Gardening Australia episode 11 2022: Jerry Coleby-Williams explores Cairns Botanic Gardens, Millie Ross shows how to harness the growing power of smoke, Jane Edmanson visits a tiny but terrific courtyard, and Costa Georgiadis holds a masterclass on worms.
Inspiring, entertaining and full of practical advice, join Costa Georgiadis and the team as they unearth gardening ideas, meet avid gardeners and look at some of the most inspiring gardens from across the country.
Gardening Australia episode 11 2022
Up in Smoke
Millie shows how you can harness the power of smoke to improve seed germination. Many Australian plants have adapted to germinate – and grow – better after being exposed to fire. Indigenous people have known for thousands of years how fire stimulates mass germination of wildflowers and other plant growth, and cool-burns with plenty of white smoke are still a key way to regenerate country.
In 1995, scientists in WA pin-pointed the group of chemicals in smoke that help seed germinate – they named them karrikins from ”karrik’ meaning ‘smoke’ in the local Noongar language. Some plants won’t germinate without karrikins, while for many others smoke chemicals improve germination rates and produce healthier seedlings. Millie shows some simple ways to harness the power of smoke water and other treatments.
In nature, these chemicals are present in ash after a fire and are then washed down by rain to reach the dormant seeds in the ground. You can mimic this in the garden by putting a thin layer of leaves and twigs on the surface of a tray of seed-raising mix, setting fire to it, then sowing your seed and watering it in.
Clever Courtyard
Jane visits a tiny courtyard garden where not an inch of space is wasted, and the owner has created a sense of secluded luxury. Gardener Jenny Downes has made the most out of her small space, managing to turn ‘tiny into terrific,’ proving it’s all about thinking big when gardening. When faced with the disadvantages of a small space she managed to see the potential.
“The proximity to nature means you are actually closer to nature, and you see things you perhaps wouldn’t notice in a bigger garden,” said Jenny. The only frustration of a limited ‘garden palette’, was the size of her plants, but even then, Jenny didn’t let that stop her. “I find it creative to use them in another way, to try and create a sort of rainforest effect,” she said,
Jenny’s approach has been to create different interconnecting areas in her garden. The separate decking area with outdoor furniture leads onto a paved path, she calls her creek bed, creating a ‘destination to go to’ or her ‘forest walk’.
Yacon – Gardening Australia episode 11 2022
Tino shows how to grow and harvest Yacon. At The Patch there’s a range of seasonal plants and veggies the there’s also some less well-known plants – just for something different! One of these is Yacon, which Tino reckons is a great crop for your home vegie garden.
Also called the Peruvian Ground apple Smallanthus sonchifolius has been grown in the Andes since the time of the Incas. It looks a bit like its relative, Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) – they are both tall herbaceous perennials with yellow sunflower-type blooms in late summer or early autumn – but Yacon is far less invasive and doesn’t cause upset stomachs!
When the cool weather sets in Yacon will die back, surviving mountainous cold conditions by storing energy in tuberous roots. It is then that you can dig up and eat these tubers – enjoying them either raw, stir fried, roasted or in soups, casseroles, juices and desserts. They taste sweet, a bit like nashi pears. Tino reckons they like a mix between cucumber and apple.
Ways of the Worm
Costa shares the secrets of caring for earthworms so they can transform your kitchen scraps into top-quality plant food. Worms are a vital part of any healthy garden. They turn our scraps and waste into high-quality food for plants so we can grow more. There’s different ways to harness this superpower and it all starts with a good garden set up.
You can buy purpose-made sets featuring rectangular plastic tubs that fit into a tower, circular version and wheelie bins, or you can upcycle a couple of polystyrene boxes – or do as Costa has on his verge and repurpose an old bath.
Protecting Seedlings – Gardening Australia episode 11 2022
Sophie shows a way to protect young seedlings from slugs and snails. Slaters, earwigs, and millipedes are all ground dwelling insects with biting and chewing mouth parts that can wipe out susceptible seedlings almost overnight. To make sure your gardening efforts don’t end before you’ve really begun, Sophie shows you how to repurpose a common garden item and turn it into a ‘seedling fortress’.
Shade for Days
Josh demonstrates the different types of shade you might find in a garden and suggests some plants that thrive in each garden setting. In a garden there are different types of shade – you can make the most of it by clever plant selection. At the height of summer plants can soon become stressed in full sun but shade needs to be considered all year round as all plants, to some degree, need light to grow.
Deciduous trees provide seasonal shade – filtered light in summer and more sun in winter. Under the canopy there are also areas that get angled morning and afternoon sun, which can be intense, so you need to choose plants that can tolderate those extremes.
Josh has succulents – Aloe and Pig’s Ear – in this position under his Gleditsia tree and they are tough enough to cope. Other options are Lomandra and Neoregelia Bromeliads, although different varieties have different sun tolerance; if the leaves are bleaching that’s a sure sign a bromeliad is getting too much sun, but Josh’s are doing well so he adds another for colour contrast.
