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Gardening Australia Season 36 Episode 30
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Ha-ha!
00:06Hey! Hi!
00:12Ooh!
00:18Hey!
00:20Hey, buddy.
00:22Yay!
00:24Hello and welcome to Gardening Australia. You know, it's not every day.
00:48You get to go on morning walkies with one of the largest lizards in the world.
00:53I'm talking Komodo dragon, and this Komodo dragon here has got the perfect bad boy name.
01:01It's a cracker, in fact. Kraken.
01:04Now, Brandon, how old is Kraken?
01:07Mate, he's a 13-year-old lizard, so he's right in his prime right now.
01:12Wow! I mean, to be this close and see the fork in his tongue and the look in his eyes
01:19and just the way he moves like this ancient, historical being. It's amazing.
01:27And you know that ancient history of the Komodo actually originated in the Northern Territory,
01:32and then they moved up into Asia.
01:34Brandon is going to be my guide here today at the Australian Reptile Park at Summersby, north of Sydney.
01:41Because the focus of this week's episode is wildlife species and domestic animals that share our backyard spaces.
01:54I'm going for a wander through a beautiful suburban garden.
01:58It has a distinctly bushland style, and it's been designed to welcome the local wildlife home.
02:04Possums. We've all had to learn to live and garden with them.
02:09They can really test your patience. But in terms of deterrence, what works and what doesn't?
02:16I'm planting a buzz pot. Native plants for native bees that will fit in even the smallest garden.
02:24And I'll introduce you to the mother and daughter team that really makes my garden come to life.
02:29I reckon there's nothing better than having chickens in your backyard.
02:47Why wouldn't you have them? Eggs, of course, are an obvious benefit,
02:52but they provide so much more than that. Think about it.
02:55There's fertiliser. They provide free composting. They eat your weeds.
03:00And then on top of that, I reckon the biggest benefit is that they're awesome companions
03:05for children right through to our elders.
03:09But the big question is, with so many varieties, which is the best chicken to have in your backyard?
03:15What do you reckon?
03:17So to find a solution to the chicken selection conundrum,
03:21I've travelled to Victoria's Mornington Peninsula
03:24to pick the brains of chicken fancier and head chug, Fleur Baker.
03:31How long have chickens been a part of your life?
03:34We've always kept chickens here, from when I was a kid.
03:39Nearly 50 odd years.
03:42Now, they're well and truly back as a backyard pet.
03:46What do you think it is that's driving that renaissance?
03:51I think it's a few things. It's around people wanting to know where their food comes from,
03:55so they like getting the fresh eggs.
03:57But it's also around appreciating that they make a really great pet.
04:01And they're just fun to have around.
04:03To simplify the poultry puzzle, we bring you Fleur's Surefire Guide for Choosing a Choice Chook.
04:10You certainly need to think about your local climate, so whether you're in really hot areas or colder areas.
04:17Most chooks will cope well with cold climate areas because as long as they can get out of the wind and the rain,
04:24they'll snuggle up together at night and they'll be fine.
04:26You have to be more careful in hot climates.
04:30So some of the lighter bodied and lighter feathered breeds are good.
04:34That could be things like leghorns or Rhode Island Reds.
04:38If you want to go for a really interesting one, you could even look at Transylvanian naked necks.
04:43They actually don't have feathers on their neck and that means that they can cool their body temperature down.
04:49But as long as you've got shade and fresh cold water available to them, most chooks will cope okay even in hot areas.
04:58What if you're after lots of eggs?
05:02There's a lot of excellent breeds for laying.
05:04Some of them would be Australorps, Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, Marrons, even big chooks like Plymouth Rocks or Sussex.
05:12There's hundreds of breeds out there.
05:15What about laying?
05:18My favourite chook for a backyard situation are the Bantam Langtions.
05:24Great little laying chooks of a good size egg.
05:28Do some chooks lay coloured eggs?
05:31Egg colour is determined by breed, so there's some really interesting ones out there.
05:36Arakanas will lay a greeny blue coloured egg.
05:39Leghorns lay a fairly white coloured egg.
05:42Quite a few breeds lay just a pale brown coloured egg,
05:46so that you can get a bit of a mix in your egg carton.
05:50Who lays the most spectacular egg?
05:54I think for one of the most impressive eggs, you could look at a French Marin.
05:59They lay a really dark-shelled chocolate coloured egg.
06:03Unfortunately, it's not chocolate, but it looks pretty impressive.
06:07How much space should you allow per chook?
06:11They do need some space for free-ranging and you need room to keep the coop.
06:15But as long as they have a couple of square metres per chicken, generally they're happy.
06:19What you might like to think about are the Bantam breeds or the small breeds,
06:23which fit much better into our urban-sized backyards, especially as they're getting smaller and smaller.
06:29So which chicken is best in a tight spot?
06:33My favourite breed for small spaces is the Pekin Bantam.
06:37They're really cute, easy to look after, low maintenance, easy temperament, lovely little chooks.
06:43What if you're just looking for a feathered friend?
06:46There are lots of good breeds that you can have as a pet in the backyard.
06:49You could look at Wyandottes, Australopes, Peacins, plenty of breeds to choose from,
06:55but look for one that has a really nice, easy-going temperament.
06:59But the award for the best pet goes to...
07:02I think for a really good little backyard pet, you could look at a Frizzle.
07:06They're really cute, balls of fluff, easy-going temperament, easy to look after,
07:11and they look like feather dusters.
07:13OK, Fleur, who makes the best all-round top chook?
07:18I'd go with my Bantam Lanchions.
07:20They're really good little laying chooks.
07:22They're hardy, they don't have many health problems, easy temperament, easy to look after,
07:28and they can cope with our backyard spaces.
07:33Could you see yourself living in a world without chickens?
07:37To be honest, no.
07:38I don't think I could.
07:40I've gone for small periods of time without chickens in my garden, and it feels empty.
07:46It's lacking a bit of life and colour without any chickens in there.
07:57What can you do when the birds dig up the seeds you've freshly planted?
