How to Manage Garden Predators | From the Shed | Gardening Australia

Explore how to manage garden critters and predators with us: worms, insects, birds and more.

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This is Gardening Australia Series 23, Episode 6 from 2012!

00:00 Intro
01:20 Manage Garden Predators with Jerry
06:05 How to Farm Worms
11:09 Colourful Plants for Pollinators
15:47 What’s Your Favourite Garden Critter?
17:20 Urban Wildlife with Josh
21:33 Autumn Planting with Sophie
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Hello and welcome
to Gardening Australia where this week we’re talking about
garden critters – how to attract them,
how to manage them and why they’re so important
in your garden. On the show this week,
Jerry’s planting for pest control, Sophie’s planting
for some autumn colour. And that colour will come from
one of my favourite bulbs. They’re these amazing survivors. They’re Amaryllis belladonna. And Colin’s
creating some spectacular and some edible hanging baskets that will help attract
butterflies and bees. Without our creepy crawly
garden friends, there would be no gardens. They’re an essential and integral
part of the garden web of life. Now, Jerry’s a bit of
an expert on them and he actively encourages
the right ones into his garden. This is one of my favourite
spice trees. It’s cinnamon and if you look carefully, you’ll
see one of my favourite predators the praying mantis. These gobble up grasshoppers and by encouraging this and another
range of predators into my garden, my crops are well defended
and that makes me very happy. A garden is a community of plants,
micro-organisms, people and animals including this beast,
an assassin bug. When I moved to my garden
in 2003, it was a wilderness, but I’ve been keeping
a checklist of animals like mammals, birds,
reptiles and insects and I’ve got 331 species
which now call my garden home. To encourage
such a variety of creatures, you need to provide
a variety of plants which provide shelter, pollen,
nectar and by not spraying,
allowing a few pests to be there, so something like this assassin bug
has got lunch. And what that means for me
as a gardener is less spraying and more food. This year, I’ve dedicated
the whole area around my lawn to encouraging predators
into the garden and in this border, I’ve used a mixture of flowers,
vegetables and herbs. The cosmos are going strong,
the Chinese spinach is going to seed and the basil will soon follow and that’s why I’ve cleared
this boomerang bed. I’ve dug the soil over,
I’ve worked in some compost it’s ready to plant. I’ve selected a range of
predator-enticing plants from three families – the daisy family, the carrot family
and the mint family. Now whenever I plant a bed out, it’s always a good idea, I find,
to space things out so you don’t make it too crowded, but I still put in more plants than
I actually need to grow to maturity just in case of failures –
it means I still get a good display. I’m starting with coriander seed and I’m going to sow this over
the bed and plant over it. Last year when I grew coriander,
I counted 23 insects visiting it. Coriander is a magnet. Of course, coriander is a member
of the carrot family, as is Queen Anne’s lace. This is an ornamental,
very compact and very pretty. But if you really want to get
predators in your garden, the best one I’ve found so far is giant flat-leaved Italian parsley. It has enormous
amounts of flower, plus it flowers
for a long period of time. It attracts wasps because
the adults need nectar. Their young prefer meat
and they’ll sting the caterpillars, lay eggs on them and control them
in your garden. This bronze fennel
is a handsome plant. It’s a bit tricky to grow
in the subtropics, but if I get flowers
I’ll get predators as well. Dill is nowhere near so difficult. This will flower almost
all year round in the subtropics and its flowers
are really attractive, this time
particularly to a group of flies. Now flies are parasitic. Most of our flies
will control caterpillars, so this is a wonderful combination
of herb and pest control. And now to the daisy family. I’ve got some golden rod,
very old-fashioned. You wouldn’t think it would do well
in south-eastern Queensland and yet it’s hardly without a flower. It’s a real magnet and it provides
habitat places for egg laying and that’s important
if you want predators. I’m putting in some cosmos. These are dwarfs, so they’ll fit
into a small bed like this. Now the important thing
about the daisy family is they provide lots of pollen and that brings in hover flies
into gardens and their young fight aphids. And finally, the mint family. I’m trying some bells of Ireland. Now the mint family has broad appeal
to a wide range of beneficials and that’s because it produces
attractive pollen and nectar. I’m going to mulch the bed now because the plants are looking
a bit thirsty. Most people would realise
that mulch feeds the soil, it conserves moisture,
keeps the roots cool and, of course, it looks nice. But I’ve found there’s
a side benefit. Chopped mulch, like this sugarcane, is just what black hairy flower wasps
