Gardening Australia episode 26 2021

Gardening Australia episode 26 2021

Gardening Australia episode 26 2021: Sophie Thomson visits an extensive native garden, Tino Carnevale talks pest management, Costa & Caylee make plant labels, Josh Byrne visits a lush suburban garden and Guest Presenter Hannah Moloney plants a raspberry patch.


 

 



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 26 2021

 

Native Views

Sophie visits a stunning native garden created on an exposed and difficult site. From Judy Baghurst’s hilltop garden on the Fleurieu Peninsula, the views are spectacular. On a good day, you can see Victor Harbour, the mouth of the Murray, Hindmarsh Island and the lakes on one side, and Port Eliot on the other. But the view isn’t all there is to look at – the native garden and forest surrounding Judy’s house is looking good too!

When Judy and her husband purchased the 21 hectare block in 1997 it was a ‘dull, overgrazed paddock’. The only native vegetation was one Eucalypt, four She oaks and several Acacias. Weedy plants (Olives, boxthorn and briar rose) were rampant. Judy and family began woody weed eradication and revegetation with mainly locally indigenous flora, many grown from seed.

Twenty years later and the progress is astounding. Across the block five Eucalypt species have been re-established, along with Allocasuarina verticillata and 4 species of local acacia. But as Judy says, “it’s still a work in progress” and she continues growing indigenous seedlings in fruit boxes that she uses to fill gaps. “Because the land was compacted and overgrazed, just taking animals off hasn’t caused any regeneration of the understory. It’s terribly hard to re-establish the native grasses.”

Pest Approach

Tino learns about the innovative pest management systems at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. 2020 may have been the International Year of Plant Health, but for the team at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, plant health is a priority all year, every year. These magnificent gardens, established in 1818, and home to significant plant collections, are the custodians of Tasmania’s extraordinary flora and play a leading role in the conservation and cultivation of rare and threatened plant species. Chris Lang, Curator of the Tasmanian Flora Collection at the RTBG explains that “it is imperative that our plants remain pest free, so that we are able to continue our conservation work and maintain the health and vitality of these living collections”.

But in a public site as large and valuable as the RTBG, surely pest control relies on the use of chemicals – pesticides, fungicides and miticides – to keep plants in top condition? “Absolutely not” says Chris “we only ever use chemicals as a last resort, and they are low to no toxic selections”. Instead, these historic gardens rely on a technique called Integrated Pest Management.

Raspberry Buffet – Gardening Australia episode 26 2021

Hannah gets to work planning and planting a new patch of one of her favourite fruits, raspberries. Hannnah’s getting her raspberry patch in order before summer. She’s prepping a bed to be her new raspberry patch. It’s in full sun, and there’s manure and compost in the soil. It’s mounded for improved drainage, and she’s experimenting with jute mat as a mulch.

Hannah’s planting a summer fruiting variety called “Chilcotin”, and they’ve come bare-rooted, so it’s important to get them into the ground ASAP. She’s also transplanting some canes over from her already established patch.

Summer fruiting raspberry canes only produce fruit once, and then die off. That’s the time to prune them. Keep canes that haven’t fruited yet. Canes can be differentiated by scratching back bark; green are still living and should be retained; brown means they can be removed. Plaiting canes can help keep them upright and separated.

Rockin’ Markers

Costa joins Guest Presenter, and junior gardener Caylee, to make some creative labels to keep track of plants in the garden. Some gardeners are plant encyclopedias, they can remember the detail of everything they have ever done! But most of us, need a hand to keep track of seeds sown, growing experiments of the name of treasures planted over the years, or even the friend who gave them to us!

And while you can make little labels out of icy-pole sticks or old milk cartons, these are easily lost or breakdown, so they are going to knock-up a sustainable, reusable & rockin’ little alternative.

Grow as You Go – Gardening Australia episode 26 2021

Josh visits an abundant suburban patch that nurtures its creator as she gardens through the seasons. Just a couple of streets back from Perth’s famous Cottesloe Beach sits a fairly unassuming 1930’s-era house, on a large 655m2 block. This is the home of Casey Lister, her partner Luke and their two dogs, and while the garden at the front of the property is nice enough – “a work in progress” according to the couple – it is the back garden that Josh is here to see. In just six years, the large rear garden of this home has been transformed into, as Casey describes it, a “flowering, fruiting wilderness”.

And she’s not wrong! This rear garden is a beguiling blend of elements – flowering cottage annuals and perennials nestle alongside vegetables, herbs and spices, fruiting trees and native shrubs form natural archways and provide structure, pathways wind into hidden nooks and crannies urging you to explore, and everywhere you turn, there is a vista to enjoy. The space feels both private and enclosed, and expansive all at once, but most of all, it works. This garden is vibrant, fun, free-flowing and full of life, much like Casey herself.

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