08:00Well, you can try covering the area with upended wire baskets.
08:04Things like old hanging basket frames work beautifully.
08:07They let the light and water through, but stop birds from scratching up the soil.
08:11You can also lay down a light mulch like sugar cane or pea straw to disguise the bare earth,
08:17which birds love to target.
08:19Once your seedlings are up and established, remove the covers and let nature take its course.
08:24Is the fruit from creeping fig, or ficus pumula, edible?
08:29Well, no, it's not.
08:30Apparently, it can be quite toxic to humans and even be fatal to pets.
08:35The sap is also quite irritating on the skin.
08:38Now, normally when this plant's grown, it's kept nice and tightly clipped against a wall,
08:42and the leaves are the juvenile leaves, the small ones.
08:45If you let it go, it ends up like this, with woody stems, bigger leaves, and it produces the fruit.
08:51So the key is always keep it cut back and tightly clipped against a wall or fence.
08:56Are worms native to Australia?
08:58Well, the answer is a bit surprising.
09:00Did you know that Australia is home to over a thousand species of earthworm?
09:04But here's the twist.
09:06Most of them are found in untouched places like bushland.
09:09Now, the worms we're familiar with in our backyards, many of them aren't native.
09:14They hitchhiked into Australia in plant soil or were brought in to help break down livestock waste like sheep and cow manure.
09:21Now, these uninvited guests are making waves in our ecosystems.
09:25The impact? It's not as small as you might think.
09:28Even the smallest critters can shift the balance of nature.
09:31Crazy, right?
09:39Beautiful.
09:40Sunny.
09:41Now, for many of us, gardening's not just an opportunity to beautify the surroundings, but it's also a chance to carve back a little bit of space for precious little fellas like this.
09:55Now, this is a bearded dragon, yeah?
09:57Yeah, he is. Yep.
09:58Where's he from?
09:59He's from Central Australia, so out in the desert, just like this little snake.
10:03And what's that?
10:04That's a children's python.
10:05He's one of the smallest pythons in the world.
10:08Wow.
10:09Absolutely beautiful.
10:10And the colours of both of them.
10:12Spectacular.
10:13Straight out of the centre.
10:14And Millie's going to visit a garden that's not only impressive, but it's also creating space for precious little fellas like these guys.
10:25From the street, this garden looks just like everyone else's, but when you get out the back, it's entirely different.
10:39This large suburban block is a sanctuary for wildlife, helping to grow an essential corridor of habitat through the suburbs.
10:48At about half a hectare, the bush-style garden has been carefully planted with native flora, lots of it local, specifically to offer food for birds, reptiles and insects.
11:00Some of them live here, while others are just passing through.
11:04David, you and your wife, Sherry, have a special name for the garden, the Whisper Garden.
11:10What does that mean?
11:11The Whisper Garden is kind of a concept we adopted from our experiences bushwalking through many parts of Australia.
11:19And we've found that obviously being as quiet as you can and taking in the sounds and just watching what's happening is the best way to appreciate and also you increase your chances of having experience with wildlife.
11:33You know, when you practice walking through a garden in silence, you will find, I mean, trees have their own unique sounds.
11:41Grasses in the wind have their own unique sound.
11:44If you close your eyes and just take in the sounds of a garden, they're beautiful, as beautiful as birdsong.
11:51When David and Sherry moved here from Canada in the 90s, they chose a block of land that had a lot of room for improvement.
12:03We started with a blank slate, a very, very sandy desert slate at the end of the millennium drought.
12:10There was seven small trees that were originally planted by the previous owner at the very, very back.
12:16And apart from that, it was a desert.
12:19And our starting point was ordering 18 dump trucks of mulch.
12:25And that was to tame the dust, the sand and the weeds.
12:28And then that gave us our platform and started planting.
12:33In the first five years, I would plant anywhere between 800 and 1,000 plants a year, all tube stock.
12:40I made a conscious decision that our world would end at the retaining wall and nature would start and the wildlife garden would start and take the rest of the block.
12:51The location of David and Sherry's garden is significant.
12:57It's right near the Australian garden in Cranbourne, which features a formal garden, but also a large pocket of remnant bushland.
13:06It offers critical habitat for so many species, including the endangered southern brown bandicoot.
13:13By creating a large bush garden so nearby, David has been able to extend their range.
13:20The big picture objective of the garden is to create and maintain a habitat suitable principally for bandicoots.
13:27So we focused on creating a habitat that would be suitable to them first and then built the garden to attract other species.
13:37But that's why when we created the garden with the common tussocks particularly, it's dense, probably denser than you'll find in most natural settings.
13:46But it creates perfect shelter.
13:48We found a number.
13:49They nest.
13:50They create their nests in the tussocks themselves.
13:53It creates wonderful little traffic corridors for them.
13:57Sherry and I often just spend time with taking a coffee and walk the garden and you can see them digging away.
14:04And they stop momentarily and notice your presence and then just carry on doing what they're doing.
14:11And of course, this garden is rich in bird life, with plantings to specifically attract the ever spectacular yellow-tailed black cockatoo.
14:20The first planting was the she-oaks, the black she-oaks.
14:25So we have an entire screen or hedge of the black she-oaks.
14:30And after that, on the inside, it's hairpin banksias.
14:35We get regular visits and often they'll stay for several days, a flock of up to 18.
14:42We often know their presence before we see them.
14:45They're a large bird, but they hide so well.
14:48But we often, as soon as we come out in the day, you can hear the cracking.
14:51And you can hear them cracking the nuts.
14:54It's just an incredibly euphoric feeling when they arrive.
15:10I love the way you've used these smaller trees to create a real sort of bushland feel, but on a garden scale.
15:16Well, Millie, it was a very deliberate plan in selecting the trees from the smaller eucalypts
15:22to, in this particular case, probably my favorite tree.
15:25This is the Acacia Implexa.
15:27It's an ideal plant for creating a straight avenue.
15:31It grows to a height of about six to eight meters.
15:34But I think one of the nicest parts is it does flower three or four times a year.
