- 5 hours ago
- #gardeningau
- #realityinsighthub
Gardening Australia Season 36 Episode 41
#GardeningAu
#RealityInsightHub
🎞 Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free, as soon as possible. ❤️Reality Insight Hub❤️
👉 Official Channel: />👉 THANK YOU ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
#GardeningAu
#RealityInsightHub
🎞 Please subscribe to our official channel to watch the full movie for free, as soon as possible. ❤️Reality Insight Hub❤️
👉 Official Channel: />👉 THANK YOU ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:01Hey!
00:02Hi!
00:08Ooh!
00:13Hey!
00:15Hey, mate!
00:18Hey!
00:19Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia from Heronswood on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.
00:36It's our final episode of the year and we're unpacking some real treats to take you into the festive season.
00:44Now, we know it can be a hectic time, but we've got everything you need to slow down, take a breath and reconnect with nature and all that matters.
00:56Here's what's in store.
01:00I visit a garden on a steep, challenging site using native plants to hold it all in place and all done by a first time gardener.
01:09How beautiful is this?
01:11This is the Butterfly House at Melbourne Zoo and today I'm going to learn from the experts how we can all entice more of these absolute beauties into our gardens.
01:20Every species is important. We've got species here that are found nowhere else in the world.
01:25And the average gardener can really protect those by planting the caterpillar plants and some nectaring plants.
01:31If you go endemic, even better. They're beautiful. Why wouldn't you want flowers and butterflies in your garden?
01:37I'm making a floral ice bucket, a cool centrepiece to show your favourite tipple at your next soiree.
01:43And I'm hanging out in a flourishing market garden that's growing traditional produce for a surprising variety of communities in southwestern Sydney.
01:54Being in a good garden is like hearing good music. There's themes, movement, structure and even a little dramatic tension.
02:13Sophie's conducting our next story, so take it away, maestro.
02:16The beautifully designed Eukeria Cultural Centre nestled in the Adelaide Hills has been specially designed for musical performances in an intimate setting.
02:36But for me, the real masterpiece is the garden. The carefully curated grounds not only complement the concert hall,
02:48they've been designed to take the audience on a journey as they make their way to the venue through 4,000 square metres of stunning gardens.
02:57When you're up here, it is another world. You know, it's a beautiful place.
03:03Alison Bear loves coming to work. And is it any wonder why?
03:08There is nowhere else like this. And the garden is such an essential part of that.
03:14It's kind of like a transition and then you arrive at the hall and you're ready to kind of receive these amazing musicians.
03:21The garden is thanks to one woman's love of both music and plants. Eukeria was started by Ulrika Klein, the co-founder of skincare company Jirlik.
03:33Because to grow herbs and roses especially, you'll need this dry heat.
03:40She bought this property in the mid-90s as a place to grow the herbs and the flowers.
03:45And where we're standing was the show garden. And already on this property were some buildings.
03:51And she immediately commandeered one as a place that she could have concerts.
03:56And where did the name Eukeria come from?
03:59It's actually Ulrika Klein, UK, aria. So Ulrika's song, Eukaria.
04:08Looking after the garden for the past few years is head gardener, Adam Hancock.
04:13It's a garden that embraces seasonality. There's always something of interest throughout the year.
04:18So whether people come to their first show or their fifth show, the garden always looks different.
04:23Whether it be different colours, different textures, different seed heads in flower.
04:29It really embraces the different seasons.
04:32What a riot in colour. What's this part of the garden called?
04:35We call this the crescendo garden. It's a herbaceous perennial garden with grasses, herbaceous perennials and bulbs.
04:42There's always something in flower. So right now we're in the midsummer flush.
04:47And then we give it a cut back midsummer and then we get a second flush going into February, March.
04:53But then we leave a lot of the finished flowers and seed heads that sort of decay into winter to give that seasonal look.
05:00But then in winter we can cut it all to the ground and make all our changes and edits ready for the next year.
05:06So how do you choose what plants you put into this area of the garden?
05:10So we've tried to pick obviously plants that are climate suitable, but also all different types of plants that have different shapes.
05:17So whether they're tall emerging plants, low spreading plants or, you know, climbing, twining plants throughout everything.
05:24So there's a whole lot of different salvias through here. I can see catmint drifts of that.
05:29And you've repeated a number of the plantings too.
05:32Yeah. So the repetition is particularly important in a big garden like this.
05:36So whether it's the salvia namoroses repeated through the whole garden in big drifts or the catmints down the side here,
05:42which draws your eye through the garden.
05:44Now, as well as the perennials, I noticed that you've got some grasses.
05:48They add that beautiful wafty fairy feel to these natural gardens, but you've also got bulbs.
05:54Yeah. So liliums are a great one in these dense plantings because they can push through all of the dense planting down below.
06:01And then their big flowers sort of hang above everything else.
06:05We also have Dutch iris, which come out early in the season.
06:08And they've got quite easy to use foliage that don't swamp out the emerging perennials.
06:13We also try and use some annuals throughout it as well, just to add that splash of colour through the season.
06:18And the grasses you've repeated as well.
06:20So you haven't got a huge diversity of species here, but the ones that you've chosen, you've repeat planted.
06:26Yeah, particularly because the seed heads linger through the season.
06:29We've repeated it throughout the garden to add a sense of continuity to tie it all together.
06:38The suitability of these strappy plants has been used to great effect in another part of the garden.
06:44This is the grass garden. It's a combination of exotic grasses and local native grasses.
06:51Lots of diversity here. What does a grass garden bring to the garden overall?
06:57Well, it's quite different to our perennial garden, which is full of colour and it's quite over the top.
07:03Whereas this is a bit more subdued in its colour palette. So we get the beautiful seed heads and the wind going through the grasses.
07:11Creates sort of a sensory experience as you walk through.
07:14It does, doesn't it? Visual and the movement is gorgeous. So what's your favourite grass in here?
07:19Well, I think it changes through the season, but the panicum here is definitely up there with one of my favourites.
07:24It just gets an amazing autumn colour, but also has these lovely fluffy seed heads that float up above the foliage.
07:31What native grasses have you got?
07:33We've got a themeter, the kangaroo grass, which creates beautiful mounds of floating seed heads.
07:39And we also have some astrostipers in here as well.
07:42Now, how do you manage them?
