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Gardening Australia - Season 37 - Episode 03
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00:04Hey!
00:06Hey!
00:11Whoa!
00:16Hey!
00:19Hey!
00:33Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia.
00:36There's always something to do in the veggie patch
00:40and it's this time of the year when we get to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
00:45Picking, eating, preserving and storing.
00:49It's showtime.
00:51And to lend a hand, we've got some stories to keep you fired up.
00:56Take a look at what's coming your way.
01:01These colourful little characters are the unsung heroes of my garden and my kitchen.
01:07I'm going to show you the many ways I put seed to use at my place.
01:13What happens when two doctors set their mind to creating a water-wise productive patch
01:19in the Adelaide Hills?
01:20Well this, an extremely fruitful and beautiful garden.
01:25How many tomato varieties do you think there are in the world?
01:29Hundreds?
01:30Thousands?
01:31What about 10,000?
01:33Well today I'm going to try and eat as many as I can
01:37and meet a grower who is passionate about the perfect tomato.
01:41And we take in some stunning arid scenery.
01:45Dawn is my favourite time of the day here at the Australian Aridlands Botanical Garden.
01:51This is where the desert meets the sea.
01:59As the weather heats up, a lot of flowering perennial plants put on a show.
02:05Hannah's visiting a nursery that's an absolute feast for the eyes.
02:13Perennials are certainly having their moment.
02:15People can't seem to get enough of them.
02:18Here in Granton, in the northern suburbs of Hobart, I'm in a gorgeous perennial nursery
02:24where I'm going to meet avid perennial grower and manager Richard Hull.
02:28In the last, say, five to ten years there's been a huge interest from the general public
02:33whereas before people, it just wasn't in people's front of mind sort of thing
02:38but they're certainly becoming a lot more popular now.
02:40Richard, what is a perennial?
02:42A perennial is a plant that will live more than one year.
02:46It can be either herumbaceous perennial like what we grow here
02:49or it could be a woody perennial like a shrub or a tree.
02:52And which perennials are just so popular, people just reach for them all the time?
02:56Certainly the more drought-tolerant ones.
02:58Things like the agastache like this one here, similar to a salvia.
03:03Very easy to grow, loves it hot and sunny.
03:05It'll take it cold in winter, it'll be dormant then anyway.
03:08It doesn't need a lot of water.
03:09And also the grasses, the ornamental grasses in recent years have become very, very popular.
03:14The true ornamental grasses that we grow, they do need to be cut back, most of them, once a year.
03:20But they're really nice for softening up the garden
03:22and they can be used in lots of different styles.
03:25Do you think perennials play an important role in building climate-resilient landscapes?
03:29Oh, definitely, without a doubt.
03:30Because the fertiliser requirement is very low
03:34and it's actually in many cases a benefit not to use chemical fertilisers on them.
03:38And also, once they're established, they need very little water
03:40so there's much less opportunity for runoff to become a problem in the environment.
03:44So you're having more stable and healthy ecosystems?
03:47Definitely.
03:47And they attract insects, which is a good thing.
03:49And so these insects may be in to feed on the plants
03:51and at the same time they're going to benefit other plants in your garden.
03:54And Richard has some sound advice for customers
03:56first meeting a perennial at a nursery.
04:00The perennials can often look quite underwhelming in a small pot
04:04but once they get in the ground, the rapid growth, they'll establish pretty quickly.
04:09And especially if you're planting them in groups, multiples,
04:12which really is the best way to show them off,
04:15you won't be worried about them not looking particularly impressive in a pot.
04:21When Richard's not at the nursery,
04:23he's tending to his one hectare property in Dromedary
04:26just 15 minutes down the road along the River Derwent.
04:31I can see some gorgeous perennials around the house
04:34but I'm curious to see the rest of the block first.
04:38So, Hannah, we bought this property about 20 years ago
04:41and the original plan was I was going to plant lots and lots of silver birches
04:46and liquid ambers, lots of deciduous trees in this area.
04:50And then over time I started to realise
04:52that we just didn't have the rainfall to support a lot of these plants
04:55that I wanted to grow.
04:56So rather than waste time babying them, I suppose,
04:59I just let them take their natural course.
05:02So after a year or so it was pretty obvious
05:05that I wasn't going to be successful with some of these choices.
05:08So I switched my thinking over to putting a lot of native trees in
05:11and that's what I did.
05:12So, well, I've got the benefit of maybe a little bit of a bush block
05:15as well as a reasonable garden up near the house as well.
05:18So it's a little bit of both, really.
05:22Time to check out the perennials around the house.
05:30Oh, this garden is pretty beautiful, Richard.
05:34Oh, thanks, Hannah. Thank you.
05:36Yeah, I'm loving the diversity.
05:37You've got these grasses that really hold the space
05:39with these colourful herbaceous plants running through the whole lot.
05:42That's right.
05:43That's what we tried to do here
05:44was really soften the front of the building,
05:46especially when you come in through the driveway to start with.
05:48And I think the grasses especially combined with the perennials
05:52has created a nice soft area effect.
05:54And looking around here, it's pretty crowded.
05:57There's maybe no bare space.
05:59Yeah, that's right.
05:59That's a good observation.
06:01That's a deliberate thing.
06:02I think the more bare space, the more space for weeds.
06:05And also, I think, having it packed in quite tightly
06:07tends to conserve a bit of moisture in there as well.
06:10Some people might think,
06:12oh, I guess you just throw different plants in that are perennial.
06:15But you've got a really clear strategy here.
06:17There's a pattern I can see.
06:19Yeah.
06:19How do you determine that?
06:20Well, there is a pattern.
06:21And the grasses are used predominantly to give it a little bit of height,
06:25not necessarily just at the back,
06:26but they create a bit of punctuation through the rest of the plants.
06:32With things like the different shapes, that's quite important as well.
06:35I think we've got flat shapes of things like the Achilles,
06:38and we've got uprights from the salvias,
06:40and then we've got round shapes from the Echinaceas and the other daisies.
06:43So that's what we've tried to do there
06:44is just repeat patterns of shapes, really.
06:47Why do you love grasses so much?