15:38And I always think it's ideal for not only a garden of this scale, but in a small urban garden,
15:44a setting that in terms of you have a limited space, it's straight, it's narrow, flowers, beautiful bark.
15:51It's a great tree for a habitat garden.
15:54Yeah, I reckon more people should be growing it.
15:56Absolutely.
16:02Your garden is not just about plants, is it? I mean, tell me about this.
16:06This is the Lizard Lounge.
16:08So the idea of the Lizard Lounge was to create a winter warming area so that the various snakes, skinks and lizards that live in the garden could find a place to warm up.
16:21So it's the point in the garden that actually reaches in the middle of winter, will get the most sun.
16:27And then from that, I decided to construct an artificial rock pile.
16:33So lots of opportunities for hiding places.
16:36And then they can quickly come out and bask either onto some of the tree branches or on the rocks.
16:42And then they can quickly dart away if they feel that they're in danger.
16:46And you say skinks.
16:48You also said snakes.
16:49And a lot of gardeners would recoil when they heard that.
16:52But that is a natural part of this garden too?
16:55Absolutely.
16:56Once I decided that we were going to embark on creating a habitat bush garden, you need to accept everything.
17:03And so the snakes form an incredibly important link in the ecological chain.
17:09And we have to learn to share the space with them.
17:14Do you garden with them in mind?
17:17You know, the paths are clear.
17:19You know, keep things clear around the house.
17:21And make sure you spend a little bit of time looking and being mindful about where you are and what you're doing.
17:30I mean, going from a blank canvas to something where every day you can see wildlife at your back doorstep.
17:38What does that feel like as a gardener?
17:40Oh, it's incredible.
17:41We know we're going to see things, hear things, encounter things every single day that we have never encountered before.
17:48So it continuously surprises me, inspires me, and I couldn't think of a better place to spend my time.
17:59So in the last 25 years since you started this garden, how has your approach to gardening changed?
18:04I think everybody should look at their garden as you're in partnership with nature, you're in partnership with the landscape, and you start off leading the change.
18:14And eventually as I get older, I'm hoping that it will be the senior partner and I will be the junior partner.
18:19I'll do whatever you tell me.
18:21Absolutely.
18:22It will tell you.
18:23The garden will tell you what it needs and what to do next.
18:26I reckon this garden is really special.
18:32If you want to bring wildlife into your place, there are so many little lessons that you can apply even in a small garden.
18:39But even more inspiring, it shows that when we work in partnership with nature, everybody wins.
18:46Marsupials are some of our most beloved Aussie animals like Albert and Edgar and Honey and Ada here.
19:07I mean, they're just incredible.
19:11But they can tend to wear out their welcome in the garden if, as a gardener, you wake up and you find that your lemons are shredded, your flowers have been ripped up.
19:22But we all know who that culprit is, and it's not you.
19:26It's the classic possum, isn't it?
19:29So if you're battling midnight raids from furry interlopers, then Jerry's got some good advice for you.
19:36He really does, Ada.
19:38Ada.
19:44Everyone's experienced this.
19:46It's dark.
19:47You hear the sound of little feet running along the fence.
19:50You switch on the outside light, and there are two beady eyes staring back at you.
19:56Possums are caught in the act, feeding on your vegetable garden.
20:01The common brush-tailed possum is found in every capital city, and urban numbers are rising.
20:07So it's time to learn a bit more about these backyard visitors with ecologist Professor Daryl Jones.
20:14Daryl, what is a possum?
20:16Well, a possum is a very familiar marsupial mammal.
20:19It's a native to Australia, and it's very widespread.
20:23But we also need to be aware that because it's a native animal, it's protected legally.
20:28So it means that we can't just simply go out and catch one or move it around.
20:31You simply can't do that.
20:33And you wouldn't want to.
20:34You'd have to be a little bit careful because they can bite and scratch.
20:37So if these are native wild animals, why is it they're so attracted to food gardens in the city?
20:44Well, literally, because it's food, and they will try anything.
20:49And every successful animal in Australia has to be very adaptable.
20:53And these guys have said, well, I've never seen this caught of fruit before.
20:57It's something not from my land, but I'm willing to give it a shot.
21:00Oh, he's having a bloody feed.
21:03Ah, this one, I tell you.
21:05So what else is encouraging possums into our gardens, apart from our food gardens?
21:12Oh, lots of things, Gerry.
21:14These places that we have constructed as humans really benefit these possums.
21:18They really don't want to go to the ground if there's any way they can avoid that.
21:21So there are the lines and cables above the ground,
21:24and you can see possums wandering along those all the time.
21:26Then there's simple things like fences.
21:28They can walk along the tops of the fences.
21:30But the other thing about it is the predators have changed.
21:33In the natural world, they would be predated on by big snakes and owls and things like that.
21:39Less of those usually in the suburbs, but a whole set of different predators.
21:45Cats, dogs, foxes, and especially cars.
21:49That's a really big problem for the possums.
21:51That's why they don't want to go onto the ground if they can avoid it.
21:53When it comes to keeping possums out of our gardens,
21:56the easiest place to start is with what doesn't work.
22:01Let's start with this replica of an owl.
22:03This is supposed to scare off animals that looks like a big predator.
22:06There's just no way that any self-respecting animal anywhere in Australia
22:10will take the slightest notice of this.
22:11The animals are not dumb.
22:12They can figure out that this is just some artefact.
22:15It's not a real thing.
22:16There's a whole array of other types of physical barriers,
22:20like these spiny things.
22:21So here's just one example.
22:22You can get all sorts of things from hardware shops with spines and spikes
22:26and all sorts of things that you would think would stop them,
22:28but it doesn't slow down possums at all.
22:30They've got really strong feet and they can walk up cactuses
22:33without any problems at all.
22:35So those sort of physical things don't work either.
22:37And then there are a whole array of different sprays.
22:40Now this is just one example of many different sorts of repellent-type sprays
22:44that you can buy from all sorts of shops, gardening places.
22:47I've been involved in quite a few research projects
22:50to try and test whether they work very well.