07:44So most of them are herbaceous grasses. So mid-winter we come through with the hedge clippers and chop them all up and drop the material down as mulch and they get cut fully to the ground.
07:59So this has got a very different feel.
08:01Yeah, so this is our heritage garden. So it's got a number of the original roses and other plants that were used in the skincare products.
08:08So you've got the large Eladii lavender here and you've also got the English variety.
08:13Yeah, so this one here is Miss Donington. A bit more compact, but amazing colour still.
08:17Wow. And I bet these roses have a beautiful scent.
08:20Yeah, they give multiple flushes through the season and when they're in full bloom down here, the whole area smells amazing.
08:25I bet.
08:27The roses came from the original farm and then they were transplanted in here when the garden was redesigned.
08:34And how has it evolved over those 10 years?
08:37So recently we've been redeveloping some of the areas. So consolidating the different roses into groupings and then into planting it with other plants that were used in the skincare products.
08:47So Echinacea, Sambucus, Lavender, but then also adding in seasonal colour. So when the roses aren't in full bloom, we've still got colour and things of interest.
08:57So it really doesn't matter what season it is. There's always colour and interest in this garden and movement.
09:03Exactly. Even in winter, we've still got, you know, shapes and forms to keep the interest when the roses are in their dormancy.
09:10And maintaining the garden is a group effort.
09:13I'm here once a week, but we have a garden team here, myself and Andrew, who does two days a week.
09:23But we also have a core group of volunteers that come once a month who are fantastic.
09:28They come rain, hail or shine and do weeding, pruning, planting, everything with us.
09:34So it's a really great way where it becomes everyone's garden, not just ours.
09:40Since Adam has been with us, the garden has just changed and evolved and it never stays the same.
09:46It's like a living, breathing palette. And that's exactly what Ulrika's vision was for this place.
09:53What plants thrive in a rockery?
10:05Well, lots can, including the beautiful new blue moon, which has a stunning purple flower.
10:12And then there's things like calendulas, which have an edible flower, and common herbs like thyme and oregano.
10:19All these plants work well here because they have shallow root systems and love hot and dry situations,
10:24so don't need much water. And of course, they cascade beautifully down the wall.
10:30How many hours do I spend in the garden a week?
10:33Well, probably not enough. I've got a list of jobs to do as long as my arm.
10:37However, I'm essentially a weekend gardener. Like most people, I like to do project work over the weekends.
10:45And I can sneak in some work first thing and last thing before I go out to work.
10:50And that keeps things ticking over quite nicely.
10:53So in essence, I would say probably 10 to 12 hours a week on average.
10:59And that's about it. That keeps me fit and healthy. You know, it's my gym.
11:04The garden is something that I do live for. And so it's not really hard work.
11:09It's mostly just routine maintenance.
11:13Do you need a lot of room to grow corn? Well, not necessarily.
11:17In this four square metre bed, I've got about 20 cobs coming on.
11:22The important thing is to plant them out in a block of at least one square metre
11:26for good even pollination. Corn is wind pollinated.
11:30The pollen's got to go from the male flower up here to the female flower below.
11:35And block planting helps with even pollination, which means full cobs.
11:40Yum.
11:49Veggies. We all love them. And they can mean more than just a meal.
11:54They can also be an important part of your cultural heritage.
12:01Hearing my family story as I grew up was one thing,
12:04but I think it really takes time and years for you to appreciate
12:09where it sits in the bigger picture.
12:11And for my grandparents, who migrated to Australia all those years ago,
12:17growing veggies they knew and loved was a really important way
12:21of feeling grounded in a new and different culture.
12:25And really, I suppose that's made me who I am today.
12:31I've come to this shiny new housing development
12:34in the south-western Sydney suburb of Austral,
12:38because I'm told that just across the road is a thriving market garden,
12:43growing very special fruit and veg.
12:46And this morning, it's absolutely singing with vitality.
12:56It's about two hectares in all, maybe 30 suburban blocks.
13:01And I reckon one third of it is covered with one of the biggest trellises
13:06I've seen in a long time.
13:08The bloke behind it all was born in Bangladesh.
13:14He's Haroon Rashid.
13:16Hey Haroon.
13:17Hey Kosta, how are you?
13:18Good to meet you.
13:19Yeah, good to meet you.
13:21Wow, wow, look at this place.
13:24I was trying to find you underneath this incredible trellis.
13:28What's growing on here?
13:29On this trellis, in that section,
13:32we have got vegetables called long melon,
13:35something that normally we don't get in Australia.
13:38And these are the vegetables we are culturally attached,
13:41you know, back in our country like Bangladesh, India, Nepal,
13:45and all of the South Asian communities.
13:48Let's come and have a look.
13:49Yeah.
13:50In South Asian cuisine, long melon is a staple veg.
13:54Imagine a cross between a zucchini and a potato.
13:58But unless you grew it yourself,
14:00it was almost impossible to buy in Sydney
14:03until Haroon started his garden.
14:06This is long melon or bottle gourd.
14:09In Bangladesh, we say lau.
14:11In India, they say loki.
14:14And in Nepal, they say loka, but all the same things.
14:18How difficult are they to grow?
14:20It is not very difficult,
14:22but until I grow it, it was not that common.
14:25So now people, they can get the things
14:28that they were used to have in our country.
14:30They don't miss these things anymore.
14:32Yeah. Yeah.
14:33And it's nice and fresh.
14:34That's right, yeah.
14:35Haroon has half a dozen kinds of long melon,
14:39and the traditional method of growing them on the trellis
14:42helps achieve great shape, colour, and size.
14:46Have a look at this big unit.
14:48What a bottle gourd it is.
14:50Now, Haroon doesn't grow them to this size.
14:53He's left this one because he wants to collect seed from it.
14:56But it's a beautiful example to any of us home gardeners
15:00that there is incredible strength in this stem.
15:04It's probably anywhere from seven, eight to ten kilos.
15:08And as long as your structure has strength,
15:12these can hang happily and safely.
15:15Look at that.
15:16On Haroon's farm, the gardening lessons keep coming.
15:20Stand by for a masterclass on pumpkins.
15:23This is a big area of pumpkins.
15:25Why are you growing so many?
15:27It's not only for pumpkin.
15:30It is mostly for pumpkin shoots,
15:33like the top tender tip of the plants.
15:37So this is a very traditional South Asian,
15:41especially Bangladeshi and Nepalese thing.
