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00:00Whoo-hoo!
00:05Hey! Hi!
00:11Hey, honey.
00:22Hey!
00:33Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia.
00:37This week we are absolutely loaded with ideas, inspiration,
00:42insights, analysis, hacks, tips, tricks, techniques
00:47and good old-fashioned advice.
00:50Anyway, take a look at what we've got lined up.
00:53I know, you're gonna love it.
00:57Some gardeners have that extra special something
00:59and Dolores Milak is one of them.
01:02Wow, you've trained these figs into archers.
01:05The garden is a celebration of her Maltese culture,
01:08family and friendship.
01:09To believe in a garden is really to believe in tomorrow.
01:12It's part of my own feelings, my own nature, I suppose.
01:17When it comes to form, structure, privacy
01:19and creating space in gardens,
01:21our gardening minds often turn to thinking about hedging and screening.
01:25I've got some top tips on the perfect natives to use.
01:29Can pools be a safe space for humans and wildlife?
01:34I'll be finding out how to make both things possible.
01:40And we meet a couple turning their inner city location
01:43into a real menagerie.
01:46When they're really little,
01:48they are actually bottle-fed five times a day.
02:01Campbelltown is a thriving city in Sydney's south-west.
02:05And I'm meeting up with well-known local identity,
02:09horticulturist Tim Pickles,
02:11at the park on the main street.
02:13His passion for trees is next level.
02:16There's some nice established trees in here, Tim.
02:21Absolutely magnificent shade trees in this park, Custer.
02:24I love it.
02:25What have you contributed?
02:27Well, I planted that gerildery red over there,
02:29which I absolutely love.
02:30I planted a grafted white jacaranda.
02:33And then in front of the church up there,
02:34there's a grafted brachycitan,
02:36which is going to be absolutely huge.
02:38It's going to be like a dinosaur of the forest.
02:42In the past, Tim has been a bit of a gorilla gardener.
02:45Not something we condone,
02:47but these days his work has the support of the local council.
02:53At his garden centre in the heart of town,
02:56he's sharing a few favourites for your own tree haven at home.
03:00Custer, I've got this amazing tree, Australian native evergreen tree.
03:04It's called a Queensland Firewheel tree.
03:07It gets these incredibly arty, firewheel-like flowers.
03:12It flowers in summer.
03:13The birds absolutely love the nectar in the flower.
03:17The fast-growing tree only grows about six or eight metres high
03:19by four metres wide,
03:21so it's the perfect tree for these modern courtyard-sized gardens.
03:25You can prune the lower branches off it,
03:28you'll be able to sit a table and chairs underneath the tree,
03:30and you'll get an extra room in your house,
03:32sitting outside, listening to birds and nature.
03:46This has become one of my favourite trees.
03:49Buckinghamia salissima.
03:50I've actually planted one on the other side of the fence,
03:53just outside our nursery here.
03:54It only grows about four to six metres high in Sydney,
03:56and it should be famous.
03:58Everyone in Australia should have one of these in their garden.
04:00Look at the glossy green leaves,
04:02beautiful glossy green, coppery-coloured new growth.
04:05And it gets these flowers, huge ivory-coloured flowers.
04:08They're massive.
04:09They're almost 30 centimetres long.
04:11And it smells.
04:13The fragrance is incredible.
04:18Where did this mission for trees begin?
04:21Well, it happened accidentally.
04:22What happened was,
04:23both my children were born at Campbelltown Hospital.
04:26And then I was leaving the hospital,
04:27and I noticed that the car park was devoid of trees.
04:30It was seriously like a moonscape.
04:32So to start with, I tried to get local council to plant trees there.
04:36Then one Sunday, I decided,
04:38well, why don't I go and plant some trees there?
04:40And I planted them myself.
04:41And then I had to water them for six months to get them growing,
04:44and they grew beautifully.
04:45And then, of course, the hospital got redeveloped,
04:47and now they've planted trees, which is great.
04:50But you won't believe it.
04:51Two of my trees are still there.
04:53Manchurian pear and a jacaranda tree.
04:54And two of my boys were born in that hospital,
04:56and there's still two trees that I planted.
04:58And recently, I was visiting a friend who was in hospital
05:00who was very sick.
05:01And I looked out of the window of the room,
05:04and there was my jacaranda, covered in flowers,
05:06looking absolutely magnificent.
05:08That made me feel so good.
05:12Tim sure does walk the talk.
05:14His own large garden on the semi-rural outskirts of town is Tree Lightful,
05:19growing an eclectic mix of exotic and natives.
05:28What I love about these trees, they're big shade trees.
05:31And you notice yourself,
05:33as soon as you walk underneath the shade of these trees,
05:35the temperature drops dramatically.
05:37All of a sudden, your body feels relaxed and calm,
05:40and your body just goes,
05:43oh, that is so nice.
05:46But the grass is still growing under quite a shade-giving tree.
05:51Yeah, absolutely.
05:51So the trick is, what you've got to do is you've got to underprune,
05:54you cut all the, they call it uplifting,
05:55you remove all the lower branches that hang down over the grass.
05:59That lets the sun in.
06:00Once the sun comes in underneath the trees,
06:02your grass grows, because grass needs sunshine.
06:05Now, you've got this beautiful hedge here
06:08that I imagine gives you great protection from the wind and privacy.
06:12It does, Costa. It's absolutely fantastic.
06:14It's actually a tree.
06:16It's a waterhousie, a floribunda, or weeping lily-pilly.
06:19And what I've done is I've pruned those trees and turned them into a hedge.
06:23It's an Australian native plant, grows really, really quickly.
06:27That's what I love about it.
06:28It makes the perfect hedge.
06:29And then over here, we've got this darker green of the ornamental pear.
06:35Costa, I love green.
06:36I love green in my garden.
06:38Seriously, it just relaxes you.
06:39It makes you just, it's so soothing.
06:41And this is actually a Manchurian pear tree.
06:44You can see how glossy and green they are.
06:46In spring, they're covered in the most beautiful white spring blossom.
