Gardening Australia episode 4 2023: Jane visits a florist at home; Hannah grows garlic; Tammy tours a Begonia collection; Costa sees plants remediate soil; Sophie explores native groundcovers; Millie plants a rock wall; we meet an Elder, linguist, and botanist.
Gardening Australia is a popular Australian television program that focuses on gardening and gardening advice. It is broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and has been airing since 1990. The show is presented by a team of expert gardeners and horticulturalists, who provide tips and advice on a wide range of gardening topics, from choosing the right plants for your garden to dealing with pests and diseases. Each episode also features segments on different gardens and gardening projects around Australia, showcasing the diverse and beautiful gardens found in the country.
Australia is a diverse country with a wide range of climatic conditions, which can make gardening challenging in some areas. However, with the right knowledge and techniques, it is possible to create a beautiful garden in Australia. Overall, gardening in Australia can be rewarding and enjoyable, as long as you choose the right plants and use good gardening techniques. 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 4 2023
Drawing Attention
Begonias have stood the test of time, with many cultivars to choose from, nothing can stop Begonias from charming their way into the collection of gardeners both young and old. Tammy visits an artist and plant lover who finds endless inspiration in her greenhouse of beautiful begonias.
Neva is an artist and illustrator with a focus on plants and begonias in particular. “For me it’s the iridescence. I love trying to capture the iridescence in black and white, I like the challenge of that.” Neva uses pen and pencil on found paper, including graph papers to “incorporate something a little more interesting.” She has released a book of the works she completed during lockdown in tandem with a solo show. “This book is kind of a homage to the garden for keeping me sane throughout lockdown. It’s been quite important to me because this house is slated for demolition, so I think it is the last garden on the block. I’m quite attached to it, so I wanted to do something to archive it, as a thank you. I feel my garden has become a friend to me.” Neva’s drawings are highly detailed and capture the texture and intricacy of the leaves, some projects spanning nearly a year to complete.
Guide to Garlic
Hannah loves a good crop of home-grown garlic, and from March to June is the ideal time to put some cloves in. The crop will be ready to harvest in summer. Prepare a site in full sun, ideally with some wind protection. Hannah aerates her soil with an aerating tool but you can use a garden fork, too. The key is to ensure the soil is well drained as garlic will rot in wet soil. Clay soils especially will need building up with lots of organic matter and gypsum.
Hannah tops her bed with a fresh load of compost but no fertiliser – too much nitrogen will encourage leaf growth rather than root growth, and cause sappy growth that attracts aphids and other pests. There are lots of varieties of garlic, some suited to cold climates, others suited to warmer areas, and flavour variants too. Buy cloves from a certified, local grower – don’t plant cloves bought from the supermarket as many are chemically treated so may not even shoot, and if they do they may not be suited to your soil and climate.
Choose cloves that are big, healthy, and firm. Hannah soaks her cloves overnight in a diluted seaweed solution to encourage fast root growth, as well as adding some beneficial nutrients. Plant cloves in rows about 20-25cm apart, with cloves spaced about 10cm or a hand’s width apart. them with the flat bottom down, making a hole with your finger down to the second knuckle – the growing tip should be just below the surface.
Because garlic can take up to 6 months to grow, Hannah doubles her harvest in the valuable garden space by intercropping with some fast-growing lettuce. These will also help to keep down weeds, which garlic hates, but it’s important you don’t intercrop with plants that will compete for nutrients or water (such as other alliums).
Flower Friends – Gardening Australia episode 4 2023
We’re in Ivanhoe, a leafy suburb in north-east Melbourne. We’re here to see the home garden of part-time florist Petrina Burrill that’s a celebration of colour and flowers. Across a fairly standard 700sqm suburban block Petrina’s crafted an intimate, enchanting and personal world completely covered in cottage flowers. It’s home to over 10000 bulbs, hundreds of roses, peonies, countless self-seeding annuals and a 40 year old wisteria keeping watch over it all. It’s a complete feast for the eyes.
Some of Petrina’s earliest memories are tied to gardening. “I remember growing my first flower from seed in grade prep, I remember the scent and the colour of it. I’ve always had an obsession with flowers.” “I got it from my parents. Mum was flowers and dad was vegetables. We never had much money, and mum taught me to see the joy in flowers.” A career as a flight attendant has always been corollary to an obsession with flowers.
“We bought the house for the garden. There were established trees on the boundary. The middle was a complete jungle.” Over roughly a decade Petrina transformed the garden into a living daydream. “If I had to describe it-I’d say organic, soft edges, English cottage and beautiful. I let her do the talking”. Every year she puts in around 10000 bulbs: “I treat my bulbs like annuals, this way I’m always guaranteed a show of flowers because the goodness comes in the bulb direct from the farm”.
Bursts of cottage annuals like Foxgloves, Nigella, Cosmos and Pincushions are volunteers or grown from freely scattered seed. “You put the seed around and then have new friends.”