22:52They don't work at all.
22:57So Gerry, we've talked about the things that don't work very well.
23:00Now in your beautiful garden here, what have you done that works properly?
23:04Well here I've got a chocolate pudding fruit tree
23:08and they like the leaves and the fruit
23:10and it's growing right next to the fence,
23:12which is a pathway every night.
23:15So what I've done is I've pruned the height of the tree
23:18so I can get up on a stepladder and either pick the fruit
23:22or in winter I can enclose the whole thing with hail protection mesh.
23:27And so the whole thing's enclosed, I tie it in at the bottom
23:31and I can untie that to pick the fruit.
23:33And that works a treat.
23:36Over here you can see how they're using the fence to nibble at my starfruit.
23:42Sometimes they'll come down onto the bench
23:46and this lettuce is one of the things they like eating
23:49but for that I just use a little bit of chicken wire like this.
23:55They could just rip that off but they don't seem to ever bother doing that, do they?
23:59So they mustn't be that smart but they're strong.
24:02OK, that works very well. Great.
24:04I'll show you what I've been doing over here with my jackfruit.
24:11Funnily enough, I get ringtails in here almost every night
24:15and sometimes you'll get three
24:17and they really like the fruit when they're young.
24:20So what I've done is I've wrapped them all in protection bags
24:24and these have this very thin mesh
24:27and it allows the rain to evaporate and air to get through
24:31so there's no problem with the fruit decaying
24:33and you just tie them tight
24:35and when the jackfruit have filled these bags
24:37the possums are no longer interested in them.
24:40Excellent. Simple.
24:41So it does work. Have a look over here at what I've been doing.
24:44In my garden possums are really only a winter problem.
24:48When the weather warms up they move on.
24:50So what I've done here, this is a winter crop of corn
24:55and I've covered it with hail protection mesh.
24:58And does that work?
24:59Well, it seems to be fine.
25:01It's not penned down, it just lays down on the ground
25:04and they just seem to go around it.
25:06OK.
25:08There's another thing that we really have to take seriously.
25:11Although it looks like there's possums all around us
25:13in the cities and towns in Australia,
25:15outside in the bush and in the rural areas,
25:17they're in really serious decline.
25:19So we've got a strange situation.
25:21Although they're here and they're plundering our gardens
25:23and all that sort of thing,
25:24that's also the place where they are most abundant
25:27and where they're surviving.
25:29So their conservation requires us, if we possibly can,
25:33to provide some space where they can live with us.
25:36So it's possible to strike a balance,
25:39protect the plants you value most
25:41and leave some living space for our native possums.
25:49Certain members of our animal kingdom get a lot more love and attention than others.
26:02For example, I mean, look at these cuddly little dingo pups.
26:07How old are they, Brandon?
26:08Oh mate, they're five weeks old.
26:10They're fresh.
26:11And what's their names?
26:12We've got Muffet on the left and Rusty on the right.
26:14And how about Mum?
26:16And Chilly.
26:17She is the sweetest girl in the world.
26:19Are they actual dogs?
26:21No, no.
26:22So for the longest time, we kind of attributed them to a dog
26:25and treated them like a dog, but they're not.
26:27They've got a different shape of skull, but yeah, they hunt together.
26:30And so they are separated.
26:32They're their own species.
26:33Well, these little characters are really cuddly and get the attention.
26:38There's, there's others that mightn't get that attention,
26:41but they still play a really important role in our ecology and biodiversity.
26:46Now you're paying attention because our next story is with a scientist
26:52who's flying the flag for a much maligned insect.
26:58Get ready, Brandon and guys, to have your minds changed.
27:03Oh, and Mum too.
27:04You're going to see things differently from here on in.
27:16What I love about flies is that they are the underdog
27:19and everyone roots for the underdog.
27:21They've got a really bad reputation and people think they're annoying
27:25and a nuisance, but they do some of the most important roles
27:28in our ecosystem that we take for granted.
27:32I'm Dr. Brian Lessard, a.k.a. Bri the Fly Guy,
27:35and I work at CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection.
27:39We have over 12 million insect specimens.
27:45As a kid, I was never really interested in flies, to be honest,
27:48but it wasn't until I had a really passionate lecturer in my undergrad
27:52that talked about forensic entomology,
27:54and that's when I was hooked that insects can be used to solve crime.
28:00Blowflies can lay their larvae in a corpse,
28:03and they're generally really accurate indicators of the minimum time since death.
28:08I get a real buzz out of describing new species of flies.
28:12It's great going through the insect draws here at CSIRO and finding new species.
28:18I've been lucky enough to name and describe 18 new species of flies
28:23from Australia and New Zealand.
28:25So here's the first species I ever described.
28:30So I wanted to do something a little bit special.
28:33It had a bright golden abdomen,
28:36so I thought it was pretty budalicious.
28:39So I named it after Beyonce.
28:42So here is Plinthina Beyonce, the horsefly.
28:46This generated a fair bit of publicity that I did not see coming,
28:49and people were talking about flies in the media
28:52and just having a conversation about why flies are important.
28:55And it even went on the Ellen DeGeneres show
28:57and it landed on the front page of the New York Times.
29:01Maybe not the front page, but...
29:10Flies are really amazing pollinators.
29:12Here's one species of Grevillea that's from Canberra,
29:15and here's an example of one of the bee fly pollinators.
29:19It's also from Canberra.
29:20And when the bee flies go in for a drink from the flower,
29:23their hairs get covered in pollen and cross-pollination occurs.
29:27Studies have shown that flies can actually carry
29:29twice as much pollen on them than the honey bee.
29:33It's because they're generally hairier.
29:36Believe it or not, but these are all flies.
29:38It's a great way of showing you the biodiversity of flies,
29:41or as I like to call it, fly diversity.
29:45So this one you might think's a cricket,
29:49but it's actually a rubber fly.
29:51And these catch things on the wing and can inject them with venom.
29:54And then we also have a tepulid, which isn't a mosquito.
