Real World Gardener-Horticulture, Gardening, Learning to Grow

Real World Gardener-Horticulture, Gardening, Learning to Grow

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Real World Gardener-Horticulture, Gardening, Learning to Grow episodes

  • Real World Gardener Old Fashioned Shrubs for Cool Temperate Gardens in Design Elements
    Old Fashioned Shrubs and Trees for Cool Climate Gardens
    Last week I mentioned that gone are the days when you had lots of variety in garden centres to choose from.
    So this series is all about what were those old fashioned shrubs.
    But we’re not just doing a blanket five but going through each climate zone in Australia, including some of Peter Nixon’s zoning.
    Some of these other zones might suit your area as well even though they’re classified as say arid or sub-tropical.
    It all depends on whether or not you’ve got a micro-climate in your garden that will suit.
    Let’s find out what old fashioned shrubs suit cool temperate areas.
    I'm talking with Peter Nixon, garden Designer and project Manager from Paradisus Garden design.
    Tabebuia chrysostricha
    Cool temperate can mean highlands and alpine regions and areas where you get a hoar frost..
    Bauhinia acuminata-small tree less than 4m.
    Syringas-lilacs
    Michelia doltsopa or Michelia Maudii small tree with white scented foliage and dark green leaves.
    Camellias japonica C.sasanqua, C. reticulata or C.vernalis.
    Peter suggested the ‘girl’ series sasanquas from Paradise nursery.
    Tabebuia chrysostricha-intense yellow trumpet flowers.
    Daphne odorata, kniphofia, and peonies
    10 min
  • Real World Gardener Old Fashioned Shrubs for Cool Temperate Gardens in Design Elements

    Old Fashioned Shrubs and Trees for Cool Climate Gardens

    Last week I mentioned that gone are the days when you had lots of variety in garden centres to choose from.

    So this series is all about what were those old fashioned shrubs.

    But we’re not just doing a blanket five but going through each climate zone in Australia, including some of Peter Nixon’s zoning.

    Some of these other zones might suit your area as well even though they’re classified as say arid or sub-tropical.

    It all depends on whether or not you’ve got a micro-climate in your garden that will suit.

    Let’s find out what old fashioned shrubs suit cool temperate areas.

    I'm talking with Peter Nixon, garden Designer and project Manager from Paradisus Garden design.

    Tabebuia chrysostricha

    • Cool temperate can mean highlands and alpine regions and areas where you get a hoar frost..
  • Bauhinia acuminata-small tree less than 4m.
  • Syringas-lilacs
  • Michelia doltsopa or Michelia Maudii small tree with white scented foliage and dark green leaves.
  • Camellias japonica C.sasanqua, C. reticulata or C.vernalis.
  • Peter suggested the ‘girl’ series sasanquas from Paradise nursery.
  • Tabebuia chrysostricha-intense yellow trumpet flowers.
  • Daphne odorata, kniphofia, and peonies 
    • 10 min
  • Real World Gardener NEW Vanilla Bean part 2 in Spice it Up
    SPICE IT UP
    Vanilla bean:Vanilla planifolia "Andrews"
    Vanilla tahitensis
    Commercially, Vanilla fragrans and Vanilla tahitensis are used but they have less vanillin in them.
    Harvesting and curing the vanilla bean is very labour intensive.
    Once the green bean has matured, then they are laid out during the day on drying racks.
    At night , they are wrapped up in woollen blankets.
    This process goes on for 2 months. 
    I'ts really labour intensive, but if you missed it, you can catch up on my blog for last week.
    There was so much to tell with the story of this spice that I had to split it up into two parts. 
    But this episode is about how we can economise with our hugely expensive cured vanilla bean in cooking.
    I'm talking with Ian Hemphill, owner of www.herbies.com.au
    Let’s find out.
     
    LIVE: NEW Vanilla Bean Story part 1_24th April 2019
    Plenty of tips on how best to use real vanilla in cooking plus a why not make a vanilla flavoured rum? 
    Vanilla Flavoured Rum Recipe:
    Choose your favourite Jamaican rum to which you add 1 vanilla bean and 1 cinnamon quill.
    Infuse for 1 1/2 - 2 weeks.
    Remove vanilla bean and cinnamon and you will be left with a transformed flavour that equals botrytis semillon.
    Vanilla Bean and Poached Pears:
    Vanilla beans when cured, should be supply like licorice.avour comes from actual vanilla orchids these days?.
    The rest is mostly synthesized from either guaiacol (which accounts for about 85 percent of it) or
     
    1 Vanilla Bean and champagne OR
    1 vanilla bean and sugar syrup of your choice.
    Simmer for 30 minutes.
     Remove the vanilla bean and store if canister of caster sugar for a week. 
    This gives you vanilla flavoured caster sugar.
    NOTE: As long as the vanilla bean hasn't been used on milk, you can use the bean up to 3 times before discarding.
    Here’s why you shouldn’t use imitation vanilla.
    Did you know that less than one percent of the world’s vanilla fl lignin.
    Guaiacol is a fragrant liquid obtained by distilling wood-tar creosote or guaiac (resin from the guaiacum tree).
    If you have any questions either for me or for Ian, drop us a line to [email protected] or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675
    9 min
  • Real World Gardener NEW Vanilla Bean part 2 in Spice it Up
    SPICE IT UP

    Vanilla bean:Vanilla planifolia "Andrews"

    Vanilla tahitensis

    Commercially, Vanilla fragrans and Vanilla tahitensis are used but they have less vanillin in them.