15:44Is it something you can eat fresh?
15:46You can, but it's ideal to cook it, you know?
15:49I mean...
15:50Oh, look, I'll give it a go.
15:51Yeah.
15:52Oh, that's sweet.
15:55That's nice.
15:56Yeah, it is.
15:58But isn't that funny?
16:00I mean, I've grown pumpkins,
16:02I've been around pumpkins all my life,
16:05but this is that cultural thing
16:08where we can learn from each other.
16:10That's right, yeah.
16:11You see that as an edible part.
16:13Someone else has this for seven months
16:16and all they wait for is a pumpkin.
16:18That's right, yeah.
16:19Whereas you can eat this, you know, across the whole time.
16:23Haroon's pumpkin edibles
16:25don't stop at the pumpkin and the pumpkin shoot.
16:28He also grows the delicious pumpkin flower.
16:32This is so real and so, you know,
16:34so this one you eat like that.
16:36Just take off the stemmy part,
16:39give it a bit of wash,
16:41and then deep it into batter
16:43and then just fry it and deep fry
16:46until it gets nice, crispy brown look.
16:49It's so crunchy and so good to eat.
16:52Oh, yum.
16:54Whole new way of looking at pumpkin.
16:57So Haroon, how did it all begin for you with this growing?
17:05Well, I came to Australia in 2009 to study,
17:09to study Masters in Human Resource Management.
17:12Since then, I was doing some part-time jobs in different areas,
17:17but it did not attract me.
17:20Something else was in my heart.
17:22Since my childhood, I have seen my dad, my mom,
17:25growing all sort of vegetables in our home.
17:29So keeping, you know, watching this, watching and helping them,
17:34a passion build up, you know.
17:36And I had a dream, if I can,
17:39one day I will, I will be with the soil,
17:43I will be with the plants, I will be with the nature.
17:46If I can settle here, I will try to grow some sort of vegetables
17:51that are not in Australia or difficult to find.
17:55And so it's just grown from a heartfelt connection
18:00to your childhood and homeland.
18:03That's right, yes.
18:04How many varieties are you growing here on the farm?
18:07At the moment we have got, during winter and summer,
18:11we have got well over 50 varieties of vegetables we grow.
18:14That's a lot of different growing techniques and methods and seeds.
18:20Of course, it is, it is.
18:22But we have found so many of our other communities,
18:25they have been trying to ask me,
18:27can you grow this one, can you grow this one?
18:30Now Haroon grows beloved traditional veggies
18:34for other migrant communities in Western Sydney.
18:37So what are these beans that you've got growing here?
18:41This is called Bora beans.
18:43So this item actually I'm growing for a Fijian customer.
18:47So the Fijian community came and asked you to grow these?
18:52That's right, yes.
18:53Last year one of my good Fijian customer gave me some seed
18:56and gave me some idea how to grow and I did it.
18:59The customers are so happy because before I grow, no one had it.
19:04Yeah.
19:05And that's interesting, isn't it?
19:06That it wasn't a Bangladeshi bean
19:08and now you've learnt how to grow this
19:11and you're supporting the Fijian community.
19:14Yeah, that's exactly what I'm trying to do, yeah.
19:17Haroon's garden is a treasure trove of rare global staples.
19:22He grows taro leaves and hyacinth beans, amaranth and rosella,
19:28malabar spinach, three types of eggplant, fenugreek leaves, mustard leaves.
19:35It's a nice, it's a beautiful leaf, look at that.
19:38It is.
19:39That's really nice, okay.
19:40Oh, that's kicking in now.
19:45The more you chew it, the hotter it gets.
19:49That's great.
19:51I'm glaring my nostrils and eyes.
19:55So Haroon, how long have you been working this block of land?
19:59This is your second year.
20:01What?
20:02Yes.
20:03Is that all?
20:04That's right, yes.
20:05Only two years?
20:06That's right.
20:07And you've done all this?
20:08Yes.
20:09What's next?
20:10What's your plan with this place?
20:11Yeah, but unfortunately we can't have this one for a long time.
20:14We don't get any long-term leaves here
20:16because there's a lot of new housing coming here.
20:18Probably this year or end of next year this land will come for housing.
20:23So basically all those houses here are going to march their way across the street.
20:28Exactly.
20:29And that'll all be suburb.
20:30That's right.
20:31Wow.
20:32At the moment you're just working off land that's in limbo.
20:35That's right.
20:36Until it gets developed.
20:37That's right, yes.
20:38That's a tricky business model.
20:40Yes, and also I'm looking for another piece of land
20:44where we can grow sort of a longer period of time.
20:47But we have got two other plums.
20:48You've got two other blocks as well?
20:50Yes, yes, yes.
20:51Can we check them out?
20:52Yeah, of course we can.
20:53Let's go there.
20:54Yeah.
20:55This farm Haruna's named after his oldest son.
21:00And it's giving me a glimpse into the deeper motivation for all his hard work.
21:05Whoa.
21:06Look at this.
21:08Wow.
21:11What a set up you've got here.
21:14Whoa.
21:16The farm looks amazing.
21:17Oh, thank you.
21:18What have we got here?
21:19Oh, we've got some vegetables from my other farm.
21:20Oh, okay.
21:21What is it?
21:22It's called snake gird.
21:23Snake?
21:24In Bangladesh we call chichinga.
21:25Chichinga.
21:26Yeah.
21:27Alright.
21:28Chichinga.
21:29Here we go.
21:30Oh, what's that?
21:31Oh, what's that?
21:32Cauliflower.
21:33I want to represent this farm in a way that is not only coming for vegetables.
21:34It's a place to bring your kids here, have a little walk around, here's your kids, how
21:35the force comes to your table.
21:36How the force comes to your table.
21:37When I was in childhood, you know what I mean?
21:38In our childhood, we're in Bangladesh, in India.
21:39It's a place to bring your kids here, have a little walk around, here's your kids, how
21:43the force comes to your table.
21:44When I was in childhood, you know, in our childhood, we're in Bangladesh, in India, or Nepal, we know
22:08things, you know, every back in our household, we have those vegetables.
22:12But in here, kids born in here, they don't know.
22:15So what I'm trying to do, like, you know, bring back all those memories we had left behind,
22:20and the kids can know what we do, you know?
22:23So those memories that you're helping create for other families, what does that mean to
22:29you and your story?
22:31Look, I love this, I love what I'm doing.
