Watch more The Garden Gurus here: https://youtu.be/1sTJ91WMqC0
The Garden Gurus team provide essential advice for thriving indoor plants and getting your vegetables off to the best start, including the secret to improving soil water retention. We cover the easiest ways to sow seeds and give essential tips for cleaning and maintaining your garden tools and gloves. Discover the secrets to setting up the best veggie patch with rich soil and beneficial fertilizers, and how to install a water-efficient vertical green wall.
00:00 Indoor Plants & Veggie Patch Prep
05:17 DIY Concrete Slab for Garden Construction
09:00 Easy Spring Seed Sowing Methods
13:07 Essential Gardening Tool and Glove Care
14:01 Establishing the Best Veggie Garden
17:25 Installing a Vertical Green Wall
22:14 Lush Lawn Care
24:12 Benefits of the Self-Watering Veggie Pod System
Click here for more gardening content: https://www.youtube.com/@GardenersGuideChannel
From: The Garden Gurus Series 01 Episode 17 & 18
Content licensed by Big Media to Little Dot Studios
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#Gardening #DIY #VegetableGarden
Hello and welcome to the Garden Gurus. I’m Trevor Cochran. Now, this is our home. This is actually where our offices and all of our production facilities are. And you can see right behind me and all around us, we have indoor plants. They’re a very important part of the environment here. They cleanse the air. They put lots of oxygen into the air that helps with our creativity. Now, the whole program, of course, is packed full of downto-earth gardening advice. That’s what we’ve got for you today. Here’s what’s coming up this week on the Garden Gurus. gets out the concrete mixer for a DIY project. Steve looks at edibles that are easy to grow and Bonnie shares some easy garden care tips for your garden this summer. Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig in the ground, I got my spade, I got my hole, I got my rake, and I’m ready to go. I have been busy in the garden pulling out all the old winter vegetables and making a head start on planting all my spring and summer veggies. Nothing beats picking your own homegrown food straight off a plant. And the flavors you get in fresh produce is second to none. One of the biggest questions I get asked is how to keep vegetables producing. And the first step is position. So having a nice warm sunny spot in the garden, usually with afternoon sun is ideal. And this way you will get better flavors as well. Second is having a good watering routine. Consistent watering is another key step if you want beautiful veggies like these. Water doesn’t always get down to the root ball. And we can sometimes see this in the summer months with plants not forming fruit correctly, growing a little bit weak, or they can sometimes just look a little bit rugged. Sea Soul Super Soil Wetter and Conditioner is enriched with seaweed plant tonic for all soil types. It will increase the wetability of the hard stubborn soils by allowing deeper penetration and the soil will stay moist for longer all whilst retaining and encouraging the water to reach the plant’s root zone where it’s most needed. The soil improver liquid compost promotes the development of good soil structure and it has beneficial microbes which enhance the soil’s fertility and disease resistance. And it can also help encourage your plants to have stronger roots, which is a pretty good thing when you’re growing vegetables considering they’re doing so much in a short period of time. You can mix it into a watering can and apply it manually to potted plants or even a small garden bed. It will increase water efficiency and minimize runoff and water wastage. So, if you have water tanks, you won’t be going through all that water. Another handy tip is to remove any yellowing leaves off your plants. This way, they can promote more growth a little bit quicker. And with warmer weather comes garden pests. So, keep your eyes out for them, too. Edible flowers are a popular addition these days to meals served in even the fanciest restaurants. So, what a joy it is to know that they can be easily grown in any home garden. The range of edible flowers out there is huge, but some of the more popular varieties include the gorgeous nesters with their lovely peppery flavor. Of course, there’s chundulas, violas, and the beautiful little Johnny jumpup. Of course, if we stop to think for a moment, some of our favorite vegetables are actually edible flowers like broccoli, artichokes, and capers. The flowers on many of our garden herbs are also edible. My wife loves decorating cakes with a sprinkle of icing sugar and the flowers from the beautiful rosemary. Lavenders are also used in a broad range of culinary delights. And the flowers from pineapple, sage, and basil are just delicious. Another popular range with the home gardener are our wonderful heirloom vegetables, many of