look for, so they can lay their egg chambers, and they are brilliant predators
of curl grubs. And now, everything needs
a really good drink. As these plants begin establishing, they’ll draw in predator insects
from far and wide and that means less damage,
less spray and less work for this lazy gardener. Now, no garden would be complete without these wonderful characters,
worms. It’s time to start worm farming
on the verge and I’ve come to visit
an incredibly passionate man who’s right into
the wonderful world of worms. Ecologist Peter Rutherford is the educator at a sustainable
living education centre in Sydney’s north and there’s nothing
he doesn’t know about worms. So why should we farm worms, Pete? Well, two really important reasons,
Costa. Food scraps, when you throw them
into landfill, causes groundwater pollution. When you give those same food scraps
to worms, they turn it into plant food –
beautiful, beautiful worm castings. I’ll show you. Look at that. Ooh, look at all that in there! That’s pure plant food,
full of available nutrients, beneficial microbes. That’s what makes plants healthy and
that’s what makes people healthy. The worms in worm farms
are surface living species. You’ll need about 1,000
to get started and that’ll cost you
$50 from a breeder. So, Pete, how do you go about
setting up a worm farm? Well, there’s lots of ways, Costa. I’ve seen them in old bathtubs,
in wooden boxes, plastic boxes, but one of the easiest ways,
I think, is this type of thing here. First tray, solid like that,
collects water, so put a little bucket
under the tap. Leave the tap open all the time. This tray here, it’s going to be
their home tray. Pop that one in.
That’s a nice residence. A sheet of newspaper in the bottom
stops soil falling through. Get some soil out of your garden
or nice compost, must be organic. This is where we put the worms in. Welcome.
Tip them all in, spread them out. Oh, look at that. They’re loving it. And we give that a good watering now
to settle it in. OK. Until water’s running out the tap.
Oh, OK. Yeah, beautiful. Make sure that the bottom
of this next tray is touching – Pushing against it.
Very important, yes. Pop that on. Put a couple of
handfuls more soil in, just to join up the trays.
Just spread that, join them up. Then you get some food scraps.
Thin layers regularly. Again, you add some soil on top. The reason for this is
worms don’t have teeth and they take in some soil and grind
it in a thing called their gizzard. So this is their teeth.
A little bit more water. Put a blanket on. Now whatever people use
for a blanket – you can buy these commercial ones –
make sure air can move through it. You want air movement.
You can use newspaper? Not newspaper because it limits
air movement through the system. And then the lid goes on
and that’s the process. Easy. Anyone can do it. Pete, what sort of management tips
can you share for the worm farmer? OK, there’s a few key ones, Costa. Firstly, keep it in the shade.
Your worms will die in the sun. Once a week you need to put in
a sprinkling of dolomite lime, about a teaspoon or so,
and then water it really well until water’s running out
the bottom. The dolomite stops it
getting too acid from citrus and fruit
and things like that. If it starts to smell, it’s telling
you there’s not enough air in there, so you probably put in too much food so stop feeding it for a week or so
and it’ll come good again. Now what do you do when the top tray,
the feeding tray, is full? Yeah, vital question, Costa. It’ll take a couple of months
to get to that point, so let me take you over
to one that’s already full. Most of the worms now will have moved out of that
home tray up into this top tray so you lift this whole
top tray off – most of your worms will be there. Oooh. Look at what – This is the beautiful casting,
the worm poo, the gold. So you take this one out and that’s
going to go to your garden, you then bring this one back, which was your top tray,
your feeding tray. Take your cover off, get your empty tray now, the one
you’ve cleaned out, back on there. A couple of handfuls of soil
like before and we’re away, ready to begin again. The castings can be used
in a number of ways. You can dig them into the garden, spread them over the soil
and cover with mulch or mix them with water. The worm juice that flows into the
bucket is also a great plant food. Dilute it to the colour of weak tea
and away you go. Now, Pete, people often get confused whether to compost
or worm farm or both. What are your thoughts? Yeah, they do, Costa. I like both. Reason being worm farming is just
for food scraps and a bit of soil to give you a beautiful casting
and the worm juice. Your composting is for
your volume materials, you know,
like your garden materials, leaves and grass clippings
and things like that, so it’s volume for composting,
concentrated worms. That’s a really concise way
of looking at it. Thanks for all your worm wisdom
today. It’s been a treat. It’s been a pleasure, Costa, and before you go,
I’ve got a little present for you. Oh, look at this! Some of my friends to take with you.