06:50Summer, you get the gorgeous green leaves which give you the shade.
06:52And then in autumn, the autumn foliage is spectacular.
06:56They are great trees and so hardy and fast-growing as well.
07:00Next, Tim's showing me a tasteful addition to his collection of colourful trees.
07:06I love persimmon, one of my favourite fruits of all.
07:10Yeah, I love the tree.
07:11I'm not as excited about the fruit.
07:13This is the crunchy one for you.
07:16Well, I have planted the tree because persimmons get the most magnificent autumn foliage.
07:22The most amazing colours.
07:25And I decided that I had to have a persimmon tree just for the foliage.
07:31Nothing to do with the fruit.
07:33I pruned this tree in winter when they lose their leaves.
07:35This is about five years old, this tree.
07:37And you wouldn't believe it.
07:38It only started growing after I pruned it.
07:40You can see here where I chopped the top off it.
07:42Yeah.
07:42And you can see it sent out the branches here, here, here.
07:45All of a sudden, it woke up.
07:46It was like this tree needed to be pruned to make it grow.
07:51And then in spring, I put some cow manure around and then it's just taken off.
07:56Pruning trees is essential.
07:59And Tim's undertaken some strategic snipping of one of his big beauties.
08:04So when did this magnolia go in?
08:07Well, Costa, that got planted about 25 years ago.
08:11And I noticed one side has been hedged.
08:14Well, it has, Costa.
08:15It's a big tree.
08:16And what it was doing, it was leaning right over the pool and it does drop leaves.
08:20Even though it's an evergreen tree, it drops its leaves in spring to be replaced with new leaves.
08:25And those leaves are like cardboard.
08:27They fall in the pool.
08:28What I've done is pruned it on one side, reduced the size of it.
08:31So I can still see a beautiful tree, but without so much upkeep as in netting the leaves out of
08:37the pool.
08:37I've got regrets about how big it's grown, but I've fallen in love with it.
08:42There's no way I could ever remove it.
08:44I should have been a little suspicious with the name Grand Aura.
08:48But it just gets the most amazing white flowers on it.
08:51They have a beautiful lemony fragrance, so they smell delicious.
08:54The bees love them.
08:55And then it gets these fruit, which almost look like an avocado.
08:58And the parrots, the cockatoos especially, love eating them.
09:02So I'm feeding nature as well.
09:04Growing in all shapes and sizes, there's a smaller species of magnolia near the house.
09:10This one's called Magnolia denudata.
09:13I've planted this tree in this small space, because this tree fits in here.
09:17You can see it fits beautifully.
09:18You can see it grows about eight metres high and about six metres wide.
09:22Not too big.
09:23This one does lose its leaves in winter.
09:26And then in late winter, it gets covered in the most magnificent white tulip-shaped flowers.
09:32Absolutely covered.
09:33It has a perfume as well.
09:35And it's one of those trees that heralds the start of spring.
09:38But you've also got the views out through it, which I like.
09:41And it frames this view out that window.
09:44This house was designed to have no curtains.
09:47Every window you look out, you look out onto trees and gardens.
09:52How nice is that?
09:54And later in the program, Tim and I will be digging into his tips for planting trees.
10:05What's a quick growing vine for your garden?
10:08I'm a big fan of the native Macquarie vine.
10:11This one's less than a year old and it's smothering this archway.
10:16We're training it through some Rio mesh, which is really tough and strong so I can hold it up.
10:20It's an evergreen vine and from late winter all the way through to spring has a beautiful white flower, meaning
10:28it's gorgeous to look at year round.
10:31Why are my lady beetles yellow?
10:33Well, there are lots of species of lady beetle and many of them are native to Australia.
10:38Behind me, I've got a pumpkin that is at the end of its life.
10:42It's got powdery mildew on it and it's attracting the mildew eating lady beetle.
10:47They're literally there to eat the fungus off the leaves.
10:49First, you see the little juveniles, which look like these fantastic little black and white armadillos.
10:55And then they evolve into that classic beetle, but it's yellow and black, not orange or red.
11:00And I think the big thing to know is whenever you see something you don't know, don't reach for a
11:06spray bottle, reach for a guidebook.
11:08Work out who it is that shares this amazing place that is our garden.
11:13Can you recommend an edible plant to grow in shade?
11:17Turmeric.
11:17I've been growing this in shade for 20 years.
11:21It's a frost sensitive perennial.
11:24So in a temperate climate, you plant them in spring and you harvest them in autumn.
11:29In my climate, they can grow outside all year round.
11:33Now you can eat the roots and you can eat the leaves.
11:36The flowers also are edible.
11:39The roots can be dried to make turmeric spice and colouring and flavouring for curries and other foods.
11:45And the leaves make a beautiful, refreshing green tea.
11:49This is the exotic turmeric.
11:52And this is the Australian native, which is found in the top end.
11:57They're both interchangeable in the kitchen and in the garden.
12:01The only difference between these is this one flowers in summer and the native one flowers in spring.
12:15They say a life spent in the garden is a life well lived.
12:20And if that garden is a reflection of your culture, your personal journey, your family and the people you've met
12:30along the way, well, all the better.
12:33Tammy's here with a home garden visit that's about as good as it gets.
12:41Some gardeners have that extra special something and Dolores Milak is one of them.
12:46That's beautiful, yes.
12:47Wow, you've trained these things into archers.
12:50The garden is a celebration of her Maltese culture, family and friendship.
12:55Yes.
12:55Heaps and heaps of, yeah.
12:57And here is my Maltese orchards, as I call it.
13:02Yeah, oh, there am I. I'm talking Maltese now.
13:10That's how it is.
13:11You're at home.
13:11I'm at home.
13:12This is my Mediterranean garden.
13:15I've got the olive trees, the fig trees.
13:18Oh, I think I've got about 10 in this tiny little small garden.
13:22But I keep trimming.
13:23Citrus in Maltese, which is citrus.
13:26Lots of herbs I have in this garden.
13:29I've got the carfus, the celery.
13:32As we speak now, I'm allowing it to go into flower to give me more seeds.