29:58It doesn't actually have any piercing mouth parts,
30:00so it won't cause any damage.
30:02And then we have this funky-looking thing
30:04that is a hammerhead fly.
30:06And the larger the antlers in the males,
30:09the more likely you are to win the respect of the female.
30:12Hello.
30:13And we also have these little guys called decinids,
30:16or as I like to call them, little Christmas ornament flies,
30:19because they look like something you put on your Christmas tree.
30:21And they're actually really cool in biocontrol too,
30:24because the larvae can actually eat caterpillars from the inside out.
30:28I'm currently working on a group of flies called soldier flies,
30:35and they haven't been researched for 100 years.
30:38The adults are completely harmless
30:41and don't actually transfer any disease,
30:43so you don't have to worry about them getting on your food
30:45and making you sick.
30:47The adults don't actually eat, and they only last a couple of days.
30:50So the larvae is where all the exciting action is happening.
30:54They are eating machines.
30:56They are really, really quick at eating compost,
31:00and they actually out-compete the worm farms.
31:03They can eat about half a gram of organic matter per day.
31:07They also could be the next superfood of the 21st century,
31:10because they're 45% crude protein and quite nutritious.
31:14So we could feed them to our livestock or our pets
31:18and still give them a nutritious meal at the same time.
31:24Studies have actually shown
31:26that chickens prefer the taste of black soldier fly larvae,
31:29and they actually grow 15% larger.
31:34When I'm usually at a dinner party and people ask what I do,
31:37I start out saying I'm an entomologist,
31:39and then once they know what that is,
31:41I start divulging a little bit more information
31:43that I specialise in flies.
31:45And then if I really want to hook them,
31:48I tell them that in a world without flies,
31:51there would be no chocolate.
31:54And this is because the only known pollinator
31:56of the cocoa plant is a tiny little midge fly
31:59about the size of a pinhead,
32:01and it's the only thing small enough
32:03to crawl through the flower in order to get a drink of nectar.
32:07And in doing so, its hairs get covered in pollen.
32:10So without flies, there would be no chocolate.
32:13I am all about getting the message of flies out there.
32:16I want to show people that they're useful
32:18and that they're really cool,
32:20and some flies are extremely beautiful,
32:23and I'm just trying to share my enthusiasm for insects
32:27with the general population.
32:29Still to come on Gardening Australia,
32:34Hannah's kidding around again.
32:37We find out why bird is the word.
32:41And we get you sorted out for the weekend ahead.
32:45The great thing about urban wildlife is that if you have the right plants,
32:56they'll find their way to you.
32:58In other words, build it and they will come.
33:01Sophie's showing us how to do just that in any size space.
33:06Today I'm making some improvements to my bee hotel.
33:18I'm essentially adding a restaurant
33:20by putting some native flowering plants nearby
33:23that provide essential nectar and pollen for native bees.
33:27In Australia we have over 1,600 species of native bee.
33:35We talk about them a lot on the show
33:37because they're an incredibly important part of our ecosystem,
33:40and they're in trouble.
33:44Native bees are in decline due to land clearing and habitat loss,
33:48but as gardeners we have the opportunity
33:50to provide nectar and pollen plants for them.
33:52And no matter what size your garden is,
33:55there are plants that you can grow that will help.
33:59The best thing for Australian native bees is,
34:02unsurprisingly, Australian native flora.
34:06Some native bees may occasionally be seen on introduced plant species,
34:11but many will only use native plants,
34:14which makes sense considering they've evolved together
34:17here on our far-flung island.
34:21Mertaceae is one of the most important plant families
34:24for native bees.
34:25It includes eucalypts, bottle brushes and melaleucas.
34:30They flower profusely and provide pollen and nectar.
34:35Some species of native bees are what we call buzz pollinators.
34:39They grasp the flower and vibrate it with their flight muscles,
34:42making the pollen shoot out.
34:44Blue-banded bees are buzz pollinators,
34:46and they like to nest in holes in clay or mortar.
34:50A very well-known plant that requires buzz pollination
34:53is the good old tomato.
34:55But there are obviously lots of native plants
34:58that are buzz pollinated too.
35:00Today I'm creating a buzz pot,
35:02which is essentially a large pot filled with native plants
35:06that provide pollen for our native buzz pollinators.
35:09And you can do this even if you've got a small courtyard
35:12or a balcony.
35:14Eventually I'll plant the area around the native bee hotel
35:17with native flowering plants.
35:19But at the moment I'm trying to get rid of the kukuya
35:22that's growing there by sheet mulching.
35:24And until I get it under control,
35:26putting plants there in a pot is a great option.
35:30Make sure you choose a pot with good drainage
35:33and use a native potting mix.
35:37To give the pot some good structure and make use of space,
35:40I'm going to add a few taller plants.
35:42But at the back of the pot,
35:44I'm using a beautiful golden cassia,
35:47Senna artemiceoides.
35:49It's a great option because it flowers throughout the year.
35:52There's a Lassiopetalumbaurii,
35:54a slender velvet bush.
35:56It has pink or white flowers
35:57and flowers profusely in spring and summer.
36:00And a division of flax lily I've got growing in.
36:02elsewhere in the property.
36:04It's Dianella revoluta
36:06and it has blue flowers in spring and summer.
36:09I also want to include a prostrate spreading plant
36:12that will cascade over the edge.
36:14This one is Herbercia scandens.
36:17Now all Herbercias are buzz pollinated.
36:20And this one has beautiful bright golden yellow flowers
36:23in spring and summer.
36:25I'm going to position it near the edge of the pot
36:29so that in time it can meander down the sides.
36:34It's really important that you choose plants that flower
36:36at different times of the year.
36:38I'm going to fill in the gaps
36:40with different types of lilies.
36:42I've got some Thyssinotus,
36:43which is called a fringe lily.
36:45It has a really pretty mauve lavender flower
36:49and flowers in winter and spring.
36:51And I also have some Astropodiums or chocolate lilies.
36:55These produce a tall slender spike of mauve flowers in spring.
