Spring is truly an exciting time in the garden,
and particularly if you live in a cool or temperate climate,
it is really the whole start of a new season.
But as well as being exciting,
it can be a time to set up all of your success for the season ahead.
And I want to give you some of my best tips
so you have a really successful start to spring.
While seedlings of most varieties will be available to buy
in the shops,
it doesn't mean that it's warm enough yet to put them
in the ground.
The air temperature might have warmed up, but of course,
it's the soil temperature that counts.
Now, an old fashioned method would be to put your bare bum
on the soil.
And if it's too cold for you, it's too cold for things like basil,
corn, cucumbers or pumpkins.
But of course, another way to do it is to use
a little soil thermometer.
Once the soil warms up,
it is OK to get them in the ground.
Around here, it's usually about mid-November.
Where you can't put them in the ground yet,
you can certainly prepare for them.
Now, this is going to be the pumpkin patch this year,
and a couple of plants, well, they will produce enough pumpkins
to store and eat right through the cooler months,
and essentially I grow them in a pile of goodness.
That's old leaves, straw the chickens have been scratching
and pooing in this for a couple of weeks, and compost,
and I pile it all up now and let it rot down and warm up
over the coming weeks.
That's going to compost away, it'll warm right up,
and in a couple of months, it'll be ready to plant directly into.
And some people might even continue to try and warm it up
by putting some plastic, some black plastic or something on
to absorb the heat.
But I want to experiment with a little bit of stone,
just some pavers.
And I put them on the top of the mound
and they'll do a couple of things.
They'll of course keep the moisture in.
It's like a big chunky mulch.
But further to that, I'm hoping that over time they'll actually
absorb a bit of the sun's heat.
At night, it'll radiate back out again.
So when I plant those seeds in there, they're going to offer
a little bit more warmth for the plants.
It's a bit of an experiment, but I reckon these pumpkins, well,
they'll be pumping.
You wanna come in, sniff it? Look.
No? Not sure.
If you can get your hands or your plants onto some artificial heat,
you can get a bit of a head start on growing things.
Of course, I start my tomato seeds at the end of winter and by now
they're really quite mature plants.
They've been potted into these paper pots to grow on
before it's warm enough for them to go in the ground.
And you can get heat in lots of different places -
on a sunny windowsill is great.
But this is a heat box where the heat is actually coming
from the bottom.
I've had a number of these.
I've bought off the shelf propagating mats.
But this was a great little idea that I saw another gardener do.
It's a really cheap thing to buy.
It's a reptile tank heater.
It's just a silicon-covered cord,
which is wound in through a bit of moist sand.
The plants then sit on the top of this.
You could run a thermostat to really control that temperature.
At the moment, I get about 20 degrees on that sand,
which is the perfect warmth to raise a whole lot of seedlings
and even cuttings.
And then at night it gets covered over.
And keeps it even warmer again.
For a $50 investment and making this little timber box,
it's proven to be a fantastic way to raise some plants.
But your heat source doesn't need to be high tech.
An old window will make a perfectly good cold frame.
And you can even get a bit of heat from your compost.
As your microorganisms fire up and start to break down organic material,
they create heat.
And you can utilise that to warm and grow some plants.
You just need to give it a turn, get it really working.
And if it's slowed right down, add a bit of nitrogen.
It could be some grass clippings
or, in this case, some of my chickens' poo.
And then mix it in.
Layer of straw. I'm gonna water it.
That's running about, well, just over 40 degrees
and over the next couple of days, it'll get even warmer.
If it cools down, you can just turn it and that heat
will go back up again.
But really, it is a great way to offer a little bit of extra warmth
to some of your cuttings to get them rocketing away in spring.
One big tip I have for a successful spring and summer
is to prepare to fail.
I mean, most of your best laid work will thrive and you'll be harvesting
those crops right through those warmer months.
But hot, windy days, cold, frosty nights, snails and slugs
are all a chance.
And that means you might end up with some space in the garden
that you didn't intend, some gaps to fill.
So sowing a few extra seeds now,
you might use them to fill your own garden or a space in a friend's.
And it's a really, really great backup plan.
I use things like lettuce, spring onions.
They can go in anywhere at any time and they make really great use
of that unexpected vacant space.
While your eyes are firmly fixed on growing some food this season,
I have one last tip for you.
Make sure you also plant some flowers.
Not only for yourself. They are, of course, beautiful.
But they're really important for the function of the garden.
They attract all of those insects that predate on our pests,
but also pollinate those crops we want to harvest.
I have a rule.
It is for every ten food plants that goes in the ground,
I'm meant to plant at least one flower.
I've got a few to get in.
I hope you have some great success this spring.
Either way, from little things, big things grow.
Watercress is tasty and nutritious.
It's rich in vitamin K, which is important for bone health.
While it is a water plant, it's a myth that it must be grown
in a river.
It doesn't need much soil.
So I grow mine in pots and I stand them in trays and I add water
so it gets all that it needs.
