May 17, 2024 • 48 mins
An interview Breanna from @tiny.garden.growing
Instagram: @tiny.garden.growing
BIO: I am a passionate self taught gardener, proving that a tiny garden CAN be productive. I aim to inspire people to want to eat healthier homegrown food, garden sustainably and create habitat for native critters - irrespective of garden size!
Location: Melbourne's outer South East
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More about this episode:
Do you believe a lush garden is out of reach for city dwellers? Let Melbourne's own Breanna from Tiny Garden Growing prove you wrong! On our latest episode, she takes us through her surprising journey, transforming a tiny urban space into a veritable cornucopia. Discover how creativity and a little bit of soil can work wonders, and how you, too, can yield a bountiful harvest from even the smallest of balconies or backyards. From balancing soil composition for pots to selecting the right fruit trees for cooler climates, Brianna's expertise will leave you eager to green your space, no matter the size.
We chat about how involving children in the process not only educates them on the origins of their food but instills a sense of environmental stewardship. Hear heartwarming anecdotes of youngsters engaging with nature and learn why it's critical to share this knowledge with the next generation. Not only will you be nurturing plants, but you'll also be fostering a greener future with every seed sown.
'How I Grow' is produced by The Seed Collection Pty Ltd.
Find out more about us here: www.theseedcollection.com.au
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to how I Grow with the Seed
Collection.
My name is Gemma and today I'llbe speaking with Brianna from
Tiny Garden Growing on Instagram.
Brianna is a small spacegardener from Melbourne which
has a cool climate.
She's a passionate, self-taughtgardener, proving that a tiny
garden can be productive.
Brianna aims to inspire peopleto want to eat healthier,
(00:21):
homegrown food, gardensustainably and create habitat
for native critters,irrespective of their garden
size.
Hi, brianna, thank you so muchfor taking the time to speak
with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hi, gemma, I'm really excited to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
My pleasure, I'm really keen to learn more about
how you grow and I am alwayskeen to share Fantastic.
So, understanding that you're asmall space gardener.
To help our listeners get abetter idea of the garden that
you're working with, could youplease tell us how big the land
is where you're growing andpaint a bit of a picture of what
it looks?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
like yeah, no worries .
So I am in southeast Melbourne,so it's one of the fastest
growing corridors in Victoria atthe moment.
So there are houses popping upeverywhere and it's very much a
let's fit as many houses in asmall space as possible.
To give you an idea of the landI'm working with, so it's about
400 square metres in total, butmost of that is house,
(01:22):
obviously.
So little front yard, about ameter and a half wide strip
between the fence and the housedown the side and then a little
bit of a backyard.
So it's a very typical kind ofthose flat back houses that are
being built everywhere at themoment.
So, yeah, very, very squishy,not a lot of working space, I
see.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And so how are you growing all of your fruits and
vegetables?
Are they in planter boxes?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yep, yeah, yeah.
So I suppose when we firstbuilt our house I wasn't a
gardener.
I never had a garden before.
It's kind of evolved as timehas gone on.
So when we first did thebackyard and the front yard, we
did it ourselves.
We didn't go with a landscapepackage.
So my brother's a chippy, so hebuilt a decking.
We thought, yeah, cool, newhouse, new decking, that sounds
(02:10):
fun.
That's about as far as it went,with a bit of lawn.
And then from there COVIDhappened.
I had my second child, somaternity leave all kind of
mixed into one, so a lot of timeat home, so that kind of
eventuated into getting into thegarden, which then I had to
make the space that we had work.
(02:32):
So, given that the sunniestpoint in my garden is actually
decking now, I had to becreative and think well, how can
I grow veggies there?
And that's where a lot of mystuff is in pots and in raised
veggie boxes which I upcyclefrom various things shipping
crates and boxes and whatnot.
But yeah, so I have onein-ground garden that is a
(02:55):
pollinator garden and forperennial flowers, and all of my
produce, fruit and veg, are allin either pots or raised veggie
boxes.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Ah, fantastic.
So how much produce or how manydifferent plants have you
managed to fit into that space?
Do?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
you have a rough idea .
I've never actually counted.