13:37But I use that in soup, which in Maltese we call it brodo.
13:42There is parsley everywhere and mint galore.
13:46And I lay it on the ground.
13:47So when I go on my knees, I say trimming something.
13:51I just smell back home.
13:54Yeah, it's just beautiful.
13:56And of course, being here in Australia, tropical, which, what can I say?
14:01The climate is becoming like that.
14:03I've got the mango trees, guavas.
14:06And yeah, there, as you can see, I have a pink lady apple, which is full of flowers as well.
14:13And again, you will see that it's, yeah, I created it rounds and rounds.
14:18And so did your mum and dad garden?
14:20Is that where your influence is from?
14:21Yes.
14:21Actually, mostly it was my father after he retired from being a soldier.
14:26And then, of course, he had two lovely fields there in St. Paul's Bay, Malta.
14:31It's just where I grew up as a little young kid.
14:34I used to go more to the fields than go to the beach, which was just around the corner from
14:40where I lived.
14:42How about that?
14:43It shows that if gardening is part of you, you kind of been born into it and you can't escape
14:50it.
14:53More than 50 years ago, Dolores and her family put down roots in Greystains, a suburb in Sydney's west.
15:00Every centimetre of soil has been creatively cultivated into an oasis of fruit and flowers.
15:10Here, Tammy, I have this abutal and I've put it here so the colour, you know, the yellow colour brights.
15:18And, of course, more bees come around.
15:20And it's such a pretty plant, very easily done by cuttings as well.
15:25These lanterns, I call them.
15:27They're very sweet.
15:28They are.
15:29They are, yes.
15:29And, Dolores, I can see that you've trained this citrus into another arch.
15:33Yes, of course.
15:35Anything reaching to the sky, as I call it, what's the word here?
15:39It's really for the birds, not for us.
15:41So, the more lower you put it and the more you lay it down, the more fruit you will get.
15:48This is a lovely Eureka lemon tree.
15:51It keeps on giving.
15:54So, here we've got rooms that I created one after the other.
16:00And I call them windows, handmade windows, so you can see right through them.
16:06And, on top of us here, I've got this beautiful tornless rose, which my sister from young gave me a
16:14piece 20 odd years back.
16:16And, look at it.
16:17I create it into another arch.
16:22In a garden, you just play around, pot around and see what you can create with your hands.
16:30Yes.
16:30I mean, look at what you created.
16:33It's...
16:33I have no words what you've done.
16:35It's amazing.
16:37And, in amongst the foliage, Dolores is squeezed in a veggie patch.
16:42And, over here, there is more little plantings that I do as vegetables, of course.
16:49This one we call the chickpeas in English, but, in Maltese, it is chichri.
16:54Oh, that is a lovely even word for it.
16:56I grew up eating chichri from my father's fields.
17:00He used to grow them just for little me, really.
17:04Look how beautiful it is.
17:06Makes it into a little pod.
17:08There's a tiny pea in there, which is the chichra.
17:11And, when you eat that, when it's fully, fully more plump, it has a very salty taste to it.
17:18Ah.
17:18And how do you grow it?
17:20Does it need any special conditions?
17:21Yes, it does.
17:22As a matter of fact, for the chichri, then, in the soil, it has to be very sweet, very limey.
17:29So, of course, you add lime before you plant everything in.
17:33That's preparation, as we say.
17:35The more sweet the soil, the better the chickpea will grow into.
17:41And then, as you can see, I'm growing now Arabali, which is the zucchini, but the round one.
17:48That's another very, very Maltese.
17:50Before you put in the seeds, you always prepare and mount up into the fertilizer or manure, whatever you have
18:00to put it in.
18:01And, yeah, of course, later on, I've got potash, which is already in pots full of water.
18:09Because when I see they are growing a little bit more and they're starting the flowers, then I will start
18:15watering from that potash water into them to make the flowers stronger and the fruit will hold better.
18:23And I also have here, which is, again, in other Maltese, maybe in other places too, the aborigine or eggplant,
18:31Maltese, what do I call it, Brunjil?
18:34It sounds like you're the official ambassador for Malta.
18:37Oh, yes.
18:37I still kept and keep my language Maltese.
18:41I do the garden segments in Maltese talkbacks and, yeah, with SBS Maltese radio.
18:50And, yeah, it's my own pleasure that I do what I know.
18:55I try to give it to whoever wants to listen, I guess, and learn.
19:01Because, as we always say, the garden is a never-ending story.
19:13Dolores, what made you leave Malta to come to Australia?
19:16Oh, that's a good question.
19:18Well, I got married, of course.
19:20My husband was there.
19:21We found each other and got married and came to Australia.
19:25And what was it like when you got here?
19:26I was young, naive, and finding it, like, very hard.
19:32You go to the park, they're empty, and I say, what on earth?
19:35What am I doing here?
19:37Where is everybody?
19:38And what did you do when you felt isolated?
19:40I started gardening.
19:43I mean, a little patch here or a little patch there.
19:46And gardening was, I call it my salvation, really.
19:49I just started, and the mind kind of relaxed and said, this is it.
19:55This is my place.
19:56I started looking for gardening clubs, and I found Holroyd Garden Club about 30-odd years back.
20:04And these last 17 years, I've been president of Holroyd Garden Club for home gardeners.
20:10We are a teamwork, heaps of members.
20:13And we just talk garden, answer questions, talk about anything involving garden.
20:20How do you even find the time?
20:24Dolores' contribution to Australian gardening culture has been recognised by the Garden Clubs of Australia.
20:31And in 2024, her front garden won the Sydney Spring Garden Prize.
20:36It's a dazzling display.
20:40So what was the plan for the front garden, Dolores?
20:43Well, colour.
20:44Colour is always in the front for me, for everyone to look at.
20:48Even colour in the foliage, you know.
20:51I mean, a leaf is not always green.
20:53That one there is a crab myrtle, the diamond in the dark.
20:59Further on, I've got the ornamental sweet potato, which is the most beautiful ground cover.