06:49Oh, I think I really like grasses because they move, first of all.
06:53The garden gets movement instead of having shrubs.
06:56As you can see, they move at the slightest breath of wind.
07:00And I also like, again, that they grow so quickly throughout the season
07:03so that you do get a change going on in the garden.
07:06You're not waiting a long time as you might be for a shrub or a tree.
07:10What are some of your top grass species that you turn to again and again?
07:14Yeah.
07:14Well, these three here, you've got Callum agrostis calforster at the back.
07:19We've got Steepa itchew here,
07:20and we've also got the Anamantheli or the New Zealand windgrass.
07:23They're my three favourites.
07:25They offer different shapes, and they offer different things to the garden.
07:29The Steepa itchew really gives movement at the slightest puff of breeze,
07:33where the Callum agrostis is just so upright.
07:35It's really, really nice to use at the back of the border.
07:39And then the windgrass over here, that's a really nice rounded shape,
07:43and it gives a nice hazy effect when it's in flower like that.
07:46Oh, it's beautiful.
07:48I want to see more.
07:49Sure.
07:50I love the yellow yarrow.
07:52Yes.
07:52Trying to create a bit of rhythm and repetition as we go through the garden.
07:55I want everything to flow, because especially at the back,
07:58you can see everything relatively easily as you drive in,
08:01so I don't want a sudden, dramatic change in what people are looking at.
08:04And that way, I think you get quite a restful effect.
08:07Along with rhythm and repetition, there's a third R in Richard's approach.
08:11Restraint seems to be the hardest part for a lot of people,
08:14especially gardener lovers.
08:17But if you can adhere to those principles to some degree,
08:20it certainly makes a difference, in my opinion.
08:22Yeah, I'm going to have to learn a bit more restraint, I think.
08:25I think we all are.
08:27When it comes down to picking a good flower for this type of garden,
08:30what is it that you're looking for?
08:31Well, I'm basically looking for as simple as possible.
08:33And what I mean by that,
08:35we're trying to look in this garden to get away from double flowers
08:39and hybridised plants that the modern nursery industry really pushes these days.
08:43I like more simple flowers, and so do the insects.
08:46They find it a lot easier to access the pollen,
08:49which is part of the reason that we have this garden.
08:51So simple is really what we're looking for.
08:54When it comes to selecting plants, Richard is all-inclusive.
08:58Originally, it was all Australian native plants,
09:01and I enjoyed that for a time.
09:02But I was looking for something a little bit more dynamic,
09:05something that would change as the seasons change.
09:08So we decided to go with the herbaricous perennials.
09:11I tend to look at plant selection similar to the United Nations.
09:15It doesn't really matter to me where the plants come from,
09:17as long as they all get together well
09:19and they all want the same things and play well together.
09:22I think that's more important than the actual origin, in my opinion.
09:26Much like this Scotsman who has made Australia home,
09:29his diverse range of perennials are also thriving in their home.
09:34Every day you come into the garden, it looks different.
09:36There's always a new flower to look at
09:37or something's emerging out of the ground.
09:40So it's never boring.
09:41It's continually changing, and that's what I love.
09:51Will Hardenbergia grow vertically?
09:53Purple coral pea, Hardenbergia, is a native garden favourite.
09:58In the wild, it will carpet the bush, tumbling over the ground.
10:02But if you give it the right support, it will also climb.
10:06Just a year ago, we planted it at the base of a bamboo pyramid,
10:09and look at it go!
10:11These poles are four metres tall!
10:14Hardenbergia's climbing secret is called stem twining.
10:17It spirals up something relatively slim, like these poles.
10:21So it won't climb a wall like Bougainvillea,
10:23but if you can help it up the wall with a pole or trellis,
10:26you might tempt it to run along the top.
10:29I've now planted this white variety of Hardenbergia.
10:32It's called Whiteout,
10:33and it's going to weave its way up and join its purple cousin,
10:37and it's going to form a beautiful colour contrast next season.
10:40I can't wait.
10:42Can I coppice a Mallee?
10:45Mallee's are small eucalypt trees that produce multiple stems off a woody base called a lignotuber.
10:52For an example is this Eucalyptus caesia.
10:55I cut it back hard, but it re-established.
10:57It's got multiple trunks, and it's presenting beautifully.
11:01What are cotyledons?
11:03Well, they're those first leaves you see that come out of a seed.
11:07They are actually stored within that seed,
11:09and when they come out of the ground, they unfurl,
11:11they hit the sunlight, start to photosynthesise,
11:13and fuel the growth of that little plant.
11:16Now, we have monocots.
11:18Monocotyledons have a single seed leaf, things like grasses and corn.
11:21And then you've got many dicots, and they have two seed leaves.
11:26They come out of the ground, and they are interesting to look at,
11:29but they're also really useful.
11:30You can use them to hold the seedling without doing any damage.
11:34And it's a great little fact to have in your pocket too.
11:43As summer draws to a close, a gardener's mind turns to seed.
11:49Those tiny, unassuming little packages
11:53that carry the promise of next year's garden.
11:57But that's not the only role they play.
12:00They also star when you move from the garden to the kitchen.
12:04Jerry knows exactly what I mean,
12:07and he's here to show us how to get the most out of your seed.
12:28As a passionate gardener, I never underestimate the power of seed.
12:33Of course, every plant's life begins as seed,
12:37and today I'm going to show you the various ways I work with these tiny little wonders.
12:51That sounds a little seedy.
12:53You've probably saved seed to propagate plants in your own garden.
12:58And for the more than 500 species I have in my garden,
13:02propagation by seed is probably the most cost-effective and efficient way of growing plants.
13:09Here in subtropical Brisbane, it can be hot and dry in spring.
13:14And I use this time to let my winter crops go to seed.
13:18And rather than watering, which can be really hard work,
13:21I use the conditions to help ripen my seed.
13:25So I use spring to create my primary seed crop.
13:31This is my Ethiopian cabbage.
13:34And to save the seed, you just harvest a few pods.
13:43And then it's simply a matter of pressing the seed along the seam.
13:48And that liberates the seed.
