Gardening Australia episode 2 2020: Costa Georgiadis visits a farming club for city kids, Sophie Thomson gets summer watering tips from an expert, Tino Carnevale explores the secret world of saltmarshes and Josh Byrne propagates succulents.
Gardening Australia has always provided practical, trustworthy and credible gardening advice to inspire and entertain. 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 2 2020
Merri Merri Kids Club
Costa visits Melbourne’s last surviving inner-city market garden to discover how it is helping urban kids get a taste for growing food. Buried deep in the inner northern suburbs, Joe’s Market Garden is Melbourne’s oldest and last surviving inner-city market garden. The 2-acre certified organic plot has been farmed continuously for over 150 years.
Joe Garita farmed the land for 58 years before retiring and handing it over to CERES environment park in 2003. The farm is now helping to foster a new generation of environmentally sensitive urban farmers through the Merri Merri Kids Club.
FAQs – Stop dragging hose | Flowering basil | Tough perennials
Gardening Australia presenters answer commonly asked gardening questions.
Smart Watering
Sophie meets a water expert to learn the latest science on how South Australians should be watering their gardens in summer. During the Millennial Drought, watering the garden – or even worse, the lawn – was strictly banned in many parts of the country. But in South Australia, this thinking has now changed.
Greg Ingleton from SA Water explains a new program called Smart Watering. “We know that plants and grass and trees can cool the air down,” he says. During the last drought when SA’s water security was challenged, it was seen as a waste to use water on keeping school ovals and lawns green. “But the state has learnt a lot from the last drought and put in recycled water systems and a lot of councils are putting in stormwater harvesting systems, so the water security has improved.”
Pruning Kangaroo Paws Safely
Josh shares some safety tips for pruning kangaroo paws. Josh is tidying up some tall kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos flavidus cv.) that have finished pruning and need the flower spikes trimming back.
However, there are a couple of safety precautions to consider because the tiny hairs around the flowers become dry and brittle and can cause irritation to some people’s skin, eyes or respiratory system. It’s best to cover your arms, wear gloves, safety goggles and even a face mask to avoid being affected.
Malmsbury Masterpiece
Millie visits a garden that celebrates the tough growing conditions in central Victoria. Malmsbury is on the dry side of the Great Dividing Range in central Victoria. Sometimes it’s very wet and even floods, and other times very hot and dry. And there is also the threat of potential bushfire. Elise Zouck has grown a garden from what survives here.
Over 15 years she has transformed a 1-hectare paddock into a colourful, productive garden that complements the passive solar house she and partner George built. It contains tough, beautiful plants and is punctuated by interesting art works.
Secret World of Saltmarshes
Tino heads to the coast to explore the amazing plants that make up an overlooked but important part of the Tasmanian environment – saltmarshes.
More than 85% of Australians live, work and garden within 50km of the coast, and we’re famous for our beach lifestyle. But when we visit the beach we often cross over the most important and fascinating ecosystems, without even noticing the unique plant species that exist there – in the saltmarshes.
Saltmarshes form a crucial link between land and marine ecosystems. They act like a huge filtration system, slowing fresh water moving off the land, removing sediments and excess nutrients, which regulates algal blooms and prevents silt covering the seagrass beds offshore. Saltmarshes are flooded at high tide and dry out at low tide and the plants here have adapted to these unusual conditions, which includes high levels of salt.
Go Forth and Propagate
Josh shows us some simple techniques for propagating succulents.
Succulents are super popular – and with good reason. They’re diverse, striking to look at and really tough. They’re also easy to propagate and Josh has a large patch he needs to tidy up and thin out and he’ll use the trimmings to grow some new plants.
Glass Terrariums
Jane shows how to make a mini glass terrarium.
My Garden Path – Rita Feldmann
We meet a second-generation florist in the Dandenong Ranges who is passionate about making floristry more sustainable. Rita Feldmann is a second-generation florist in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, who is passionate about making the industry more sustainable.
Born in the mid 70’s, Rita Feldmann grew up surrounded by flowers in the Dandenong ranges. “My parents were real hippies”, they moved to Gembrook when she was 6 but Rita spent the weekends of her early youth selling flowers from the back of her Dad’s horse drawn milk cart in South Yarra.
Bee Baths
Millie shows how to give bees a helping hand on hot days by making a bird bath ‘bee-friendly’.
Is It Tea You’re Looking For?
Jerry shows us how to make delicious herbal teas from a few different garden ingredients.