21:05There's so much colour to really draw everyone in.
21:09Well, that is the reason.
21:10Every year I change the colour from season to season.
21:14There's always something going on.
21:16Especially to make people smile when they pass by.
21:21And even give a cutting.
21:23And yeah, smile. Smile is all about, yes.
21:26You're spreading joy in the neighbourhood.
21:28Well, I try to very much indeed, yeah.
21:33I love the way Dolores embraces life and gardening.
21:37A radiant reminder to cherish what we have and grow more of it.
21:42To believe in a garden is really to believe in tomorrow.
21:46It's part of my own feelings, my own nature, I suppose.
21:50Being a Maltese Australian person, yes.
22:03I'm often asked about plants for screening.
22:06I mean, we've all got a spot that could be improved with a wall of green.
22:11Well, Clarence is here with some of his top picks for native plants that could fill that space.
22:31As gardeners, we often face quite typical challenges with hedging and screening.
22:36When it comes to creating space and privacy.
22:39I've some great native plant solutions that do the job, even in the trickiest of locations.
22:45Planting natives really pays off when thinking about large-scale screening and windbreaks.
22:51I like to go for a striking bottle brush, the Callistamon Dawson River Weeper.
22:56Now, it's an iconic Aussie native that withstands a tonne of diverse conditions,
23:01including frost, drought and waterlogging.
23:04There's not a lot of plants that can do that.
23:08It flowers twice a year, producing stunning red flowers that attract pollinators.
23:13And whether you prune it for shape or let it naturally flourish, it'll provide the screening you need.
23:20Another alternative is the graceful native blueberry ash, Eleocarpus reticulatus.
23:26It can grow between 5 to 10 metres.
23:29And it dazzles with clusters of fringed, bell-shaped white or pink flowers in spring and summer.
23:34And creates a truly vibrant and biodiverse plant.
23:40There's a couple of Aussie icons to consider.
23:43Old Man Banksia is a superb landscaping all-rounder.
23:47With its velvety new growth, lovely cones and old man bark, it can be pruned hard to make a formal
23:53hedging.
23:56So, too, Melaleuca stifloides.
23:58We're used to seeing it loom large and beautiful in our landscape.
24:02But pruning every few years creates the perfect screen with its spongy, papery bark and creamy white flowers.
24:12Taking a step down in height from screening trees, there are great native options for the all-important intermediate level
24:18of hedging.
24:19And they can be pruned to your own taste for their look, shape and feel.
24:24One of my favourite natives is Acmena smithii, mini pili.
24:28Which is a low-maintenance option that fits well with contemporary native and low-water gardens.
24:33It's a compact shrub with glossy leaves that flush bronze pink when new.
24:38The mini pili blooms small white flowers in spring, followed by edible purple berries that support local wildlife.
24:49The beckia vergata is a wonderfully versatile native known more commonly as the twiggy heath myrtle.
24:55A low-maintenance whiz of a plant that I think is a bit of a show-stopper.
25:00It naturally grows into a neat, lowish-growing spherical form that provides great structure for any garden.
25:08In early summer, it produces a spectacular dusting of tiny white flowers that draw in pollinators.
25:15And versatile too, thriving in either full sun or part shade.
25:23Another hedging native you could try is Cunzia ericoides, snowman.
25:28Which is perfect for trimming into formal shapes and thrives in Aussie conditions, providing year-round dark green foliage and
25:35texture.
25:37And finally, the Grevillea ladio.
25:39It's a wonderful, quick grower that's in flower 12 months of the year.
25:42Shape it into a hedge or leave it to nature.
25:45It'll be a fabulous addition to any garden.
25:51I hope I've given you some good ideas for screening and shaping your gardens with wonderful and resilient natives
25:56that'll keep you and your local wildlife happy for years to come.
26:07How do I minimise the risk of mosquitoes?
26:10Well, protection starts before you leave the house.
26:13You need to cover up, and any exposed skin, you need to use a mosquito repellent.
26:19Now, the official advice is to use products containing DEET.
26:23Whichever brand you use, you have to repeat every hour.
26:27Maybe more if the weather is really hot and sticky.
26:31The next step is to look for places around your garden where water may have accumulated.
26:37Like the base of palm fronds, which you can empty out.
26:40Now, the same thing with saucers and drip trays and buckets.
26:44They're all places where mosquitoes will lay eggs.
26:48And in the space of three to four days, those wrigglers can mature into blood-sucking adults.
26:55So you just empty those out.
26:58And if you have large bromeliads that hold water, I just go around and hose them out with fresh water
27:04and make it a morning routine.
27:06Now, with standing water, such as a permanent feature like a frog pond,
27:11well, you can use things like native fish.
27:14Blue eye are really adaptable, and they don't mind too much whether the water is good or low quality.
27:20But they will eat mosquito wrigglers.
27:22And you can use plants.
27:24There's a bladderwort which grows all the way around Australia.
27:29And they can be planted in ponds, and they trap and kill mosquito larvae.
27:34Still to come on Gardening Australia, I'm getting top tips on planting trees.
27:40Is anyone anywhere safe from you and your tree-planting mission?
27:47Cost you if I see a tree-planting opportunity?
27:50I like to take it, mate.
27:53Hannah stretches out her basil.
27:56And we visit a creative couple with some wild inspiration.
28:07Perth is a hot place, and that means any water you can incorporate into your garden
28:14is a real bonus for local wildlife.
28:18But what if you took it to the next level?
28:21Josh is visiting a garden that will have you ready to take the plunge at your place.
28:32If you take an aerial view of the suburbs in our cities, particularly the warmer ones like Brisbane and here
28:39in Perth,
28:39you'll see a patchwork of roofs, lawns, tree canopy and shimmering swimming pools.
28:46Pools don't always fit into a landscape, but sometimes they do.
28:54In the hills overlooking Perth,
28:57Kashia and Nathan's pool isn't a stand-alone feature in the backyard just for the family to swim in.
29:03It's a fully functional, integrated part of the garden.
29:08Kashia, what attracted you to a natural pool?