22:34And the happiness, the sense of, you know, satisfaction I feel among my customers, that
22:42means a lot to me.
22:43And the kids can learn what we had back in our country.
22:50Just imagine how heartwarming it would be to find your native greens are available in your
22:57new country.
22:58Haroon's gardens and farm, and the produce that he's sharing with his communities,
23:03are making people feel welcome and at home.
23:07I'm at the Yooralla Garden, a glorious five-acre spread in a semi-rural Sydney suburb, about 40 minutes from the city.
23:08And I'm here to show you how to make a cool centrepiece for entertaining at your place.
23:09A floral ice bucket.
23:10I'm here to show you how to make a cool centrepiece for entertaining at your place.
23:11A floral ice bucket.
23:12A floral ice bucket.
23:13It's a stunning way to make a beautiful garden.
23:14I'm here to show you how to make a cool centrepiece for entertaining at your place.
23:15A floral ice bucket.
23:16It's a stunning way to showcase your home-grown blooms and chill your celebration drinks.
23:17It's a stunning way to showcase your home-grown blooms and chill your celebration drinks.
23:19I'm here to show you how to make a cool centrepiece for entertaining at your place.
23:26A floral ice bucket.
23:27It's a stunning way to showcase your home-grown blooms and chill your celebration drinks.
23:32This DIY showpiece adds personality and charm.
23:33And best of all, it costs nothing to make.
23:34And it all starts with a garden walk.
23:35Let's see what's flowering.
23:36Gather your favourite flowers, flowers, flowers, and flowers.
23:37And then I'm here to show you how to make a cool centrepiece for entertaining at your place.
23:38A floral ice bucket.
23:39It's a stunning way to showcase your home-grown blooms and chill your celebration drinks.
23:44This DIY showpiece adds personality and charm.
23:49And best of all, it costs nothing to make.
23:52And it all starts with a garden walk.
23:54Let's see what's flowering.
23:56Gather your favourite flowers, fruit, foliage, and herbs.
24:04Green leaves will help create a fresh colour contrast.
24:07Orchids, pansies, and lavender are all great choices, as they are edible.
24:11But it's a good idea to ensure your home-grown blooms haven't been sprayed with chemicals.
24:16Apart from your flowers, you'll need lemon slices.
24:35You'll also need some tap water and two food-safe plastic containers.
24:41One container needs to fit inside the other, leaving a gap of a couple of centimetres.
24:45The inner container also needs to be wide enough for a regular wine, champagne, or soft drink bottle.
24:51You'll also need a weight to hold the inner container in place while it's in the freezer.
24:56And a tray or stand to display your ice bucket on the table.
25:00The clarity of the ice can be affected by the temperature of the water and the impurities in it.
25:05The impurities are released when the water is cooled and frozen, which can make the ice appear cloudy.
25:10To make sure your ice bucket will be crystal clear when it freezes,
25:14use distilled or double-boiled water instead of tap water.
25:20Start by freezing a couple of centimetres of water in the larger container.
25:25Once that's frozen, you place a smaller inner plastic container on top,
25:29weighing it down with something heavy so that it doesn't move.
25:33Carefully pour the water into the void between the two containers.
25:38As you pour the water in slowly, add the flowers, fruit and foliage.
25:56You'll need a utensil to press them into place.
25:59Place the mold in a freezer and allow it to freeze completely.
26:04This will take a full 24 hours.
26:06Once it's frozen, take it out of the freezer and fill the inner container with warm tap water.
26:12Run warm tap water along the sides of the outer container to free the ice bucket.
26:17It should then slide right out.
26:21Place the ice bucket on a tray and add your favourite summer sip.
26:25The tray will catch the water as it melts.
26:27Creating a floral ice bucket with frozen flowers adds a gardener's touch to any soiree,
26:33while keeping your drinks chilled.
26:35It serves as a unique centrepiece for a memorable event.
26:38It's celebration time.
26:45Still to come on Gardening Australia.
26:48Hannah's top tips for tomatoes.
26:52Millie meets some fluttering friends.
26:56And Gerry introduces us to royalty.
27:05Are you teetering on the edge?
27:08When you're gardening on an incline,
27:10you'll know it can feel like you're constantly pushing stuff uphill.
27:15Well, Clarence is visiting a remarkable garden that's achieving at altitude.
27:22I've been a gardener for a lot of years.
27:36There's one thing that's still daunting.
27:38The steep, sloping block.
27:43Now, it can be difficult, can be dangerous,
27:46and to do it well can cost you a bomb.
27:48I'm in the Sydney suburb of Arncliffe.
27:52And yes, the hint is in the name.
27:56Established on the craggy lands of the Bidigal,
27:58it's a riot of steep slopes, sudden drops, and sandstone walls.
28:05None of that seemed to deter Ruby Steele
28:08when she moved into this east-facing hillside home just a few years ago.
28:12G'day, Ruby.
28:13Hey, Clarence.
28:14This isn't as steep as I thought.
28:16Come and see the backbend.
28:18Oh, all right, after you.
28:20This is a nice little spot.
28:21Yay!
28:22What Ruby has accomplished in her backyard is truly remarkable.
28:27I think this is amazing.
28:30Well, I wasn't expecting this. This is great.
28:32Thanks, yeah. Garden over three levels.
28:36Ruby's garden is in three sections.
28:38At the very top, a terrace with brilliant views.
28:43Below that is a very steeply sloping native garden,
28:48which rises from a sheer sandstone rock face.
28:52The pig face is amazing. Look, that's such a good feature.
28:55It's almost like a waterfall.
28:57Yeah.
28:58It's just a really massive cascade.
29:00There's lots of things just popping out of the sandstone.
29:02Yeah, some of it we planted,
29:04and some of it the birds have planted for us.
29:06Like those fig trees.
29:07Yeah, yeah.
29:11This is a great-looking bed.
29:13You're a rain catcher.
29:14Yeah, yeah.
29:15And the seepage through the sandstone, the Melaleuca,
29:17that's going to really be a feature when it gets up there.
29:21How big do you reckon that Melaleuca's going to get, Clarence?
29:24Oh, look, most Melaleucas are fairly big trees.
29:28Perfect conditions.
29:30It's going to be at least twice that size.
29:32Eek.
29:33Let me take you up to the next level.
29:36Ruby's backyard probably averages a slope of almost one to one.