36:59And all of these lilies die down to nothing over summer.
37:11As with all planting, water them in.
37:13After six months or so, apply some slow-release native fertiliser.
37:17And because there are quite a lot of plants in the pot,
37:20you will need to manage their growth.
37:27These buzz pollination plants provide pollen but no nectar.
37:31Bees need nectar for energy,
37:33so ideally make sure that you have some sources of nectar nearby.
37:37We still have a lot to learn about native bees
37:39and their complex relationships with plants.
37:42But we know that by planting flowers like this,
37:44it can help.
37:45If in doubt, head to your local native nursery.
37:49You'll find plants that will help native bees thrive in your region.
38:02There's something special about sharing your garden
38:05with animal companions.
38:07I've got chooks.
38:09Millie's got a dog.
38:10Sophie's all about the geese.
38:12Josh has got a cat.
38:13And Hannah, well, she wants to introduce us
38:17to some of her four-legged companions.
38:38Welcome back to my place.
38:40I'm talking a bit quietly because it's still pretty early down here.
38:43This is my favourite time of the day.
38:46It's gorgeously quiet in my garden,
38:49and I get to watch the whole world wake up around me.
38:52I've got my morning rituals, a big cup of tea,
38:54and pretty soon I'll go see my gorgeous girls
38:57who are definitely awake and always waiting for me.
39:00This is a day in the life of my beautiful goats.
39:07Good morning, everybody.
39:09There are lots of reasons why gardeners love goats,
39:13and we will get to them, I promise.
39:15But right now, in the first quiet slice of a goat's day,
39:20it's milking time.
39:22I'd like you to meet Gertie.
39:26She is an absolute sweetheart
39:28and is around five and a half years old.
39:30And this is her daughter, Jilly.
39:32She's around three years old
39:34and, while still gorgeous,
39:36is a bit feistier than her mum.
39:38I love them both so much.
39:41Some people say too much, but I don't agree.
39:45It's super important to have at least two,
39:48otherwise they can get lonely, just like you and me.
39:51They need to have each other for company.
39:59We've had goats for a few years now
40:01and they've become such a big part of our garden
40:04and of our lives.
40:06Plus, having yummy and ethical dairy
40:09without even having to leave the garden
40:11is a pretty massive perk.
40:16We just milk once a day every morning
40:18and Jilly and Gertie give us around three litres of milk each time.
40:22That goes up even more in summer
40:24and down a little bit in winter.
40:26But every day we've got this delicious, fresh, frothy milk,
40:30which we eat, drink and turn into delicious cheese.
40:34The next part of a goat's day,
40:36actually the rest of the whole day
40:38is all about eating for goats.
40:40Here we've got some beautiful rolled barley,
40:42which they love,
40:43and then also some mixed chaff,
40:45which is oat and loosened.
40:47Just like any breath-feeding mum,
40:49they need to make sure they have access
40:51to the most nutritious and delicious food available.
40:54And so we make sure that we give it to them
40:56so they're happy and healthy.
41:03We also give them some of our kitchen scraps
41:05because they'll take care of just about anything
41:07that the chickens won't touch.
41:14But a really big part of a goat's diet
41:16is woody plant material.
41:18They love the stuff.
41:20And naturally they actually prefer to browse trees and shrubs
41:24rather than just grazing grass.
41:30Luckily for me,
41:31I've got lots of environmental weeds in my neighbourhood,
41:34including Cotoneaster.
41:36So I like to go on little expeditions on my bike,
41:39cut some down, drag it home
41:41and offer it up as a beautiful gift to my girls.
41:46Our goats are very well loved.
41:49We even built them a little ramp
41:51to a timber deck on the roof
41:53so they can have their dinner and the views at the same time.
41:57We also make sure we give them nice little walks around the garden
42:10to stretch their legs.
42:11And while they'll love free rein of the veggie patch and the orchards,
42:15it's not going to go down so well.
42:17So we make sure we keep them on the lead.
42:22And sometimes we'll tether them on around a five metre line
42:25to give them a bit of free rein of a particular patch.
42:28We only do this when we're at home though
42:30so we can check on them often
42:31to make sure they're not tangled
42:33and that they always have fresh water available.
42:35But be warned,
42:37they will eat anything and everything within that radius.
42:40They'll eat trees, bushes, weeds, even blackberries.
42:45And that's actually one of the reasons why gardeners love goats.
42:49They are walking weed destroyers.
42:52We actually inherited some pretty noxious and gnarly weeds
42:56at this property.
42:57We've got stuff like Tagathasti, Fetinia,
43:00and of course lots of Cataniaster.
43:02And we decided to actually keep them on site,
43:06manage them really well,
43:07all so that we can provide our goats
43:09with lots of diverse, nutritious fodder
43:12to keep them healthy.
43:14So Gertie and Jilly are a big part
43:17of our weed management strategy.
43:19They help us manage all these plants,
43:22keeping them under control
43:23to ensure they never become a problem plant
43:26for us or our neighbours.
43:33Goat manure is fabulous stuff.
43:35A couple of times a year,
43:36I'll scrape out the whole goat yard,
43:38wood chips and all,
43:39pop them into the compost bays
43:41where they'll break down,
43:42all those weed seeds included,
43:44before we then put it onto our fruit and nut trees
43:47where it feeds the soil
43:48and keeps our garden happy.
43:52This way.
43:53Come on, Jilly.
43:54I'll go all the way.
43:56At the end of the day,
43:57we make sure we pop them back in their pen
43:59where they're safe and found overnight.
44:03The floor is covered in straw,
44:05so everybody's kept nice and clean and cosy.
44:14Keeping goats is not for everybody.
44:15You need the time and physical space
44:17in order to give them the good life.
44:19And check with your council
44:20to see if there's any regulations
44:22and permits you need to follow
44:23for keeping livestock.
44:35We all can appreciate the beauty of the animal world
44:42and visiting places like a wildlife park
44:46can really spark a lifelong interest
44:49in nature all around us.
