- 9 hours ago
Gardening Australia - Season 37 - Episode 03
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Whoo-hoo!
00:05Hey! Hi!
00:12Whoa!
00:17Hey!
00:19Hey, buddy.
00:22Hey!
00:27Oh!
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
00:42when 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,
00:53we've got some stories to keep you fired up.
00:56Take a look at what's coming your way.
01:01These colourful little characters
01:03are the unsung heroes of my garden and my kitchen.
01:07I'm going to show you the many ways
01:10I put seed to use at my place.
01:13What happens when two doctors set their mind
01:16to creating a water-wise productive patch in the Adelaide Hills?
01:20Well, this!
01:21An 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
01:48at the Australian Narrowlands Botanic Garden.
01:51This is where the desert meets the sea.
01:59As the weather heats up,
02:01a lot of flowering perennial plants put on a show.
02:05Hannah's visiting a nursery
02:06that'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,
02:21I'm in a gorgeous perennial nursery
02:24where I'm going to meet avid perennial grower
02:26and manager Richard Hull.
02:28In the last, say, five to ten years,
02:30there's been a huge interest from the general public,
02:33whereas before, people...
02:35It just wasn't in people's front of mind sort of thing,
02:39but 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.
02:45It can be either herumbaceous perennial,
02:48like what we grow here,
02:49or it could be a woody perennial,
02:50like a shrub or a tree.
02:52And which perennials are just so popular,
02:54people just reach for them all the time?
02:56Certainly the more drought-tolerant ones,
02:58things like the agastache, like this one here,
03:01similar to a salvia, very easy to grow,
03:04loves it hot and sunny.
03:05It'll take it cold in winter,
03:06it'll be dormant then anyway.
03:08It doesn't need a lot of water.
03:09And also the grasses, the ornamental grasses
03:12in recent years have become very, very popular.
03:14The true ornamental grasses that we grow,
03:17they do need to be cut back, most of them, once a year,
03:20but they're really nice for softening up the garden
03:23and they can be used in lots of different styles.
03:24Do you think perennials play an important role
03:27in 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,
03:35a benefit not to use chemical fertilisers on them.
03:38And also once they're established,
03:39they need very little water,
03:40so there's much less opportunity for runoff
03:42to 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
03:53other plants in your garden.
03:54And Richard has some sound advice for customers
03:57first meeting a perennial at a nursery.
04:00The perennials can often look quite underwhelming
04:03in a small pot, but once they get in the ground,
04:06the rapid growth they'll establish pretty quickly.
04:09And especially, you know,
04:11if 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
04:18not 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
04:46of silver birches and liquid ambers,
04:48lots 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
04:54a lot of these plants that 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
05:11in and 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.
05:34Thanks, 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. That'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, airy effect.
05:54And looking around here, it's pretty crowded.
05:57There's maybe no bare space.
05:59Yeah, that's right. That'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.
06:18Yeah.
06:19How do you determine that?
06:20Well, there is a pattern,
06:21and the grasses are used predominantly to give 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.
06:31With the things like the different shapes,
06:34that'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. Well, these three here, you've got Calamogrostis,
07:17Calforster at the back.
07:19We've got Steepa Ichu here, and we've also got the Anamantheli
07:22or 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 Ichu really gives movement at the slightest puff of breeze,
07:34where the Calforster's 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,
07:44and it gives a nice hazy effect when it's in flower like that.
07:46Oh, it's beautiful. I 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 gardening 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.
08:34And what I mean by that, we're trying to look in this garden
08:37to get away from double flowers and hybridised plants
08:40that the modern nursery industry really pushes these days.
08:44I 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
09:05and something that would change as the seasons change.
09:08So we decided to go with the herbaceous 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 a new...
09:38Some things are 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?
09:54Purple 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.
10:43Can I coppice a Mallie?
10:45Mallies are small eucalypt trees that produce multiple stems
10:49off 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,
11:20things like grasses and corn.