In hot weather,
I move the trays into shade
and that greatly extends its cropping season
here in the subtropics.
Spring is a time of renewal.
Even in uncertain times,
spring does its thing.
But it's also a time to start afresh,
a chance to begin a new project at home, plan the layout,
dream of the perfect plants.
There's so many to choose from, like this one here,
the native geranium.
It's a really hardy perennial, goes well in rockeries or pots,
grows to about half a metre tall
and, come October, gives you these beautiful sprays of pinkish flowers.
One to keep a lookout for, that's for sure.
Now, alongside new releases, there are some plants that are always
on the list,
like the good old fashioned but never out of fashion clematis.
Jane's catching up with a family of experts
who grow these most colourful climbers.
JANE EDMANSON: These are clematis.
They're a climbing vine that will grow up just about anything,
and they're absolutely one of the most eye catching of ornamentals.
Wild clematis have their origins in China,
but their beauty and popularity saw them become
must have garden plants in Europe in the 19th century.
Since then, plant breeders have had their shoulder to the clematis wheel
and now there's around 400 cultivars available.
And many of them are grown here at Alameda Homestead Nursery
on Melbourne's southern outskirts.
It's grown a lot since it was started by Judy and David Button
as a backyard operation 35 years ago.
Now their daughter, Saffron, works in the business, too.
I've been here since I was born, basically,
growing up with clematis.
They're just so spectacular.
There's so many different colours and different ones to choose from.
They can be used for many different things.
You can use them over an archway, as a ground cover,
or even as a hanging basket.
And this is ice blue, which is a perfect compact variety to be used
in a hand basket.
It's beautiful. Why is it called ice blue, though?
Because it doesn't look blue to me.
Yeah, it has a nice, beautiful blue stripe down the middle of the petal.
Ah, you can see it. Yeah.
And Edda's also a beautiful variety that can be used
in a hanging basket.
Masses of flowers.
Yeah, they have a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Yeah.
Before we look at the next clematis,
Saffron has to clear the way.
Clematis are very vigorous.
Come on, Jane.
Oh, it's a bit like a jungle down here.
I know. they grow pretty fast.
But we haven't done them any harm by chopping them?
No, not at all.
They love it.
What is this one?
This is Elsa Spath.
It's a beautiful, large flowering clematis.
It lives up to that sort of cliche - dinner plate size clematis.
Yeah, the flowers are huge.
Yeah, but I also like that centrepiece.
Yeah, it's very spectacular.
The pink in the middle.
Yeah, it's lovely.
And then they go sort of soft and fluffy.
Yeah. Nice seed pods, yeah.
Beautiful all the time.
Wow, this is a different form.
Golly, what is it?
It's Belle of Taranaki, which is a spot of multi blue,
so it's just a lot more double than multi blue.
It's like a pompom.
Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah. It's sort of like a dahlia, isn't it?
I must say, I still like the open ones, though.
Yeah. But it's different. Each to his own.
I do like how they have these wonderful buds.
Yeah. It's exciting to see the flowers coming through.
Yes. Real expectation.
What's that one called?
That one's Vancouver Starry Nights.
It's very special. It's different, isn't it?
Yeah, it's really nice with a beautiful contrasting stripe
down the middle.
Amazing. What would you use that one for?
That would be perfect growing on an obelisk
or even up through a climbing rose.
Oh, good combination. Yes. Yeah. Mix and match.
They're mainly blues and mauves and whites, aren't they?
But I do spot that one over there.
Yeah. That's a spectacular red one. That's Allanah.
And it's sort of a lovely mixture of mauvey-red, isn't it?
Yeah, it's very powerful.
It packs a nice, beautiful punch.
Yeah. Some of them are very elegant, aren't they?
And some of them just go boing in your face.
OK, Saffron's given you some ideas for choosing a variety of clematis
for your place, but how do you look after them?
It's time to talk to Saffron's mum, Judy.
She's chief propagator and undisputed queen of clematis.
As long as they get about five to six hours sunlight during the day,
they'll do a good job.
If you would grow a rose in that spot, you would grow a clematis.
Make sure it's in well drained soil, moisture holding.
So, they don't like wet feet.
Right.
We're going to give this a bit of a prune before we plant it.
I'll hold it. You can do the cutting.
OK, we just cut above the nodes. Yep.
The plant has got a lot better chance to get established
if it hasn't got to support all this.
Oh, they're nice looking roots, aren't they?
They're beautiful, Jane,
but you don't tease the roots of a clematis.
You just get the plant and plonk it straight in.
Wow, that's a bit unusual, isn't it?
Plant it deeper so you've got a few buds under the ground,
so if anything happens to the plant above the ground,
like the snails eat it or if your husband cut it off
because it looks dead, it can always shoot out again.
Does that happen a lot? That's a regular occurrence.
Jolly husbands. (LAUGHS)
Now, they are pretty heavy feeders, aren't they?