29:10I love the feel of the water as I swim through it.
29:15I wanted an ecosystem that attracts all the different birds and insects to the garden.
29:22We just wanted to stay away from the chlorine for our kids' sake, for their health.
29:26Nathan wanted a nice space to look out from his office onto the pool.
29:33When we first purchased the property, we engaged some landscape designers.
29:38We asked them to incorporate rock, rock walls, stone steps and, you know, a meandering garden
29:44where you didn't know where you were going to go.
29:47You know, you take a turn about the garden.
29:49Am I going to go this way today or go that way?
29:51We thought, what better place to end up at the end of your little meander than a beautiful swimming pond.
30:01This stunning natural pool is the creation of landscaper Tony Green.
30:06A natural pool for me is not only the natural system of filtration,
30:10but also the natural-looking environment.
30:13The habitat for me is one of the most important parts of the natural swimming pond.
30:18The rocks, the gravel, the engagement with the fish and the tadpoles.
30:21Oh my goodness, and the hornets chasing each other.
30:24The water's held in the landscape.
30:25It's a rubber liner and it's stretchy.
30:27So it's got a lot of values that make it really good to use in this kind of environment
30:31because we place all these heavy boulders on it.
30:34It has the capacity to absorb impacts and even deal with, like, pointy parts of rocks
30:39and be able to stretch around those and not easily tear or easily pierce.
30:45We draw the water through a skimmer, much the same as you would in a conventional swimming pool,
30:49and the pumps then pump the water up to a wetland filter.
30:52Now, the wetland filter we build is an upflow wetland filter.
30:55So we pump water into the bottom of the filter.
30:58If it goes in at high velocity, then it slows right down.
31:01And it's the slowing right down and then going up through the filtration media
31:04that does the heavy lifting of cleaning the water in the system.
31:08So in those different layers of gravel, we have different types of microorganisms
31:12and bacteria that grow and thrive and clean the water.
31:16And then the water flows out through the top of that
31:18and typically we have an elevation change and have a waterfall returning from that back to the pool.
31:23The plants in these systems are typically just polishing the water.
31:27They're just drawing up the last of the soluble nutrient and cleaning it up
31:31and providing a really nice aesthetic too.
31:34What we found though is that we don't use a lot of native reeds and rushes.
31:38My hypothesis of the reason for that is that they don't work hard enough in such a clean environment.
31:44Because of how much work the wetland filter is doing cleaning the water,
31:48there isn't actually a great deal of waterborne nutrient for them to survive on.
31:52So we often have to use species that would be from more tropical areas
31:56that are much harder working plants and they're the ones that we find that perform the best.
32:00We like to plant water lilies just for their flowering and the joy of seeing them come out.
32:05We love the hibiscus.
32:07We had frogs appearing in the pool before we'd even built the whole thing.
32:11We have lots of insects appear really, really early on
32:14and then birds discover it and they appear.
32:16Are mosquitoes a problem?
32:17No, not at all. The water moves a lot.
32:19There's a lot of circulation in the system.
32:21We've got bubblers, we've got circulation jets.
32:24So any mosquito larvae that was on the surface would draw to the skimmer.
32:27And we've also got fish obviously in there and they eat the mosquito larvae too.
32:31We don't typically add fish to them ourselves
32:33because every owner of a pond wants different things for their pond.
32:41It's just a pleasure to maintain.
32:43There's no chemicals, there's no gloves, there's no masks or anything like that.
32:47It's just a really lovely way to maintain a pool.
32:50Three, two, one, Bonnie!
32:54It's almost like a form of gardening, trimming the water plants.
32:57It's not actually that hard.
32:59The level of maintenance is actually quite low.
33:01For us it's more than just a place to swim.
33:04It's a place that we can sit by, we get wading birds come
33:08and we've got a resident monitor lizard underneath a rock over there
33:13and we have frogs.
33:14It's a place where we can have fun
33:16but it's also quite a contemplative place as well.
33:19During the summertime the kids love to come
33:21and there's a big bommie rock up the end there, the deep end.
33:25During wintertime we like to do like a cold plunge
33:28when Kasia's generally not keen on wintertime.
33:31More of a summertime activity.
33:33Yeah, so we get to use it all year round.
33:39In a neighbouring suburb, experienced pool owners Emily and Craig
33:43are relishing the switch from a conventional pool
33:46to one of Tony's designs.
33:53Originally there was an above ground pool located here
33:56and that was a lot of effort to maintain and look after
33:59and lots of chemicals and stuff to keep it balanced all the time
34:02so that was a lot of hard work.
34:03So we ripped that out and we put it in the natural pool
34:06in the same location.
34:07And it cleans itself with the filtration systems now
34:09so it is literally just cleaning out the skimmer boxes
34:12and scooping out some leaves.
34:17You really need to jump in the pool and do some big bommies in there
34:20to help move the materials around as well, which is a lot of fun.
34:24Have you been happy with the quality of the water?
34:26I absolutely love it.
34:28Like I don't have to put any chemicals in there to balance it.
34:30What we talk about almost every time we're in the water
34:33is how soft the water feels
34:34and it just has the most ambient temperature.
34:37I think with the rocks and the thermal properties,
34:40the water is incredibly soft and beautiful.
34:43Have you noticed having this amount of water in the landscape
34:46has attracted wildlife from across the area?
34:48Yeah, look, it's become its own little ecosystem.
34:51We have an array of birds that come in and love to drink from the water
34:55and just be in the cool of the trees.
35:01The location that we've put the pool in
35:03is obviously surrounded by some, you know, well-established trees.
35:06So we get a lot of shade and also some open-up areas for the sun
35:09to put some warmth in the pool too.
35:11With the large beach area, the kids and ourselves as well, I must admit,
35:13you know, we put a chair in the water and actually sit in the water
35:17just in the afternoons, especially on a weekend.
35:19It's really nice, really nice and relaxing.
35:21It's beautiful, the rocks and when the sun sets across the water,
35:24it's just a really lovely place to be.
35:30Tony, what's your favourite feature of this pond?