13:52And I can save them and sow them again next year.
13:57Don't they look cute?
13:58Like peas in a pod, except they're cabbage.
14:04For really small seed like this Nicotiana, you need to use pantyhose.
14:11The seed from this plant make the cabbage seed look like footballs.
14:16And the problem is they disperse so easily.
14:20But pantyhose is just brilliant.
14:22You put this over the end of the plant and all of the seed are captured.
14:28You just tie it up at the end.
14:30Now the brilliant thing about this is that if it rains,
14:35the seed will dry very quickly.
14:38They won't get spoiled by moisture.
14:41My top tips for successful seed storage
14:44are to always dry the seed before storing it.
14:47Use silica gel packs to help remove excess moisture.
14:52Use an airtight jar and label it clearly.
14:54Store the seed in the fridge.
14:57And common seed like peas, beans, tomato and capsicum will last for up to 10 years.
15:04Of course, a lot of seeds aren't just used to grow food producing plants.
15:09They are food in their own right.
15:14Rice, lentils, peas feed billions.
15:16But I've got a few which you can get a good crop out of and you don't need acreage.
15:24And these are my much-loved sword beans.
15:27These are the seed and these are the plants.
15:29They've just started growing.
15:31I'll harvest these in winter and they're a heavy cropper.
15:35You peel the fresh seed and boil them.
15:38And as far as protein content goes, they're every bit as nutritious as steak.
15:45Another favourite edible seed of mine is sesame.
15:49It's a heat-tolerant, quick-growing crop.
15:52And these seedlings here are just ready for thinning.
15:56I find the flavour of black sesame is far richer than the shop-bought white sesame seed.
16:02And it's far more nutritious as well.
16:09Many spices are made from seeds such as cumin, coriander and mustard.
16:15I've got a few spicy numbers growing in my garden, including this black pepper,
16:21which is happily climbing a fruit tree.
16:23It's more commonly grown on palm tree trunks because it accepts quite a lot of sunshine.
16:28The seed is black peppercorns.
16:32And this is a distinct before and after moment in your life.
16:37Because once you've grown your own and you've smelled the aroma and the flavour of home-grown peppercorns,
16:44there's no going back.
16:47My black cumin has just started flowering.
16:50It's an easy ornamental that produces seed with ease.
16:53And the seed are slightly bitter and peppery.
16:56And they're amazing for breads, curries and pickles.
17:00Take a gander at my coriander.
17:03This spice is absolutely essential.
17:06And look how easy it is to harvest.
17:08It's just so simple, you just rub the seed off using your fingertips.
17:14People complain that coriander goes to seed, but that's the second crop.
17:19My curries wouldn't be the same without it.
17:27Seed can also be turned into fresh, tasty sprouts in a matter of days.
17:32The process of sprouting is so simple.
17:36Sprouts are essentially germinating seeds.
17:38So most things work.
17:40Think beans, radish, mustard seed and pumpkin.
17:43So why not experiment?
17:45You don't need a garden to grow sprouts.
17:49All you need is a well-lit windowsill.
17:52To get them going, you use a sterilised jar.
17:54I put a tablespoon full of mung bean seed in.
17:58Soak them in water overnight.
18:01The following morning, you put a little bit of shade cloth over the top.
18:04Use a rubber band to hold it in position.
18:06And then you turn it upside down to drain off all the surplus water.
18:11Every morning, every evening, you fill it with water.
18:15Rinse it around and then drain off the water.
18:18And in days, you've got nutritionally dense food.
18:20Which is at its best before the seedlings produce their first pair of true leaves.
18:28I think seeds are absolutely wonderful.
18:31In particular, the way they give a gardener agency.
18:34They give you a real sense of power.
18:37And they're portable.
18:38This is half of my garden.
18:41If you exploit their potential to the max,
18:45your garden and your kitchen are going to flourish.
18:56At this time of the year, productive gardens really come into their own.
19:02And Sophie's visiting one in the Adelaide Hills
19:05that's mixing up plenty of produce with some interesting plant choices.
19:13This lovely Adelaide Hills garden is the meticulously planned,
19:17waterwise creation of two doctors, Cathy and David Sprod.
19:22They've designed a garden featuring an abundance of productive plants
19:26on their 2,000 square metre property in Mount Barker.
19:30Cathy, David, I can see there's so much going on here.
19:34Look at the produce in the front yard, the pistachios.
19:36Yes, they're fabulous.
19:38Welcome to our habitat.
19:39We live in our garden.
19:41We've got vegetables.
19:42We've got nuts.
19:43We've got shady garden, shady in summer, sunny in winter.
19:49It's our habitat and a habitat for the birds and the lizards and the possums.
19:55There's a lot more to see.
19:56Why don't you come through and have a look?
19:58Oh, please.
20:05Wow, look at this.
20:07What a view.
20:09Look at that stunning, weeping Japanese maple.
20:12This is probably the hardest part of the block
20:16because it's the northwest corner,
20:18so it gets intense sun and heat.
20:22This plant would not survive if we didn't create a microclimate.
20:26Manage that by putting a nice pergola with a glory line on it
20:30which creates shade all through summer
20:32and then in winter they all lose their leaves
20:34and you get a totally different view out into the whole garden.
20:39Out the back, there's a veggie patch.
20:41Lots of lovely native and exotic plants
20:44carefully chosen to suit the conditions,
20:47including at least 100 fruit and nut trees,
20:49providing bountiful crops.
20:52Wow, look at this beautiful lawned area.
20:55So the lawn is on top of the rainwater tank.
20:58It's 115,000 litres.
21:00Wow.
21:01And it supplies the whole house.
21:03The house only needs about 50,000 litres
21:05but that leaves us 65,000 to drought-proof us for the garden.
21:09How amazing.
21:10And how much soil is on top then?
21:12About 400 mils, which is not a lot.
21:15That's not much at all.
21:16So we've got to be careful while we plant on top.
21:19So that grevillea, the standard grevillea,
21:21is growing in 400 mils of soil.
21:24And the only reason it can do that
21:25is that it's grafted onto grevillea robusta
21:29and that is such a tough plant.