They are. Clematis are very hungry plants, Jane, yeah.
You give them a good handful of fertiliser each time you prune them.
Yeah. So that's three times a year with this one.
Yep.
And of course you've got to water it in well.
And they do like mulch, don't they, Judy?
Yeah, they're good.
You need to mulch them well to keep the roots cool and the moisture in.
OK.
And of course this will need something to grow onto.
Yeah.
So we've got this nice obelisk. Ooh, very nice.
Which we will put over the top of the plant.
Yep. Good.
You could even use a wigwam, couldn't you?
That's it. Some bamboo or something.
Lastly, Judy's gonna show us how to prune these large sized
spring flowering types that we've been looking at today.
You prune when the plant has finished flowering,
which is late spring and late summer
and in the wintertime.
And you might think it's strange to prune three times but you're actually
encouraging new growth on these large flowered ones, aren't you?
Yep. You get more branches, you get more flowers.
You prune about 20 cm above that ground level.
Yep.
You prune it now, 6 to 8 weeks later you get another flush of flowers,
just like roses.
And feed them up and away they go.
That's right. Lovely.
Judy has worked with clematis every day for the last 35 years.
Does she ever tire of them?
They are such a joy, Jane.
They're just so beautiful.
Yep. I still love them.
HANNAH MOLONEY: A few months ago, we welcomed some ducks into our garden.
Our dear of 5-year-old Frida has named them.
We've got Dandy and Daisy,
plus the very beloved Starbright Shimmer.
We raised Starbright Shimmer from a hatchling.
And when he was very young, he imprinted onto Frida,
which means that he thinks that she's his mum and follows her everywhere.
I think it's the most beautiful thing in the world.
Ducks are gorgeous.
However, if you're going to keep them, there's a few things
you need to know.
Firstly, some breeds will be hugely devastating if you let them roam
freely in your garden.
We keep them fenced in our young olive orchard,
otherwise their big, lovely webbed feet would flatten the garden.
The second thing you need to know is that they're incredibly messy
and they will poo everywhere.
It can be a bit of a battle working out how to keep their food
and water clean.
So today I'm going to show you how to make a really simple bucket system,
which you can make yourself.
All you need is two 20 litre buckets.
I get mine for free from a local Whole Foods.
You can also ask your local cafe, bulk store, bakery or deli,
because they might just be putting them in the recycling bins.
Using a jigsaw, I cut three holes into the side of the bucket,
one for each of my three ducks.
I make my holes around 12 cm from the bottom
and around 15 cm long.
This allows the ducks to get in there,
make sure they can reach the bottom of the bucket.
I then fill one with water and the other with pellets for them to eat.
I move the buckets around,
which spreads out the impact of the ducks
and gives the ground that they've compacted a chance to recover.
Ducks use the water to keep their eyes and bills clean.
This means that at the end of the day,
the water will still be very dirty.
But because they can't actually climb into the bucket,
the water is poo free, which is what I'm looking for.
This is not a high tech solution.
They're literally just buckets with well placed holes,
but they do the job perfectly.
OK, attention all houseplant lovers,
all you growers, swappers and obsessives.
This next collection is going to blow you out of your barrow,
just like it did for Josh.
(PLAYS DISCORDANTLY)
JOSH BYRNE: Indoor plants have certainly enjoyed
a return to popularity,
and today I'm heading to a Perth home to meet Fesi Djojo,
a collector who has taken things to a whole new level.
Hello. Welcome.
Wow!
Look at this place.
It's a forest. It certainly is!
You've got so much height and natural light in this room,
things are just thriving.
Yeah, pretty lucky with the light
and also we've got double height ceiling,
so I can grow big, big plants.
Fesi's house is bursting with green,
superb specimens everywhere you look.
This is quite uncommon.
Philodendron Golden Dragon.
The shape of the leaves looks like a dragon.
And this is one of the new leaves.
This one will grow bigger than this, I hope.
And how about this?
Philodendron gloriosum.
Quite big specimen with big leaves.
What's the secret to getting big leaves inside?
Good light, of course, and these are the types of philodendron
that likes to climb, so if you give them a pole or totem to climb,
they will give you bigger leaves.
Now, this really does feel like an indoor jungle.
Yeah, I let them grow out.
It does feel wild.
It's like the house is being colonised by plants.
Mmm.
Did you design the home with these plant arrangements in mind?
We didn't design with plants in mind but we did design them for light.
And at what point did you start to populate it with plants?
I think when indoor plants made a huge comeback
probably about 6 to 7 years ago, yeah, I started to bring them in,
and I can't stop.
Fesi shares this house with her husband Victor, her two kids
and three dogs.
For me, what makes this collection really stand out is how the plants
fill the generous indoor spaces and soften the interior of the building.
And it's not only inside.
The magic continues seamlessly to the outside,
with more plants hanging from every possible point.
You've clearly thought about the connection of the outdoor spaces
with the inside from the outset because they flow so well.