11:22And then you've got many dicots,
11:24and 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,
11:45a 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
12:40I 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
13:06and 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,
13:22I 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,
14:08you 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, the seed will dry very quickly.
14:38They won't get spoiled by moisture.
14:41My top tips for successful seed storage are to always dry the seed before storing it.
14:48Use silica gel packs to help remove excess moisture.
14:52Use an airtight jar and label it clearly.
14:55Store the seed in the fridge.
14:56And 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.
15:13Rice, lentils, peas feed billions.
15:17But 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.
15:36You 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.
16:03And it's far more nutritious as well.
16:09Many spices are made from seeds such as cumin, coriander and mustard.
16:16I'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.
16:29The 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 homegrown 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 and look how easy it is to harvest.
17:09It'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.
17:20My curries wouldn't be the same without it.
17:27The seed 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.
17:48All you need is a well-lit windowsill.
17:51To 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, your 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 that's mixing up plenty of produce with some interesting plant choices.
19:13This lovely Adelaide Hills garden is the meticulously planned, water-wise creation of two doctors, Cathy and David Sprott.
19:22They've designed a garden featuring an abundance of productive plants on 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.
19:40We live in our garden.
19:41We've got vegetables.
19:42We've got nuts.
19:43We've got shady garden.
19:46Shady in summer.
19:48Sunny in winter.
19:49It's our habitat and a habitat for the birds and the lizards and the possums.
19:56There'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 because it's the northwest corner, so it gets intense sun and
20:22heat.
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, which creates shade all through summer.
20:32And then in winter, they all lose their leaves and you get a totally different view out into the whole
20:36garden.
20:39Out the back, there's a veggie patch.
20:42Lots of lovely native and exotic plants carefully chosen to suit the conditions, including at least 100 fruit and nut
20:49trees, providing 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, but that leaves us 65,000 to drought-proof us for the
21:09garden.
21:09How amazing.
21:10And how much soil is on top then?
21:13About 400 mils, which is not a lot.
21:15It'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, is growing in 400 mils of soil.
21:23And the only reason it can do that is 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 because it wants to take over the lawn.
21:38Wow.
21:38And it's just about to come into flower?
21:40Yes.
21:41Yes.
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, why have you got your clothesline right in your view?
21:53It's because it's iconic.
21:55And 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.
22:15But I really like architectural plants.
22:18And 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.
22:37It was very devastating.
22:39And you already had a beautiful garden around your home.
22:44What then?
22:46Well, we were essentially in no man's land for quite a while trying to work out what we were going
22:51to do.
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, it is very intentional, but it's also
23:29aiming to be natural.
23:32Following 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.
23:46We love our gum trees.
23:46They were all still present and allowed us to have these mature trees incorporated 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.
24:20David 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.
24:42David says he likes the space between.
24:44It's very tempting for me to go, 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.
25:02Tommy toe.
25:03Would you like to pinch one?
25:04Please do.
25:05Please do.
25:05Let me try.
25:07Nothing beats the flavour.
25:09Mmm.
25:10Mmm.
25:14Heaven.
25:15Sun ripened.
25:16Warm.
25:17Warm.
25:17And 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 communities.
25:32So Kathy 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?
25:47I 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.
26:08Sort of just to recharge and move around, do things, basically live life and live a very contented and well
26:20life.
26:20We get regenerated when we come out. Fatigue 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.
26:39It'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, Josh's fig tree feels the heat.
27:11We 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.
28:16On 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?
28:47Roughly 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
29:11enough 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. One, 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? Yes.
29:43We've got a beautiful variety here, Millie, it's called Black Beauty, and I believe it's the darkest of all tomatoes.
29:49And 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 will get darker and softer as well, and sweeter.
30:35Oh, delicious.
30:38Mmm.
30:40See, that's much sweeter sweet.
30:44Like, almost a bit richer in flavour than some of the really high acid tomatoes.
30:47Yeah, 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.
31:08This variety here, Millie, is called Helsing.
31:11Helsing?
31:12Helsing, and I'll show you why.
31:16Oh, 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.