21:32It's actually thriving.
21:33David has to keep cutting it back
21:35because it wants to take over the lawn.
21:38Wow, and it's just about to come into flower?
21:40Yes, yes.
21:41We're very excited about that.
21:43What colour flowers does this cultivar have?
21:45Golden yellow.
21:46Beautiful.
21:48And someone said to us,
21:50why have you got your clothesline right in your view?
21:53It's because it's iconic and it's beautiful.
21:56Look at the water stains on it.
21:58It's so functional.
21:59It's so beautiful.
22:01Absolutely.
22:02So you've got ponytail palms over there.
22:04I bought those when I was at university more than 40 years ago.
22:07And I also love the Kasonia, the South African cabbage tree.
22:12They're gorgeous and they have that similar interesting bulbous root system.
22:15I really like architectural plants and it just makes this artistic approach to the garden.
22:25Kathy and David have lived here for 30 years.
22:28But in 2017, a fire thought to have been sparked by a power fault destroyed their house.
22:36It was very devastating.
22:39And you already had a beautiful garden around your home.
22:44What then?
22:45Well, we were essentially no man's land for quite a while trying to work out what we were going to
22:51do.
22:51It was a very, very difficult time.
22:54But the fire did come with a silver lining.
22:57It allowed Kathy and David to start again from scratch.
23:00They built their dream house, an eco-friendly north-facing home where the garden is central.
23:06There are a variety of beautiful views of the garden from every room in the house.
23:12The garden informs the house and the house informs the garden.
23:16We were really keen to minimise the barrier between the inside and out.
23:22It's not planned on a piece of paper, but it is very planned.
23:27It is very intentional, but it's also aiming to be natural.
23:31Following the fire, we were able to build the garden, but we still had the bare bones of the previous
23:40garden with the big trees like this one and the gum trees.
23:45We love our gum trees.
23:46They were all still present and allowed us to have these mature trees incorporating into what we wanted to do.
23:57So what are your roles in the garden?
23:59We've learnt to work together.
24:02This is our 40th year of marriage.
24:04I've trained him.
24:06He's just about right now.
24:08And I've finally learnt as well.
24:11But we work together and we respect each other and we have lots of discussions.
24:17And those discussions don't always have words.
24:19David has an incredible artistic eye.
24:23My thing is, I like shade.
24:25So I like big trees to be able to go into the garden and under the garden.
24:30I also like space.
24:31I like the empty space between the plants.
24:35I feel that's just as important, if not more important than the actual plants.
24:40And we learn from each other.
24:42And David says he likes the space between.
24:44It's very tempting for me to go, oh, oh, there's a space.
24:51Now you've got a fabulous looking veggie patch with, you know, corn and beans and cake gooseberries and zucchinis.
24:58And the tomatoes and self-seeded, tomito.
25:03Would you like to pinch one?
25:04Please do, please do.
25:05Let me try.
25:06Nothing beats the flavour.
25:08Mmm.
25:10Mmm.
25:13Heaven.
25:15Sun-ripened, warmed and flavour-rich.
25:19Absolutely.
25:21So you produce a lot of food.
25:24Oh, yeah.
25:24What do you do with all that?
25:26We share with neighbours.
25:27We share with our children.
25:29We share around our community.
25:32So Cathy also preserves.
25:34And so we usually can preserve enough to last a year.
25:41How much has your work as doctors affected your garden?
25:47Um, I think it's actually had a very significant effect.
25:52Working as a doctor, you are looking after people's wellbeing.
25:56And the garden, it's not designed for wellbeing, but it's certainly turned out that way.
26:04We both feel really happy when we're out in the garden, sort of just to recharge, um, and move around,
26:12do things, um, basically, yeah, live life and live a very contented and well life.
26:20We get regenerated when we come out.
26:23Fatigue tends to fall away.
26:25We come out to look at something, just check something out and see how it's going.
26:31And hours later, David says, dinner's ready.
26:34Come on in.
26:36I've just got to do one more thing.
26:39Yeah, it's on the table.
26:41Come on.
26:42It's our happy place.
26:46Well, it's been a delight to tour this carefully thought out garden and see the productive plants that are thriving.
26:52A little later in the program, we're going to take a look at several special fruit trees that are growing
26:57here that you may not have tasted before or even heard of.
27:05Still to come on Gardening Australia.
27:08Josh's fig tree feels the heat.
27:10We sample the delicacies of some unusual fruit trees in an Adelaide home orchard.
27:18And we're off to a botanic gardens that will take your breath away.
27:29If you're gardening down south this season, chances are you're up to your earlobes in tomatoes.
27:36But if you're anything like me, you're already thinking ahead to next season.
27:42What worked? What didn't?
27:43What varieties can I experiment with?
27:46Well, Millie's visiting a tomato farmer who's got the scoop on what's hot.
28:03I reckon it doesn't matter what country road you go down in Australia, you're bound to find an interesting grower.
28:11And there are not many growers more interesting than Florian Hoffinger.
28:17On his property at Mount Franklin, north of Daylesford in Victoria, he grows an incredible variety of beautiful heritage tomatoes.
28:29So, in the interests of research and journalistic integrity, I'm more than willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and sample
28:38as many of these varieties as I can.
28:42How many different varieties have you got in the paddock here, Florian?
28:46Roughly about 60.
28:48Wow.
28:4860 plus.
28:50And do you keep track of them?
28:51Like, do you know what's where or are they all planted in together?
28:55No, I keep track of it usually inside my head, but I do have a little sort of a farm
29:01map where I do write it down for crop rotation purposes and also just to see, you know, what's good
29:10enough and what isn't.
29:17In here we've got another 50 varieties of tomatoes under cover.
29:22What makes these varieties need to come under cover, Florian?
29:26Two purposes.
29:27One, to extend my growing season, because we can get very cold summer nights.
29:33And second, to keep the rosellas out, which are great lovers of tomatoes.
29:40Who isn't?
29:41Who isn't?
29:42Yes.
29:42We've got a beautiful variety here, Millie, it's called Black Beauty, and I believe it's the darkest of all tomatoes.