which have been grown for centuries and are famous for their incredible vigor and delicious flavor. One of the reasons they’re no longer grown commercially is because they don’t travel or store well, but I’ll choose flavor over storage any day. A number of my favorites include the gorgeous rainbow chard. It’s delicious. Steamed lightly with a little bit of butter. Of course, the beautiful purple asparagus and the freckled lettuce. The great thing about heirloom varieties is that they’re open pollinated, which means the seed from them can be saved and will reliably produce seedlings that are true to type. Many commercially grown vegetable varieties are hybridized to produce particular characteristics but sadly can’t be saved and so new seed must be purchased from the breeders each season. Whatever you choose to grow, the most important thing is to just have fun. The joy of sharing your own produce with family and friends can only be rivaled by preparing them a meal of healthy grown food that you’ve produced yourself. Mixing mortar and concrete can be done in a few ways. You can hand mix in the barrerow. You can use a mixer. You can get your concrete delivered in a truck. But sometimes you need a little bit more control, flexibility, and mobility. The concrete mixer attachment for the Kanga loader gives you all the maneuverability you need with the advantage of setting your own pace. You can get your raw materials delivered at the bottom of the driveway or front of the site, load up the mixer, and then drive the mix to the required destination with ease and power. A wonderful combination. The mixer is just one of many attachments in the massive Kanger range and it’s easy to fit onto the machine and it complements the Orga power head here that gives independent power and serious mixing action all day long and it’s a lot better than mixing in the barrerow. Growing roses in a greenhouse can provide you with a lot of different benefits. And some of the big ones are you’re going to have less diseases and pest issues, and you can prolong the flowering time for a lot longer. Yep. Yep. Okay, mate. Well, I guess I’ll just see you tonight then. All right. See you. That was Trev. I popped over to his place to say good day. I thought we were going to have a good time. Turns out he’s had to go to a meeting and he wants me to pour a slab for him. He’s got me working. I’m in the shake of it. I’m pouring a small concrete slab as a base for his new bench seat. I’m using link edge garden edging for the formwork. Traditionally, you would use timber, but the key is to hold it all in place firmly with pegs, pins or stakes. The ground should be level and uniform to ensure even thickness of the slab. Cut mesh to size using bulk cutters and position your mesh within the formwork. Using the rioing concrete gives it its tensile strength. It’s really important that your mesh sits in the middle of the slab, which is why you use these bar chairs. These are 5065s and they go at a maximum spacing of 600 mil. I’ll show you what I mean. That’s 50 mil there. If you had a slightly thicker slab, you sit it like that. That’s 65. But we’re going with 50. They just slide in there. We’ll get one in the middle, one at the end, and all the way through. And the other really important thing is that you have 50 mil cover all the way around the outside of the mesh. That is a gap between the mesh and the formwork to protect the mesh, stop it rusting, and avoid what’s known as concrete cancer. Mix your concrete to the manufacturer’s specification and pour. A normal class concrete mix ratio is three parts aggregate. That’s 10 to 14 mil gravel or stone, two parts concrete sand, one part Portland cement. Or you can do four parts aggregate, two sand, and one cement. If you’re using premixed concrete in 20 kilo bags, as a guide with 2 L of water per 20 kg of concrete, too much water weakens the mix. Spread the concrete into the corners and base using a shovel, ensuring there are no air pockets. Screed the concrete to get the correct depth and evenness using the top of the formwork as your guide. All right, that’s finished for now. What’s next is to let the concrete harden enough so that it can be finished with the float when the edge is done with the edging tool. And you know what? Trev can do that when he comes home. When growing seeds, there’s a number of different ways you can sew them. And now that we’re in the middle of spring, the soil is warm enough. Most vegetable seedlings will only germinate with a soil temperature of 18°. So, I’m going to show you a few different ways that you can sew your seeds so you can get an abundance of rewards. Having good soil texture and structure is a key step to successful sewing. Adding compost or aged animal manurses to the soil can do wonders. It will improve the soil texture, structure, and it will put organic material back into the soil. So, you’ll