    Harvesting and curing the vanilla bean is very labour intensive.

    Once the green bean has matured, then they are laid out during the day on drying racks.

    At night , they are wrapped up in woollen blankets.

    This process goes on for 2 months. 

    I'ts really labour intensive, but if you missed it, you can catch up on my blog for last week.

    There was so much to tell with the story of this spice that I had to split it up into two parts. 

    But this episode is about how we can economise with our hugely expensive cured vanilla bean in cooking.

    I'm talking with Ian Hemphill, owner of www.herbies.com.au

    Let’s find out.

     

    LIVE: NEW Vanilla Bean Story part 1_24th April 2019

    Plenty of tips on how best to use real vanilla in cooking plus a why not make a vanilla flavoured rum? 

    Vanilla Flavoured Rum Recipe:

    • Choose your favourite Jamaican rum to which you add 1 vanilla bean and 1 cinnamon quill.
  • Infuse for 1 1/2 - 2 weeks.
  • Remove vanilla bean and cinnamon and you will be left with a transformed flavour that equals botrytis semillon.

    • Vanilla Bean and Poached Pears:

    Vanilla beans when cured, should be supply like licorice.avour comes from actual vanilla orchids these days?.

    The rest is mostly synthesized from either guaiacol (which accounts for about 85 percent of it) or

     

    1 Vanilla Bean and champagne OR

    1 vanilla bean and sugar syrup of your choice.

    Simmer for 30 minutes.

     Remove the vanilla bean and store if canister of caster sugar for a week. 

    This gives you vanilla flavoured caster sugar.

    NOTE: As long as the vanilla bean hasn't been used on milk, you can use the bean up to 3 times before discarding.

    Here’s why you shouldn’t use imitation vanilla.

    Did you know that less than one percent of the world’s vanilla fl lignin.

    Guaiacol is a fragrant liquid obtained by distilling wood-tar creosote or guaiac (resin from the guaiacum tree).

    If you have any questions either for me or for Ian, drop us a line to [email protected] or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675

    9 min
  • Real World Gardener Crazy Ajuga or Carpet Bugle is Plant of the Week
    PLANT OF THE WEEK
    Carpet Bugle:Ajuga reptans
     
    Do you want a ground cover that suits shade, still flowers and provides plenty of colour?
    William Turner, a 16th century physician and naturalist described it as ‘It is a blacke herbe and it groweth in shaddowy places and moyst groundes.’-
     