Some worms! Fantastic! Well, I promise to multiply them. For your verge friends. Come and visit.
Thanks, Costa. See you. I can’t wait to get these
new residents back home to the verge, but, for now, it’s over to Colin who’s potting up
some hanging baskets to help attract
valuable pollinators. Hanging baskets
are great for any garden. With the right plant,
you can have instant colour, and those colourful flowers will attract bees
and other pollinating insects. They’re ideal
for courtyards and balconies. I’m doing
two types of hanging baskets – one filled
with trailing culinary herbs, and the other – this unusual ball
of hanging, flowering colour. All you need for this
is firstly a hanging basket. Then you need a liner
to go inside it. Now the liner
normally comes like that, but you can see
that I’ve cut it in half. I’ve taken off all these long pieces
to go around the top. Then I put that base
right in the bottom of the basket. Now, I’m going to fill it up
with a premium grade potting mix. When you plant up a hanging basket, it’s important to use a few
of these things – water crystals. Because the basket, all the surfaces are exposed
to the air and wind movement, so they dry out a whole lot quicker than the same plants would do
in a pot. So, a few water crystals
over the top. Then the next thing you need
is a little bit of this stuff – controlled release fertiliser, just to feed the plants
for a little bit longer. And now for the plants. And you might be surprised –
I’m using parsley, because the green foliage on the
parsley is really quite decorative. So a couple of those go in and you just lay them on top
of the potting mix, directly opposite each other. Then to get to more colour, I’m going to have a lobelia,
which is nice and blue, And then the white alyssum.
In she goes. Now, the next step is to replace
the liners that I cut off so that I can fill it up to the top. So in they go.
Push them down as far as I can. And they overlap a bit. And that allows me to get all
that new potting mix in on the top because there’s yet another
layer of plants to go in here yet. So the last bit goes in and
now we’re ready for the potting mix. Just smooth out the potting mix. Now these petunias are the final act. So I’m going to put four of them – just space them
around the top of the basket. And they’ll give that colour
which is so important. In a week or two,
that’s going to be great after I water it
with a good seaweed extract. And next I’m going to show you how to plant
a tasty hanging herb planter. Now, this time, I’m not going to
cut it up like I did last time. I’m going to leave it complete, so just firm it in, all around,
and get it fitting nicely. Next thing, in goes
the premium grade potting mix. There’s no point in putting valuable
plants in a second-rate potting mix and watching them die. The plants I’m going to use –
the first one is French tarragon. Now, that’s looking a bit daggy
at the moment, but it’s going to come good
in no time at all. Then I’m going
to put in a bit of oregano, and this will give me
a nice colour. And it too is going to tumble
over the edge really stunningly. Last, but not least,
in this corner here, I’m going to put a bit of thyme. Now that will also
fall over the edge and it’ll just be brilliant. Now I’ve got the space in the middle
that looks a bit bare and I’d like to get
a little bit of height to give the whole basket character. And this is this boxwood basil. And it’s great,
so I’ll put it right in the middle. So it gives the whole thing
a bit of height. All I have to do now is water it
with the old seaweed extract, hang it up, and away it goes. Give these two easy projects a go – trailing herbs that are easy to pick
and spectacular eye-level colour. What a great way to bring a
little bit of garden into your life, even if you don’t have the space
for one. Fortunately, here on the verge,
we’ve got plenty of space. And you may recall
a couple of weeks ago we set out this herb maze here. And on the weekend,
the community came together and they’ve planted it out. Well, it’s almost complete, and I can’t wait
to see the kids and the adults start to explore
the maze here around me. I don’t get them in my own garden
but I must say, whenever I go to somewhere
like the Melbourne Botanic Gardens and I see the blue wrens
moving through the bushes, I’m absolutely enraptured by them. I think they’re just
the most exquisite birds. The ladybird would have to be
my favourite garden critter because she gets in there
and cleans up all that aphid larvae without me doing a thing. Ladybugs are pretty cool,
but I like our natives. Say, the bandicoot. They might mess your garden up a bit,
but they’re so very cute. My favourite garden critter would be
either birds visiting or butterflies. I just love them,
Birds in particular, because they really
are lovely visitors to any garden. Well, at the moment,
it’s the pheasant coucal. And this is a native bird, and it makes a living
out of stealing baby birds and their eggs from the nests. But at the moment
it’s getting on really well. It’s moved into the garden and it likes being out with the
guinea pigs when they’re on the lawn. They seem to enjoy
each other’s friendship. Probably willie wagtails
and honeyeaters. They come in and out of the garden. They eat insects and
they just bring the place to life. My favourite gardening critter,
without a doubt, is the earthworm. As Charles Darwin once said,
they’re the intestines of the Earth. And never has such a lowly creature played such an important role
in the history of the world. This is classic suburbia. We’re surrounded by houses
and gardens and cars, but there’s more accommodation
up above – but not for us. And I’m about to meet the landlord. There’s the man. It’s Joe Tonga – a bloke
who’s mad about urban wildlife. But he’s clearly watching something
so I’m being a bit quiet. G’day, Joe.
