A lot of people think they'll get into gardening
a little bit later in life,
when they've got more time, or maybe more space.
I reckon the sooner you get into gardening, the better.
And today I'm excited to be meeting Jude,
who's been gardening since he was 12.
Hey, Jude. Hey, Costa.
This is your patch. What a fantastic place.
Tell me, how did you get into gardening?
Well, initially, we planted a row of snow peas along the fence.
Eating those was amazing, so started this thing.
So, from a garden bed with a few snow peas
to this flourishing patch.
Can you believe that you've done this?
It's pretty crazy, actually.
But I've always enjoyed just working,
so I'm out here every day doing something.
So, how old are you, Jude? I'm 14.
Wow! So you've built all this garden
in, what, just around about the two-year mark?
Yeah. (LAUGHS) Phew!
What motivated you to build the patch and extend it like this?
Well, eating the produce is just so amazing and rewarding,
and seeing my family eat it as well is just...the best.
Jude's impressive cool climate garden in the Blue Mountains
is teeming with great produce,
and I can't wait to look around.
I'm loving what I'm seeing.
Your silverbeet is looking really healthy.
Everything's going well. And these tomatoes, look at them!
How long have they been in for? About three-ish months.
And how are you going with tomatoes in your climate up here?
Have you had success? This year definitely.
'Cause last year, didn't really know what I was doing,
so they kind of went everywhere
and started overtaking every bed possible.
Just flat on the ground. Yeah.
And so this year you've strung them up, and...
Yeah, so, as they keep on growing, I guess you kind of just
add a new run every time and feed the tomatoes through.
So basically just open it up, put the lead through and let it hold there?
Yeah. Yeah, it's really simple.
Yeah, works well. But it does a good job.
Keeps it off the ground so you're not getting any...
Disease. ..disease off the soil.
And they're producing plenty of flowers too.
Yeah.
Wow, well done. They look fantastic.
This bed here looks like your salad servery. What have you got growing?
We've got a bunch of different salad greens and stuff.
So we've got sorrel, spinach, cos, endive.
Couple of different lettuces, some Asian greens as well there.
Wow. Fantastic.
And are you letting these go to seed to collect?
Yeah, they're amazing to collect because you get so many.
You don't have to get any more for years, basically.
Yeah, exactly, nature really does provide, doesn't it?
Like, you think, "You want lettuce, I'll give you lettuce."
What do you do with all these greens?
I actually sell them at my mum's work, with the excess stuff.
So we eat as much as we can,
and then anything excess, really,
just goes to the shop.
Did you ever think that you were gonna be feeding the fam
and making a little business too?
Certainly did not. (LAUGHS)
How impressive is Jude?
He's gone from a complete beginner
to sharing and selling his homegrown produce in just 18 months.
Top of the class, Jude.
How much time are you spending in the garden each day and each week?
I spend as much time as I can in the garden.
So after school if I have, like, even just half an hour,
just to refresh my mind.
Even if I'm just walking around the garden, not doing anything,
it just resets you.
Would you say the garden is a lot of work?
Yeah, the garden's definitely a lot of work
because we've got such a big garden.
But it's definitely worth it
and, like...the work is fun so it's not so much a chore.
It's more joy. (LAUGHS)
Mary, he really has taken over the garden.
But as a mum, what's it like seeing him slowly become a gardener?
I think as a whole person it's given him drive and a real determination,
and I actually think it's really helped him
in the hard times in life as well.
So he's taken up gardening, essentially,
during our lockdown period.
For someone who's just started high school
and then had high school kind of taken away from him, if you like,
the garden's given him a lot of peace
and, you know, something to focus on
and something that's growing in front of him.
We're really proud of him. He's a great young guy.
He's really caring and thoughtful,
and I think that all comes out in his gardening.
Jude's certainly come a long way in a short time.
But as we all know, you can't do it all on your own.
Jude quickly got involved with like-minded green thumbs
through a local group.
Yeah, I've definitely met a lot of new people because of gardening,
and a lot of them are gardeners.
You might remember Manu from one of our previous stories.
Once an avid home gardener,
she turned her energy to creating Farm it Forward,
turning unused land into farming space
to build community and connection.
And it couldn't work without dedicated volunteers like Jude.
I'd broken my ankle about a year and a half ago,
and I started binge-watching Gardening Australia.
Oh! (CHUCKLES)
And when I did that, I came across the Farm It Forward story,
and then begged Mum to let me go.
Jude is an absolute bundle of sunshine.
He's really passionate about
growing food, growing plants, looking after the environment.
Every week that I go, I learn 10 new things.
Yeah, it's been amazing to meet all these people
that are really passionate about the same thing that I am,
so you can just chat and learn so much.
He provides us with this incredible hope for the future
because he shows us that a lot of our young people
are really passionate about growing food regeneratively
and feeding communities locally.
Would you say this is an addiction?
I'm definitely addicted to gardening.
Is there any cure? Nuh. (LAUGHS)
The good thing about gardening is it's never-ending.
You can always do one more thing.
Just the constant learning in gardening is the best.
I love it.
What an inspiration Jude is.
It's been a real treat meeting him
and I'm sure he'll be able
to give me a few gardening lessons before too long.