What was your thinking there?
I like this courtyard to be the centre in the house,
so I can see from my living room, I can see the courtyard
from the dining and especially the kitchen,
where you spend most of your time.
This is where I keep all the plants
that are needing a little bit more attention, a bit more humidity.
And do you do much of your own propagation?
Yes, I do.
Especially when you propagate, they do need a little bit more attention.
Like this potted plants, I just potted them up, they are ready,
they are fully rooted.
So the warm will make them grow better.
And are there any special plants in here?
Probably...
That variegated fiddle leaf fig.
It wasn't doing well inside so I brought them back here
and once they look good I'll bring it back inside.
I've always loved plants as long as I can remember.
I grew up in Indonesia.
My parents had big gardens and also my dad worked in the forest,
so he took me to the forest often.
I think here, I think when we first got our own house,
that's when I started doing some gardening.
I am always in the garden.
I did a plant count about three months ago, inside only.
I've got 558 inside.
Yep. That's a lot. (LAUGHS)
How much work is involved looking after all the plants?
It's a lot of work.
A lot of people ask me, how do you do it?
I think when you love something, you make time for it.
It's a big job but very rewarding.
Every day is kind of like watering days.
I try not to keep them in one day so I spread them during the week
and also maintaining the pests is very important.
I don't think I can keep all of them pest free
but then get them under control.
That's the key.
What's growing inside the cabinet, Fesi?
They must be special.
Very special.
Most of them are still babies, so they are quite fragile.
So I tried to keep them in this mini glasshouse to keep the humidity high
also.
That variegated monstera.
That's very interesting.
Yeah, that's the monstera adansonii, variegated.
Quite special.
And it's not cheap.
So when you say not cheap, can I be so cheeky to ask?
Yes.
I bought one leaf cutting, just one leaf, not established,
just a cutting.
$4,500.
(LAUGHS)
No! Yes.
I am obsessed with plants.
You reckon?
No wonder it's in a cabinet.
I think you need a padlock as well.
That's how obsessed I am.
Wow!
An avid collector, Fesi also has other rare beauties,
such as aglaonema pictum, Tricolor,
philodendron ilsemanii,
and the shingle leaf monstera dubia.
To see greenery all around you makes you feel calm and relaxed.
Just being in nature makes you feel good, happy.
Has your passion for indoor plants changed your life?
Yes, definitely.
My background is accounting.
My parents encouraged me to do business,
so I did my accounting degree, work as a tax accountant for 15 years.
But then I realised that's not my passion.
So I decided to turn my hobby into a business.
Working with plants every day, meeting people with the same,
similar interests.
So it's a dream come true.
Being in a green space like this makes you feel like you're in nature
even when inside.
And while this kind of scale might be a bit big for most of us,
it's certainly a great reminder of how the creative use of indoor plants
can really enrich a home.
COSTA: Still to come on Gardening Australia.
Tino meets a gardener who's transformed a suburban block
into an abundant market garden.
We head back to the indoor jungle
to learn a few tips for propagating monstera.
And we meet one of Australia's most passionate plant collectors
with a fondness for the weird and wonderful.
You might recall that iconic 1980s engine oil ad with the catchphrase,
"Oils ain't oils."
Well, here in the gardening world,
you can equally say potting mixes ain't potting mixes.
So today I'm going to show you
just what goes into a good quality potting mix and how it's made.
This is Rocky Point, the mulch, compost and potting mix
manufacturing facility in Woongoolba,
which produces five million bags of consumer grade potting mix
every year under the watchful eye of production manager Mark Rayner.
So Mark, what is potting mix?
Potting mix is definitely not a soil,
even though some people do think it is.
Potting mix is basically bulk ingredients and nutrients.
So with the bulk ingredients,
we're looking to build a home for the plant.
And that is about getting the air-filled porosity right
and the water holding capacity.
We're looking for a well balanced mix that will drain freely,
but at the same time hold enough moisture for that plant to do well
for its duration in the pot.
A common bulk ingredient is pine bark.
And there is a lot of it here on this site.
This is our bark compost pad.
So we hold about ten 1,000 cubic metre windrows on this pad.
The windrows take 12 weeks to process.
It's a long process.
The bark comes in raw from the Sunshine Coast state forests.
It comes in with a pH of about four.
So it's fairly acidic.
At the start
we're adding dolomite, lime, urea, our nitrogen source,
and some iron heptahydrate.
Now we bring that pH up to about seven.
We're adding water to that.
This gets the pasteurisation process happening.
The windrows can heat up to about 80 degrees Celsius
through that process.
So the purpose of the pasteurising is to kill weed seeds
and destroy pathogens.
Yeah, that's right, Jerry.
And at this stage now we're in our 12th week.
So this is where we are actually applying our secret weapons,
which is our predators that will kill off shore fly eggs and larvae
and also gnats.
We're using dalotia and hypoaspis.