31:31Mmm.
31:33Oh, sweet, isn't it?
31:35You could eat a lot of those.
31:37Florian, you grow heirloom tomatoes.
31:40What's the definition of that?
31:41Well, 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.
31:57Which happened last year, were these two varieties.
32:01This is a black trifle.
32:03And these are tigerellas.
32:06Had a bit of a hanky-panky and produce a tomato variety which I named a trifarella.
32:13What is it that makes you think that it's these two that have crossed?
32:16Because 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, yeah.
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.
32:57Has 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.
34:27And 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?
34:45Yeah, 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
34:58to keep milieus 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
35:10and prepare a special treat.
35:19Here you go, Milie. 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.
35:30Less is more.
35:31Less 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.
35:40All it needs. All right.
35:42So we slide a slice out.
35:43Oh my gosh, that cheese.
35:48It's incredible.
35:49It's so fresh, yeah?
35:50Cheers.
35:51Cheers. Enjoy.
35:52Sorry, you're going to watch me eat one more.
35:59Oh, that'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 that?
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.
36:19The tomato.
36:20It's a humble vegetable, some say, but it is also one of the most joyful things you can grow.
36:26And I love also when that person is as passionate about eating them as the rest of us.
36:34Delicious.
36:35Oh, a big pleasure.
36:36Mmm.
36:45Check 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
36:58in this tree getting sunburnt.
37:00The bark is dried out and cracked, damaging the vascular tissue underneath and making the tree vulnerable to rot.
37:08Now, 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, or
37:31make sure the tree is properly fed and watered to get a really vigorous canopy, which is going to be
37:37my focus here.
37:39I'm applying pelletised manure, compost and mulch, and 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.
38:35And 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.
38:56While 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 blit 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.
39:45They 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.
40:10They'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.
41:31They grow 7 to 10 metres high, but can be pruned lower if necessary, and they also can be espaliate.
41:38Most are self-fertile, although multiple pollinators will give you better fruiting.
41:42Most 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?
42:27The
42:27The
42:27The
42:27The
42:27The
42:27The
42:27The
44:33I'm Brian Rykilt from the Friends of the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden and 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 and it's also known as the Crossroads of Australia because you can
44:55move 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, under 250 mil of rainfall.
45:10So they're all desert species and they cover approximately 70% of Australia.
45:17We are an arc for the plants that will be grown across Australia in the future with climate change.
45:28We're on the keenopod plains of the arid zone of Australia.
45:32These plains support many, many different species of salt bushes, blue bushes, mariana species, all of those different types of
45:41plants.
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 keenopod country right across Australia in the arid zones, they treat it as, oh, it's just
45:59another dry, lifeless area.
46:01But when you get out of your car and take a stroll and depending on the seasons, the variety and
46:07the things that you see, they're such beautiful plants.
46:09But unless you get out of the car and take a walk through it, you're not going to see it.
46:16It's amazing to see these marvellous little lichens and fungi which are growing in this arid zone.
46:24They are amazing. They survive right through the hot, dry summers.
46:28The first little bit of rain, they come back to life.
46:31You see here, we have an example of black bush, which is really a great home for our birds and
46:37insects.
46:37It's also an excellent garden plant because 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, it needs minimal amount of water.
46:48Another great example is the pearl, so it was the Marianna Cetifolia.
46:53It has this very unusual bead-like leaf in a soft grey and it has very, like, fine little hairs
46:59on it.
46:59It's actually a beautiful plant, very nice in a native garden setting.
47:05In this sort of region, you're going to see birds of prey, in 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, mainly the white-winged fairy wren in the open country.
47:19But also we have a little rufous field wren, which are very secretive and occasionally rise to the top of
47:25a salt bush and sing
47:26so that you get an opportunity to see.
47:27But unless you take the time in this type of country to look, you're going to think it's lifeless and
47:33barren.
47:38Bird watching is a passion of mine along with the garden.
47:42There is something about the birds that if you have the interest to take and look,
47:46you'll find little different variations within birds, their 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, so that's 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 that come and go from the garden.