be left with this wonderfully fluffy soil. It will also encourage the soil to retain moisture during the hotter weather. Now that the soil has been cultivated, you’re ready to start sewing. This is the Mr. Foggill’s paper seed tapes, which are biodegradable, and they’re extremely easy and practical to use, so they’ll suit any garden skill level. All you have to do is separate the strips, roll them out, and put them into your pre-prepared row like this one. I’m using a garden hoe to make the rows. Then lay them into the row and cover with a light dusting of soil. Give the soil a misting of water and the seeds will germinate within 7 to 14 days. It’s super easy. This rolling grower is another great option for quick seed application. It’s a biodegradable mat which is 2 m long by 50 cm wide. And the seeds are spaced evenly on the mat in neat rows with their names printed next to it so you’ll know exactly what you’re going to be growing in the patch. The first step is to rake the soil and remove any larger stones. Then lay the mat down and cover it over with some soil and water your seeds in to get them growing. If you have a smaller garden bed, you can cut the mat to customize it to best fit your garden. If you prefer to grow your seeds in pots instead of the ground firstly, you can try something like this. This is the Mr. Fatherill seed mats. Now, they’re really good because all you have to do is fill your pot with seed raising mix, then take this and pop it on top. And then you want to press down gently, and then pop more soil on top, give it a drink, and then keep it in a nice warm, sunny position in the garden or in a greenhouse. These seed mats come in two sizes. This is the 45x 45 cm, or you can use the 8 cm round discs. These also work great in a raised garden bed, or you can even use them in a larger container. Growing seeds doesn’t have to be hard, and it’s a great way to get the kids out into the garden. Or if you’re wanting to start growing fresh produce or flowers for the first time, you can find the full range of the Mr. Father Gills garden products at your local garden retailers. Look at all these amazing flowers, lots of color. Some of them belong to the crops and the herbs and others are just here to help attract the bees, the butterflies and other beneficial insects. The rocket here is one of my favorite plants probably because it’s so easy to grow. The leaves taste fantastic, really. And the flowers are on the plant for months. There’s bees there right now. Now, if you want the flowers, very important, avoid pesticides and any nasty sprays. Keep it all natural and the bees and the butterflies and the beneficial insects will be around forever. When you come to a garden like this, it really highlights the role that evergreen plants play in creating structure in a landscape. They’re like the bones of the garden. And if you’re looking for a really good hedging plant, it’s still hard to go past box. They’ve got lovely small leaves and this wonderful tight growth habit which really lends itself to being clipped into a beautiful formal hedge like this. So for more beautiful gardens and great planting ideas. When it comes to our gardening tools, we should take the time to look after them. That way they continue to help us get the job done. And the same goes for when we’re using our gardening gloves. One of the first steps, and I bet you guessed it, is cleaning off any dirt. I know how tempting it is at the end of the day to just toss your gloves to the side and not worry about them, but if you do this, it will keep the overall hygiene of your gloves a lot better and your hands as well. If you have leather gloves, you can use a damp cloth and then you can remove any of the mud off the gloves that way. Then keep your gloves out of the sun in a dry place as this will prevent them from deteriorating. If you have leather gloves, laying them flat instead of crumpled together when storing them will help keep their shape. It will prevent them from becoming stiff and uncomfortable for when you next need them. And giving your gloves a little bit of tender love and care will help keep them in top form. Growing your own veggies at home is one of the most rewarding things you can do. And it’s good for you. And if for no other reason, at least you know what’s gone in to producing the food that you eat. So my mission over the next 2 and a half minutes is to show you how to set up the best possible veggie patch. Firstly, an open sunny position is vitally important. Most veggies love full sun in the spring and a little afternoon shade in the summer months is always good. And then you need to add an activating ingredient. Once upon a time, I might have used blood and bone, but with this combination of minerals and beneficial soil microbes, I add this particularly unique fertilizer. It’s got 24 carefully selected beneficial microbes that do all