I'd be there all day, I reckonWell, look, I've got three, one
by one metre crates.
Yeah, there's likeone metercrates.
You know those like timbershipping crates.
So I've upcycled three of those.
They're sitting on my deckingand they're all packed with
veggies and herbs pretty muchall year round.
(03:33):
Then I've got I think I've got.
What have I got?
I've got a potted lemon, apotted mandarin, a potted feijoa
, I've got four potted apples.
So I reckon I've got seven oreight potted fruit trees.
I've got a couple of plums,actually, and a peach.
So lots of fruit trees and yeah, I don't even think I could
(03:56):
count, to be honest.
But a lot, a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
That's brilliant.
Feijoa is one of the lesscommon fruit trees.
Could you explain for ourlisteners what that is and what
that fruit is like?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, so it's actually an amazing one for kids
.
If you've got little people,it's super, super sweet.
My boys love it.
It's like a really long ovalkind of shape.
It'd be probably the size Idon't't know maybe probably
similar size to the length of anorange, I reckon, but more,
yeah, oval than round, and theyare super sweet, like lolly
(04:32):
sweet, and my boys just devourthem and they grow really well
in pots.
So anything that grows well inpots is a win for my little
garden lovely, and so you caneat them just fresh off the tree
yes, yep, that's what my boysdo.
They don't last very long.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Do you have any tips for growing the feijoas?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Anything in particular you've found helpful
in their soil Well in terms ofthe feijoas specifically, I
actually find that it thrivesthe same way as I do all my
other fruit trees.
Citrus are a little bitdifferent, but my apples, my
stone fruit and my feijoa allhave the same soil ratios.
So when I'm planting them freshout into a new pot I'll use top
(05:13):
quality premium potting mix,because that's just optimal for
drainage.
But for fruit trees the pottingmix on its own just doesn't
have enough oomph and nutrientsin it.
So then I usually do a 50-50ratio with compost, whether it's
my own made compost I've got acouple of small compost bins
here but being such a smallspace and a lot of plants, I do
(05:36):
have to buy some compost as well.
So whether I've got mine on handor a bag, I'll do a 50-50 mix.
I then mulch it with sugar canemulch, because obviously pots
dry out a lot easier than in theground and you don't want the
soil to go anaerobic and putstress on the trees.
So mulch 50-50, high pottingmix and compost and then a
(06:02):
liquid feed of seaweed and fishemulsion throughout their
growing season, and I find thatthat works for all my potted
fruit.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Oh, fantastic and that's really great that we can
have something quite unique aswell and care for it in the same
ways as the things we're alittle more used to.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, yeah, and it's a bit of fun to grow something
different.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, that's true, yeah, and exciting for the kids,
like you say.
Yeah, absolutely so.
You mentioned having compostsystems in your small garden as
well.
What kind of composting systemare you using, brianna?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yep.
So I've got two, just theregular drums that sit on the
ground.
I've got them partially duginto the ground so to prevent
rodents, rats and mice diggingin.
But we don't obviously get toomuch of that here.
There's not a lot of your bigpests here, it's just too much
of a concrete jungle.
So we've buried them partiallyin and I've got two of them on
(06:57):
the go.
But I also have a little wormfarm, which are amazing for
little spaces.
I probably get more, to behonest, out of my worm farm than
I do my compost bins, andthey're even easier.
So I always recommend, ifpeople are interested in reusing
their scraps or living slightlymore sustainably than to opt
for a worm farm.
(07:17):
They're super easy.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
That's fantastic.
And how does the worm farmoperate?
Just for those who might nothave a good understanding of
these, could you explain thatfor us?
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So these are a little box that just stand off the
ground.
Mine have little legs.
You can get them of varioussizes.
I just have a really small one.
It's probably, I reckon, 30 by30 centimetres and it's a
two-levelled system.
So how it works is that you buythe kit that usually comes with
(07:49):
the worm bedding and the traysthat you need.
Then you can actually go andbuy composting worms.
You can just get them fromlocal hardwares and garden
suppliers usually have them.
So you basically you put thebedding in, add your worms and
then over time slowly add scraps.
So that's any of your greengarden wastes essentially.
