap. But that's not the case for many people across the continent. Josh is meeting a
36:12gardener who's finding ways to get everyone growing regardless of how much water is on tap.
36:18Recently gardeners in the southwest of WA have been experiencing some of the lowest rainfall on record.
36:31Beck and Simon Bell own a 150 hectare sheep farm in Baylor about an hour east of Perth.
36:38How's that looking? We're up to 1100. What did we start on?
36:43And despite being relatively close to the city, water supply is always front of mind.
36:50It's been one of the driest years that we've seen in this area.
36:56Our major water supply is from dams so it's runoff and catchment. Two of them are completely dry. We had
37:03half the yearly rainfall last year that we would normally get. It's created less feed and we're
37:07having big problems with water at the moment as far as having enough just to water the livestock.
37:13While southwest gardeners are doing a rain dance, in Australia's vast interior there are gardeners
37:19who deal with dry conditions on a permanent basis. So what do you do when water is scarce
37:25and your nearest garden supply retailer is literally hundreds of kilometres away? Well,
37:32you need to be creative and you need to be resourceful.
37:42I've been travelling extensively through South Australia, WA, NT. I'm on full loops of those three
37:49states over the last three years. David DeVries has a head full of creative ideas and a wagon full of resources.
37:59I'll get to remote Aboriginal communities, schools, community gardens in small towns.
38:06Sometimes I'll get a local within a small town who'll host me to come and run a workshop and invite
38:11their neighbours and friends along. Each year he covers tens of thousands of kilometres,
38:17introducing regional and remote gardeners to inexpensive, low-water methods that will increase productivity.
38:29I went to one of David's wicking garden beds workshops to see how we can produce food and save water.
38:36Just test some of this water and see what the pH is.
38:39I feel coming to my workshops the word wicking is throwing them a bit.
38:43Once a year or so, you can take some of this liquid out of the bed.
38:47The lower half of the chamber is essentially a cavity that can get loaded up with water.
38:52There's no holes in the base of the bed. There's a maximum point that the water can get to and
38:57there's just a few pockets where soil can wick. Water's sticky stuff and this wicking effect of good
39:04growing media is such that it can pull against gravity through capillary action and ensure that all
39:09the growing media has good amount of moisture through it. So it's about setting up a system
39:14to store water and make it available continuously to the plants. They're very practical in that you
39:20can control the water, you can contain the nutrients, you can avoid potential problems with the local
39:27soils. I find there's a useful generalisation right through inland Australia. The soils are very alkaline
39:33and within the container of the wicking bed you can create an environment where your vegetables
39:41and flowers will prosper.
39:47It got me involved in understanding where we can move in accordance with the sun and the wind and
39:53how to plant according to that in your small one by one.
39:56The other fun part about David's workshops is the fact that everyone gets on the tools.
40:04You know, the jigsaw gets handed to the nearest female and away you go and you just get this sense of
40:11purpose and that you have got what it takes to be able to make these beautiful beds.
40:16Josh, when I'm traveling remotely I like to use materials that are readily available and recycle
40:28them. It's really up to your imagination what you can use. One very common container all around the
40:33country are these 20 litre containers and what I do is just cut the top off the container. Here's the top
40:38but I've also cut a big divot out of that. So we just put that in the base there and next up we need to
40:45create an overflow system. I've already drilled a 22 mil hole in the side and if you just want to
40:51put that in for me. This is a grommet. This is a 19 mil grommet and into a 19 mil grommet fits a 19 mil
41:00elbow. Just a standard irrigation fitting and a bit of poly pipe. Yes. It does require a bit of force so
41:06you're getting there. That's the way. And this is like a little valve isn't it? So you can either
41:11have a high water level. That's it. Or a lower water level. Or we can take
41:15take the water out quite easily and make the whole thing easier to move around around the home.
41:19OK. Look at that. Nice and sealed. What we're doing is setting up a zone here that we can store water in
41:26and to keep the soil from falling into that water we're going to put a piece of geotextile. Sometimes
41:32this is sold as drain mat. It's a cloth that won't rot in the ground but it allows water to pass through
41:38freely. Just going to poke that to create a cup that's going to hold all the soil out of the water
41:44zone. We're adding the perlite in. And that's just so the organic matter in that soil is not sitting
41:51in the water and going anaerobic and smelly basically. We're not in any way inhibiting this
41:55potting mix that I'm now adding from mixing in which will act as a good wick. I always travel the
42:00country with worms to ensure that I can bring a bit of life. Now just a touch more of the growing media.