sorts of good things, including turning the 60 micro and macronutrients in the controlled release minerals into soluble fertilizer for your plants. That cultivated into the top soil boost the soil fertility and nutrient levels. Now, one of the most vitally important parts of any veggie garden is getting the soil right. And if you’ve got a heavy soil base, I’ve got a stony rocky base here. It’s really good to lift the bed up. Now, the soil you use in the bed is also critical. And you can see I’ve got a really rich organic but sandy soil. This free draining soil is so important with getting the best results out of your veggies. One of the most important things is making sure you use only quality plants. If it’s seedlings, don’t buy plants that are yellow or taller than the label in the punet. To remove them, squeeze one side of the cell and then the other side and ease the seedlings out gently avoiding damaging roots. And the other important thing is to soak them in a bucket of sea salt diluted in water. Now, this helps reduce transplant shock. My planting technique, it’s different. I like to mix my veggies up, not plant in big groups ideally, but to mix different plants alongside each other. There’s a few different reasons why I do it. The first is in nature diversity is important in attracting pollinators and distracting predators and not draining the soil of specific nutrients as each plant has different nutrient demands. Now to get them off to the best start, I always water them in with a bit of sea salt as well. It just triggers a bit more growth. But you know what? They can do their own thing for the next four weeks. They don’t need any feeding or anything else done. Then in about four weeks time to get the very best results and feed them on a weekly basis with power feed. You know the most important thing is that you only plant what you actually need, what you’re going to use. And that way you can rotate your crops on a regular basis. This is such a fun thing to do and there’s nothing tastes better than growing your own food. Have a look at this sensational specimen I’ve stumbled across here at the Raw Botanic Gardens Sydney. It’s the pandanosaur natus, the screw pine. You find them in Malaysia and also up the east coast of Australia. And what makes them interesting, apart from the funky foliage up top, are these stilt roots. Look at those. They’re everywhere. Getting the pandanis up and above the water common on plants in mangroves and on the coast near the water. More tips. Vertical gardens have never been more popular, and I’ve just finished putting this one together on the wall here in the courtyard at the Standard Bar in Perth for some living art. It’s an easy to install kit. And this is how I did it. Once you’ve decided on the position of the green wall, install the brackets as per the instructions. There’s a handy template to use for setting out the drill holes. The green wall plate then slides onto the bracket and you’re in business. Now, the really good fun part can begin planting out all the pots. And it’s a really easy system because all the pots come off the wall and you can do all your planting and your work at the bench or the table. And then when you’re done, mount them back on the wall. Well, that’s really handy, too, for any repotting or maintenance you need to do later. The potting mix I’m using has a koa pete base, excellent for water holding capacity and rot resistance. Remember, normal potting mixes break down quite quickly and you will need to replace them or make your own with koipe, vermiculite, skoria and the like. You can really get the creative juices flowing with your plant selection. Just make sure that the species suit the environment. Here we’ve got morning shade but lots of afternoon sun. So your shade loving foliage plants won’t work. I’ve gone for a mix of color flowers and toughness. A bit like myself. I’ve got a mix of ground covers, strappy leaf plants and succulents. The idea is as they grow they will cover the pots and wall plate and become a complete wall of foliage, flowers and color and quite possibly one of the finest green walls in the country. The Green Wool comes with a clever inbuilt watering system with all the panels being connected and there’s an adjustable dripper over every pot. And your water supply can be plugged in at the bottom here or on the sides. And for best results and for the most efficient reliable watering, it’s best to connect the whole thing to an automatic tap timer for frequent yet short waterings. Have a look at that. It’s living art. These green walls are designed to be added to and connected together to create as large a wall as you like for maximum wow factor. Well, that’s it for this week’s episode of the Garden Gurus. I hope you enjoyed it. Now, if there’s any more information you want from today’s show, all you have to do is check out our website. It’s got great