29:41But with some clever terracing and pocket planting,
29:43it's been transformed into a beautiful native meadow.
29:47This is a whole other look here, isn't it?
29:49Yeah, I became a bit of a plant-aholic
29:51and was going out and sourcing plants each weekend
29:54and trying to fill the slope.
29:55And so it's a bit eclectic, but I like it.
29:58Too many plants are barely enough.
30:01What are some of your favourites in this bed?
30:03Well, I really like these paper daisies.
30:06I think they're really pretty.
30:08And the kangaroo paw.
30:11The billy buttons are amazing
30:12because I love how they set off with the grass.
30:15A fairly serious slope here.
30:17This is about a 45-degree angle.
30:19Yeah, it was a big retaining wall.
30:21That fell down, so we took out four skip-loads of dirt.
30:24All by hand, I'm assuming?
30:26Yeah, all by buckets.
30:27Us and friends.
30:29Oh, that's what friends are for, isn't it?
30:31And you've been able to use plants that hold the soil in?
30:34Yeah, that's the plan.
30:35A bit of rocks and wood
30:38and hopefully the roots holding the soil in place.
30:42Working with a weed mat here on this slope as well?
30:45So the weed mat is also to kind of retain it.
30:47It's all clay and rock down there,
30:49so we really had to dig out pockets
30:51and cut holes in that weed mat to plant them in.
30:54It's certainly thriving.
30:55I really like what you've done with the core tent,
30:58just really holding everything in place there
30:59and just giving it some beautiful form.
31:01Yeah, I really like that box.
31:03And that's a tea tree in there,
31:04so I'm hoping that will get really sculptural as it gets bigger.
31:07The sandstone, which is lovely.
31:09Great feature.
31:10Yeah, yeah.
31:11A lot of this sandstone was covered in garden beds before,
31:14so we pulled all that back so you could see the sandstone
31:16and I love that view up there.
31:17You don't expect to see it in somebody's backyard.
31:20You're really working with what you have so well.
31:23There's more at the top?
31:24Yeah, come see the view from the top.
31:26Oh, yeah.
31:28This is the garden that just keeps giving.
31:31Although we're only about 40 metres above sea level,
31:34the views from the top are like, wow!
31:37That's incredible.
31:38Yeah, it's a good view, isn't it?
31:40I love being able to see Botany Bay.
31:42Yeah.
31:43If you see through the head,
31:44you wouldn't have expected to see this.
31:45Yeah, yeah.
31:48There's such a change of level too.
31:50You've done really well to make it really interesting
31:53as you make your way up and then boom.
31:58Everywhere you look there's something different
32:00and a lot of the plant selections up here,
32:02it's a different feel from the bottom half.
32:05A couple of feature wattles that you've got in pots there.
32:07Yep.
32:08Eventually I want to be like a little secret garden up here
32:10and block out the neighbours a bit more.
32:12You've got this lawn that's just sitting here.
32:14The texture of that is amazing.
32:17Yeah, I think it looks a bit like a guinea pig's fur.
32:19Yeah, yeah.
32:20But I love it that you don't have to mow it.
32:21It's perfect.
32:23It's certainly worth the effort to get up here.
32:25Yeah, yeah.
32:26There's a fair bit of effort to get it looking like this too, huh?
32:29Yeah.
32:30Dad and I actually built all the sandstone walls.
32:32I remember him working with stone quite a bit when I was a kid.
32:37It was a lot of kind of father-daughter bonding,
32:39so that was really lovely working with him on that.
32:42And what about your own gardening journey?
32:44Has this been a bit of an impetus?
32:46Well, this is actually my first ever garden.
32:50I've been kind of in inner city courtyards before this
32:53and really I don't think I would have taken to it
32:55except for the falling down retaining wall.
32:58But after hauling dirt and rocks for a year,
33:01the planting of the plants was the really nice reward at the end.
33:04Yeah.
33:06There's a trade off.
33:07Yeah.
33:09So given this is your first major garden project,
33:11what have you taken from this?
33:13Well, it's been a steep learning curve.
33:15Pun intended?
33:16Yeah.
33:20While it's been an uphill battle to bring her garden to life,
33:24Ruby has scaled new heights
33:26and must be feeling on top of the world.
33:30Steep blocks can be torture to work on,
33:32not to mention dangerous and expensive.
33:35But get them right,
33:36they can be a wonder to behold.
33:38My greenhouse is pretty new,
33:47and I'm still working out the best way to grow certain plants.
33:53Lately, I've been growing my first tomato crop in the greenhouse.
33:57Tomatoes are generally determinate or indeterminate.
33:59These are indeterminate or vine-type tomatoes.
34:02I planted them from seedlings around two months ago,
34:04and check them out.
34:05They're pumping along.
34:06I've also got determinate or bush-type tomatoes growing in the garden outside.
34:21These typically grow to around 50 centimetres.
34:24They don't need steaking,
34:25and are bred to produce a determined number of flowers and fruit,
34:28which all ripen around the same time.
34:30But here in the greenhouse,
34:31these vine tomatoes will keep growing taller and taller,
34:34flowering and fruiting throughout the season.
34:36I'm not using steaks in here.
34:37Instead, I'm using some strong garden twine,
34:39which means I can just loop the vines around the string as they grow taller.
34:44Also, as they grow,
34:45it's important I prune off any excess leaf or laterals
34:47to make sure the energy goes into fruit
34:49and not all the seeds.
34:50So, I'm going to be able to keep growing taller.
34:51These tomatoes are all planted into a fresh garden bed,
34:54which I made with the no-dig garden layer method,
34:56meaning there's beautiful rich layers of carbon and nitrogen,
34:59like manures from our goats and chickens and blood and bone.
35:02But to be able to keep growing taller,
35:04I'm going to be able to keep growing taller.
35:06I've got a long garden twine,
35:08which means I can just loop the vines around the string
35:11as they grow taller.
35:13Also, as they grow,
35:14it's important I prune off any excess leaf or laterals
35:16to make sure the energy goes into fruit
35:18and not all the leaf.
35:20But it turns out it was too much nitrogen
35:23and our tomatoes have developed some leaf curl.
35:26It looks horrible,
35:27but I'm not too worried
35:28because we're still going to get a harvest
35:30and this soil will mature beautifully,
35:32meaning all future crops will go gangbusters.