Now, they are predatory mites, they will devour any eggs or larvae.
And once they've run out of that food source,
they will cannibalise themselves.
So bad luck for them, but great news for the nursery grower
or the home gardener.
So that gives us, once the bark's greened,
a beautiful, fully composted, pasteurized product, disease free,
weed free, ready to go into the growing media.
Alright, Jerry. So this is the final stage of our composted pine bark,
split into three different fractions - 6ml, 12ml,
and this is our oversized.
We'll put this through another process and we'll get the 20ml bark
out of it.
So ranging from what size pots, what size bark.
So nothing goes to waste. Nothing goes to waste. No.
Here comes a fresh delivery. (LAUGHS)
We looked at pine bark. What's another important ingredient?
This product here, Jerry, this is the coconut husk.
Comes from India, Thailand, Sri Lanka.
Very popular now in all forms of growing media,
as opposed to our bark, which takes 12 weeks, three months.
This, once it's arrived here, it's a one hour process.
Will give us about 26 cubic metres at a time
and quick pathogen tests and ready to use.
Fantastic product.
And it's a sustainable resource. It is. Yeah, it is.
It's being used a lot in Europe now.
Peat moss is not sustainable.
So coir worldwide is one of the most in demand, growing medias.
So what are the benefits?
Yeah, well, Jerry, we have two forms here.
We have the final product, which is pith,
and we have the chunkier, like about a 12ml average particle size.
Very good water holding capacity.
The pith we use a lot in propagation mixes -
you know, 10, 20%.
The chip we use in bigger sized pots.
So we'll use this from 140ml pots up to 300, 400 bag mixes.
Really good in green roof,
green wall mixes as well because it's lightweight.
So that's the big two.
What else would we find in a good potting mix?
Well, as with this mix, Jerry, we've got as you can see through here,
we have the little pink rock here,
which is...it's volcanic, it's called zeolite.
It's porous, good nutrient holding ability.
And the white product you see through there is crushed sandstone.
What we have here in front of us
are the high end ingredients for potting mixes
that you can cater to suit all types.
Perlite is an excellent product for propagation.
So we might find with propagation mix, we might have a 10% perlite,
a 10% coir pith, from the coconut husk,
and then we might have another 80% of the 0-5ml bark.
That's our propagation mix.
What we have here is our 20ml bark.
So, orchid growers, bromeliad growers,
people who are growing in, say, thousand litre bags
love this product.
Zeolite is extremely popular. Oh, yes, yes.
Obviously here we have our coir chip.
And actually, if you squeeze it, you can actually see the water
that comes from it.
So we've learned about the ingredients that go
into a premium potting mix.
How do you put them together?
Well, as you can see behind us, Jerry,
is Darren's mixing a small mix
for one of the nurseries.
It's about just... like baking a cake.
You know, you get all your different ingredients, you get them together.
You've tested all your ingredients.
They're all good to go.
Bobcat or loader for the bigger mixes,
we'll blend them, all ready to go.
(THE BLUE DANUBE BY JOHANN STRAUSS)
With the mixes now prepared and the quality checked,
they are put through the automated bagging process,
which pumps out the pillows we then buy at the nursery.
Looking at all the processes you go through,
it's clear that making potting mix is not quick.
No, that's right, Jerry.
It's a long process.
If we're designing a new mix, it can take 12 months to two years.
We've got grow trials, it goes to laboratory for testing.
We may look at it again.
So to get that mix right, there's a lot of work involved,
a lot of testing involved.
It is a complex process.
And when you go to a garden centre, there's this bewildering range
of different potting mixed.
How can we be guided to the best ones?
Yeah, I think to start with is you want to be looking for
the Australian standards, so the premium standard is a red tick.
That guarantees you at the very minimum that that potting mix
has met a certain requirement.
If you don't find the tick on the bag, there are no guarantees
about what you're buying.
So next time you're shopping for potting mix,
think of all the science and care that goes into making it,
'cause potting mix certainly ain't potting mix.
Lots of us grow a bit of food in our back or front gardens.
My verge produces a bit of pickings for the whole street.
And now's a good time for me to top up the staples that do well -
things like silverbeet, rainbow chard, lettuces, snow peas.
But when it comes to productivity,
Tino's found a gardener who's taking it to the next level.
TINO: It's like all my Christmases have come at once.
This wonderful market garden
is absolutely pumping out
the most gorgeous produce,
with much of it destined for the kitchens
of some of Hobart's top-end restaurants.
And all of this is going on in a suburban backyard
in the heart of Hobart.
But what's more impressive than this market garden
is the remarkable woman who's constructed it and cares for it.
Liz is the brains and the brawn
behind this magnificent one-woman market garden operation.
And after five years of hard yakka,
Eve's Garden, as Liz calls it,
is now her livelihood.
It's a big block. You've got a lot of beds.
How many do you have? I've got 30-odd.
Right. Yeah.
And all under production?
Yes, just about.