29:48And totally midnight black.
29:51Red inside, super sweet.
29:53Time to try.
29:55Oh, beautiful.
29:58Go your halves.
30:02Mmm.
30:04Oh, yum.
30:06It's sweet, but it's still got that acid, isn't it?
30:08Like, it's really bright flavour, not that real honey sweet.
30:13And here we've got a variety called Chocolate Stripes, which is another super sweet beefsteak variety.
30:23Also red inside, but a beautiful, bronzy-looking colour with green stripes.
30:28Does it go even more chocolate colour as it gets riper and riper?
30:31It could get darker and softer as well, and sweeter.
30:35Oh, delicious.
30:38Mmm.
30:40See, that's much sweeter sweet.
30:43Like, almost a bit richer in flavour than some of the really high acid tomatoes.
30:48Yeah, great snack.
30:50This is a variety called Cosmic, which is a small size heirloom tomato.
30:55Red inside, very sweet.
30:57This one is still a bit under right, but if you look at the colours.
31:02Really delicious.
31:04I feel like, with all those colours, it's like all the food groups in one.
31:07This variety here merely is called Helsing.
31:11Helsing.
31:12Helsing.
31:13And I'll show you why.
31:15Oh, wow.
31:17It's Dracula's killer.
31:19Pitch black with a red star on top and red inside.
31:22It's absolutely spectacular.
31:24Super sweet.
31:25Well, it looks absolutely beautiful.
31:28Try the taste.
31:30Mmm.
31:33Oh, sweet, isn't it?
31:35You could eat a lot of those.
31:37Florin, you grow heirloom tomatoes.
31:40What's the definition of that?
31:42Well, heirloom tomatoes, the definition is true to type.
31:45So, in theory, if you save the seed, you can grow the same tomato again the following year.
31:53Even in a mixed situation like this?
31:55Only occasionally things go wrong, which happened last year, where these two varieties,
32:00this is a black trifle, and these are tigerellas.
32:06Had a bit of a hanky-panky and produce a tomato variety, which I named a triferella.
32:13What is it that makes you think that it's these two that have crossed?
32:17Because I grew them next to each other last year.
32:19The stripes look like a bit tigerella-ish, and the size a bit like the trifle, you know.
32:26I'm going to grow some in another polytunnel next year, see to isolate them and see what happens.
32:32This is a beautiful little variety known as blueberry.
32:35It's a truss type, and you can see it's named after these gorgeous little berries.
32:39But it has this beautiful soft skin, lovely to eat.
32:42But for a market gardener, hard to put in a box and take to market.
32:45So this is one that's great for the home gardener, but not as much for someone commercially growing.
32:50But perfect for you to eat.
32:56Has anyone checked the science on how many tomatoes you can eat before it goes wrong?
33:05I really do marvel at the variety of tomatoes Florian grows.
33:10The shapes, the colours, the sizes, and of course, the taste.
33:14But surprisingly, Florian hasn't always been a grower.
33:18In fact, for many years, he had an entirely different career.
33:22I was a chef for 29 years, that's right, yeah.
33:26So it was still a food-related profession, of course, but I took the produce, you know, from the grower.
33:33For now I'm on the other end, you know.
33:36I always wanted to have a veggie garden.
33:38That was one of the main reasons to move to the country.
33:41And, yeah, it's just sort of got out of control and taken over my whole life.
33:48So what's the key for growing a really good tomato?
33:51Well, for starters, you need the right soil acidity, like pH.
33:56About six and a half pH is pretty good.
33:59You want reasonable good drainage in your beds.
34:03What I basically do as soon as my growing season finishes,
34:06I grow a cover crop of fava beans for nitrogen and mustard to fumigate the soil.
34:12Then that gets turned into the ground in spring.
34:17And then I apply compost, potash, a little bit of pelletized fertilizer, not too much.
34:26And I mulch with straw.
34:29I only use strippers, because you don't want to get water on your leaves for, you know, disease spread.
34:36Then I raise my seedlings in a hothouse and plant them after the last frost.
34:43How do you know when that is?
34:44Yeah, well, farming is just another form of gambling half the time.
34:50And then really the only other thing I do, I suppose, is I spray them with a sulphur solution to
34:58keep mildews at bay.
35:04And as if I hadn't eaten my fill of tomatoes already today, Florian's promised to pull out some of his
35:09old chefing skills and prepare a special treat.
35:19Here you go, Millie. My favourite tomato.
35:21Oh, amazing. Rainbow.
35:23That is beautiful. I love it when chefs do good things with good produce, which is often nothing.
35:29Less is more. Less is more. All right.
35:31Well, it does have my friend Beata's olive oil on it, basil from the garden and a drizzle of salt
35:37and some burrata cheese.
35:39That's all it really needs. All it needs. All right. So we slide a slice out.
35:43Oh, my gosh, that cheese.
35:48It's incredible. It's so fresh, yeah? Cheers.
35:51Cheers. Enjoy.
35:52Sorry. You're going to watch me eat one more.
35:56Cheers.
35:57Cheers.
35:57Cheers.
35:59Cheers.
36:00Oh, yeah, it's beautiful.
36:01It's amazing you get so much flavour still in such a big tomato.
36:04Mmm.
36:05It's hard not to feel smug sometimes when you're eating your vegetables that you've grown yourself, isn't it?
36:12It's always such a treat to get to spend time with someone who's really thought so deeply about growing something
36:19we love.
36:19I love the tomato. It's a humble vegetable, some say, but it is also one of the most joyful things
36:25you can grow.
36:26And I love also when that person is as passionate about eating them as the rest of us.
36:33Thank you for it. Delicious.
36:35Oh, it's been a pleasure.
36:36Mmm.
36:46Check out the bark on this fig.
36:48See how it's rough and scaly?
36:51Last summer here in Perth was one of the hottest on record with a number of scorching days, which resulted
36:57in this tree getting sunburnt.
37:00The bark has dried out and cracked, damaging the vascular tissue underneath and making the tree vulnerable to rot.
37:07Now, in a healthy tree with a strong canopy, the leaves protect the branches.