48:12It's a good sign that we are acting as a home for birds, in particular in the bad times out
48:18in the bush.
48:19They know they can migrate into this region and there is a safe place with food and water.
48:32We're now in the sandhill country of the Aridlands Botanic Garden and we're in the home of the iconic Western
48:37Mile.
48:38It's a tree that has long lived, up to a hundred years, some of the specimens that you're seeing here
48:43at the moment.
48:45It's so dry here that you can see the roots that are sitting above the surface which have been eroded
48:51by the wind.
48:52However, there are still minute rootlets that move out from the bottom to sustain moisture for the plant in the
48:58dry seasons.
48:59You can see the silver foliage that we have here compared to the green.
49:03This is a change in the foliage. It acts as a reflector of the heat and reduces its moisture loss.
49:11It's been recorded that this lowers the temperature beneath the tree by up to 15 degrees during the hot 45,
49:1950 degree days.
49:20They are extremely tough. They can go for up to five, six years without any decent rainfall and so therefore
49:28they have to be hardy.
49:30You get a nice rainfall and they seem to come back automatically to full life.
49:41We have this beautiful splash of yellow from Eucalyptus pimpiniana, very useful to birds and insects for pollination and food
49:50sources.
49:51This is a dwarf eucalypt which would be excellent for home gardeners.
49:58This is another one of our beautiful lemon yellow flowering plants.
50:03It's the desert melaleuca.
50:05It's a plant that grows in the northern areas of South Australia towards the Northern Territory border.
50:11Such an exquisite flower and it has these tiny little capsules which contain the seed
50:16which are very much like a nut off of a casuarina or some other species.
50:22A true desert plant.
50:24This plant would be quite frost tolerant because of the type of foliage that it has.
50:28And I would suggest that you could probably grow this in a lot of gardens across Australia.
50:40The plants that are growing through all of the arid zones of Australia run in temperature gradients
50:46of at night down minus three, minus five to as high as up to 49, 50 degrees.
50:52And maybe in some days even higher than that when we get into some of the northern regions of the
50:57arid zone.
51:00We have some very rare trees in the botanic garden and this is one of them.
51:05It's the waddy wood which is an extremely rare plant that grows around the edge of the Simpson Desert region
51:11of Australia.
51:12The wood is the hardest wood known in the world.
51:16And these trees can live to be around 500 years old and 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 which grows from white cliffs in New South Wales north into Queensland.
51:35This tree is about 30 years old and once it loses all of its lower foliage and the trunk enlarges,
51:41it will blotch out in white, hence its name leopard wood.
51:55This is our Arimophila garden and we have 200 types of Arimophila within the garden.
51:59We think that is probably one of the biggest collections of Arimophila in a botanic garden in the world.
52:05They all vary in shape, colour, size and colour of flower.
52:09This Arimophila is Arimophila bigniflora and you can see it has fruit and flower on it at the moment.
52:15And it's a very popular garden plant and a nice shade tree within your garden.
52:22These plants are ideal for growing in many different environments across Australia.
52:28Cool and temperate climates as well.
52:30However, must be careful about whether they are frost tolerant.
52:34And secondly, that the soil type is important.
52:37Most of these plants tend to grow in more sandy, aloamier soils.
52:41So they require free drainage, moisture, but not wet feed.
52:52The idea of us having a garden in Port Augusta commenced approximately 40 years ago with the friends and council
52:59staff.
53:00Eventually we were able to convince council and the state government to be involved
53:05and that was the beginning of our garden.
53:07We live on a very low budget and rely heavily on donations.
53:12The Botanic Garden here is free admission, which is really great.
53:16The garden itself is very, very popular.
53:19We're averaging just over 120,000 visitors a year now to the garden,
53:24which makes all of us extremely proud of the achievements this garden has.
53:28And it's the highest regional botanic garden numbers of anywhere in Australia.
53:46My love for these plants is not only the beauty of the plants, but their ability to withstand such huge
53:54changes in climate.