And what are you mainly growing?
Lots of kale, beetroot, baby-leaf lettuce, spinach...
Oh, and spigarello.
And you got some nice, healthy, broad beans here.
Yes.
So, through the winter, I grow quite a lot
and then I just cut them and sell them in bunches,
and the restaurants use them as a...like spinach,
when there's not a lot of other greens around.
So, they're using all parts of the plant, not just the beans.
Right.
'Cause I love these flowers.
They're just a great little garden snack.
They taste like peas.
Yeah. Mmm.
While Liz had long grown a bit of fruit and veg
to share with family and friends.
She's turned her passion for gardening into a profession.
So, I was, um, growing my seedlings and cottage plants and things,
and then I thought, one year,
"Why don't I plant 50 tomato plants in the front garden
"and then just see if someone wants to buy the fruit."
And then when they were ready, I went down to a restaurant in town
and asked them if they would...would buy them.
And they said, "Yes." Uh, it was so wonderful.
So, basically, I plant what the restaurants want,
but there is a bit of guesswork,
so I plant it and hope that they want it.
Sometimes, neighbours and friends will say,
"Oh, I went off to such and such a restaurant,
"I must have eaten your produce, what you grew."
So, that's nice. Makes me feel good.
From building the greenhouses, installing garden bed surrounds,
and pouring concrete slabs,
Liz has done the lot.
People give me advice and tell me what to do
and give me a bit of a hand.
But, basically, I eventually learn how to do it myself
and then, eventually, they don't have to help me anymore.
Alright.
So, this is the salanova lettuce.
The leaves don't get that big,
they just keep growing more and more.
And so you can cut it, like, four times.
You cut it and then it starts to come back.
You start to get this little sort of growth back through.
And then, like, 10 days later, you just cut it again.
That's brilliant.
I love the loosey-leaf lettuce, rather than the hearted.
With other lettuce, they're ready.
and you just hope someone wants them the day they're ready,
but they're not, whereas this, you have a bit of leeway.
While there are many of the usual suspects growing here,
there are also some delightful surprises.
This is this chrysanthemum, eh?
Yes, they're also called 'shungiku', edible chrysanthemums,
and they use them in, uh, stir fries,
and I think they put them in salads as well.
So, a few of the restaurants take these.
So, this is the engine room.
Yes, so I grow all my plants from seeds
and I grow a lot of them in the individual-celled punnets.
It might take three or four weeks before they're ready to be planted.
And also, you know, every one that you put in is going to grow.
You've got some great infrastructure here.
You got the chooks behind us,
and you've got this amazing compost bin.
Is it all part of the same system that you're using?
Yeah, so, you get a lot of vegetable matter coming out of the gardens
and you get the manure from the chooks
and just put it in the compost bin and get wonderful compost.
It makes me feel good.
I just love the abundance, when you're just picking so much stuff
and packing it away and they take it,
and then, the next day, you're picking it again.
And I also like being part of a group, almost.
Like I've never met chefs before,
but now I have this group of people that I know.
I'm part of something.
TINO: I know, from personal experience, just how much work
goes into creating and maintaining a garden like this.
I have such admiration for Liz.
Yes, it's hard work,
but the rewards are so much greater.
This is one of my favourite plants.
Variegated monstera.
It's not easy to get,
so I'm going to take a cutting for a friend.
This is so special.
It's just like your green monstera,
but got the white variegation.
Very sought after.
To do the stem cutting, make sure you find a node
and cut a few centimetres below the node.
Make sure you have a clean scissor.
So, that's the cut.
You can see this is the node, the aerial roots,
so I just cut under.
And you can also see a nice variegation on this stem,
with the white running through and the green - good combination.
Here, I use a rooting hormone.
This is quite helpful to prevent the wound to get infection.
So, I just dip it.
This is the medium that I use
to root the cutting -
a mixture of moss and perlite.
Perlite is quite good to give you more drainage,
so less result of root rot.
So, I'm just going to dip the cutting...
Here you go - one cutting of variegated monstera.
Uh, keep it in a well-lit spot
and make sure the moss is moist all the time, but not wet.
After about three months,
you should see some good roots grow
and it will be ready for potting up.
To Sophie now, who's wrangling a special bunch of seedlings
in the garden.
SOPHIE: When we say a plant is a self-seeder,
we're talking about a plant that easily flowers and produces seed,
and those seeds readily grow where they drop,
which creates plants for very little effort.
So, behind me, I've got self-seeders
like borage, calendula and several types of mustard.
These are great.
However, self-seeders aren't always welcome.
There's lots of edibles that self-seed.
Common ones include kale, tomato and rocket.
If you get the time, thinning them to an ideal spacing
might give you better growth.
I've planted brassicas like kohlrabi and brussels sprouts in this bed,
but I never got around to mulching,
so lettuces and mustards have self-seeded.
Now, I could have got onto them early
and actually transplanted the younger seedlings.