42:07We can look at plotting in this case a geranium backfill around the plant. This one's pretty well
42:15finished now. All we need to do is add water and stand back and enjoy and that water will come up to
42:22a height preset by our elbow there. We can never flood the growing part of the plant but we can
42:28store water in the lower section. And the same principles can be used for whatever container
42:34you've got to hand. I do a lot of these blue barrels which are another very common and very
42:40cheap thing to get a hold of. I often put these in busy places like schools. So this top part here
42:46becomes like the protective barrier around the plant but still plenty of light and air gets in. That's
42:51right. That's great. What we're able to see in that one by one bed is an example of what we're seeing
43:01out on the broadacre. We saw how fertile that soil was and then we're looking at developing systems that
43:09don't require the use of chemical fertilisers and nitrogen so we are trialling utilising worms and
43:16worm tea and applying that on a broad acre scale to reduce our inputs and to hopefully create a
43:22healthier soil and therefore healthier animals. I came away from David's wicking garden beds workshops
43:30with more than I would have ever imagined. To me it just puts it under a focus under a microscope
43:39if you like where we can be involved and and aware of what's going on in the soil underneath the plants
43:44and everything above. So for me I get a lot of sense of satisfaction that I'm more of a part
43:51of what's going on out there simply because of this relationship in the in the wicking beds.
44:03One thing that people commonly worry about a bit in the garden or when they're choosing plants for their
44:08garden is the idea of pot plants becoming pot bound and they worry about whether it is going
44:14to have a big impact on their health. Now when you're choosing a plant or you're growing one at home
44:19in a pot over a period of time sometimes they will really fill that container out. You can see here
44:25this Achillea it's got lots of roots coming out from the bottom and I squeeze that pot it's absolutely
44:30rock hard which tells me it is completely full in the pot. Now this is a spreading perennial plant in
44:36fact you could chuck a shovel through the middle of that and make two plants so when it comes to being
44:40pot bound I'm not really worried about its health. It can be divided up and you can overcome the problem
44:46really quickly. The same sort of thing happens with things like this Lomandra a really really common
44:52plant and they're fast growing which means often when you get one home you might pull it out of the
44:57pot and it's got roots as thick as that. It's not really a problem they're incredibly tough you can cut
45:03those roots off at the bottom you can loosen these ones out and once it goes in the ground it will rocket away.
45:09Now when you do really need to consider it is when you're looking at growing something like a small
45:16or large tree. If a plant becomes pot bound those roots can run around that pot go around in circles
45:22and it can be really really difficult to break that habit once they go into the ground. So a few tips
45:28for picking that plant up have a look this has got just a few little healthy roots coming out the bottom
45:34it's absolutely raring to go. When I squeeze the pot it's not rock hard it's not soft which means it
45:40wouldn't be developed at all it is absolutely perfect. Call it the Goldilocks give it a squeeze
45:45you want it just right. And then the other thing is don't take this perfect plant home put it on a bench
45:51and not plant it for six months because your perfect plant might end up filling out the pot that it came in
45:57and causing trouble. So if you're not going to put it in the ground straight away pot it up into a larger
46:02pot in the growing season and then you'll have a healthy plant and its roots will roam free.
46:07I don't need to tell you that the food we grow and eat connects us. It connects us to land,
46:20to culture and to people and fresh is always best.
46:37When you have fresh ingredients on your hand you can tell that your cooking will be the best.
46:50It feels very good that everything is so fresh and nice. You see the ingredients it tells you that
46:55your dish is going to be good. My name is Isara Prajaren Watana. I am a chef and molecular biologist.
47:02I was born in Thailand. I grew up in a restaurant family background so my mom and dad they found the
47:12restaurant and sell food to the market. When I was young including my brother and sister so everyone
47:20in the house we have to help our parents to prepare everything that my mom and dad do. That's why I learned
47:27a lot of cooking techniques from my parents. But besides that I want to be a plant scientist since
47:33I was very young. After I finished my first degree in the university I got a government scholarship so
47:40I studied abroad. So I studied master at the University of Reading and PhD at the University of Edinburgh UK.
47:49After I finished my PhD I decided to come to Perth for the postdoctoral research associate position
47:57at the University of Western Australia. After four years of my postdoc contract I decided to open the restaurant.
48:06At that time year 2009 many Thai produce is not available at all. Many restaurants they try to use a substitute
48:18ingredients. I don't want to do that. I besides myself I want to grow our own vegetables so we end up get five
48:29acre land at Swan Valley north of Perth. When we moved to the farm in 2018 there's nothing here related to the farm work at all.
48:42Most of my vegetables they prefer tropical climate. As a scientist I try to make the possibility of growing
48:50Thai vegetables in Perth. This is a big challenge because in winter it's very cold, windy and wet,
48:58but for summer it's very dry and there will be few heat waves that destroy everything. So we have 360 meters
49:07square of the greenhouse with temperature control to grow the plant that they're very susceptible to the
49:15extreme weather. And also we have the outdoor to grow the fruit tree and herbs. Some area we have to
49:23protect with the shed cloth and windbreakers. Having a scientific background it allows me to understand
49:36and adjust the way we treat my crops. For example during extreme weather conditions we have to dose a lot of
49:45calcium nitrate into plants because there's a problem in Perth that when the weather is very hot plants show a
49:52calcium deficiency. The crop here for the open garden bed mostly lemon glass because they're very tough.