35:35It is a curiosity though,
35:36because meanwhile other nightshade crops,
35:38which are the same family as the tomatoes,
35:40like eggplants and capsicum,
35:42are loving life in the same type of soil mix.
35:45So, there's so much to learn from gardening
35:47and while my heart does break a little bit
35:49of seeing this situation,
35:50I know it is going to be okay.
35:54The thing that you have to be really careful about
35:56in greenhouses is the reduced airflow,
35:59which can lead to some fungal diseases sometimes.
36:02And unfortunately, this is what has happened here.
36:05A few weeks ago,
36:06I noticed that we have the early signs of tomato blight.
36:10This looks like a black dot surrounded by a yellow halo
36:14and it will start at the base of your plant.
36:16Left unchecked, it will creep all the way up.
36:19Basically, it can kill your plant if you don't treat it.
36:22The way I look after it is I remove any impacted leaf
36:26and you're going to bin or burn that.
36:28And then we did a one-off copper spray
36:30and now I'm doing a weekly milk and water spray
36:33to prevent that disease from spreading.
36:38I'm using one part low-fat milk and one part water
36:41to grow beneficial microbes on the leaves.
36:45Make sure you spray both top and underside of the leaves
36:48and drench them to get a good coating.
36:51This spray can act as an antifungal
36:53to prevent blight from spreading,
36:55but it won't cure established infestations.
36:59There have definitely been a few bumps in the road
37:02to me getting my first crop of tomatoes
37:04from my new greenhouse.
37:05But I'm on my way
37:07and the key thing will be to turn up
37:08and to turn up often to keep checking on them
37:10and respond to any problems that might come up.
37:13At the end of the day,
37:14it's also really good to remember
37:15that as gardeners,
37:16there's always going to be problems,
37:17but there will always be solutions.
37:26There's nothing better when you're gardening
37:28than to be joined by a little companion.
37:31It's why so many of us do it.
37:33It could be a bird, a lizard, a dragonfly,
37:37but some get the spotlight more than others.
37:40Millie's off to the zoo to visit an exhibit
37:43that captures the attention of us gardeners.
37:46How extraordinary is this?
38:04This is Melbourne Zoo's butterfly house
38:06and it is the perfect conditions
38:08for all of these tropical Australian species.
38:11But there are butterflies that we can welcome
38:13into all of our gardens.
38:14And today I'm going to find out exactly how to do it.
38:20Kate Pearce is the zoo's invertebrate manager.
38:23We have between five and seven hundred tropical butterflies
38:27flying at any one time
38:29and between 12 and 15 species.
38:31We're really fortunate.
38:32We breed everything here at Melbourne Zoo.
38:34So everything you see here has been bred on the plants
38:37that have also been grown here at Melbourne Zoo.
38:42And what makes it the perfect place for tropical butterflies?
38:45So the butterfly house is kept at around 28 degrees during the day.
38:48And then humidity is also really important for a tropical environment.
38:52So we aim for around 70% year round.
38:55So we have a beautiful waterfall that helps us with that.
38:58So a lot of thought goes into the planting in here.
39:01So some of the plants on the stands in pots,
39:04they're the egg laying plants.
39:06So they're obviously very important
39:07because we need the eggs and subsequently the caterpillars
39:10to complete the full life cycle.
39:12But we also plant the space to accommodate for these species.
39:17So we create this really open environment
39:20with lots of roosting around the perimeter.
39:28Butterflies, you know, when they're visiting flowers,
39:30are they actually doing a service?
39:31Are they pollinators?
39:32Yeah, they're definitely pollinators.
39:34We don't think of them as highly, I guess, as the bees.
39:38Moths are also amazing pollinators.
39:40There's probably 400 species of butterflies thereabouts in Australia,
39:44but they are carrying their weight when it comes to pollination for sure.
39:51Of course, they need nectar,
39:53but it must be really hard to have enough flowers
39:57to feed this many butterflies.
39:58Yeah.
39:59How do you do it?
40:00There's absolutely no way we could grow enough flowers in here
40:03to be able to feed everyone.
40:04So we do supplementary feeds with an artificial nectar in there
40:07that we make here ourselves.
40:11Obviously, we all want more butterflies in our gardens.
40:13What's the simplest way to do it?
40:15The simplest way is flowers.
40:17They just love flowers.
40:19Something like this example where you've got lots of flowers
40:22in a small space.
40:23We call that a nectar trap.
40:24So they just can't resist something like that.
40:27Shallow-throated flowers are really good for butterflies.
40:30Butterflies do have long tongues, but they can't manoeuvre as much.
40:34So flowers that have shallow throats, daisies are really great.
40:38If you want to go one step forward, you could look for the caterpillar plants
40:42for the butterflies in your area and plant those as well.
40:45Lots of them are native grasses and sedges.
40:48The other thing is open spaces.
40:50So a lot of us don't think about that in our gardens for butterflies.
40:54That's for them to be able to bask and warm up in the sun.
40:57Also, water is important for butterflies as well.
41:00Lots of plants, lots of space.
41:02Yeah.
41:03Also, areas that they can go to retreat away from predators.
41:07So some dense plantings around.
41:10The other thing is pesticides.
41:12The pesticides, yep, no pesticides, please.
41:15Butterflies do not like them.
41:17Yeah.
41:18Millie, this is an example of a butterfly that loves to roost
41:22under a broadleaf plant.
41:23So this is a ficus and this is the Australian lurcher.
41:27And it would do this in the forest for protection or shelter?
41:30Yeah, exactly.
41:31So in a rainforest, it's going to rain a lot.
41:34So the broadleaves will protect them from getting a lot of water on them.
41:38The beautiful thing about a plant like this
41:41is that if you look up, the more you can see.
41:44So it doesn't matter where you are in Australia,
41:46in our beautiful bushlands or forests,
41:48if you look up under leaves,
41:50you will potentially see butterflies and lots of other amazing insects.
41:54So we're coming down to the gully area where a lot of the magic happens.
42:03It's a nice open space so the butterflies can lay their eggs on their egg-laying plant.
42:08So here we've got the citta rhombifolia and that one's for the common egg flies or blue moon butterflies.
42:15And what about the borage? Is that for nectar?
42:17Yes, this one's for nectar.
42:19Citrus is for our orchard swallowtails.
42:22So a lot of gardeners do ask us about the caterpillars on citrus.