Now they're a bit big, if I leave them,
it'll create root competition.
So, instead, I'm simply going to harvest them and put them in a salad.
Of course, many weeds are great self-seeders.
Dandelion, cape weed, mallow and nutgrass are just a few.
Even normally desirable plants, like poppies and bronze fennel,
can take over if you're not vigilant.
Outside of my vegie patch,
self-seeders are stalwarts of my system
to bring in beneficial bugs to my garden.
I never have to go to the trouble
of sowing Queen Anne's lace, alyssum or calendulas,
because they pop up everywhere.
And once you've got them, you've got them for life.
If you don't want them to pop up randomly, like I do,
you can save the seed and plant it where you want
or just pull up the whole plant when it's going to seed
and put it in a spot where you want them to grow.
The answer, in all cases,
if you want to prevent undesirable self-seeding,
is to remove the flowers before they set seed
or pull out the whole plant.
And be very careful not to plant weedy self-seeders
if you live where they could potentially
take off into the environment.
But do take advantage of the cost and labour-savings
that come from using friendly self-seeders in your garden.
You'll be doing yourself a favour.
There's no doubt that plants capture your heart and your mind.
What starts as a cutting on a windowsill
can grow into a lifetime of exploration,
cultivation and fascination.
Our next Garden Path has been just that.
MAN: Mount Roraima is an absolutely stunning lost world
in the tropical jungles of Venezuela.
It's been there for a long time
and on top is an amazing formation of rock and plants
that are something out of this world.
I travelled there in '98,
when I was in my 20s,
and it's left a lasting impression on me.
And I knew something like that would be an inspiration for me
back in Australia, with my own nursery.
My name's Lyle Filippe. Roraima is my garden.
It's a place where I can let all my passions for plants go wild.
The nursery is an accumulation of plants
that I love, or particularly like, for some particular reason.
But it's...it's the weird one.
It's the one that's the ugly duckling or it's the...
..it's the one that people look at and go, "Is that dead or alive?"
These are Yucca australis,
which is a really unusual species of Yucca
that comes from America.
They're about 40 years old,
but they've got a lot of growing to grow yet.
They can grow to 20 metres tall.
And one of the wonderful things about them is they have pendulous flowers,
and the flowers come out, and then hang down about two metres,
with massive big, white, creamy flowers.
So, it's quite a spectacular plant.
You know, I've got the collecting bug, so I like collecting.
I like getting plants and growing plants,
and objects and things like that.
When I was 12, I think Mum was a member of the orchid club -
you know, bought a few orchids -
and I think the first orchid I bought at 12, I still have.
It's called 'Ann Miller Midnight'.
So, those sort of things, I think introduced me to the plant world -
other people collecting plants,
talking about plants.
Here we have one of our special little areas.
And in this area, I have one of my special plants.
It's a giant Dioscorea, this one.
It's about 45 years old.
Only acquired it recently from a local collector in Geelong.
Probably one of the best specimens I've seen in Australia
or even around the world, when I've been looking for them as well.
The Dioscorea is a giant yam,
so this is a bark over a fleshy base,
like a potato.
So, it's all water and we couldn't physically lift it.
So, I actually had to use a friend who's got a little crane arm.
We put slings underneath it very carefully
and we craned it out of the position,
and then craned it back into the bag here.
Eventually, it will go into a display house within the nursery,
and open to the public to see.
So, it's in transition at the moment.
Dioscorea elephantipes, normally you see them 50 or 60 centimetres.
You never normally see them this size.
And this amazing specimen, since we've got it,
it's grown this great big vine at the top.
So, to me, it's happy with the shift, so I'm pleased with that.
But it is one of my favourite plants.
When we first came to the nursery here,
just to have a look at the area, I saw the potential,
my wife saw a mess.
But being a plants person, I thought I can visualise re-creating the space
what I could do with it, some extra land to do.
When we were setting up the nursery,
the freeway out the front was doing an extra lane,
so from that there we were able to negotiate with the roads people
to get some extra soil brought into the nursery.
And originally I thought maybe metre-high mounds,
I'll be able to create some garden beds.
But for two weeks, B-double trucks lined up to dump soil.
And from that, we were able to create mounds six, seven metres high.
Alright, behind me we have a group of plants that I particularly like
called Cussonias.
So the Cussonia is an amazing group of plants.
This particular one's called Cussonia gamtoosensis.
So it probably come from a region of Gamtoos in Southern Africa.
We can use it as a pot plant
or we can use it as a specimen in the garden.
But being architectural and drought hardy, it's a useful plant.
Yeah, I sort of grew up on a 40-acre productive farm at Robinvale.
After school, you didn't go home and just watch television
you went home and, you know, worked on the vineyard.
And then from there we moved, when I was about 15,
we bought 11 acres of virtually open paddock at Bells Beach.
Mum decide that she would like to have a protea farm.
So we put in a protea plantation for cut flowers,
as well as developed several acres of gardens there.