50:11Wing bean, Thai eggplants, Thai chilies, Thai herbs. This one called Thai apple eggplant. They have very unique
50:21sweet taste and very very crunchy in texture. We use in the curry and spicy stir fry at the shop. This is the
50:30size that ready to harvest.
50:35I have a lot of mango trees. I have jujube. I have rose apple, custard apple, tamarind, pomelo,
50:46lychee, and many others. This one called Thai long green eggplant. They have very unique sweet taste.
51:00So when they have green it means they can photosynthesize. They have a lot of sugar that's why they're very sweet.
51:05Which is very good to use for Thai food because it gives you a natural sweetness into the spicy dish.
51:10This one of beetole leaves is very very important and unique ingredients in Thai cooking. They like hot
51:19and humid climate. So in Perth, in winter, they're probably very difficult to grow. But we have the
51:27greenhouse with climate control. That's why we can grow beetole leaves all year round. So basically you
51:33not use the one that's too young because it's too soft. When you put on the plate they just wilt.
51:40The second or the third leaf downward is good to put on the plate.
51:46This one called white turmeric. Thai people use this as a condiment in some special dishes.
51:53At the moment I try to propagate through a tissue culture.
51:56This one you can see the meristem here. So we can use this for tissue culture.
52:09Once we take the rhizome into the lab, we do surface sterilization first. So we use diluted bleach and
52:17then wash it with sterile water. And then we extract the meristem from the node of the white turmeric.
52:25And place it into the media. Probably take about one month. You will see some
52:31shoots grow up out of the media surface.
52:37I wake up about 7 o'clock and I have to walk out to the farm and check that all the water
52:44is working properly. By 10 o'clock I have to go inside the greenhouse and check everything.
52:50And then I'm going to look at the list that I need to pick today for my restaurant. So I
52:57doing this until about 3 p.m. and then I go to work to the restaurant.
53:03I am very, very happy with the success of both the restaurant and the farm. My life has two
53:14passions. One is plant size and the other one is cooking. So I combine both of my passions into one.
53:22It's time to grab your gloves and your hat. Here's your list of jobs for the weekend.
53:36In cool climates there's still time to plant winter lettuce. Look for loose leaf varieties that you can
53:51harvest outer leaves as you need. If you haven't already chopped back yellowing asparagus fronds,
53:58cut them down now for new growth in spring. Snaffle some broccoli seedlings and get them in the ground
54:06while the dastardly cabbage white butterflies are less active. Try purple sprouting for a cut and come
54:13again crop. In warm temperate areas try adding some winter colour with French marigolds, Tagetes
54:21Patula. Not only do they look good, they also attract useful insects to the garden. Mush or lamb's
54:29lettuce is a favourite leafy green in France and often found in salad mixes. It hates hot weather,
54:36so if you want to try growing it, now is the time. If you've seen signs of disease in your patch,
54:42treat your soil with a crop of mustard. The pungent oils in mustard help suppress soil-borne
54:48pests and pests and diseases. Sow seed now and dig it back into the soil just before it flowers.
54:56In the subtropics it's your last chance to plant leeks. Grab some seedlings and slide them into a
55:02trench then cover the roots with soil. Your whole patch is probably pumping so try a fortnightly feed
55:10with liquid fertiliser to keep everything healthy, especially leafy greens. If you've never tried
55:17Japanese style radish or daikon, plant seeds now. They grow quite big so plant in deep furrows and
55:25backfill as they grow. In the tropics it's a good time to sow Florence fennel. Keep up the water for
55:33crunchy swollen stems that have a mildly aniseed flavour and can be eaten fresh or cooked.
55:40The lovely scarlet gum Eucalyptus phoenicia is in flower now. It's a great small tree that will bring
55:49shade, birds and insects to a garden and it grows easily from seed. It's cool enough to get a crop of
55:57cucumbers in now. These tasty cucumbers hate humidity so grow them up a trellis either from seed or seedlings.
56:07Arid gardeners can plant all sorts of root crops now. Why not try turnips? Mix the tiny seeds in a jar
56:14with some sand then pour through a hole in the lid to make sowing easier. Sturt's desert pea,
56:22Swainsonia formosa are starting to put on a show. So get out and admire our eye-catching local flora.
56:31Lots of herbs prefer the cool weather. Dill and coriander won't go to seed so quickly if planted now.
56:39Have fun out there this weekend gardeners and don't forget you can always catch up on Miss
56:44GA episodes on iview anytime.
56:48Well that's all we have time for but you know where I'll meet you next week. Right here in the garden. See you then.
57:01I'm catching up with an inspiring Adelaide gardener and plant lover whose lifelong commitment to
57:09gardening and bush regeneration has helped her get through some challenging times.
57:16It may be cold but I have some hot tips for getting the best out of bare root plants.
57:21And I'm learning about an invasive species which threatens our very way of life
57:27and what we home gardeners can do to put a stop to it.