44:51But some people take it to the next level,
44:54finding a life's work
44:56and uncovering everything there is to know
44:59about a particular creature.
45:01Our next story is with someone
45:04who's taken this passion and let it soar.
45:14I have a really early childhood memory.
45:16I think I was seven
45:17and seeing a pair of wedge-tailed eagles
45:19soaring above my parents' property.
45:24I feel like they cast a spell on me
45:26and I've never been able to get out
45:27from under that spell ever since.
45:29My name's Simon Cherryman.
45:34I am an ornithologist
45:36and I specialise in environmental education.
45:39My mum always said,
45:40you're a product of your environment
45:42and nothing sums up that better
45:44than this beautiful property.
45:46My parents' property
45:47is about 30 kilometres east of Perth
45:49in the Perth hills.
45:50It shaped who I am in terms of having an interest
45:52in gardening, in the environment,
45:54in caring for plants and animals in the natural space
45:57and also educating other people as well
45:59and sharing my passion for wildlife.
46:01When my parents bought the property in the early 1980s,
46:07I was just born then.
46:09Dad especially had this real ambition
46:11to create a bit of a British natural history property,
46:14I suppose.
46:15They were what you call ten-pound poms.
46:17So they came out on a boat in 1967.
46:20They were very inspired by their homeland
46:22and growing obviously European trees,
46:24ashes and elms, oak trees
46:26and a lot of those are well established in the garden now.
46:29Also some of the conifers,
46:31which have become, I think, bigger than Dad anticipated.
46:37Over the years of working in the garden,
46:39both my parents came to realise the hard way,
46:41like a lot of people from Britain,
46:43that the Australian environment
46:45is an incredibly harsh set of circumstances.
46:48So choosing to put species of plants in
46:50that were more suited to the natural surroundings
46:52became something that they started to incorporate.
46:54And also, I may or may not have had an influence
46:57getting in their ears about, you know,
46:58you shouldn't plant this,
46:59you should plant something that's more local native
47:01that's going to attract these species of birds.
47:05For nectar feeding birds,
47:06they love bottle brushes and some of the tubular flowers,
47:09but some of the thornbills and insectivorous birds,
47:12they're really specifically after insect communities
47:15that can only be brought in by using locally native shrubs.
47:19And that's something that I started learning more
47:21when I started planting shrubs along the creek line.
47:29This was basically a square hole with a bit of water in it,
47:32your classic Australian outback dam,
47:34not much vegetation at all.
47:39During the last 15 to 20 years,
47:41I've been revegetating this dam and the creek line
47:44on either side of it.
47:45The real noticeable things has been the movement of wildlife
47:49through this as a natural vein or artery through the landscape.
47:53We can't put plants in without realising
47:55that you're going to create habitat.
47:56It's like putting a road down and expecting no-one to drive on it.
47:59You know, the wildlife really starts to move in
48:01from the surrounding landscape.
48:06Behind me here is a mow, it's a Eucalyptus rudus,
48:08so it's a local native gum tree that grows in creek lines
48:11in the Perth hills and in the south-west.
48:13I can still remember planting this really vividly,
48:16this tiny little seedling.
48:18It's amazing that the change that you can make
48:20just in within a human lifetime, just from one tree.
48:23The other habitat creation hobby that I got into as a kid
48:26was building nesting boxes, which are artificial tree hollows.
48:29For a hollow this size to form in a tree like this flooded gum here,
48:34it's going to be a century or two.
48:42This is a workshop.
48:43It was an old shade house that my dad built years ago,
48:45but we've converted it into a nest box workshop.
48:48We build and supply these nest boxes now
48:50to gardens all over the place, especially to schools,
48:53to try and really foster that custodianship
48:55for hollow-dependent bird life and other fauna.
48:58There is a stopgap, a short-term solution
49:00for the loss of tree hollows,
49:02especially in urban and developed areas.
49:04But also, when you build a nest box,
49:06when you create something artificial
49:07and you put it up in your backyard,
49:09you can't help but wonder what's happening in there,
49:11what's using it.
49:12There might be a possum in one of these one night,
49:14birds prospecting for a nest site the next day.
49:17So they become like these community resource centres
49:20for wildlife, which is a really exciting part of having them.
49:23I think I started observing more about the natural history of birds
49:35that I was really interested in,
49:37slightly beyond the boundaries of the property here.
49:39So I would go out on these treks exploring further afield
49:42and that's when I really started to notice, you know,
49:45ecological behaviour of birds nesting sites.
49:48I do remember finishing exams
49:51and applying for a few different courses at university
49:54and I got offered a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology.
49:57A broader degree in Environmental Science
50:00really broadened my horizons about where birds fit
50:03into the broader landscape, into ecosystems
50:05and what roles they play.
50:07There's a few things about eagles that are particularly captivating.
50:17One is just their sheer size and the way that, you know,
50:21they are an apex predator, the way they use these air currents.
50:25But when you see this enormous set of wings just drifting up there
50:28in the thermals effortlessly, it's amazing.
50:31Studying science at university took me into a world of published papers
50:36and literature and actually quite an amazing wealth of information
50:39about this apex predator.
50:41Back in the 1960s and 70s, the CSIRO had a research program
50:46that had been going for about 10 years.
50:48What we didn't really understand 50 years later was
50:52how is the species going now?
50:54How does it integrate with the ever-changing Australian environment?
50:57And really critically, what happens to young eagles
51:00when they start moving across the landscape?
51:03I knew even at university that now transmitters, satellite trackers
51:08had been developed that allowed us to follow the individual stories
51:11of young eagles.
51:12So it's something that I wanted to do to unlock some of the secrets
51:17of their natural life.
51:20A transmitter is mounted to an eagle's back.
51:23It has to be attached with a specific harness,
51:25a custom-made set of straps that go around the wings.
51:29Absolutely amazing creatures, aren't they?
51:32And then it's stitched on around using these Teflon straps.
51:36I had to try it in captivity because there's an animal ethics
51:39approval process.
51:40And then in June 2013, we set this trap.
51:43We baited it with road-killed kangaroo.