Mum, she's always there and is a worker herself
and she's still growing seeds
and, you know, doing stuff and enjoying it.
In '98 I'd saved up for a year or so
and then decided to go overseas for six months.
I wanted to see plants in their natural habitat.
And so 27 plane flights later I had been through Africa, Madagascar,
South America, up into Mexico and into the States as well.
I went up the west coast of South Africa, up into Namibia
and there was a detour that could be had to go inland
for about four hours to go and see a particular plant,
and it's called Welwitschia.
So we all went out there and found it and had a look
and I got some really good memories of being up against those plants
that are probably a thousand or two thousand years old
and in my collection now I have some little seedlings,
but I'm never going to see them mature, I don't think, yeah.
From growing things and starting small
it naturally progresses to maybe you can get bigger things
and that led to maybe garden rescues,
then that has actually become a big part of the nursery, plant rescue.
At the moment, there's a big project garden in Werribee,
which I planned about 15 to 18 years ago,
is now being sold up for subdivision.
But some of the big structural plants like some tree aloes
and dragon trees and things are five metres tall.
So we're actually pulling those back out of the garden
and bringing them back to the nursery and to Lara,
to be resold and go into other people's gardens.
At the moment, the nursery is all consuming.
Most gardeners know you never stop.
It's a family affair and we all chip in and work.
My wife is a teacher in Melbourne and once we close the gates,
we go for a wander with the dogs around the nursery
and enjoy the space.
Roraima is my life, really.
It makes me happy and I think I'll be here
surrounded by my collection for the rest of my life.
Alright.
I got my snips, rake, barrow and bucket.
I'm all set and on my way. Here's the plan.
(LAWNMOWER REVS)
Cool temperate gardeners, spring is in the air,
so it's time to dust off your tools, disinfect pruning equipment,
sharpen blades and oil wooden handles before you head into the garden.
There's still a risk of late frosts
and with fruit trees flowering,
a hard frost can wipe out an entire crop.
Keep an eye on the weather and if a chilly night is forecast,
pop frost covers over vulnerable trees and shrubs.
Keep garlic going gangbusters by applying a liquid fertiliser.
Organic fish emulsion is great.
Or make your own by soaking aged chook manure or compost
in water overnight.
In warm temperate gardens
add some bling to your spring
and plant seedlings of flowering annuals.
Asters, snapdragons, cosmos, delphiniums and fabulous foxgloves
are ready to roll.
Whether it's a big block or a pocket patch,
now's the perfect time to establish a new native lawn.
Weeping grass, Microlaena stipoides,
is tough, drought tolerant and mows beautifully.
Flowering now is the Australian indigo, Indigofera australis.
This awesome ornamental has a sparse habit
and the spires of pink to purple blooms
are a banquet for butterflies.
In the subtropics, the sun has a real bite to it.
So when you're tending to your plants,
make sure you're protected with a hat, sunscreen,
long-sleeve shirt and sunnies.
Flowering is finishing up on Marguerite daisies,
so it's time to prune, cutting back by two-thirds
to reshape and reinvigorate.
Have a go at propagating some of the healthy cuttings.
Pay some attention to your tomatoes and their watering.
Soil needs to be kept evenly moist to fight fungal issues and split fruit
and avoid wetting foliage to keep your toms ticking.
Tropical gardeners, keep an eye on fruit fly.
Susceptible fruit should be covered with fine insect netting,
traps installed
and any fallen fruit bagged and binned to prevent infestation.
If your proteaceous plants like banksias and grevilleas
have yellowing foliage, they're iron deficient and need a hand.
So treat them to a dose of iron chelates at recommended rates.
Here's a herb you've never heard of -
Rungia klossii, known as mushroom plant.
These perennials prefer part shade and their thick, fleshy foliage
is fantastic in salads
where it imparts a delicious mushroom flavour.
Gardeners in arid zones,
once the risk of frost has passed,
prune frost-damaged plants back to green wood,
warmer weather and a haircut will promote piles of gorgeous new growth.
After pruning, treat plants to some tucker
to further stimulate strong spring growth and summer flowering.
Pelletised organic fertiliser or aged manure
are the perfect pick me up.
Whether you like them mild, medium or mind-blowingly hot,
it's time to plant chillies.
Find a sunny pot or plot,
and sew seedlings at 50 centimetre spacings
into rich, well-drained soil.
Spring is a fabulous thing.
So get out there and enjoy it.
If you want to catch up on any of tonight's stories,
head over to the Gardening Australia website.
Well, that's all we have time for this week.
But I know you've got plenty to go on with
until I catch you here in the garden next week.
Until then, look after yourselves and your soil.
See ya.
I'm at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney,
where they're putting new plant varieties for the home garden
to the test.
If you love the colour of bougainvillea,
but you think you haven't got the space for one,
I can show you how it can be done.
And you can pop on the kettle
because I'm on a farm that's harvesting the key ingredient
of a much-loved drink.