53:56Because as we warm, these plants are already able to tolerate those hotter, drier climates.
54:12It's time to roll your sleeves up.
54:15Your jobs for the weekend are knocking at the door.
54:23Cool temperate gardeners, it's time to pop in your parsnips.
54:26Sowing now allows them to settle in and get cranking before the cooler weather hits.
54:32Sow fresh seeds into fluffy soil about three centimetres apart.
54:36If some of your foliage is looking furry and funky, reach for the full cream milk.
54:41One part milk into nine parts water is a fantastic fungus fighter and will make short work of powdery mildew.
54:49Add colour to your cottage garden with wallflowers.
54:53Plant in a sunny spot where their showy flowers and clove scent can be appreciated from autumn right through to
55:00spring.
55:02In warm temperate gardens, wisterias are romping away, so it's time to tame them.
55:08Prune back young, whippy growth and cut side shoots back to within 10 centimetres of the main lateral stem.
55:15Prep for autumn plantings is underway, so it's time to turn to your compost, literally.
55:22Aerate and turn your heat.
55:23The more love you show it now, the better it'll be come planting time.
55:28Lift and divide old clumps of daffodils which failed to flower last season.
55:33Shake off the loose soil and store in a cool, airy spot like the shed or garage for replanting in
55:40April.
55:42Subtropical gardeners, if your camellias are producing bucket loads of buds but few flowers,
55:47thin them out by twisting off some of the buds, leaving one to two at the tip and two along
55:53the stem.
55:54If you're a lover of lawn, summer in the subtropics can be tough.
55:58To keep your turf tip top and lawn luscious, mow as high as possible to conserve moisture and prevent weed
56:04infestation.
56:05With autumn on the doorstep, take time to plan your patch before you plant.
56:11Nurseries and public gardens are great places for ideas and inspiration on trees, shrubs and plants, perfect for your place.
56:20Amaranth is an amazing addition to tropical veggie gardens that can be sown now.
56:25The leaves are edible when cooked and are a super spinach substitute.
56:29Plus, they're great companion plants.
56:32Get a green manure crop going and add life and nutrients to fallow beds before autumn planting.
56:39Sow barley, lucen, peas and beans, cutting and turning into the soil before seed set.
56:45It's a very good time to prune your mulberry tree, cutting it right back to a round waist height.
56:52Mulberries fruit on new wood, so pruning hard now means more fruit that are easier for you to pick next
56:59season.
57:00Arid gardeners, aphids are active, but spraying with white oil can do more harm than good in the heat.
57:07Instead, squash them with your fingers or blast with the hose.
57:11While we're talking pests, set up some molasses traps to catch hungry grasshoppers.
57:16Add 500ml of molasses to a bucket of water and pop it in the patch.
57:21You'll catch handfuls of hoppers in no time.
57:24Native hibiscus is a tough, tidy shrub for a sunny spot.
57:28Growing 2m by 2m, this stunner will reward you with masses of showy purple flowers from spring through autumn.
57:37With autumn around the corner, now's the time to get prepping and planning before some serious planting.
57:44Let us know what you get up to on the GA socials.
57:53Well, that's everything we have on the roster this time, but there's plenty more coming your way next week.
58:02Some gardeners have that extra special something, and Dolores Melak is one of them.
58:07Wow, you've trained these figs into archers.
58:10The garden is a celebration of her Maltese culture, family and friendship.
58:14When it comes to form, structure, privacy and creating space in gardens,
58:20our gardening minds often turn to thinking about hedging and screening.
58:24I've got some top tips on the perfect natives to use.
58:28And can pools be a safe space for humans and wildlife?
58:32Well, I'll be finding out how to make both things possible.
58:36i think they probably won so much for you when you go out there.
58:39So...
58:40Where are the flowers, too?
58:41There's a butter field.
58:42No, it doesn't work with genetics, you play out, saying,
58:42Well, I know.
58:42I need you.
58:43Wow!
58:44How good is it?
58:44I know...
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