37:12But when the tree gets moisture stressed and loses its leaves, which is what happened here, the branches are exposed.
37:20And the same thing can happen if you heavily prune a tree.
37:23Now, one response is to coat the sun-facing side of the branches with a water-based lime paint.
37:30Or make sure the tree is properly fed and watered to get a really vigorous canopy, which is going to
37:37be my focus here.
37:39I'm applying pelletised manure, compost, and mulch.
37:48And making sure the irrigation is working properly.
37:53This combination will encourage healthy leaf growth and keep the branches well protected.
38:06Earlier in the program, I caught up with Doctors Cathy and David Sprott in their amazing Adelaide Hills garden.
38:12Now I'm going to have a look at some of the more unusual fruit trees they're growing here.
38:19Look at these fascinating fruits.
38:21They're called meddlers.
38:22And in medieval times, they were all but essential in a royal orchard or a monastery.
38:28Don't be put off by their appearance.
38:31They have rough brown skin and talon-like sepals because they're a member of the Rose family.
38:36And here's a cheeky fact.
38:37It's impossible to ignore that open centre they have.
38:41And the French actually call them cul de chien, which means dog's backside.
38:46They're mentioned in literary classics by Chaucer and Shakespeare, but they've been outdated by their cousins, which are apples and
38:54pears, that you can eat straight off a tree.
38:57While I don't actually like the flavour of the fruit raw, I love it when you take the time to
39:03cook it to make paste or jelly.
39:05With meddlers, you actually have to pick the fruit towards autumn and then you let them ripen inside and you
39:13actually have to wait till they blet or go mushy before you can cook them or eat them.
39:18So why would you grow them?
39:19Well, I've always grown them because I love their autumn colour.
39:23Their leaves turn the most beautiful tones in autumn and actually they're holding fruit at the same time.
39:30So if you want to, you can pick stems with fruit on them and enjoy the autumn colour and the
39:35fruits in a vase.
39:39Another fruit that's closely related to the meddlers that's not as commonly grown as it once was is the quince.
39:46They also enjoy many historical references as the so-called golden apples from literature in the Middle Ages.
39:54These days they've fallen out of favour compared to their apple and pear cousins that have been highly cultivated to
40:01be more palatable and transportable and can be eaten straight off the tree.
40:05However, the quince has a distinct flavour and is a beautiful long-lived tree.
40:11They're remarkably hardy to grow in many areas of Australia and they're drought, heat and frost tolerant.
40:17Now, as far as eating them raw goes, their texture's a bit tough and they're extra tart, like an extra
40:25tart apple.
40:26So many people don't like them raw, but cooked, they're amazing.
40:30You can use them to make jellies or paste, but they can also be steamed or poached.
40:35They could be baked or roasted and that way the flavour becomes really sweet and delicious and they get that
40:42beautiful ruby red colour to them.
40:44So quinces are a great tree to grow for their produce, but also they're highly attractive in your garden.
40:53These are jujubes, although some people call them jujubies.
40:57They're like tiny little apples, but they're rather underappreciated here in Australia.
41:02Native to China, Mongolia and Korea, jujubes are one of the oldest known cultivated fruits in the world, dating back
41:107,000 years.
41:12They're hugely popular in parts of Asia, but jujubes have only recently been gaining attention in Australia.
41:19And because they are tolerant of salinity, alkalinity and dry conditions, they are one to consider if you need a
41:27robust fruiting plant for a tricky spot.
41:30They grow 7 to 10 metres high, but can be pruned lower if necessary, and they also can be espalliate.
41:38Most are self-fertile, although multiple pollinators will give you better fruiting.
41:43Most jujubes you'll find in Australia are grafted onto a hardy rootstock so that the trees grow better.
41:48There are a number of different cultivars and they vary in size from small fruits like this to ones that
41:54are about that size, almost small passion fruit size.
41:58They can be eaten fresh when they're ripe and they have a crisp, sweet taste, a bit apple-like, absolutely
42:05delicious.
42:06Or they can be dried and they go brown, which gives them the name, the Chinese date.
42:12It's fun to try your hand at fruit growing, and we all love the usual suspects like apples and pears.
42:18But why not branch out and try your hand at some fruits favoured in ancient times?
43:08You might call small fruit rather
43:26Huge parts of Australia are arid
43:29and I know from all of my travels
43:31that it's some of the most beautiful and precious country
43:35you'll see anywhere.
43:37There's a botanic gardens in South Australia
43:39that really champions the plants that grow in these areas
43:44and today we're taking a tour.
44:02Dawn is my favourite time of the day here
44:06at the Australian Narrowlands Botanic Garden.
44:10I really like the early morning light.
44:13It's cooler and the birds are just magic.
44:18We are looking across Spencer Gulf
44:20to the wonderful Flinders Ranges.
44:23This is where the desert meets the sea
44:25and below we see the beautiful grey mangroves
44:29which are a unique part of our botanic garden.
44:33I'm Brian Reichelt from the Friends of the Australian Narrowlands Botanic Garden
44:37and I'm absolutely passionate about this garden.
44:42We're in Port Augusta, South Australia.
44:44We're on Bangla and Nookuna land.
44:48This area is the entrance to Eyre Peninsula
44:51and it's also known as the Crossroads of Australia
44:54because you can move north, south, east and west across our corridors.
45:00The garden is 250 hectares.
45:04All of the plants that are grown here are known as low rainfall,
45:08under 250 mil of rainfall,
45:10so they're all desert species
45:12and they cover approximately 70% of Australia.
45:17We are an arc for the plants
45:20that will be grown across Australia in the future with climate change.
45:28We're on the Kenopod plains of the arid zone of Australia.
45:32These plains support many, many different species
45:35of salt bushes, blue bushes, mariana species,
45:39all of those different types of plants.
45:41It's a haven for reptiles, small bird life and insects.
45:47It covers a very wide portion of the arid zone of Australia.
45:52As people drive past Kenopod country
45:55right across Australia in the arid zones,
45:57they treat it as, oh, it's just another dry, lifeless area.