42:26There's several papilio or swallowtail butterflies that lay on citrus.
42:30With all the predators and parasitoids that are out in the wild,
42:34they're not going to cause the gardener any kind of issue.
42:37So if you see caterpillars on your citrus, it's amazing.
42:40Let them grow through.
42:42Because you'll probably get one butterfly out of every 100 eggs.
42:46Egg-laden plants are taken to the caterpillar house next door.
42:49And it's here, behind the scenes, that we can see how plants are so central
42:54to the butterfly's life cycle.
42:57So here we are in the orchard caterpillar house.
43:00We bring the potted plant over from the butterfly house
43:03that has already got the eggs on it.
43:05From here, you can see that they've hatched and they're black and white
43:08and they're pulling off the bird poo look.
43:11The inedible bird poo look.
43:13Exactly.
43:14So birds don't want to eat their own poo
43:16and most other species are not really interested in poo.
43:19So they pull off that look for quite a while
43:21until they just get too big that the poo look isn't paying off anymore
43:25as camouflage and they molt into this green colour here.
43:29They'll start changing their behaviour as well.
43:31They'll start hugging the stems during the day
43:33so that predators can't see them as well.
43:36What happens next?
43:38So next, they'll grow a little bit more
43:41and then they'll turn into a pre-pupist stage.
43:44They'll sit like that for one or two days.
43:48They'll poo out all the waste that they don't need
43:51and then finally they'll molt into a pupa.
43:54So we produce as much of our own pupae here as we can.
43:58So we have another greenhouse that is probably ten times as large as this
44:02with thousands and thousands of caterpillars
44:04of all the different species that we have in the butterfly house.
44:07Once the caterpillars turn into pupae, they return to the butterfly house
44:14where they undergo metamorphosis
44:16and emerge from the chrysalis as an adult butterfly.
44:25Meantime, garden lovers might be wondering
44:27what happens to all the zoo's caterpillar ravaged plants.
44:30Shall I grab these?
44:31Yes, those two, thanks.
44:32Well, it's zoo horticulturist Tom Gleeson's job to revive them.
44:37Gosh, Tom, they don't leave you a lot to work with.
44:40No, the caterpillars have eaten all these leaves.
44:44How long do they go into the caterpillar house
44:46to come out looking like that?
44:48It's only been in there for like a couple of weeks.
44:50This plant will be at least ten years old
44:52and it's probably been fed off probably about a hundred times.
44:56Really? Yeah.
44:57Tom, what's the key to rejuvenating a plant like this?
45:01It's to give it a nice hard prune, basically TLC,
45:05and then like we need to fertilise it as well
45:08and then just give it a bit of time to recover.
45:10How long will it take to be ready to go back into the caterpillar house?
45:13Well, at least three months.
45:15Citrus are fine, they can be pruned right back really hard.
45:17It's just like a bonsai and it just likes being pruned
45:20and it comes back with vigour.
45:22The caterpillars are very fussy in what they eat
45:24and so the plants that we choose are the ones obviously that the caterpillars eat
45:28but they have to respond well to being pruned as well.
45:30And so you've found a kind of a suite of species
45:33that are both edible and gardenable.
45:35Yes, that's right.
45:36I feel like this is like the caterpillar's sort of version
45:40of compliments to the chef, Tom.
45:42Yeah. I look at it as being dirty dishes.
45:44It's a leftover. Yeah. Yeah.
45:46Got to do the dishes.
45:47Yeah, that's right. Yep.
45:49In 2025, the butterfly house is celebrating its 40th birthday.
45:59And just as impressive as the crowd-pleasing inhabitants
46:02is the butterfly conservation work,
46:04now spreading beyond the zoo's gates.
46:07Invertebrate conservation specialist Jessie Sinclair
46:10has been working with the Indigenous nursery, Dalki Garinga,
46:14run by the Berenji Gadjan Land Council.
46:16They're working to protect threatened species,
46:19including Victoria's only endemic butterfly.
46:23This is Myoporum parvifolium.
46:26I know it well. You do.
46:27It's a garden plant.
46:28It is a garden plant.
46:30And it's part of our conservation work
46:32for the golden, red, blue butterfly.
46:34It lives in that Wimmera region of Victoria.
46:37And this is its most important plant?
46:39It's its only food plant that we know of,
46:41so it will lay its egg on the really soft leaves.
46:45It's a summer flying butterfly.
46:47And the caterpillars only feed on these leaves
46:49and they look just like the leaves.
46:51Perfect camouflage.
46:52And when you say that they're associated with Myoporum,
46:56will any Myoporum do?
46:57Well, within a garden setting,
46:59any Myoporum can be amazing
47:01for encouraging invertebrates in to feed on nectar.
47:04What we're trying to do out where the golden ray blue flies
47:08is to propagate plants from that region,
47:11plants that in the wild the butterflies are using.
47:14So we are using a very specific Wimmera form of plant
47:17when we're doing our restoration works.
47:19The Wimmera is a very fragmented landscape for wild places.
47:23When you drive through the area,
47:25it's kilometres of cropping land.
47:28And so these butterflies, they're only small.
47:31They can't get across multiple fields of wheat.
47:35So these little pockets of habitat are great for the butterfly,
47:38but what we hope to do is create links across the landscape
47:42so the butterflies can move between the lake systems
47:45and be more secure for the future.
47:48That would always be our hope,
47:49is that the golden ray blue will be around for a long time to come.
47:52Every species is important.
47:56We've got species here that are found nowhere else in the world,
47:59and the average gardener can really protect those
48:02by planting the caterpillar plants and some nectarine plants.
48:05If you go endemic, even better.
48:08They're beautiful.
48:09Why wouldn't you want flowers and butterflies in your garden?
48:12This is Queen of the Night.
48:22It's a tropical rainforest-climbing cactus
48:25from Central America and the Caribbean.
48:28Most people grow it because it has the most amazing night blooms.
48:33Each flower is as large as a bread-and-butter plate
48:37and only lasts for one night.
48:40In spring, this is a spectacular plant.
48:44It fills my garden with fragrance.
48:47The vanilla scent is just unbelievable.
48:50I'll put on the floodlights and sit down on a bench
48:53and just watch it bloom.
48:55It's such a spectacle.
48:56And for most people, that's as good as it gets.
49:00You see, the ones you find in cultivation are generally cloned.
49:04They're grown from cuttings, so they're all genetically identical.