fact sheets. There’s videos and of course articles of things you could or should be doing this spring. And if you’ve got a very specific question you’d like answered, well, become a friend on Facebook. We love answering your questions and we do it on a weekly basis. I’m Trevor Cochran. We look forward to seeing you next week for another great episode of The Garden Gurus. Hello. Welcome to the Garden Gurus. I’m Trevor Cochran. You might ask yourself, why on earth would I be opening this show on the side of a canyon? Well, we are in Zion’s Eye of the Needle. And uh I’m currently about uh about 120 meters up off the canyon floor, but one of the most remarkable things is these incredible plants. Now, they’re an oak, believe it or not, a scrubby oak, able to grow right up the side of the cliff. And it just shows how remarkable plants can be growing in the side of pretty much just sandstone. Very little soil, but they’re doing really well. So, it shows you how hardy oaks can be. Now, look, of course, today’s program is packed full of great gardening advice. Here’s what’s coming up on today’s show. This week on the Garden Gurus, Nigel visits the beautiful Araluan Botanical Gardens in Perth. Steve shares the best ways to get your lawn greener, stronger, and the envy of the neighborhood. And Bonnie is sewing seeds in the veggie patch. [Music] I got my spade. I got my hole. I got my rake. With summer fast approaching, our lawns play an important role with recreation, outdoor entertaining, or providing the perfect play area for the kids. Feeding your lawn properly is the secret to keeping it looking lush. But just as importantly, it’s also the best way to keep weeds, pests, and diseases under control. The way that I like to feed a lawn is with a slowrelease fertilizer. It feeds a lawn uniformally over a period of months and ensures that no fertilizer is lost through runoff or leeching. It also prevents lawn from burning and of course is better for the environment. Scott’s Lawn Builder uses patented timerelease technology to ensure nutrients are released slowly and continuously over a 3month period, meaning less fertilizer is required than if standard fertilizers are used. The iron in Scots lawn builder provides immediate greening within the first few days of application, while the wetting agent allows water to penetrate deep into the grass’s root zone. It also aids rewetting of dry soils and improves the drainage in soil that’s prone to water logging. The wett agent also balances water and air in the soil, maximizing access to both water and oxygen. Less watering is needed, helping making the lawn more tolerant to drought. Scots Lawn Builder and Wetting Agent Slowrelease Lawn Fertilizer can be applied dry without the need to water it in, making it safe to leave until next time it rains or until the lawn next needs watering. Applying this fertilizer will ensure your lawn is looking lush and healthy for summer. It’s safe to use around children and pets, and it’s suitable for all lawn types. I reckon we get to see some pretty impressive ideas fly past us here on the garden gurus. And this is one of the best I’ve seen for some time. If you don’t have a garden or struggle with pests, maybe you only have a balcony, the veggie pot is a great way to grow your own at home. So, the thing I love about this system is it’s got a selfwatering base in the bottom, meaning effectively through capillary action, the water wicks back up through the soil. And you can see it just holds this little reservoir there all the time. It just reduces the amount of water you need to keep your favorite edible plants really, really productive. And there’s a couple of other designs. It’s got a built-in watering system here, so you can always water. And the simple thing to do, of course, is just to run it straight off the tap using a little tap timer. It’s a simple way to get the very, very best results from what is a very small but highly productive area. This environment is perfect for growing plants from seed, which is my goal. And to do this, I’m using a quality potting mix laid out in the bed. I’m using the Scots premium potting mix. It’s got wett agents and bio stimulants in it. On top of that, I’m popping a layer of cocoa pete just to help the seeds as they germinate. I’m using this veggie pod to grow some leafy greens, some lettuce, and specifically an unusual plant known as pill or shiso. A herb that’s leaf is used by the Japanese and Koreans to wrap up barbecued meat. And it grows best in summer. Now, this white shade cloth cover does two things, and they’re very, very important. The first one is it protects the plants below from that pesky white cabbage moth and all the other insects that can do so much damage to your plants and leave you with caterpillars in your lettuce. You don’t want that. So, this protects from that. More importantly, you see this white cover? The