Gardening Australia episode 28 2020: Costa Georgiadis meets a family of orchid hunters, Josh Byrne discovers a simple hydroponics system, Jerry Coleby-Williams explores a world of colourful plants, and Clarence Slockee visits a garden full of grevilleas.
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 28 2020
Orchid Hunters
Costa explores the Blue Mountains with a family of mad-keen orchid hunters. Costa heads up to the Blue Mountains, on Dharug and Gundungurra Country, to meet a family of mad-keen orchid hunters. The ranges are huge but if you look down on the ground you’ll find a whole new, tiny world – the world of Australia’s native orchids.
Sabine Hanisch partner Ben Jasiak and their daughter Arabella are all keen bushwalkers who love exploring the region and hunting for orchids. They started trying to identify them but there wasn’t a book on the orchids of the area – so they ended up writing one themselves. “There are 130 different orchid species in the Blue Mountains so that’s 130 different orchid habitats.”
Each orchid can be found in slightly different terrain, habitat and aspect, so you just have to keep your eyes peeled the whole time – and be careful not to step on them. They’re hard to sport at first but, once you get your eyes in, Costa discovers you start seeing them everywhere.
FAQs – Snails and slugs | Covering sown seed | Honey bees
Gardening Australia presenters answer questions on covering seed when sowing, what attracts snails and slugs to plants and honey bees.
Plant Profile: Beronias
Jane profiles two beautiful boronias that add scent to spring gardens.
Hydro Heaven
Josh meets a creative gardener who has set up a brilliantly simple hydroponic growing system. Brian Bullock lives in Perth, Whadjuk Country, which has a Mediterranean climate zone. When he moved to his current house, the best spot for growing vegies was his sunny driveway – so he devised a highly effective hydroponics system that fits onto 100 square metres of concrete and produces more than enough food to feed his household.
“Hydroponics is essentially growing food plants in nutrient-rich water, with no need for soil,” explains Brian.
The plants sit in a growing medium – he prefers expanded clay balls but you can use scoria, perlite or even gravel – in different containers, and a nutrient-rich water solution flows over their roots, supplying them with all they need to grow. Brian blends different solutions to suit different plants, but the clever recycling system means it needs only 20% of the water an in-ground vegetable bed would use. The system avoids any soil-borne pests and diseases, there is no digging or weeding, no fertiliser loss or run off, and Brian reckons the plant growth is also quicker.
Pruning Citrus in Gardening Australia episode 28 2020
Tino shows how to prune different citrus. Tino is in the patch pruning some citrus. There are different ways to treat different trees. For the makrut lime (Citrus hystrix), which is grown mostly for its leaf, he simply trims it with hedge shears, clipping it all around and taking it back to a simple, neat shape. He also prunes like this for chinotto and cumquats.
However, the West Indian lime is treated differently. Normally he would prune it into a goblet shape – allowing air through the centre and exposing the fruit to more sun to improve ripening. But because it has become lop-sided, due to competing with a neighbouring citrus for sun, he will take it back even smaller to create more space.
Roma Street Radiance
Jerry tours Brisbane’s Roma Street Parkland, where there are colourful plants to suit every garden situation. The spectacle garden displays colourful massed plantings in geometric flower beds. Jerry tours the garden with Roma Street Parkland operations manager Paul Hoffmann, who explains some of the plant choices.
The end result attracts thousands of visitors each year, as well as some local residents, including a carpet python (Morelia spilota) nicknamed ‘Cuddles’.
Beginner Basics in Gardening Australia episode 28 2020
Millie shares some tips and ideas for those just starting their gardening journey.
For the Love of Natives
Clarence meets two long-time grevillea growers and explores their amazing garden. A fascinating collection of native species and cultivars. Jenny and Malcolm used to run a specialist grevillea nursery, so it’s no surprise that grevilleas feature strongly in their home garden.
Both of them grew up in the area: “The bush was our playground,” says Malcolm. The property was formerly run as a citrus and chook farm by Jenny’s family. When Malcolm and Jenny took over, they wanted to create habitat for native wildlife, especially birds and bees. They have four hives of native stingless bees. Large trees on the perimeter provide shelter for the rest of the garden.
Further back is a less formal rainforest gully that Malcolm has been planting out.
Urban Gem in Gardening Australia episode 28 2020
Jane highlights a cleverly designed garden in a busy urban spot that is filled with form and colour.
Weeds to Wonderful
Sophie visits a group of volunteers who are maintaining one of Adelaide’s oldest gardens.
My Garden Path – Will Salter
We meet Will Salter, a garden and nature photographer whose work inspires his own garden.