49:08And this particular cactus can recognise and reject its own pollen.
49:14And to get fruit, they need to have a different plant,
49:19which they don't recognise the pollen from.
49:21I lucked out.
49:23I've got two genetically different plants, which I acquired just by chance,
49:29and they cross-pollinate.
49:32And so while these flowers have finished,
49:35you can see this one was successfully pollinated.
49:39The fruit tastes exactly like dragon fruit.
49:42Sweet, juicy and delicious.
49:45And I've been able to produce seed to grow my own seedlings
49:50to further diversify the genetic base of this plant
49:54so I can offer it to people for its flower and fragrance
49:59and you can get fruit from it.
50:01It's growing here on this archway for a specific reason.
50:05This is a yam, and it's winter deciduous.
50:09So there's no sign of this during winter,
50:12and that's perfect because the winter sun ripens the stems of this cactus
50:17and gets them primed for flowering.
50:20In summer, when the leaves of the yam shade the plant,
50:25this cactus benefits a second time
50:27because it doesn't like the direct intense summer sunshine.
50:31So they're actually a good partnership in the garden.
50:41Now, just because it's the holidays
50:43doesn't mean you can kick back and put your feet up.
50:46Your jobs for the weekend are ready and waiting.
50:56In cool areas, keep your broccoli pumping.
50:59Scatter seeds on free-draining mix,
51:01cover with vermiculite and keep well-watered as they grow.
51:06Annual weeds like chickweed, milk thistle and dock
51:09should be tackled now before they have time to develop roots,
51:13set seed and take over.
51:16It's the last chance to get your capsicums in.
51:19Plant seedlings into fluffy soil with manure mixed through.
51:23Pick a sunny spot and space them about 30 centimetres apart.
51:28In warm areas, prepare your irrigation for the summer holidays.
51:32Flush out drip lines to dislodge any grit
51:35and check sprinkler heads are in good working order.
51:38Get crafty and make your own seed tape or infused gift cards.
51:43It's a great way to give the gift of gardening.
51:46Find all the details on our website.
51:48Take your garden with you in a portable herb basket.
51:53Line a basket with plastic with holes for drainage.
51:56Then plant mint, thyme and basil to enjoy on the road.
52:00In subtropical areas,
52:03Varea rhododendrons are in the spotlight.
52:06Protect from drying sun and wind and feed with a dilute fertiliser now.
52:12Prune back trees by a third to help prevent wind damage.
52:16Smaller plants are less likely to snap and they'll have fewer leaves to keep hydrated.
52:21Bergamot or bee balm attracts beneficial bees and hoverflies.
52:26Cut flowering stems to one pair of leaves at the base to encourage new blossoming stems.
52:33In tropical areas, take advantage of the warm weather and bump out some leaf mould.
52:38It's made entirely of composted leaves
52:41and is perfect for homemade potting mixes or mulches.
52:45Keep an eye on your plants for signs of fungal disease
52:49that can be more common during the wet season.
52:52Remove infected foliage and treat with organic fungicides.
52:56Take your cooking to the next level and track down an edible pandanus.
53:01Famed for the nutty fragrance it brings to dishes,
53:04the leaves can also be used to bundle food.
53:08In arid areas, basil grows fast in the heat.
53:12To ensure a tasty harvest, prune off flower heads and steep them in tea.
53:17Apply liquid feed for some more leafy growth.
53:21Kangaroo apples are hopping into season.
53:24Green fruit is not edible so allow the fruits to drop and ripen off the tree.
53:29Enjoy fresh or stewed.
53:32Sea holly is sending up spectacular flowers, attracting bees and butterflies.
53:38Deadhead regularly and mulch well to keep their shallow roots cool.
53:44That should have you set for the months ahead.
53:47Remember, we've got all your favourite episodes on iview
53:50to make sure you have a cracker of a summer.
53:53Well, that is our offering for 2025.
54:03Done, dusted and delivered with a bow.
54:08From all of us here at Gardening Australia, a massive thanks to everyone
54:13who has so generously opened their gardens for us.
54:16And of course, to all of you who have tuned in each week for the show
54:21and engaged with us on our socials.
54:25We love hearing from you.
54:27We'll be back again next year.
54:29And as the holidays kick in, make sure you find time and spend it with the people
54:35and, of course, the plants you love.
54:38See ya!
54:41This year, I'm hoping for some really good quality gardening gloves
54:46for my little Chrissy present.
54:48A really good set of gloves.
54:50Something I can really sink my hands into.
54:53That's a terrible joke.
54:55This year, I'm hoping for time in the garden.
54:58I became a new mum this year and I've had very little time
55:01to spend just pottering about, so I would love some time.
55:04As a compulsive gardener, the best present for me this Christmas
55:08would be to spend a day gardening doing the things I want to do
55:13rather than the things I have to do.
55:16I'm looking forward to the gift of time.
55:18Firstly, time to watch five days of the Boxing Day Test match
55:22followed by a good session of gardening each afternoon
55:25when it's cool and the light's perfect.
55:29I'm hoping my tribe will help me make a pergola
55:32so that I can decorate it with glory vine
55:34and we'll have shade for summers to come.
55:36Happy Christmas to you all.
55:38I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends.
55:41And don't forget to compost your scraps.
55:43Happy Christmas, everybody.
55:45Tis the season to be jolly, so really enjoy yourselves.
55:48Stay safe.
55:49Have fun with friends and family.
55:51Be mindful of how much liquid you imbibe
55:56and make sure your plants get some as well.
55:59I hope your holidays are full of love and life
56:03in and out of the garden
56:05and you get your hands dirty and your hearts happy.
56:07I'd like to wish everybody a happy festive season
56:11and most of all, peace on earth.
56:15Oh, so beautiful.
56:18Have a great summer, everybody.
56:20I hope you get a few days off to absolutely soak up
56:22this beautiful country.
56:24There is so much to see.
56:25You never know who you'll meet.
56:27Happy summer.
56:28Merry Christmas, everyone.
56:29Have a wonderful festive season.
56:31Lots of love and joy.
56:32Take care and we'll see you next year.
56:34I hope you get time to spend in your garden
56:38with the people you love doing what you love.
56:41Have a great break, everyone.
56:42And if you're still working during that time,
56:45thanks for keeping the world ticking over.
56:48We'll see you next year.
Be the first to comment