05 Hedge & Lawn Care for Higher Temperatures with Jimmy Turner

Hi, I'm Charlie Albon, and welcome to Episode 5 of That's How We Grow. In partnership with Stillgarden PowerTools, now it probably won't surprise you hearing this from someone who grew up in England, but I love the warmer climate of Australia. Given how vast Australia is, the plants that thrive in Melbourne are vastly different to what thrive in Brisbane and further north. As the temperature changes, we see the changes in our garden. They change from season to season, whether it's how often you have to mow your lawn or the veggies that you grow, it's best to work with the conditions you have at hand. Of course, the traditional dry heat associated with the southern states is vastly different to the high humidity in northern Australia. This can change what preferred lawn variety you grow and when you should prune your trees. With extreme heat comes the thankless task of keeping everything in the garden alive. Or as close to this as possible, it's a job that requires expert insight and knowledge, balancing temperature, humidity, nutrition, and everything in between. So I'm looking forward to talking with an expert on the impact heat can have on your garden and how to best maintain your garden in those higher temperatures. Coming from Texas, Jimmy Turner knows about the warm weather. Jimmy is now the CEO of the City Parklands, which looks after the beautiful Roma Street Parkland, Southbank Parklands and New Victoria Park all up in Brisbane. Jimmy has spent over six years as the Director of Horticulture Management at the Botanic Gardens and Centennial Park in Sydney. So let's get into our chat with Jimmy. Well, when the sun comes out during those warmer months, there aren't too many who can say they're as qualified as Jimmy Turner. You could say Jimmy has a master's in Hot Weather Horticulture. He's the former Director of Horticulture for the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The former Senior Director of Gardens for the Dallas Botanic Gardens in Dallas, Texas. And he's also worked at the Centennial Parklands in Sydney. He's currently in charge of several of Brisbane's most important parklands, including Roma Street Parkland, Southbank Parklands, and the New Victoria Park. When the temperature is rising outside, Jimmy is the man to tell you what to do and when to do it. Make sure your hedges and lawns look the best they possibly can throughout spring and summer. Jimmy, from Dallas, Texas to Sydney to Salt Lake City and now to Brisbane, you've worked in some pretty incredible gardens. Can you tell me about your career to date? Well, it seems like I have a penchant for picking places that have hot summers like I'm telling myself, "I might try the UK before I die at least for a weekend." My mother laughs and tells me I came out of the womb with a second tour on one hand in a trowel and the other one looking to garden and I told my first grade teacher I wanted to be a horticulturist which turned into a note to my parents about what is this kid talking about, but plants are in my blood, but the opportunity, Australia is home now. This is where I'm going to be, but I love gardening in Australia. The opportunities here are just absolutely beyond any other place in the world and I think it's funny Australians don't realize it. Yeah. I mean, we're so lucky with the weather, aren't we? Yes. Public horticulture, that was where I will be for the rest of my career. Yeah, so, the Australian heat can be quite sweltering in summer, especially in the northern states. I mean, how does that compare to say the Texas heat? I always get a laugh when people tell me, "Oh, you're from Texas. You won't be able to take a Brisbane summer because you're from the dry heat." I'm like, "No, I'm from East Texas. It's the place where you see the giant cypress trees, think of the deep old south, moss hanging from the trees, algae growing, everything. I'm used to five months above 40 degrees nights and they mid to upper 30s and 60 to 90 percent humidity of all those days, so you must like to sweat a lot." I have a very well developed sweat, working in a horticulture very quickly told me, "Yeah, I want to actually work in the office. I'm done being outside." But Australia, I would actually say the biggest difference between the heat is the fact where I grew up. We had winter rain in summer. Try. Australia depends on where you are, but Brisbane's wet summers are actually a bit different. Yeah. How's the soil different in Australia? Because I know, I mean, gardening in Sydney, the soil is notoriously pole. Is that? Gardening in Sydney, the soil is poor. It's hydrophobic sand that basically beads off water when it hits. Texas, where I grew up, is black land. Clay, it's the most expensive clay in the world. We have to bind to concrete of our houses together, keep them from splitting because the ground can split open six inches, easily in the drought period, and a foot deep, if you're looking up to have soil that deep, and then slams together when it rains, you can't dig in it without