On Gardening Australia episode 16 2019: Josh Byrne learns about native bees in the suburbs, Jane Edmanson heads to a historic Hydrangea garden, Sophie Thomson visits a garden adapted with accessibility in mind and Tino Carnevale plants a soup bed at The Patch.
Gardening Australia has always provided practical, trustworthy and credible gardening advice to inspire and entertain. Join Costa Georgiadis and the team as they traverse the country unearthing the best gardens.
Gardening Australia episode 16 2019
Purpose and Passion
Sophie visits a home garden that has been adapted with accessibility in mind. When Sophie last met Wayne Frahn, he was at the Royal Adelaide Hospital recovering from a motorcycle accident that had left him a paraplegic. Horticultural therapist Dean Gaston noticed Wayne’s enthusiasm for gardening even then, calling him a “star performer”.
FAQs – Sterilising secateurs | Native hibiscus | Stopping slime in compost buckets
Gardening Australia presenters answer commonly asked gardening questions.
Soup Patch
Tino plants a vegie bed at the patch dedicated to the humble vegie soup. Tino is planting out a bed at The Patch for growing the vegies to make home-made soup. Some will be ready to harvest over winter and others will last until next spring. First he aerates the soil, breaking up any last clumps. The he starts planting.
Hydrangea Heaven
Jane heads to a historic hydrangea garden in the Dandenong Ranges. Up in the Dandenong Ranges, where it’s cool, green and lush, it’s a perfect place to grow hydrangeas, and Jane Edmanson is visiting one of the best collections, at the George Tindale Memorial Gardens in the small town of Sherbrook.
The gardens were laid out in the late 1950s by George and Ruth Tindale. When George passed away, their friend Rod Cantrill started a friends group to help Ruth maintain the gardens.
Linden
Millie visits a garden in Alphington to highlight some creative designs any home gardener could adopt. There were “good bones” in the form of a few established trees on the block when Geoff and Linda moved to Linden, but not much else. They have sculpted it so that the view from the veranda focussed on a swathe of lawn leading down the golf course opposite, and they added an infinity pool to enjoy the outlook. There are still smaller, more intimate areas for the family to eat and relax.
A Spray from Jerry
Jerry shares some information on the safest ways to effectively control pests using organic sprays. Whether spraying to apply nutrients or to tackle problems and pests, Jerry says it’s important to know when and how to spray in the garden.
Flying High
Costa visits the rooftop garden at the Qantas head office to find out how gardening is keeping the staff grounded. Qantas set up the garden to provide some green space for its colleagues. The company revamped some unused space on the roof of its Sydney headquarters.
Head of sustainability Moksha Watts saw it as a great place to connect with fellow workers and escape from their desks for a while. “There are 29,000 people across the country and on this campus alone there’s 4,000, so it’s pretty hard for us to connect.
Native Bee Buzz
Josh visits a native bee expert to learn about how to make a garden more accessible for our native garden friends.
My Garden Path – Jack Latti
We meet landscaper and ceramicist Jack Latti, to learn how his passion for South African succulents inspires both his garden and his creative practice.