46:01But when you get out of your car and take a stroll
46:04and depending on the seasons,
46:05the variety and the things that you see,
46:08they're such beautiful plants,
46:09but unless you get out of the car and take a walk through it,
46:12you're not going to see it.
46:16It's amazing to see these marvellous little lichens and fungi
46:21which are growing in this arid zone.
46:24They are amazing.
46:25They survive right through the hot, dry summers.
46:27The first little bit of rain, they come back to life.
46:31You see here, we have an example of black bush,
46:34which is really a great home for our birds and insects.
46:38It's also an excellent garden plant
46:40because you can prune it to whatever shape you'd like to have.
46:43It's one of those plants that once you put in the garden,
46:45it needs minimal amount of water.
46:48Another great example is the pearl bush, Marianna cetifolia.
46:53It has this very unusual bead-like leaf in a soft grey
46:57and it has very, like, fine little hairs on it.
46:59It's actually a beautiful plant,
47:01very nice in a native garden setting.
47:05In this sort of region, you're going to see birds of prey,
47:08in particular the little nankeen kestrel
47:10because it's much easier for it to hunt for its prey.
47:13We also have lots of little wrens, fairy wrens,
47:17mainly the white-winged fairy wren in the open country,
47:19but also we have a little rufous-filled wren
47:22which are very secretive
47:23and occasionally rise to the top of a salt bush and sing
47:26so that you get an opportunity to see it.
47:27But unless you take the time in this type of country to look,
47:31you're going to think it's lifeless and barren.
47:38Bird watching is a passion of mine along with the garden.
47:42There is something about the birds
47:44that if you have the interest to take and look,
47:46you'll find little different variations within birds,
47:49their calls, their songs.
47:51Everything is just brilliant and exciting to think about.
47:56I've been watching birds since I was about 12 years old,
47:59so that's, what, about 55 years now?
48:01Original studies showed that we had around 49 species recorded here
48:06and we're now recording around 160 species in total
48:09that come and go from the garden.
48:12It's a good sign that we are acting as a home for birds,
48:16in particular in the bad times out in the bush.
48:18They know they can migrate into this region
48:21and there is a safe place with food and water.
48:32We're now in the sandhill country of the Aridlands Botanical Garden
48:35and we're in the home of the iconic Western Mile.
48:38It's a tree that has long lived,
48:40up to 100 years,
48:42some of the specimens that you're seeing here at the moment.
48:45It's so dry here that you can see the roots
48:48that are sitting above the surface
48:50which have been eroded by the wind.
48:52However, there are still minute rootlets
48:55that move out from the bottom
48:56to sustain moisture for the plant in the dry seasons.
48:59You can see the silver foliage that we have here
49:02compared to the green.
49:03This is a change in the foliage.
49:06It acts as a reflector of the heat
49:08and reduces its moisture loss.
49:11It's been recorded that this lowers the temperature
49:15beneath the tree by up to 15 degrees
49:17during the hot 45, 50 degree days.
49:20They are extremely tough.
49:23They can go for up to five, six years
49:25without any decent rainfall
49:27and so therefore they have to be hardy.
49:30You get a nice rainfall
49:31and they seem to come back automatically to full life.
49:41We have this beautiful splash of yellow
49:43from Eucalyptus pimpiniana,
49:46very useful to birds and insects
49:48for pollination and food sources.
49:51This is a dwarf eucalypt
49:53which would be excellent for home gardeners.
49:58This is another one of our beautiful lemon
50:01yellow flowering plants.
50:02It's the Desert Melaleuca.
50:05It's a plant that grows
50:07in the northern areas of South Australia
50:09towards the Northern Territory border.
50:11Such an exquisite flower
50:13and it has these tiny little capsules
50:15which contain the seed
50:16which are very much like
50:18a nut off of a casuarina
50:19or some other species.
50:22A true desert plant.
50:24This plant would be quite frost tolerant
50:26because of the type of foliage that it has
50:27and I would suggest
50:29that you could probably grow this
50:30in a lot of gardens across Australia.
50:40The plants that have grown
50:41through all of the arid zones of Australia
50:44run in temperature gradients
50:46of at night down minus three,
50:49minus five
50:49to as high as up to 49, 50 degrees
50:52and maybe in some days
50:54even higher than that
50:55when we get into some of the northern regions
50:57of the arid zone.
51:00We have some very rare trees
51:02in the Botanic Garden
51:03and this is one of them.
51:05It's the waddy wood
51:06which is an extremely rare plant
51:08that grows around the edge
51:10of the Simpson Desert region of Australia.
51:12The wood is the hardest wood known in the world
51:15and these trees can live to be
51:18around 500 years old
51:20and I absolutely love them.
51:23This is another one of our rare trees.
51:25This is the leopard wood.
51:27This is an extremely rare tree
51:29which grows from white cliffs
51:31in New South Wales north
51:33into Queensland.
51:35This tree is about 30 years old
51:37and once it loses all of its lower foliage
51:40and the trunk enlarges
51:41it will blotch out in white,
51:43hence its name leopard wood.
51:55This is our Eremophila garden
51:56and we have 200 types of Eremophila
51:58within the garden.
51:59We think that it is probably
52:01one of the biggest collections
52:02of Eremophila in a botanic garden
52:04in the world.
52:05They all vary in shape, colour, size
52:08and colour of flower.
52:09This Eremophila is Eremophila bigniflora
52:12and you can see it has fruit
52:14and flower on it at the moment
52:15and it's a very popular garden plant
52:18and a nice shade tree
52:19within your garden.
52:22These plants are ideal
52:24for growing in many different
52:26environments across Australia,
52:28cool and temperate climates as well.
52:30However, must be careful
52:32about whether they are frost tolerant
52:33and secondly that the soil type
52:36is important.
52:37Most of these plants tend to grow
52:39in more sandy, aloamier soils
52:41so they require free drainage,
52:44moisture but not wet feed.
52:52The idea of us having a garden
52:55in Port Augusta commenced
52:56approximately 40 years ago
52:57with the friends and council staff.
53:00Eventually we were able to convince
53:02council and the state government
53:04to be involved
53:05and that was the beginning
53:06of our garden.