breaking a shovel handle completely different soil profile, but very rich. Yeah. Doesn't sound like the easiest thing to garden in, that's for sure. Not at all. Yeah, wow. So what are your tips, I guess, for gardening in the heat? If anyone's gardening in the heat is actually managing their water, if you're in a space like Brisbane that has high summer rainfall, it's about managing drainage because the easiest way to kill a plant is actually have too much water sitting on the roots and actually letting them saturate. It's just like having a house plant sitting in too much water in a bowl on a warm day. They just rot and will. If you're in Sydney or dry areas during the summer, it's actually keeping your water up and keeping your soil evenly moist and watered deeply. I think a lot of people end up doing the, well, I'll just water it for 45 minutes on Monday and 45 minutes on Saturday and Wednesday happening as most of that water runs off into the gutter or runs off into their hedge border. Trees are happy about it, but grass doesn't actually grow, it's really about managing your water and knowing what your rainfall season is. So what's the best way to capture your water? Do you think it's rainwater tanks, you're just leaving dishes out when it's raining? Best way to capture your water to me is rain tanks, rain tanks are a gods and then you don't feel guilty about watering your lawn or your flowers and don't have to pay for it. It's free. I actually think it's a better option for the environment. If you live in an area where you can do that, strangely enough, I've actually lived places where it was illegal to capture water off your roof, but it just thought it was, you know, absolutely crazy. Yes. You told just past recently that you could actually capture your water, but the state owns all water, whether it comes from the sky or runs down the street, it's their water. So it's a bit strange. But being able to capture that water, you can actually then actually manage your irrigation and not be one paying out the wallet to actually worrying about, are you saving the environment and retaining water? There's something different about rainwater as well, isn't there, compared to it coming out the tap. You know, there's the obvious lack of chlorine in it, but, you know, what do you notice the difference between rainwater and tap water? Growing up in Texas, the big thing with rainwater is we actually have high thunderstorms, and actually when you have thunder and lightning, you actually have a small nitrogen content in your water in the mineral contents, and actually the water is more balanced, and actually think it's got more, since it's usually running off your roof into your lawn in other places, you get a bit more nutrients into your water. Tap water is a bit sanitized for us, and for the plants. So when it comes to fertilizing in the heat, do you have to be careful when you fertilize in how you fertilize? Yes, and I've got some pretty strong opinions on fertilizing. I tell people, if your lawn is already thick and growing and heavy and perfect, you're only maintaining then overfeeding in that point is just kind of like eating mashed potatoes for dessert if you've had dinners, like there's really no point. If you've got a new lawn and you're trying to get it to grow and to grow and to fill in, I tell people, you can actually have a brand new lawn, and I'd actually recommend for the first year or so fertilize monthly. Get it up and growing and get it actually fed and fattened up and thick, because you want it to cover the lawns that keeps the water in the moisture and it keeps the weeds out. But here, once you get them maintained to me, once every six to eight weeks is more than enough, any more than that you don't need and don't need to do it during the winter or the non-growing season. And number one tip is go get a soil test. I just love people. Well, I just want to bot the turf fertilizer. Well, what is your turf actually need and are you fertilizing with too much phosphorus or potassium? Do you need iron in your soil to green up your go get a soil test? They cost almost nothing and quite often you can get them for free. Whereabouts do you get those done? You can go on. You can search online. There's many places you can do it and just do it and put it in a baggy and mail it off and pretty much any independent nursery and much larger nurseries if you're going to ask for it, they'll give you a pack to do it. Okay, then you just send it off and then that will tell you what you need to add to the soil to. Yep. And then I guess they would test the pH as well. Yes, because you have the pH, because you have that, gives you a recommendation of what to do. Okay, so it's the whole, the whole pandemic. Yes, going in for a health check. Yeah, but just for your soil. Yes. Yeah, awesome. That's good. So if you're preparing a garden for extreme heat, what are the few things you do? No, we've said get a rain water tank or start capturing as much water as possible. Soil is obviously something that really needs looking at what's the best way to