35:32At this pond, it's got to be the beach.
35:34It's a big, long, shallow space.
35:36It's fantastic for young kids to look at the tadpoles
35:39and the small fish swimming around in there.
35:41People around our age in particular
35:43spent a lot of time growing up with creeks to go and play in
35:46and bushland to play in, and we've lost a lot of that now
35:48and people have focused a lot on devices
35:50rather than connecting with nature
35:52and I feel this is a really nice way to bring that back
35:55and for people to interact, to swim with the fish,
35:58to see the tadpoles, to follow the schools of small fish around
36:01to watch the insects coming and going and breeding
36:04and birds coming and going.
36:06It's a really nice way to connect back with nature.
36:17I'm with horticulturist Tim Pickles,
36:20whose enthusiasm for trees branches out beyond his own backyard
36:25and is sharing his expert tips for planting.
36:30Is anyone anywhere safe from you and your tree planting mission?
36:36Cost you, if I see a tree planting opportunity,
36:39I like to take it, mate.
36:41My friend Charlie's just built this beautiful house next door
36:44and he definitely needs a shade tree,
36:47so we're going to go and plant him a shade tree.
36:49So why have you chosen this tree?
36:50I love crepe myrtles.
36:52This variety called Natchez, it's a white flowering one.
36:54It actually grows eight metres high and six metres wide.
36:58When you buy a tree from a nursery,
37:00just check to make sure it hasn't got any of these tyres on it.
37:02The wire gets embedded in the trunk of the tree
37:05and in the strong winds the tree just snaps off.
37:08Next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to remove these lower branches
37:12just to clean the base of that.
37:16Before we remove that, now we've got a nice clean trunk
37:18and that's going to become a beautiful underprune tree ready to go.
37:25We're going to do a circle.
37:26One metre, we're going to take the grass out.
37:27If we dig a hole in the grass and plant this tree,
37:30what will happen is the grass will take all the water
37:33and more than likely the tree will be unsuccessful
37:36because it'll dry out, it won't get enough water.
37:42If we soften the soil all the way around,
37:45the tree's roots are going to be able to grow into this soil
37:48to find water and to find nutrients.
37:50Oh yeah.
37:50It's like a nice cake mix.
37:53When we get those little bits of grass out,
37:55otherwise they'll start to reshoot, they'll start to grow as well.
37:58So what we're going to do now, Cluster,
37:59is we're going to dig a bag of premium potting mix into this soil.
38:03The premium potting mix has a fertiliser that lasts for three months.
38:06We're going to turn it over.
38:08We want to mix it with the existing soil.
38:11Right, so now we've made our garden bed to plant the tree.
38:13Now we're going to dig a hole for the tree.
38:16Cluster, a lot of people, when they plant a tree,
38:18they plant it in the hole and then they water it with a bucket of water.
38:21We're going to do it a little bit differently.
38:23Potting mixes are made from recycled green waste.
38:26They're actually made from wood chip as well.
38:28And what happens with those products is when they get dry,
38:30they actually repel the water.
38:32And once they do get dry, it's very hard to get them wet again
38:36because they become hydrophobic.
38:38So what we need to do is we need to dunk the pot in a bucket full of water.
38:42And what we're going to do is we're going to replace the air in the soil.
38:49There's the air escaping.
38:51That's the air that kills your plants because it dries out the roots.
38:56Once the roots dry out, they die.
38:58What we've done now is we've replaced that air with water.
39:02So now we can take it out.
39:05We're going to take that pot off the soil.
39:08Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to tease those roots.
39:10I'm going to let this plant know that it's been taken out of the pot.
39:14Now those roots will grow into the soil, putting it in the centre of the hole.
39:18We're getting the tree nice and straight.
39:20We're putting the soil back in.
39:22We're going to make a well so that when we water it,
39:25the water actually goes through there and not runs over the soil.
39:28And also when we water over the next few weeks to keep this tree going,
39:31we want the water to go into the roots.
39:33The tree's getting all the water and that's why it's going to grow so beautifully.
39:38In this exposed windy location, we're securing the tree with stakes
39:43and a soft tie that won't harm its development.
39:46The stakes can come off in about three months' time.
39:50A good layer of mulch on top and for the first few months,
39:55if you're planting in summer, water every day.
39:58If it's winter, a couple of times a week.
40:01And once established, water every few weeks.
40:05Why will you keep on planting trees?
40:08Custer, you must have felt that yourself.
40:10When we were planting that tree, it gave you a great feeling.
40:14You're taking it out of that pot, basically you're setting it free.
40:18How beautiful is that?
40:19I love Tim's attitude.
40:21More trees please.
40:23Look after your trees and in return, they'll look after you
40:27with abundant shade and beauty.
40:37We're having a bumper basil season this year and we're loving life because of it.
40:42We're very interested to see how long we can extend our basil harvest for.
40:46There's two ways we do this.
40:49First of all, we come along the very top and have a look around to see
40:52if there's any flower or seed heads and we just pick them off and compost them.
40:56We want to delay that reproduction process as long as we can.
41:01Also, when we're harvesting leaf to eat, we come along and look for the freshest,
41:07newest growth on top.
41:08That's what we want to harvest.
41:10First of all, we come down to look at the stem to the next node,
41:14the second layer of leaf that's popping out, and we harvest just above that.
41:18We eat that bit, and this bit is kept, and it will bush out and become really full and leafy
41:24instead of growing tall and leggy.
41:36Whoa, a powerful owl right here in the heart of the city.
41:40For us gardeners, connection to nature is vital.
41:44It's a passion we share with wildlife carers who step in when our furry
41:51and feathered friends need some help.
41:53In our next story, we meet a couple in inner city Melbourne
41:57who not only care for wildlife, but they've turned those experiences
42:02into creative inspiration.
42:28We are visual artists and wildlife carers.
42:31We've been collaborating for 25 years as artists, but in the last 12 months,
42:37we have officially been a government-licensed wildlife shelter
42:40here in our little home.
42:45I'm Gratia Havey, and this is Louise Jennison.