    I'm talking with Jeremy Critchley owner of www.thegreengallery.com.au and Karen Smith editor of www.hortjournal.com.au
    Let’s find out. more.
    Spoiler alert, there’s a new variety out now called Ajuga Princess Nadia. Lookout for it in your nearest garden centre.
    Not only does Carpet Bugle cope with shade but it copes with sun as long as it gets sufficient watering.
    Nobody knows why it’s really called Bugle flower , it’s one of botany’s mysteries.
    7 min
  • Real World Gardener Lovely Vanilla in Spice it Up part 1
    SPICE IT UP 
    Vanilla planifolia and cvs
    Have you ever wondered how and when the spice trade started?
    Maybe not but did you know that nutmeg was once worth more by weight than gold?
    Also that in the 16th century, London dockworkers were paid their bonuses in cloves?
    There was so much to tell with the story of this spice that I had to split it up into two parts.
    Here's part 1.
    To produce the green bean, each vanilla flower needs to be hand pollinated.
    I'm talking with Ian Hemphill from www.herbies.com.au
    The vanilla bean is  a long green bean. When it's mature the beans are put on curing racks during the day, then wrapped up in woollen blankets at night. 
    this is done everyday for 15 - 28 days.
    It's up to the head curer to judge the readiness of this stage.
    After the 28 days have been reached, the beans are then wrapped for a further 2 months. 
    Vanilla bean curing is very labour intensive and so far hasn't been mechanised successfully enough to give the complexity of aromas reached by the manual method.
    Thanks to Ian’s encylopeadic knowledge of the spice trade we can look forward to part 2 of the vanilla bean story next week.
    There’ll be plenty of tips on how best to use vanilla in cooking plus a surprise tip that will just delight you. We’ll also re-cap a little tiny bit of the story.
    If you have any questions either for me or for Ian, drop us a line to [email protected] or write in to 2RRR PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675
    12 min
  • Real World Gardener Old Fashioned Shrubs Part 1 in Design Elements
    DESIGN ELEMENTS
     Old Fashioned Shrubs: Introduction of 5 part series.
    Gone are the days when you had lots of variety in garden centres to choose from.Now you only get the familiar plants like Murrayas, lilly pillies, star jasmine, viburnum odoratissium, with a spattering of smaller sub-shrubs like Osteospermum with a kaleidoscope of colour.
    Lilac: Syringia vulgaris
    Thanks for that. Gardeners need colour.
    But what happened to the shrubs of old?Have they just disappeared or can we still get them and which ones suit where?Let’s find out with this new series on old fashioned shrubsI'm talking with Peter Nixon, garden Designer and project Manager from Paradisus Garden design.PLAY: Old Fashioned Shrubs intro_24th April 2019 
    What could be nicer than a lilac bush ( for colder climates), May bush (most climates) or even a Daphne or two?
    You can visit Peter’s garden Sea-Changer’ which is opening Sat 4th May no gate, 10am to 2pm at 21 Lavinia Street Forresters Beach 1 hr from Wahroonga Pacific Motorway on ramp. For a day out of the city, lunch at Bamboo Buddha Holgate and BURSTING with freshness & flowers. WHAT could be nicer?
    7 min
  • Real World Gardener Stunning Hydrangeas in Plant of the Week
    PLANT OF THE WEEK
    Hydrangea  macrophylla: Mophead Hydrangeas; Lacecap Hydrangeas.
    Family: Hydrangeaceae
    Hydrangeas have a long history and during the period when plant hunters searched the globe for fame and fortune is when the flowers we know today were brought back from China
    Let’s find out what else they have to offer.
    Hydrangea macrophylla 'Ayesha'
    The large heads of pink, blue or white flowers are very attractive as a cut flower also.
    I'm talking with Jeremy Critchley from www.thegreengallery.com.au
     
    Did you know that around 1879 the famous English nursery Veitch , sent the plant hunter Charles Maries to China and Japan?
    So what did he come back with? 
    Two different plants, a Hydrangea with flat flowers (lacecap) he called H.macrophylla 'Mariesii' and a spherical type , he called Hydrangea macrophylla ' Rosea' . 
    Jeremy's tip: Cut back to a few centimetres above the ground to rejuvenate old and young plants alike.
    Marianne's Tip: . The pink or blue flowers depend on the soil pH in which they grow. 
    pH of 5.0 to 5.5 for blue flowers; pH of 6.0 to 6.5 for pink flowers.
    If you want to change colour of your hydrangea flowers, do it in winter by applying either aluminium sulphate for blue flowers or several cups of garden lime around the plant for pink flowers.
    8 min
  • Real World Gardener Toolbox for the Advanced Gardener in Tool Time
    TOOL TIME
    Tools for the Advanced and Mature Gardener
    Over the years, gardeners accumulate quite a number of tools that they regard as essential and wouldn’t be without.
    Last week we talked about what you might need if you were a beginner or slightly more advanced gardener.
    Cut Above Tools
    So now we’re going for tools with more oomph and powered by more than your muscle power.
    The reason is that it’s the experienced and the mature gardener that’s getting a look in.
    Let’s find out what the experts recommend.
    I'm talking with Tony Mattson General Manager of www.cutabovetools.com.au
     
     
    What do you think, do you agree with Tony’s advanced gardener’s tool kit or would you have chosen something else?
     
    If you haven’t already, it’s probably time to buy a pair of ratchet secateurs (sek-a terrs) to add to your toolbox. Ratchet secateurs are great for pruning shrubs.
    Mature gardeners might want gear action loppers
    If you have any questions either for me or Tony, you can email us [email protected] or write in to 2rrr, PO Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.
    11 min
  • Real World Gardener Why Preserve Trees in Design Elements
    DESIGN ELEMENTS
    Preserving Trees: Why We Should
     
    Today is the final in the series about the stewardship of trees.
    On the menu is why we need to preserve our trees because in the long run, if you damage trees, you’re actually doing yourself a disservice.
     
    Let’s find out about why we need to preserve trees.
    I'm talking with Glenice Buck, Arboriculture Consultant and Garden Designer.
     
    PLAY: Tree Preservation/Management_9th December 2015
     
    Did you know that three trees placed strategically around a single-family home can cut summer air conditioning needs by up to 50 percent?
    Shade from trees slows water evaporation from thirsty lawns. Most newly planted trees need only 55 litres of water a week. 
     
    As trees transpire, they increase atmospheric moisture.
    If you have any questions about what arborists do, consulting or otherwise or have a suggestion either for me or for Glenice, why not write in or email me at www.realworldgardener.com
    10 min

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Radio program Sydney, Australia. Garden Design, Growing Vegetables Trees and Flowers, Garden Tools, Plant Care and Plant Health, Attracting Wildlife to your Garden.