sort of prepare your garden for. Well, the first thing for your garden is prepare your soil correct the first time. I think you get one chance to do that when you build the garden, because nobody wants to dig everything up later and is actually figure out your soil profile. What kind of soil do you have? Do you have clay soil? Do you have sand soil? Do you have sandy loam, which is the godsend? If you have that, please don't tell me, because I think you should punish because you're kind of lucky. If you live in the blue mountains of New South Wales, just turn your phone off now, because the soil there is perfect. But compost is the answer to everything pretty much in my opinion. If you add more compost and organic matter to your soil, it helps drainage. It helps actually water retention. That's the number one for me. If you've got a heavy clay soil, what for an amendment to actually help break that up, which compost is one you can also use. I think you've got turch down here and several other things that are expanded shell or pea gravel. You can really break up clay soil to help make sure your drainage is there. But during the summer, your garden itself and your hedges, I recommend mulching people have this thing about, well mulch the flower bed because I don't want to see the bare dirt [BLANK_AUDIO] He's my hedges, or any of my shred boarder. Somebody ever looks under you. Well, they look under there once a year to pull the leaves and to trash out and the things that are bone in there off the road, but they never want to mulch there. And I have this thing where I go over and pick up the end of the tablecloth, the bottom of the hedge and go, "Oh, I see his bare roots and all the soils are roaded away." These poor things are dried up during the summer. You know, and they've got nothing to protect the heat and the moisture in there. So actually, always think about heavily mulching your hedges. - When you say heavily mulch, what sort of depth do you recommend? - I usually go about 25 millimeters minimum, but I'm actually looking more about 50 to 75 'cause you actually want a bit of stuff and you want to break down. You want to bring in back into the earthworms and the natural biome. - I guess anything more than 75 mil, you're going to stop rainfall getting down. - Yes, yes. - Anything much more than that, you actually end up kind of putting a barrier. And I recommend doing it if it's, if you're in a rainy, heavy climate, you know, if you're getting rain lucky, you, but during the middle of the summer, you don't want to do it too thick during mid-summer when it's actually raining 'cause you actually hold too much moisture in a computer problem. So it's definitely actually usually doing the spring or the autumn. - Okay, and do you use a coarse mulch or a fine mulch? - I'm a big believer in compostous mulch or a fine mulch 'cause I actually find that it breaks down quicker, which is good and there's this whole belief, well, I don't want my mulch to break down quick. I wanted to stay there for two or three years, so I don't have to do it very often. It's actually you're not feeding your soil, you're not adding any carbon to it. - Yep. - This isn't a parking lot. This is a living thing and you're feeding it something to break down. So I actually prefer a medium to fine mulch. - Yeah, I've been using a lot of pasteurals in my garden 'cause I'm always adding in stuff and I don't mind digging that through. And then in areas like under my hedges, I use something a bit more coarse or like a coarse of pine bark. - Yes. - Yeah, you know, something like that sort of works. You mentioned hydrophobic soils. Now for those that don't know, that's where a soil is scared of water, really. It's one of the name means it, you know, the water just doesn't soak into the soil. I kind of liken it to pour some water on your soil if it kind of goes like mercury, you know, it kind of bubbles around and doesn't go in. You've got a hydrophobic soil. It's a fungus that coats the soil and it correct me if I'm wrong. And the water just doesn't go in. So what is the best way to fix that? 'Cause it seems like a horrible situation. - Horrible thing to do. I always say, if you're watering your own and looks like you're watering your car if it was freshly waxed, you've got a problem. (laughs) If it soaks right in, you're good. Soil wedding agents are a really easy fix and you can rinse your soil with that. It actually allows it to penetrate into the ground much quicker and there's several different options in that area. If it's a new soil or a new garden or a new area, you can actually break in mulch and stuff, which helps with that or compost. Actually, till that end or dig that end, but really, you know, if you're looking at a lawn and a turf, the best answer really is a soil wedding agent. - And how often can you use those? Like, can you overdo it? - You can overdo it. I recommend following have actually start giving just a general option on this one 'cause I've read different ones and I've used ones that sometimes last for two to three and that sums it last to