light refracts through this so much better over the top. So whilst it does shade and protect the plants from the direct and extreme sunlight, what it really does is it diffuses the light more evenly over the surface that is getting through. This means your plants are bushier and better shaped. You get more leaves and they’re bigger and lusher. It’s a terrific idea. Now, if you think this is some kind of endorsement for Veggie Pod, it’s not. There’s no money being given to us to promote this at all. I wanted to tell you about it because it’s just another one of those fantastic ideas that we get to see on a regular basis that makes such a big difference to gardening success, to water conservation, and ultimately to you getting the best quality crops at home. If you’re looking to bring more pollinators into the garden like bees, then try growing some blue flowering plants like lavender, forget me knots, borage, and corn flowers. Your garden will be buzzing in no time. So for more great plants and inspiring garden ideas, join us after the break on the garden gurus. Good soil preparation is vital for healthy plants and lawns. This can include adding compost, organic matter, and for heavier clay soils, gypsum is great to help break down the particles. Cultivating and ripping the soil is a must, too. And if it’s compacted, absolutely critical. And with the shovel in the matic, things can get pretty heavy going. So for the large areas, I just love using the machine. Like all the other attachments, it’s easy to connect to the machine. Just line up the plate and lift it on. Tough, heavyduty tungsten teeth can rip through the heaviest and most compact soils in no time. In fact, it’s a joy to see them in action, and standing up above gives you perfect 360° vision whilst you’re operating. The river is great, too, for loosening and softening areas prior to excavation, for example, strip footings. Spring is one of my favorite times of the year, and it’s not just because of the warmer weather. I love growing produce. It’s one of my favorite things to do in the garden. And sewing seeds now is a great time to get ready for the new season. The beauty of growing seeds is that you can grow exactly what you want, as many as you want, and you know exactly how they were grown from the beginning. Now is a great time to start sewing your tomatoes, zucchinis, celery, and all your other spring and summer vegetables. And I like to use a few different options when sewing seeds. Fill the tray with some seed raising mixture, leaving a little bit of room at the top. Then place your seeds in. Then lightly dust over with more mixture and mist them. It’s really important that seeds do not dry out. As soon as the seeds are exposed to moisture, they are growing. If they are left to dry out, it is likely germination will fail. So checking the seedling trays daily for watering is a good idea. Another option is to use pots. This is a 7 cm pot, which is a great starting point if you’re using seeds in little containers. And this will accommodate only one little seed. But all you need to do is fill the pot up with some soil, leaving a good gap from the top. Pop your seed in, cover it over with more soil, water, and you’re good to go. If you live in a cooler climate, it’s important to keep seeds in a warm place. You can keep them in the laundry, on a bench, or ideally in a greenhouse. This will protect them from any late frost when germination occurs, but most important, it’ll keep them nice and warm. Most vegetable seeds in the correct conditions can take 8 to 12 days to germinate. If it takes longer, it could mean that the seeds are not in a warm enough area or are getting too wet. Once the seeds have germinated and they’re about 2 to 3 in tall, you can then repot them into a 10 cm pot like this one. Then you can give them a liquid based fertilizer and that should encourage really strong root growth. Leave them to grow in this pot for a further two weeks. This will ensure the roots are very healthy and strong before being planted out into the garden. The wonderful thing about gardening is you can grow a seed into a plant which will provide you with fresh produce and many flowers. Another one of the highlights growing in the bush just around the outside of my properties. This climbing bacon and egg creeper. It’s absolutely beautiful. The orange and the little yellow on the inside just like a yolk is just gorgeous. And they’re in a massive flower in the late winter and early spring. This is the time to get out and really enjoy these plants. They are just such wonderful icons of the Australian bushand and you do find them all over the country. I have always admired beautiful orchard gardens and I’ve always wanted one of my own. So, I’ve slowly been building up my collection of fruit trees so I can do just that. But my land is quite sloped and I get a lot of high wind, so I always