Shhh, Josh. How are you, mate?
Good. Good to see you. What have you got? Up there, roosting,
is a southern boobook owl. I can see that brown patch. He’s sleeping during the day,
as owls do. Yeah. And he lives around here because
he’s moved into one of the boxes. And he loves to roost in that tree. That’s his particular
favourite tree. Nice and shady?
Nice and shady, nice and thick. Quiet for him.
He stays there all day, sleeping. So, Joe,
this is a fairly regular backyard. We’ve got a cubbyhouse and lawn. But there’s nesting boxes everywhere.
What’s the story? Well, a little bit unusual. About ten years ago,
I built – because I’m a carpenter – a box out of pickets,
just normal fence pickets. Stuck it up into a back tree –
a neighbour’s tree. Six weeks later, what did I have? A southern boobook owl.
So I thought, ‘This is amazing!’ First up.
Your first try? That’s not bad. Yeah. Just luck, just luck. I thought,
‘Well, I’ll put another box up.’ So I did and then what happened?
Parrots. So what’s that telling us? There’s food out there for them,
but no homes. No homes because these parrots
need big trees with hollows in them before they can go into it
and claim them. So this is a pardalote box,
this one? Yes.
They only need a very small box. And it’s got this little bit of
hollow on the front and a very small hole. They want the small hole
so they can just fit in. And they dart in
like a little bullet. So it’s just got a little
folding roof but you don’t have to have a roof. So this has been
an active box, obviously, because the birds
have put that in there. Yes. What they do, the mum and dad
go to my paperbark tree and they strip
little bits of the tree off and they bring it in –
and grass pieces. Isn’t that beautiful? And the whole lot,
the entire box gets filled with it, and what they do
is they create a little tunnel and it’s like
about the size of a 20-cent piece. And it goes down into
the nesting chamber at the bottom – about the size of a tennis ball. And that’s where
mum lays her three little eggs. And they are very, very small. So you’ve got nesting boxes on
pretty much every tree on the site, as well as
your neighbours’ properties. But creating habitats –
more than that, tell us what you’ve done out here,
for example. OK, well I’ve tried to
create a different tiered level of the vegetation. It’s starting with the big trees,
of course, the established trees and then planting ones
like this one here. So mid-level stuff, almost?
Yep, mid level. And then I start going down
to the lower-level stuff which are the grevilleas, hakeas.
So we’ve got shrubs… So, calothamnus for example,
your grevilleas, bird-attracting. But even grasses down below here.
Yes. This is for the lower animals. Things like the geckos, lizards,
even the frogs come from the pond, hide into there. They like this sort of thick foliage
around here, so you’re creating a little haven
sort of thing. OK. So there’s kind of
almost refuge and so forth. But how about water? What role does water play
in a drier climate like this? Very important.
Very, very important. Now, if you want to have birds
coming to your garden, you’ve got to have water.