season and some that only last literally a week. So that really depends on the one you use. - Okay, so it's product dependent, I guess. - Yes. You mentioned compost. Now I'm a huge compost fan. You know, like you said, it does wonders for almost every type of soil. Do you recommend people make their own or buy in compost? Make your own and you'll never make enough. I compost everything in my house. It's the most embarrassing hematry. Enjoy making compost. Have a worm compost, you'll have a compost bin, compost pile, and I've never made enough compost to make a difference in my yard. Do you go to the shops and buy stuff just 'cause you think it will be a nice addition to the compost heap? (laughing) - There has been a thought before as I could don't really heck that chair anymore. I could mulch that chair up in the compost. I'm the person who looked at cardboard boxes and shreds them and puts them in my compost bin. - Yeah. - What's the, so with compost you sort of, you need the mixture of brown waste, like sort of the carbon and the green waste. What is your ideal combination of the two? 'Cause I've read a few and tried a few different ratios. What have you found works best? - I've actually had me lived in a couple of different climates. One, it depends on your humidity and your temperature. I find when it's really hot and all things break down, if you keep them too dry, they don't break. My worm composter really is a one to one of brown to green. Sometimes two to one, 'cause if I do my worm composter too much green, it gets too hot, too acidic, and my worms get very unhappy. My compost pile, I actually do one to one, but I use a lot of grass clippings go straight in there. Everything from my hedge border, garden waste, kitchen waste. So I actually shred cardboard and paper that I get and put in there and mine's actually equal amounts. And that's mainly in Texas and here in Brisbane when the humidity is at this level, it's actually absorbing a lot of moisture, but one to one or two to one are the usual. Do you add your weeds in there as well or do you keep those out? I add my weeds, I know this whole thing is like, no, I add the weeds in the seeds of my composter, heaps up pretty good. So it just knocks them out. Even an onion weed? That one, no, not that evil thing. That thing is killing it at the moment in my garden, just, you can see it under concrete. It still comes up. I know, it's amazing. You found the other thing screw like that. I mean, it'd be great, wouldn't it? So when you're preparing your lawn for a hot spell, the old adage of getting the right plant for the right spot, I guess, is key and making sure you have the right varieties for that, for your situation. Is there any other tips you can have for getting a good lawn in the heat? Good going heat. Watering's still my number one on that one and some good rule with thumbs are about 25 mils or an inch of water per week, which is usually about three times for 20 minutes, but that depends on your irrigation system. Some of the new low-foil ones don't do as much as fast, which is actually better. Some of the old ones can put out, you know, 25 mils of water in five minutes. I've actually, you know, it's like being in the old 1950s shower. I tell people, and on those as a bit basic, go get a cat food can or a tuna fish can, put it in your lawn, turn your irrigation on for 20 minutes and see how long it takes to fill it up. Okay. She should fill up a tuna can or a cat fish can and probably about by half in 15 to 20 minutes. And that tells you you're getting about half of that. That's about normal if it's doing more or less, but you want a tuna fish or can per week. Okay. So I actually break that into three times a week at about 20 minutes and another great trick is if you have a soil, if you run your irrigation and see you're running it on your sidewalk to your driveway, a really not soaking in, is almost all modern irrigation systems. You can take that 15, 20 minutes and divide it into three little spurts, spray it a little bit, wait an hour, spray it again, wait an hour, spray it again, and do that in the evening or early morning. That way it doesn't evaporate as quick, saves a bit of water. Oh, that's a good tip. And I guess it kind of will evenly distribute that water throughout, you know, soil's a bit like a sponge if you've got the soil, we'll soak it out. I was talking to Joe Rogers, a turf specialist and he was suggesting that perhaps you should water less often and more to kind of draw the roots down into the soil. What's your opinion on that? If you've got a new soil water up and if your soil is established, the only thing I find out is if you let your soil dry out too often, which tends to happen with a lot of amateurs, if you let it dry out between water and to the point where it's starting to wilt, it takes forever to get enough water back down into it. If you've got a really well established lawn and you've got good percolation in your soil, where your soil actually absorbs water quickly, twice a week is more than enough. But once a week, if you've got