(08:09):
So we put in peels and coresand things and slowly increase
it over time.
What's really awesome aboutcomposting worms in the worm
farm is the more you add to theworm farm, the more that they
multiply.
They kind of breed and adapt tohow much food is in there.
So the more you feed it, themore worms that appear and then
(08:30):
the quicker the food isdemolished.
So we're getting to a point nowwhere I can put a very big full
bowl of scraps in weekly andthey're pretty much gone the
next week.
I open it up to top it up andthen from that, not only do you
get the worm castings, which isessentially a worm poo, which is
a fantastic, organic, reallyrich fertilizer that you can put
(08:51):
straight in your garden.
But you also get a worm tea,which is kind of like the runoff
and the worm wee, I guess, theextract that runs through the
system constantly and it has alittle tray underneath it that
it drips into and that's aninstant liquid fertilizer that
you can put on your garden aswell, and I'm constantly
harvesting those two from thereand adding to my garden.
(09:13):
So I really love that system.
It's really easy.
You're not having to worryabout balancing greens and
browns and things that I knowpeople find difficult with a
compost system.
It's just put the worm farmsomewhere out of the sun so that
they don't fry.
I've actually just got minesitting in a little corner of
the decking so it's not even outin the garden.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Oh nice, it sounds really wonderful.
And yeah, you've got a lot ofreward for little effort with
those.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, absolutely, and the kids love it too, like if
you've got kids.
I'm all for educating my kids,and my two-year-old loves
checking out the worms.
Mommy, the worms, the worms.
Can we see the worms whenever?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
we go outside.
Oh, that's sweet.
Do the kids help in the gardenat all?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, they do, they do.
My oldest is 10, so he's kindof at that age where you know
when he's in the right mood.
But the two-year-old he lovesit.
He's constantly outside with meand he's now learnt when a
fruit is ripe.
So it was difficult at thestart.
He just saw some kind of fruitand would pull it off, whether
it was a green strawberry or agreen tomato.
(10:14):
So he's learnt now you know oh,red, red, I can pick it, I can
eat it, which is really cute,yeah, and he loves to get his
hands dirty.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, oh, that's lovely.
I think there's a lot we canlearn from watching children
interact with the outdoors andnature.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
And as a primary school teacher, I'm surprised all the time
with the amount of kids thattell me they've never seen you
know what a tomato grows off orhow does a potato grow.
It's crazy to think that thesekids have never seen it and just
have no idea.
So that kind of was an eyeopener that you know we need to
educate our little people,starting with our own kids at
home.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, very much so.
Could I ask you, brianna, toexplain why you think it's so
important that we do teach theyoung generation now children
and the children around us aboutwhere our food comes from and
how to garden?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, well, there's so many factors.
I suppose the first one is thehealth behind it, the health for
us as a human race, the factthat so much of our food is
genetically modified or coveredin chemicals and pesticides and
things.
It's better for health, I guess, for us to be having really
organic, fresh food that hasn'tbeen sitting in storage for
(11:24):
months and covered with goodnessknows what, and teaching kids
that.
But also, you know, we lose somany heirloom varieties of
vegetables.
If you go to Coles or Wooliesor any supermarket, really you
see the same two varieties ofbroccoli, the same one type of
green bean, where growing my ownfood and looking into seeds and
(11:44):
growing from seed in particularopens up a whole world of all
these different varieties anddifferent colours and versions
of vegetables and fruits thatyou just had no idea existed.
And if people aren't growingtheir own food, then those
heirloom varieties willdisappear and we lose those.
I think for the future, to keepall of these varieties going and
(12:04):
have all of these fruits andveggies at our fingertips is
really important as well.
But then also the impact on theenvironment too.
We're kind of in that timewhere a lot of different
industries and people arelooking to try and make a
greener world and protect theenvironment, and I think growing
your own food is a massive helpin that regard.
(12:25):
If you grow organically in yourown garden, you're limiting
things like transport and theuse of plastic in people
packaging these fruits andvegetables.
So you don't think about thekind of the bigger impact If you
just decide I'm only going togrow my own tomatoes.