42:49And we're here in North Fitzroy in inner Melbourne,
42:53and visitors on Wurundjeri country.
42:55And that's where we look after native Australian wildlife
42:58with the view of release.
43:00So getting them back out into the wild,
43:01returning them to where they should be.
43:04We called our shelter Tiny But Wild
43:07because we are literally a tiny space,
43:10and everything here is wild.
43:15Our back garden is a space completely for wildlife.
43:17It's basically three enclosures, one large one for our flying foxes
43:23and two for our ring-tailed possums,
43:25and then a little bit of space that we can shimmy around in to get to them.
43:31Good stretch, mate. That's beautiful.
43:36Because the flying foxes are in care at the moment,
43:39we feed them fruit and then also add a high-protein supplement
43:44so that they're looked after.
43:46And when they're really little,
43:48they are actually bottle-fed five times a day.
43:54Good boys.
43:58To handle any bats, micro-bats or mega-bats,
44:02you need to be qualified and vaccinated
44:04and wear protective gloves and sleeves.
44:07Umi and his friends here are grey-headed flying foxes.
44:11These guys are mega-bat,
44:13and they're endemic to Australia,
44:15and they're also, unfortunately, a threatened species.
44:19They are long-distance pollinators.
44:21So these guys co-evolved with eucalypts,
44:24and they pollinate all the way up the East Coast,
44:27so all our forests are completely reliant
44:30on these beautiful pollinators.
44:35So the eucalypts will often flower at night and open up,
44:39and they're beautiful yellow and white and bright pink flowers
44:42like this phycifolia.
44:44And then the flying foxes slam into it,
44:46get the nectar all over themselves,
44:48and then fly to the next one and the next one.
44:51And they're also, at the same time, eating the fruit,
44:54and they'll be then doing their poos and dropping that.
44:58But they can fly, like, 50 kilometres a night,
45:01which is extraordinary, these little guys.
45:03So you can just imagine how many seeds
45:05they can distribute every single night
45:07and how far they can distribute those.
45:09And no other animal can do it except our beautiful flying foxes.
45:14Like all our native wildlife, these guys are facing lots of different issues.
45:20But for the flying foxes in particular, it's deforestation,
45:24they're losing habitat, they're losing space,
45:28and also the climate emergency.
45:31So those extreme hot weather events are a direct threat,
45:35but then we're also having floods.
45:37It's becoming more and more difficult,
45:39so we need to all step up and look after them,
45:42because if we lose these guys,
45:44we lose our forest pollinators,
45:46and then we're in a terrible mess.
45:49Even if you've only got a tiny space,
45:51like our little urban oasis,
45:54we can all plant for wildlife,
45:56and we can all share our space with wildlife.
45:59So make sure you've got canopy and understory,
46:02make sure you've got water out for the birds and for the insects,
46:06and nesting boxes are fantastic to put up to encourage others
46:10to come and live with you.
46:13And if you're netting fruit trees in your garden,
46:16make sure that you use wildlife-friendly netting,
46:18because if you don't, it can be catastrophic for our flying foxes
46:22and also the birds.
46:24They can get terribly entangled in them, injured awfully,
46:28and then they need specialised care from vets
46:31like at Melbourne Zoo or Wildlife Victoria,
46:35and then end up in care at a place like Tiny But Wild
46:38for weeks and weeks and weeks before they can get back into the wild,
46:42if indeed they can at all.
46:45So this is our outdoor possum enclosure.
46:48These are three ring-tailed joeys.
46:50Typically we'll have them in care for roughly six months,
46:53so that's when they come in as tiny little joeys who've been orphaned,
46:57so they'll be about 70 grams,
46:58whereas now these guys are 400 grams.
47:01So they're getting really ready for release.
47:05So in here we've got Robert Gordon grevillea.
47:07We've also got a beautiful new growth on their Manigum.
47:12Callistamon, which they love.
47:14There's Melaleuca, both in flower and leaves,
47:17and we've also got a spray of coastal tea tree.
47:21So little ring-tailed possums are also called pepper shakers
47:23because all of the leaf that they're eating now,
47:27they chew that, they digest that,
47:30and they create super little power pellets that fertilise your garden.
47:34So in that sense they can be a fabulous ally in your garden,
47:38taking all of the nutrients from the tree straight down into the soil.
47:41Which is, you know, quicker than it would take for a leaf to decompose
47:44and break up into the soil.
47:47Ring-tailed possums often get a bad rap for demolishing gardens,
47:52but a lot of the times there are other culprits.
47:54It might be rats.
47:56Yeah, we encourage people to learn to live with their local wildlife.
48:03Well, as well as out the back,
48:05the front room is also our designated wildlife room.
48:08It is also our studio.
48:10And here we have Hans Holbein-Yunger.
48:13He's a little microbat, a gulls-wattled bat.
48:16And he was rescued recently in the city.
48:18He's a sub-adult, so he can't fly yet,
48:20so he must have had a misadventure.
48:22He was found on the pavement,
48:24and now he is here eating mealworms provided by Louise.
48:28So microbats are different to our megabats are our beautiful pollinators.
48:33Microbats eat all our insects,
48:35so they look after the insect populations in our gardens.
48:38So if you've got a little group of microbats near you,
48:42you're very lucky.
48:45One of the joys of looking after wildlife is that you get to see the world through the eyes of
48:50another species,
48:51which is just something so glorious.
48:55It's got this little arboral connection from this tree back into the garden.
48:59When we go for a walk, just looking around at what food trees are available for possums,
49:04what they would eat, how big gardens are.
49:06I mean, typically a lot of gardens are getting smaller.
49:09I mean, there are people who are planting a lot of native vegetation and things,
49:13which is fabulous for the possums.
49:15So every day we need to go and get fresh food, which we call browse, for our possums.
49:21It's a big part of every day.
49:23It's a lot of work because we have to find different things in flower.
49:27We have to check with neighbours if it's okay that we can grab a little cutting here and there.
49:33It's critical to give them the right thing,
49:35and something like the grevillea would be a special treat for the joeys.