a really good turf and you've got decent rainfall, my personal pet peeve is people who put on their irrigation system, run it three times a week where there's raining outside or not. Get a bloody rain. Get a rain or something. It'll do it for you. It does it all for you. It doesn't cast it, but it plugs into the side. What's the most effective time to water as well? Because I've been taught early morning, late afternoon is the best, but then I guess sometimes in humid climates, you can just extrapolate any fungal problems that you've got as well. Yes. Change the truth, grass, the turf. The hedges you're on really in your flowers don't really care what time of day they're watered. Now, rainfall comes night or day depending on what season it is. And it can rain here in Brisbane and Sydney and turn 40 degrees 15 minutes later. And the plants are perfectly fine. I've always been of the opinion of water or late evening or early morning if you want to save water. If you live in a really humid climate, though, the longer that moisture sits on your plants, the more you're going to get fungal issues. Since sometimes in my opinion of that one, you actually should water late morning, early afternoon, so it dries off quickly. And another good trick that I quite often tell people is if you've got a new lawn or you're trying to establish something or you're having some very heat, and I'm talking like we had a couple of years back when it was just bloody hot during the summer. A little mid-day 15-minute spray. Yes, you're not really watering your lawn as much, but you're actually cooling it off. And if you use this analogy, your turf sends it such an exposed flat site. If you've ever taken your shoes off and tried to walk across a bitumen on a day that's the hot, your turf actually heats up to a point where it's too hot and it's not growing, it's respiring too heavy, and that actually kind of gives it a kind of like, stepping into air con for your turf for an hour or two while that evaporates and dries off, so it cools off your lawn a little bit. And only do that during severe heat stress, but it is a good way of putting a life preserver out in your lawn. Yeah, that's a good tip as well. With trees in the heat, especially in some of those really scorching days you get in the middle of summer, what's your recommendation that you just suggest soaking the soil for as long as possible in the evening or morning or what do you tips that? With trees, your shoes are planted in turf or they're planted in your fire beds, they're planted somewhere where you're actually watering already. So the water should already be in there and it should already be saturated. But if you're having severe drought stress, deep soaking is your best option. But just remember, 90% of the trees roots are in the first couple inches of the soil. So really that's where they're looking for their nutrients and stuff and their water up takes a little bit lower than that. That's just a good heavy soap, does wonders. - Good heavy soap, yeah. It's quite funny. I follow a few people on Instagram that just sort of work on Topri in the UK. All they do is trim bucks us and hedges. And I laugh because they're like, "Oh, it's a hot day today, it's 23 degrees." They're pruning with no shirts on. But then they'll get a sheet and cover the hedge up afterwards. They all don't want the hedge to get sunburned. Do you find that happens in hot, or do you think that's just a bit ridiculous? - Yeah, kind of like, well, first of all, how the hell did they prune those things in perfect little round meat balls with a nut? - It's nothing but an eyeball and a hand shear. It's amazing. I, heavy lived in Texas, lived in Utah, and Sydney now in Brisbane. I very seldom see leaf scorch on most plants, including boxwood. Unless it is, we're talking 40 or above, and you're taking something really heavily back to leaves that haven't had any sunlight on them. 'Cause it's kind of like, if you take your house plant outside on a warm day and stick it in full sun, it's kind of sunburned. But those hedges have been sitting out there and with, you know, several, you know, millimeters deep into the shrub, they've had full sun. I've never had to shave something that I've actually seen something burn. The only one I would actually say I've ever done that I actually made a mistake on was a hydrangea. And, if you prune them and their bottom leaves haven't adjusted, they will drop every leaf on the shrub. And, you know, it's noticing that. - Yeah, they will. They tell you when they're thirsty as well. - Yeah, really too. You know, another thing which I was taught in the UK, which I've found out is a load of hogwash as well, is don't let water sit on the leaves of your plants 'cause it, you know, works like a magnifying glass and it will burn your leaves. That's been proven to be a rubbish, isn't it? - Garden myth. If that happened every time it rained, every tree in the forest would have holes through it. - Yeah, absolutely. You know, humidity is an issue. What's the difference between a really humid climate and a dry