Very, very important. But the trick is, of course, you’ve got to have it
high enough from the ground, because if you have it too low, the birds will not go to it so much
because the cats will get ’em. And they know that. What a wonderful visit. I reckon you’d be struggling
to find anyone as keen as Joe when it comes to attracting wildlife
to a garden. And just imagine if we took just a few of his tips
home to our own places. Think about how our suburbs could be! Thanks, Josh. It’s amazing how
a little bit of effort from our side can provide habitat
for all kinds of creatures. Now it’s over to Sophie
in South Australia, who’s doing
a little bit of autumn planting. My garden mightn’t look like much,
but I’ve got plans. We’ve just acquired an extra
1.5 hectares of land around our home. We’re in the Adelaide Hills,
but on the dry side of the hills. And rainfall is about the same
as the Adelaide Plains. As you can see, we’re
totally exposed, with no shelter, full sun all day and wind 24/7. So what I’m going to start on is creating the new driveway
for the property. This will be a dry border
which I’m going to plant with plants that won’t require water
once established. And to start off,
I’ve got these Russian olives. One of the reasons why these trees
aren’t as popular as they should be is they look dreadful in a pot. But the reason you should grow them is they have the most beautiful
silver-grey foliage which turns butter yellow in autumn
before it drops off ’cause they are deciduous. Now, this foliage is looking
good here but in actual fact, I’m going to have to
snip these lower branches off because one of the things
about these trees is they’re actually quite thorny. Now that doesn’t matter
if you want some security or you’re looking
to keep stock out of a garden. But in this case, we’re wanting
to be able to walk near them so we don’t want to get skewered. So, I’m taking
all the lower foliage off. These plants are so drought-tolerant. They come from the Mediterranean
region, southern Europe, and through to western Russia –
all the dry parts, and they’ll grow brilliantly here. Another reason why I love these trees is they have
the most beautifully scented flowers. They have an incredible aroma
of honey. The soil here
is actually not that bad. It’s a good structure. It’s a loam. However, what it’s lacking
is organic matter. So I’m actually
going to put some compost – well, actually, this is probably
more like aged animal manure and a bit of straw mixed in there. Of course, it improves
the water-holding capacity. And now I’m going plant. An interesting thing about this tree is if it was growing in the ground, we could actually see nodules
on its roots because it actually fixes nitrogen through the nodules that
work with the bacteria in the soil. Now, I’m just going to put
a bit more soil in and lift it and then we’ll back-fill. These trees will actually grow six to
eight metres high once established. I’ll need to water it in
and mulch it well. And then it will survive by itself. But for now,
I’ve got two more trees to plant. I’m giving myself two years
to get the garden established. And even though it’s new now, I can see in my mind
how it’s going to look. Because this is the entrance way, one thing this area will need though
is bold, bright, splashes of colour. And that colour will
come from one of my favourite bulbs. They’re these amazing survivors. They’re Amaryllis belladonna, known as naked ladies
or belladonnas. They’re South African bulbs that come
from the western side of the Cape, so their climate in nature
is just like here. They get their common name from the habit of flowering
before the foliage in autumn. They send up these sturdy spikes
of flowers which are either pink or white
which are also beautifully scented. I think they smell like apricot soap. And they send up these flowers
before there’s any foliage in sight. As far as hardy goes, these guys
are the ultimate survivors. When you plant them,
you plant them fairly high so that only their neck’s
out of the ground. And the reason why that is,
is they actually like to bake. They need the heat to flower well. Now the interesting thing is, they’ll grow in this soil
with no soil preparation. They’ll flower
without supplementary watering. Actually, if I watered them,
they probably won’t flower. But just one word of warning,
they’re a little bit temperamental. And they usually sulk for a couple
of years after they’re first planted. This is going to look spectacular
when it’s finished. And I can’t wait to see them flower. However, I’ve got
about another 80 bulbs to go. So you’re going to have to leave me
to it and I’ll see you next time. 69 to go till the most
spectacular driveway in the hills. No matter what two, four, six, or even eight-legged creatures
you have in your garden, they all add to the rich web of life. Don’t they, Kinky? Well, that’s it for this week. Join us for next week’s show
which is all about family. Hi, Mum. Next week,
Josh introduces us to his mum and her beautiful tranquil oasis
in Fremantle. When you were a little boy,
you were always interested in – I thought you’d either be
a vet or an environmental scientist. And I’ll be meeting another member
of the Gardening Australia team. Welcome, Costa,
it’s so good to meet you. It’s good to meet you too. I feel
like I know you from the telly. We can’t wait. We’ll see you then. Hi. Costa here. If you’ve missed an episode
of Gardening Australia, catch up on ABC iView or go to the
Gardening Australia website. It’s too easy! Closed Captions by CSI