make sure to stake my trees in the first few months of their establishment. There are a few different techniques to staking your trees. The most common way is to use one stake and drive it into the ground alongside the tree’s trunk. This works really well if the plant is already secure. When it comes to tying your trees, you have a few options. There is this interlocking chain tie, which is a quick and easy way to support the trees as the tie simply pulls itself and twists into a locking position. Or you can use these twist ties. They are really good as the plastic has a wire inside and it will hold its shape. Another option is to use two garden stakes and you drive them into the soil either side of the tree’s trunk and then you can use something like this. This is the Envirite. It’s soft and strong and it’s 100% biodegradable. And the great thing about this, it won’t cause any damage to the tree’s trunk. Making a figure eight pattern, work your way from both the stakes to secure the tree. This works great if your garden is exposed to high winds. For newly planted trees, it’s a good idea to keep them staked and supported for the first 12 months and there’s a lot of different garden ties that can help you achieve this. If you live in a slightly windier area, keeping them staked for a bit longer won’t hurt the tree. If anything, it will help them have a lot stronger roots and grow a lot better. Aren’t roses just such beautiful flowers and they’re looking fantastic at the moment all around the country. But like a lot of your plants to look good, they need food. And here’s the tip. At the beginning of September, fertilize with a good fertilizer at full strength according to the label. And then fertilize at half strength at the beginning of every month all the way through until the beginning of April. And you’ll have beautiful looking roses. just like these at our aluan. I love the yellow and I love the bouquet. It’s been 10 years since I last visited the beautiful gardens here at Araluan Botanical Park. I mean, where does the time go? A lot’s happened in that 10 years. Anyway, I’m here now and I’m excited to have a look around. Aral Botanical Park is in the Perth Hill suburb of Roly Stone, 35 kilometers from Perth, CBD. It was originally set up in 1929 as a holiday camp by JJ Boss Simons, businessman, politician, and founder of the Young Australian League, and has grown ever since to the beautiful gardens you see today. And to tell me more is general manager Grant Nixon. So Grant, I know Aralu is really well known for the beautiful tulips you grow here, but these is alas are also spectacular and pretty late. What are your tricks here? I mean, I know they love that slightly acidic soil. They they love being in compost. So um you know, we’re we’re very lucky in that we’ve got, you know, this beautiful beautiful soil. You spend the time getting your soil good and they do well. And do you have any trouble with pests and diseases? Very little. We do get a little bit of the leaf blight and uh we basically just go and pull them off. Uh we don’t tend to spray and that’s great for the rest of the park as well. Absolutely. And the bees. These are alias. There are bees all over them. So there’s a great story about where um Pompei got cleaned up by the Greeks because they um fed their troops this mad honey and uh because they hallucinated and then they came in and cleaned them up pretty easily. Well, you know, have you got any? What other varieties have you got here? Um, we’ve got a lot of the deciduous Aelas. Okay. Well, I’d love to see those. Come with me. These are what they call molliselas. They grow probably 2 to 3 m high, but when they’re actually in full flower, the bush just lights up. They’re deciduous. Is that because they come from originally alpine areas? Most of them came out of um China, Japan in the Himalayas. There’s a great story about Edmund Hillary. Um they were burning roodendrums to keep them warm when they climbed Everest and you sort of think about them being a tree. You know, we we think of things being quite small, but they are a tree. If you’re in Perth, why not come and visit Araluan? You won’t be disappointed. For more info, check out the website. It seems that more and more of us are utilizing the verge space in the front of our properties for planting out gardens. Some people are putting in vegetable gardens. Others planting out natives, local endemic species that use very little water once they’re established. And some, well, I know some are actually putting out herb gardens to share with the community. They’re all great ideas, but there’s one thing that’s very important that you have to remember to do. You have to make sure before you dig any holes that you dial before you dig. This is a free service that can be accessed by a quick call or an online inquiry. It takes 2 days and you’ll receive maps of the utility services