climate when it comes to sort of trying to save some water and look after your garden? - Utah was like living in a food dehydrator. A good humid day in Utah was 20%. You know, Utah never stinks, which is amazing. But also, having a rose garden there, you never ever have to spray for black spot or powdery mildew. And I found that was a bit of a surprise for me 'cause I've always lived in humid climates. The big one is really fungal disorders and managing that, which if you've got plants that are susceptible to it, overhead irrigation, which most people have in their lawns, are not wonderful for plants that suffer from irrigation, or suffer from fungal issues. Rose is being an absolute perfect example, you know. - So you think it could drip irrigation better in that sort of a climate? - Drip irrigation is better than that climate or water early in the morning or late in the afternoon, or sorry, late in the morning or early evening, so it dries off quickly. - Okay. - I've grown roses here in Brisbane and a Sydney in both of those cases. I personally hate drip irrigation 'cause I always have to fix it too many times and you know when it's broken, when your plants are dead. (laughing) - Yeah, you always put a shovel through drip irrigation. (laughing) Yeah. You know, people think in the heat, a lot of people grow in cactus and succulents, thinking that's the only thing you can grow. Do you have any other plants that, you know, just do really well in the heat? - I know that. - I've seen your Instagram in Brisbane and pruning that massive bogan villia tunnel. That's like painting the harbour bridge, isn't it? - Oh, it really actually is. I pretty much started wondering that thing pruned to the other end, stop and kind of repeat. It's kind of a constant pruning. We just need to invent some kind of, you know, roving, instilled organic chemicals. - You need chemicals for me. (laughing) - Like a powered, bugged viage tremor. (laughing) - I really believe in color. You know that if you've watched any of me and my social media channels, color to me is one of those things that draws people. - Yeah. - You know, artwork in your house. Color, throw pillars you throw on your couch in your house. Those are the things that people remember. Not your beige and backdrops. Hidges, lawns, or nice settings, but they're not what people remember. Colors should be used appropriately to your settings. So a couple of big pots at the front door, somewhere to showcase what you want to be. But there are some wonderful options for full sun, heat and for shade. Probably one of my current ones is favorites is sun patients. A New Guinea hybrid, they are sterile, so they don't seed. They're got off of water hogs. They will suck up a saucer full of water every day during the summer, but they never stop blooming. So it's worth it. I don't want to hold on for the big two pots, it's great. Salvy, anything with words, salvy in front of it, which I think, you know, that salvy is Latin for eye-like hot weather. - Yeah, the high flower for a long time. Salvy and mystic spires blue, which gets a meter, meter and a half, and it's one of those plants you can take your aggression out. But the pair of printers anytime you want to and whack it back and it comes right back and it's pretty open. - I mean, you can get huge salvy as you can get tiny salvy as a so versatile and that's so easy to careful. - And you can get them in any color. You can get them in these size go-go series from Preven Winners is one of my favorites, the lovely Mesa series, which is the Salvy Agrigii, which is a Texas native. So we actually can take super cold or super hot, super dry or super wet, doesn't care and can't kill it. And it kind of grows like a hedge. - Hmm. - Playwork onium, coliope, the drainium coliope series, which is actually an interspecific hybrid. So it doesn't make seeds. So you don't have to dead head, does ugly little dead dry spider looking flowers off of it all the time and it blooms in the Sydney trial garden. - They probably bloomed for us. - A good 11 months out of the year. - Yeah, that's impressive. There's not many things that will do that. I mean, some of the euphobia star dust and stuff like that will do it, but there's not much that flowers as long as that. - But there are some really good options out there. - What about fruit trees and things like that for the heat? - Fruit trees for the heat. There is no shortage of fruit trees for heat in Australia. You're lucky you don't get that cold or that hot. I'm sorry, but you really don't get that hot. Did Utah now 48 degrees is a possible day. Pomegranates, fig trees, macadamia nuts, in no shortage of different fruit trees. And things that fruit in the summer, pomegranates are one of my favorite, just pick a variety that tastes good. There was a lot of varieties on the market. I actually think wonderful, which is the number one silver radius, one of the worst tasting pomegranates in the world. And I've tasted, it's one of my favorite fruits. So I'm quite picky about it. Figs are an interesting plant. They are actually better