51:45And an hour later, we had a call on the radio from someone
51:48that had driven past the trap saying,
51:50I think there's an eagle and it looks like it's going to go in this trap.
51:52We were going to put this first transmitter on the first wedge-tailed eagle.
51:56And then we released Walu.
51:58He was named after a Mardu word for wedge-tailed eagle in the desert.
52:02And he flew down the runway down this desert track during 2013.
52:12It was the first time it had happened in Australia
52:14and it was an incredibly overwhelming moment.
52:17We did it, mate. Well done.
52:19The transmitters were designed to come off after a period of time.
52:23The one on Walu stayed on for four years.
52:25The GPS gave us a location for where the bird was,
52:28but we were also able to track how high up that bird flew.
52:31And we were getting altitude readings of 5,000, 6,000 metres above sea level.
52:36I managed over the following years
52:38to put GPS satellite transmitters on 22 juvenile wedge-tailed eagles.
52:43And they took us thousands of kilometres away
52:45from where they were born.
52:47I think one of the things that the tracking research
52:50has led us to understand about wedge-tailed eagles
52:52is how vulnerable some of these birds are.
52:55When they're having to embark on these huge journeys
52:58and potentially face all sorts of pitfalls,
53:01mines, roads, you know, human impacts at the landscape scale,
53:06about half of the birds that we put satellite transmitters on
53:09died in their first 6 to 12 months of life.
53:12But their populations are still amazingly strong.
53:16And I've monitored 50 breeding pairs here in the Perth hills
53:19and another 50 out in the desert.
53:21And those two breeding populations
53:23seem to be maintaining themselves really well.
53:25It is inspiring to have so much resilience
53:28despite what humans have thrown at them.
53:31There's the saying,
53:32you're standing on the shoulders of giants.
53:34An enormous amount of information had been published.
53:37So I suppose what I've been fortunate to be able to do
53:39is use some of the information that was published beforehand
53:43and use technology to take the new research to a newer generation.
53:49It was a boyhood dream.
53:52Imagine if you could follow where one of those creatures went
53:54through some technological device, and we did.
53:58So this here is Hugo, the giant tortoise.
54:23And he's a lot bigger than the little tortoise that I had
54:26in my backyard pond when I was a kid.
54:28Brandon, how old is he?
54:30He's a 74-year-old Galapagos tortoise, so...
54:33Really?
54:34Good, yeah.
54:35Still got to get over 200 years of age.
54:37He's beautiful.
54:38He really is.
54:39He's a gentle soldier.
54:40How fast can he move?
54:41About 0.3 kilometres a day, we say,
54:44but the serrated beak at the front, they're a little bit quicker.
54:46Hey, Hugo.
54:48No matter how old you are or how fast you are,
54:52there's always jobs to do in the garden, isn't there, Hugo?
55:02In cool areas, check plants for frost heaves,
55:05which can expose crowns as the soil warms.
55:09Harvest what's ready or cover back up with soil.
55:13Sow chickpeas five centimetres deep and water weakly.
55:17These nitrogen-fixing legumes will bear final frosts,
55:21attract beneficial bugs and make delicious hummus.
55:25Maintain hygiene and give bird baths a clean.
55:29Give it a wipe down with diluted vinegar,
55:31then blast it with a hose before refilling.
55:35In warm temperate areas,
55:37hedges that flower through winter and spring
55:40will be pushing out a new flush of growth.
55:43Tame them now to encourage more flowers.
55:46Train grapevine shoots while they're green and flexible.
55:50Tie them to a trellis to give each shoot access to light
55:54and create air flow.
55:56Give the lawn some love by patching up bare spots.
56:00Aerate soil with a fork,
56:02add a sprinkle of fertiliser and topsoil,
56:05then level it out.
56:06In subtropical areas,
56:10clivias are blooming brilliant in the shade
56:12and will love a dash of chook manure,
56:14cut back finished flowers
56:16or let seeds ripen for propagating.
56:20Alternating your watering routine so plants aren't watered daily
56:24will help them adapt and recover,
56:26plus you'll save on water use.
56:28Harlequin bugs suck out plant sap and will harm your hibiscus.
56:34Sneak up on them in the morning and drop them into soapy water.
56:38In tropical areas,
56:39carnivorous pitcher plant hybrids get the bulk of their nutrients from insects,
56:44but hybrid cultivars will enjoy a yearly pick-me-up
56:48of very diluted orchid fertiliser added to the mister.
56:53As melon season ends,
56:55check the ripeness of hamigua and rock melons
56:58by pressing the blossom end.
57:01If it yields, it's ready to rock.
57:04Put a pause on pawpaw mosaic virus
57:06spread by insects and unclean tools.
57:10Affected plants can be safely tossed in the compost.
57:14In arid areas,
57:16propagate everlastings by taking cuttings now.
57:19Pull off lower leaves,
57:21snip the tips,
57:22place in seed raising medium
57:24and water weekly.
57:26Drought tolerant Californian lilac
57:28attracts butterflies and bees.
57:31Apply slow release fertiliser
57:33and give it a light trim after flowering.
57:36Consider seasonal succulents
57:38that will add colour and form at your place.
57:42The red on yellow of aeonium are a standout.
57:46Hungry for more?
57:48Remember, if you need a hand getting started,
57:50check out the how-to guides on our website.
57:53Well, that's all we've got in the feed bag this week.
58:05Hugo, thanks for having us here
58:07and thanks, Brandon, for showing us around.
58:09Thanks for coming, mate.
58:11We've loved having you.
58:12And we've got plenty more in store for next time.
58:15Let's take a look.
58:19We meet a gardener breaking down the back fence.
58:23I'll be looking at the finer points of growing citrus in containers
58:26with citrus expert Ian Tolley.
58:29And if you've got a small space
58:31and are searching for inspiration,
58:33just wait till you see
58:35this suburban garden oasis
58:37that turns tiny into terrific.
58:40...
58:46...
58:50vorak
58:53...
58:57...
58:58...
59:00...
59:05...
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