49:42Grace and I met at art school in the 90s,
49:44and we were friends and started exhibiting together,
49:47and then we became partners.
49:49And then we started to collaborate on some artist books,
49:52and then it sort of organically grew into a collaboration that's been going on 25 years later.
49:58We make artist books, which is effectively an artwork in book form.
50:03Animals feature heavily in all of our artwork.
50:06They're all completely hand-bound.
50:08They're digital collage sometimes.
50:11We also make large-scale installations,
50:14and one example is a recent commission from the National Gallery of Victoria for Melbourne Now,
50:19in which we made an entire room which was collaged from 100 pieces in the NGV collection
50:24that was a forest for the grey-headed flying fox.
50:30Working with wildlife and working with our artwork, reciprocating,
50:35it's what gives us hope, because hope's an active thing.
50:39Hope is actively choosing kindness.
50:46So this is beautiful Walt and Mr. Velvetini.
50:49They came into care as adults, and they had urban misadventures.
50:55Mr. Velvetini got caught in a light well, and Walt had a bad concussion.
51:04But it's their really big day today.
51:06They've both got the green light.
51:07Everything's good to go.
51:08They've been vet checked, and they're ready to go back into the wild.
51:14We're headed to the grey-headed flying fox colony, and it's about 5km,
51:19a few minutes from where we are at Tiny But Wild.
51:22On the banks of the Birrarung, the beautiful Yarra River,
51:25here on a tiny bit of restored habitat beside the freeway,
51:29nestled in around our urban-ness.
51:31Excitingly, Walt and Mr. Velvetini are going to shake off their human-given names,
51:36and now they will probably be called...
51:38Walt might be called.
51:40And I think Mr. Velvetini would probably be like...
51:44Yes.
51:57For us, this is like a really glorious moment when we get to return them
52:02to where they should be, and it's a beautiful part where it's not about us
52:06and what we might feel, and it's just all about them and seeing them go fly back
52:11and going from being Walt in a basket to one of many,
52:16and it's just a very beautiful embodiment of how it takes so much time
52:21to get them to this point, and it takes a village of people to get them ready,
52:26and it's the non-human and the human coming together,
52:29and it's just a really wonderful feeling.
52:45Guess what? It's time to get your wheels rolling with your jobs for the weekend.
52:56Cool-temperate gardeners bung in some biochar to improve soils.
53:00A combo of wood waste, manures and weeds slowly burned with restricted oxygen,
53:06biochar is brilliant for prepping beds before planting.
53:10Got a spot in your garden that's sunny in winter and shady in summer?
53:14Then how about a hellebore?
53:16These ornamental perennials are fantastic in flower over winter
53:20and can be planted now.
53:23Pak choy, bok choy, choy, sum and tat soy,
53:25your favourite Asian greens, are ready to grow now.
53:29These fast growers will produce a heavy, hearty harvest
53:32before the cool winter weather kicks in.
53:36It's time to start ordering bare root trees in warm temperate areas
53:39for winter planting.
53:41Whether they be fruity or ornamental, compact or colossal,
53:45bare root trees are better for planting and the budget.
53:48It's a busy time in the garden this month, and preparation is key.
53:53Clear out compost produced over summer to improve garden beds
53:57and replace with autumn prunings from perennials.
54:00Flowering now are belladonna lilies.
54:03While their pink flowers and bare red stems may be attractive,
54:06they're often environmental weeds
54:09and efforts should be made to safely remove them.
54:13In subtropical gardens, take your salad from garden to gourmet
54:17and plant some corn salad, a lovely lettuce substitute.
54:21This quick growing green has a mild nutty flavour.
54:25Flowering bulbs aren't just for cooler climates.
54:28Add some awesome autumn colour to your patches and pots
54:32with blood lilies, autumn crocus and narines from your local nursery.
54:36Weeds are jumping out of the ground right now, threatening to take over.
54:41Spend 20 minutes a day in the garden removing weeds and re-mulching.
54:45It's great for you and your garden's wellbeing.
54:49Time to start prepping for the dry season in the tropics.
54:53So get capsicums, chillies and eggplants into the ground,
54:56followed with a layer of straw mulch to minimise weeds and water loss.
55:01If you've been craving more protein, why not plant some tropical legumes this weekend?
55:07Mung beans, soybeans and snake beans are good to go
55:10and can be ready to harvest in just 40 days.
55:14March can be an active one for cyclone activity in the tropics.
55:17So spend a bit of time in your garden making sure outdoor furniture, sheds, shade structures and the like are
55:24secure.
55:25In arid zones, loads of plants are about to put on an autumn growth spurt.
55:30So now's the perfect time to prune.
55:33Remove dead or diseased wood and tip prune to improve shape.
55:37If fungus gnats are causing you grief, it's time to treat your indoor plants.
55:42Drench the soil of affected pots with diluted neem oil.
55:46Repeat weekly for three weeks, then mulch with gravel.
55:50Jerusalem artichokes are delightful, delicious and dead easy to grow.
55:55Pop some tubers in the ground this weekend, leaving about 30 centimetres between each
56:00and feed with a whack of wood ash.
56:03Welcome to Autumn Gardeners.
56:05If you haven't already, head to our website and sign up for our regular Gardening Australia newsletter.
56:18Well, the coach has dragged me from the field, kicking and screaming and dropped me on the bench until next
56:25week.
56:26But we have got a game plan for you.
56:29Have a look at what's in store.
56:33I explore a romantic cool climate garden in the New South Wales Southern Highlands.
56:39Brought back to life by one of my pop music heroes and their partner.
56:43It makes me feel like dancing.
56:47I've converted my goat yard into a temporary productive venture garden while my goats are on holiday.
56:52And we'd like to welcome our newest guest presenter to the GA family.
56:57Well, kumquats are rebels, right?
56:59All other citrus.
57:00Are you a rebel too, Costa?
57:02The fabulous fruit nerd to share one of his favourite fruits that you may not be familiar with.
57:08Are you a rebel too?
57:13That's the way of your heart suddenly