when they're hot and dry in the summer. If they're kept too wet here in Brisbane, the figs don't get a sweet, in my opinion, because they're not, they don't wilt as much. Actually in Texas, where I grew up, there's no rainfall in the summer and they literally look like dried up. Wash rags hanging off the branches. The leaves are so dripping, we don't dry it out, but the fruit's just almost like pure sugar. And a good hint for that one is to grow them on a raised setting somewhere with a soil drain quickly. So it actually stays sweeter. - Yeah, okay. But they like a wet winter, do they? - Maybe like a wet winter and wet spring, but actually in the summer when they're actually making their fruit, they actually prefer to dry out a bit. - Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, I've wondered about growing figs. I actually just planted some, so that's why I'm choosing you on them. Luckily, I've put them in a raised bed, so it should be okay. You mentioned making your own compost, it's something I really like to do. You can never make enough. - Do you shred your oils up to sort of try and reduce the, I guess increase the surface area, but so you can get more in your compost heap? - Yes, I do shred my up. Anything I can actually make smaller, it breaks down faster. And when I do take it out, anything that didn't go through the first one and break down very much, I throw it back on the top of the bed. But a good shredder or chipper or work, I hate to admit, I've stood there long enough to get RSI in my right hand, chopping something at one of my pruners to so I could put it in there. I even have, I have to admit, I'm a bit obsessive about my compost. I went and bought one of the most highest-powered home paper shredder so I can run two-ply cardboard through it, 'cause cardboard is an amazing source of brown. If you don't have a lot of leaves in your lawn and living in Australia, you don't have seasonal leaf drop like we do in the US, is this a great opportunity to actually add more of the brown to it. So, any cardboard box comes in my house. It's like, yay! - Yeah, you must have been enjoying lockdown, just ordering stuff, just for the boxes. (laughing) - I don't need this, but I need the box, so I'm gonna buy it. - Just make sure to peel off the plastic shiny coating on the front of it or you end up picking out of your flower pens for years. - So, you mentioned, I mean, you know, Australia doesn't get much leaf drop like, say the US would, but you know, if you do have some deciduous trees, would you add that to your compost or would you solely keep that to itself and maybe make something like leaf mould, which is different but also useful in the garden? - When you have a lot of drop ball at once, it's hard to add that to your compost at one time is what I've found. So, I actually do, I've done a bit of both. So, one that happens to me is I end up running my lawn mower over it, sucking it up and what I've chipped up pretty fine. I put what I can in the composter or pile up somewhere and the rest of it chipped up and then pile in one big pile and just let it kind of break in and make leaf mould are. If you have a big enough yard and you have space, I've actually just done that and run underneath my hedges and actually put it, you know. - Put it back as mulch. - Put it back as mulch and it actually bleeds with the skin for life. - Yeah, it's just tuck it underneath where people can't see it 'cause it's not the most attractive mulch, but it does break down really quickly. - Yeah, and it's really good for adding air to the soil, I guess. - Yes. - Yeah, yeah, really good. Do you have any other tips for people that live in a hot climate or, or I guess it's struggling through drought or looking to drought proof their garden in the future? - Probably in my first tips and make sure about your soil amendments and make sure you get that right. Starting your garden back to compost, now I'll keep parping on that one till I bury me in the soil. Second one is your plant choice. - Mm-hmm. - Some plants work better than others, and how do you find that out? Walk around and wonder and visit your neighbors. Go see gardens, go visit botanic gardens, parklands and see what they're using, what's blooming, what time of year, what's holding up to their climate. Don't be afraid to kill a few plants. Sorry, the success of my garden is built on the compost of my failures, been one of my taglines for most of my career. You have to kill a few plants during how to grow things in your own lawn. And even though someone tells you exactly how it should grow or it should grow, your yard is completely different. I've seen things grow places like, "Hey, heck are you doing that?" You're not even a train gardener. Plants don't read books, so don't be afraid to try things. Yeah, that's great advice. I guess also pick the times you garden as well, don't go out and don't go out in the middle of the day and start double digging your garden. It's not ideal. And where in your sunscreen? Yeah, you must have shares in sunscreen the places you've lived. And