53:07We live on a very low budget
53:09and rely heavily on donations.
53:12The Botanic Garden here
53:14is free admission
53:15which is really great.
53:16The garden itself
53:17is very, very popular.
53:19We're averaging
53:19just over 120,000 visitors
53:22a year now to the garden
53:24which makes all of us
53:25extremely proud
53:26of the achievements
53:27this garden has.
53:28And it's the highest
53:29regional botanic garden numbers
53:32of anywhere in Australia.
53:46My love for these plants
53:48is not only the beauty
53:49of the plants
53:50but their ability
53:52to withstand
53:52such huge changes
53:54in climate
53:55because as we warm
53:57these plants
53:58are already able
53:59to tolerate
54:00those hotter,
54:01drier climates.
54:12It's time to roll
54:13your sleeves up.
54:15Your jobs for the weekend
54:16are knocking at the door.
54:23Cool temperate gardeners
54:24it's time to pop in
54:25your parsnips.
54:27Sewing now
54:27allows them to settle in
54:29and get cranking
54:30before the cooler weather hits.
54:32Sow fresh seeds
54:33into fluffy soil
54:34about three centimetres apart.
54:36If some of your foliage
54:38is looking furry
54:39and funky
54:39reach for the full cream milk.
54:41One part milk
54:42into nine parts water
54:44is a fantastic fungus fighter
54:46and will make short work
54:48of powdery mildew.
54:49Add colour to your cottage garden
54:51with wallflowers.
54:53Plant in a sunny spot
54:54where their showy flowers
54:56and clove scent
54:57can be appreciated
54:58from autumn
54:59right through to spring.
55:02In warm temperate gardens
55:04wisterias
55:04are romping away
55:05so it's time
55:06to tame them.
55:07Prune back
55:08young whippy growth
55:09and cut side shoots
55:11back to within
55:11ten centimetres
55:13of the main lateral stem.
55:15Prep for autumn
55:16plantings
55:17is underway
55:18so it's time
55:19to turn
55:19to your compost.
55:21Literally.
55:21Aerate
55:22and turn
55:23your heat.
55:23The more love
55:24you show it now
55:25the better it'll be
55:26come planting time.
55:28Lift and divide
55:29old clumps
55:30of daffodils
55:31which failed
55:32to flower
55:32last season.
55:33Shake off
55:34the loose soil
55:35and store
55:35in a cool
55:36airy spot
55:37like the shed
55:38or garage
55:39for replanting
55:40in April.
55:42Subtropical gardeners
55:43if your camellias
55:44are producing
55:44bucket loads
55:45of buds
55:46but few flowers
55:47thin them out
55:48by twisting off
55:49some of the buds
55:50leaving one to two
55:51at the tip
55:52and two
55:52along the stem.
55:54If you're a lover
55:55of lawn
55:55summer in the
55:56subtropics
55:57can be tough.
55:58To keep your turf
55:59tip top
55:59and lawn luscious
56:00mow as high
56:01as possible
56:02to conserve moisture
56:03and prevent
56:04weed infestation.
56:06With autumn
56:07on the doorstep
56:07take time
56:08to plan your patch
56:09before you plant.
56:11Nurseries
56:11and public gardens
56:12are great places
56:13for ideas
56:14and inspiration
56:15on trees
56:16shrubs
56:16and plants
56:17perfect for your place.
56:20Amaranth
56:20is an amazing
56:21addition
56:21to tropical
56:22veggie gardens
56:23that can be
56:24sown now.
56:25The leaves
56:25are edible
56:26when cooked
56:27and are a
56:27super spinach
56:28substitute
56:29plus
56:29they're great
56:30companion plants.
56:32Get a green manure
56:33crop going
56:34and add life
56:35and nutrients
56:36to fallow beds
56:37before autumn planting.
56:39Sow barley,
56:40lucen,
56:40peas and beans
56:41cutting and turning
56:43into the soil
56:43before seed set.
56:45It's a very good time
56:47to prune your mulberry tree
56:48cutting it right back
56:50to around waist height.
56:52Mulberries fruit
56:52on new wood
56:53so pruning hard now
56:55means more fruit
56:56that are easier
56:57for you to pick
56:58next season.
57:00Arid gardeners
57:01aphids are active
57:03but spraying with
57:04white oil
57:04can do more harm
57:05than good
57:06in the heat.
57:07Instead squash them
57:08with your fingers
57:09or blast with the hose.
57:11While we're talking pests
57:13set up some molasses traps
57:14to catch hungry grasshoppers.
57:16Add 500ml of molasses
57:18to a bucket of water
57:19and pop it in the patch.
57:20You'll catch handfuls
57:22of hoppers in no time.
57:24Native hibiscus
57:25is a tough, tidy shrub
57:27for a sunny spot.
57:28Growing two metres
57:29by two metres
57:30this stunner
57:31will reward you
57:32with masses
57:33of showy purple flowers
57:35from spring
57:36through autumn.
57:37With autumn
57:38around the corner
57:39now's the time
57:40to get prepping
57:41and planning
57:41before some
57:42serious planting.
57:44Let us know
57:44what you get up to
57:45on the GA socials.
57:53Well, that's everything
57:54we have on the roster
57:56this time
57:57but there's plenty more
57:59coming your way
58:00next week.
58:02Some gardeners
58:03have that extra special
58:04something
58:05and Dolores Milak
58:06is one of them.
58:07Wow, you've trained
58:08these figs
58:09into archers.
58:10The garden is a celebration
58:12of her Maltese culture,
58:13family and friendship.
58:15When it comes to form,
58:17structure,
58:17privacy
58:18and creating space
58:19in gardens
58:19our gardening minds
58:21often turn to thinking
58:22about hedging
58:23and screening.
58:24I've got some top tips
58:25on the perfect natives
58:26to use.
58:27And can pools
58:29be a safe space
58:30for humans
58:30and wildlife?
58:32Well,
58:33I'll be finding out
58:34how to make
58:34both things possible.
58:37more infomercials
58:38and life
58:38live in different
58:39professions.
58:39This group
58:39compares to the
58:39in the building
58:39you
58:39you
58:40you
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