in your Verge, which is there because it’s a service corridor to your property and the rest of the neighborhood for utilities such as water, power, storm water, sewage, NBN, and telephone. The reality is that we have vital infrastructure flowing through onto our properties from the verge. Things like NBN and Telra are so close to the surface. You have to be very, very careful not to damage these. So, make sure you contact Dial before you dig at least a couple of days before you’re going to start any kind of project. Whether you’re digging a hole or building a wall, it’s vitally important you check first. It’s important to remember the maps are an approximate guide only and they’re designed to help identify where the underground infrastructure may lie. It’s not absolutely precise. So careful pothole digging by hand to establish where infrastructure is is a smart move. Now it’s very important that you follow the five Ps of safe excavation with the very first one being plan. Make sure you call D before you dig at least a couple of days before you start the project. Or if you’ve got a contractor doing any kind of work for you, check with them to make sure that they have. Prepare, review the plans, and if you’re still not sure, contact the utility and ask for some more advice. Pothole, dig some small holes to establish where the pipes are. You can never assume the exact location or depth of infrastructure, but these plans make a great guide to awareness of where the infrastructure may lie. Once you’ve established exactly where the infrastructure is, it’s really important you set out exclusion zones. If you’re on a building site, you’ll tape off that area so that everybody on site knows that they shouldn’t be digging in that location. But if you’ve got a verge, a great idea is to put some stones, they could be small ones, just over the area where you don’t want people digging. It’s going to have them think twice before they go sinking a shovel into the soil. And if you’re looking at planting a street tree, putting in a verge garden, or maybe you’re building a wall, putting in a letter box, doing something on your side of the block, it’s vitally important that you check before you go digging any holes. It’s vitally important that a couple of days before you start the project, you dial before you dig. Have you ever dreamed of having your own nursery at home? I bet some of you have. Well, I’ve got just the thing for you budding nursery types. It’s your very own walk-in greenhouse that’s 100% DIY, easy to install, and I’m going to build it now cuz it comes in a kit. Assembling the greenhouse really is a cinch. There are no bolts, screws, or tools required. Just follow the instructions, and before you know it, she’s up and away. All of the tubes and fittings are powdercoated and durable PVC so won’t rust. Of course, your plants need regular water. And the greenhouse comes with an inbuilt irrigation system with misting nozzles, perfect for seedlings and propagation as well as your bigger plants. And then of course there is the UV protected heavyduty weatherresistant cover designed to withstand diverse weather conditions. There’s plenty of room inside here with generous shells for your pots, your plants, your seedlings, your veggies, and it’s really good for propagating your indoor plants. And I suspect that some people watching will be thinking of growing other things in here like tomatoes. The beauty of a greenhouse is that you can grow all year round due to the protection it gives. So there’s no slacking off in winter. You can just keep on going and keep on growing. For the ultimate in reliability and regular watering, pair your system with the BTX1 tap timer to fully automate your watering system and maintain a consistently humid environment in the greenhouse. And these are easy to operate via the Hullman app on your smartphone. If the walk-in is too large for your garden, you can always opt for the smaller Hullman four tier greenhouse kit. Don’t you love springtime? It’s all happening. Even grand old roses like this bank rose, which is a white form, are about to burst into flower. This is probably one of the toughest roses you’ll ever come across. And this is a pretty grand old dame, this one here. Now, look, that’s all we’ve got for you this week on the Garden Gurus. I hope you enjoyed the show. If you want any more information from today’s show, all you have to do is check out our website. We’ve got fact sheets, we’ve got videos, and of course, we’ve got magazine articles from our past magazine collection. And if you’ve got a question you’d like to ask, maybe there’s something very specific about your garden, an insect, a pest, or a beautiful plant, then become a friend on Facebook and share it with us. We’d love to see you. I’m Trevor Cochran. We’ll see you next week for the Garden Gurus.
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