fortunately, I didn't wear it for most of my life, so now I'm paying for it. Yeah, sunscreen up. Well, Jimmy, it's been amazing. Thank you for all your tips. I'm sure the listeners are going to be able to take a lot from it, so thank you for your time. Thanks, Charlie. It is now time for our community questions. Now Pete from Brisbane, he's emailed me and he says, "Hi, Charlie, I'm passionate about my garden, but I fear I use too much water to keep my plants alive, particularly in summer." So what advice do I have for him? Well, my number one advice is get yourself a rain water tank. Get one as big as you can afford and attach it to as much roof space as you possibly can. That way you're going to capture as much rain water as possible and you can use it when it's most needed. You need to water wisely as well. I know Jimmy gave us some tips saying that watering in the middle of the day can help a lawn, but really, if you want your water to be effective, you need to do it late in the evening or early in the morning. That way the plants can soak it all up and you're not going to lose as much through evaporation. You also need to give your soil a bit of love. Adding compost to your soil is the best thing you can do. It's going to help to bind sandy soil together. It's going to help to break up play soil, but it's going to help in that water retention as well. So you're not going to feel bad about splashing your water out and you don't have to water a lot less. Now my next question is from an aspiring gardener and a big fan of the podcast. It's five-year-old James. Thanks for listening. James now, he says he wants to learn how to take care of plants properly and to give them the right amount of water. How do you know when a plant needs water and how much do you need to give them? Well, James, don't be afraid to kill plants. I have killed plenty of plants in my lifetime trying to keep them alive and the good thing about killing plants is they become great compost and you learn so much from killing a plant. You know if you've over watered it or you've under watered it and then next time you grow it, you can make the changes and it will thrive. Now, the moment your plant is thirsty, it's going to wilt. So the leaves are going to start drooping. It's going to start looking a little bit sick. That's when it needs water. You can stick your finger in the soil. If it feels wet and moist, then you don't need to water anymore. If it feels dry, it's time to give it a really good soak. And remember, it's probably better to keep your plants a little bit dry than it is over watering them because you don't want anaerobic build up in the soil and then you get a lot more problems. Last question is from Trent from Queensland. He says, "With no shady trees around, should I build my own shade structure to give the plants the best survival opportunity through the hotter months?" Well, the best shade structure trend is to plant some shade giving trees. They would be lovely and they'll add a real maturity to your garden, which will be nice. If you really can't plant trees for whatever reason, then yes, you can erect a shade structure. Make sure you make one that you can take the shade cloth off so in winter, you can maximize your sun. Well, do you have any gardening questions you'd like me to answer? Send me an email at [email protected]. It was so great to speak with Jimmy Turner today. He sure is a character and he has some incredible experience managing some of the best public parks. Well, what did we learn from him? We learned that improving your soil is the best way to maximize your watering and that compost or compost as he calls it is everything. So make as much compost as you possibly can and a way to make more is to get yourself a good quality still shredder. You can shred it up and it will turn into compost quicker and that way your pile can keep turning quicker and quicker and you'll have more and more. Also, it's okay to kill plants but it's even better if you let your neighbours do it so if you're worried about what plants to use, look around your local area, go to your local Botanic Garden, see what's thriving and steal their ideas. Thanks for listening to that's how we grow in partnership with Still Garden Power Tools. Need the tools to take on any garden challenge? Go to the Still website or head to your local Still dealer today. You can find us and follow Still on Instagram at Still_AU and you can follow me on Instagram as well at Charlie_AU. In our next episode, I'll be joined by my old selling houses Australia co-host Andrew Winter. Whilst by his own admission Andrew might be an awful gardener, he knows how much a well planned and maintained garden can add to the value of your property. I'll also give you all the advice you need on how to tackle a wild or overgrown garden if the time should arise. And don't forget to check out Still's blog with plenty of great gardening advice tips and tricks and there's one on compost as well so you can learn how to make your own. I'm Charlie Arbonne, thanks for listening and until next time, goodbye.