Next on: Tonight 7.30pm, Rpt Sunday 1.30pm on ABC + iview | | | | | |
| | | | | Sophie Thomson creates a lizard friendly habitat, Tino Carnevale plants celery, Josh Byrne discovers carnivorous plants native to WA, Costa Georgiadis drops into a kitchen garden in Kakadu and we meet a eucalypt aficionado. | | | | | | | | |
 | | | | | | | | Tonight 7.30pm on ABC + iview | | | | Josh visits the home collection of a native carnivorous plant expert, to learn how WA is a hot spot for these hungry plants. | | | | | | | | | |  | | | | | | | | Fact Sheet | | | | Sophie takes us out to the habitat corridor she has created on her block. This habitat corridor is absolutely teeming with life, thanks to the native plantings that attract and encourage wildlife, including birds, bees, butterflies and insects. Sophie is now going to up the diversity even further and construct a Lizard Lounge – a lizard friendly location with shelter, basking rocks and plants. | | | | | | | | | | | | |
What to plant this weekend | | | | Tropical Climate Zone - Broad Beans
- Cucumber
- Kale, Collards
- Onion
Subtropical Climate Zone - Broccoli
- Capsicum
- Lettuce
- Mustard Greens
Arid Climate Zone - Cabbage (Loose and Tight-headed)
- Shallots
- Sunflower
- Zucchini
Temperate Climate Zone - Beetroot
- Chives
- Oregano
- Radish
Cool Climate Zone - Cauliflower
- Leeks
- Onion
- Spinach
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Jobs for the weekend | | | | Cool Climate Zone - It’s time to get your spring bulbs in….. things like daffodils, ranunculus and tulips! Try layering bulbs that flower at different times in a pot for a “bulb lasagne.”
- Indoor plants can be propagated now; spider plants and devil’s ivy are easy to strike from cuttings and pups and make great presents.
- If you’ve got a Billardiera scandens climber, also called a “smooth apple berry”, the fruit should be ripening now. They’re ready to eat when they’re soft, brown and the skin is translucent.
Subtropical Climate Zone - If you’re growing your own luffas, now’s the time to pick them. They’re best dried on the vine but rainy weather can spoil them, so harvest and dry them somewhere airy and out of the weather.
- Corn can be sown now for a fast-growing crop with rapid results.
- If you’re growing Jerusalem artichokes you can harvest the tubers. Just wait until they’ve finished flowering, and maybe stand downwind of any loved ones after eating them.
Arid Climate Zone - If you’re finding slaters are ring barking tender seedlings, put out a hollowed-out orange half overnight. It’s a perfect hidey hole for them so you can collect the culprits in the morning.
- You can sow beetroot seeds now, and you’ll get best results is you soak the woody seeds in water overnight.
- Okra seedlings can be planted out – stand back and watch them rocket along! Just remember to harvest them when they’re small, before they get too big and tough.
Temperate Climate Zone - Cold-sensitive orchids such as Cattleyas should be moved under cover or inside now.
- Check and mark the location of your murnong yams and chocolate lilies so you don’t forget where they are as they die down over winter.
- Now’s a good time to take cuttings from native plants like correas, goodenias and myoporum.
Tropical Climate Zone - Scale can often pop up at this time of year. Ants will spread and farm the insects to harvest their honeydew secretions, so break the chain by putting a barrier ring of petroleum jelly around the base of the tree to deter the ants reaching the scale.
- Remove banana suckers, remembering you want one central leader and two understudies – and no more.
- Plant out strawberry runners into well-mulched and fertilised soil, remembering to make allowances for any hungry local blue tongues.
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Catch up on ABC iview | | | | Never miss a gardening moment! | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