Well, if you think about howmany times you buy tomatoes over
summer and how many plasticcontainers that is consuming
(12:46):
into your household, if youeradicate that plastic use over
one summer, like that's huge.
So even the smallest thing canhave a really big impact.
If kids start to see thesethings and normalise this view
from a young age, I thinkthat'll have a huge impact later
on.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I couldn't agree more .
I think yeah, indeed, and yeah,like you say, just one thing at
a time, it can make adifference.
It might seem small, but in thescheme of things, that's how it
all starts and that's what weneed to happen.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, 100%, because I can say really overwhelming and
I know it was for me when Ifirst jumped onto Instagram and
you see all of these wonderfulpeople, you know, living almost
completely off the land anddoing the whole homesteading
thing, which obviously you canaspire to do, but it can be
overwhelming.
To start with, you had thewhole idea of growing your own
food and then having the compostsystem and then baking your own
bread and then, you know, usingreusable everything.
(13:37):
It's just a lot at once.
So I think people just need tostart small, you know, start
with your little space, startwith one pot, start with one
worm farm and then go from there.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So what would you say to people, brianna, who say, oh
, I can't grow my own food, Ionly have, you know, a very
small block, or I only have adecking area?
What would you say to thosepeople to make them perhaps
reconsider?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
The first thing is to go and have a look at my
Instagram page, because I thinkit's proof that space is just
not a limitation and I 100% wasin that boat.
I grew up up in the Dandenongs,so my parents have property up
there.
That's what I knew lots andlots of space.
So then when me and my husbandbought our first home and
obviously you know first homebuyers, you buy and just knew
(14:20):
those little pop-up houses itwas a bit of a shock.
And just knew those littlepop-up houses, it was a bit of a
shock.
And both my mother and I mymother's a gardener too we were
like, oh, I can't fit that, Ican't have what you've got at
your house, so there's no way Icould grow that.
But I'm also very stubborn and,like I said, through lockdown
and maternity leave, sittingaround twiddling my thumbs, I
decided no, I want to grow foodand I'm going to make it happen.
(14:42):
And then, yeah, so you can,absolutely.
You have to be creative, yes,and you have to think outside
the square and you have to breakgardening rules.
That's kind of the two biggestthings that I preach a lot on my
page is that if you want togrow in a small space.
You have to be willing to thinkcreative and you have to break
the rules, because you know,traditional growing of fruit and
(15:03):
veg is like okay, well, youneed three metres by two metres
to grow six broccolis?
Well, not necessarily.
I grow six broccolis in myone-by-metre garden bed.
So you've got to be willing to,yeah, break those rules and you
can absolutely do it, 100%Excellent.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And speaking of breaking those rules, I have
seen on your Instagram page thatyou have even managed to grow
watermelon and other melons inthis space.
Are there any secrets to thisand how have you done that?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Another key to growing in asmall space is remembering that
while your horizontal spacemight be limited, vertically it
is not.
The sky is literally the limit.
So for things that vine.
So I know a lot of people, andme included.
I was so in this boat at thestart of my gardening journey.
I would see people growingwatermelons and pumpkins
Pumpkins is another one that youthink you know huge plants with
(15:57):
huge fruit, and they sprawleverywhere and they take up so
much space.
Well, yes, they can, but again,if you're creative and a bit
clever with how you do it, allof these things can actually be
grown vertically.
So so many of my things, asmuch as I possibly can, I grow
up, whether that's up overarchways, up trellises, and I
just make really, you know,cheap, movable ones with garden
(16:22):
stakes, garden pickets and dogfencing or mesh.
I use cheap, $20 flimsyarchways from hardware stores
that I just reinforce withgarden stakes or wire for the
plants to climb up.
But yeah, my watermelons growsuper happily up and over
archways.
So do my pumpkins.
(16:43):
And another trick too,especially with things like
watermelons and pumpkins, ischoosing your variety.
So, like I said before, there'sa whole world of varieties that
you won't have ever seen beforein your green grocers or your
supermarkets.
The watermelon variety that Itend to grow is called Sugar
Baby, and it's a much, muchsmaller variety.
The watermelons are probably Idon't know comparative to they'd
(17:07):
be smaller than a netball.
It's the only one out therethat does sport.
They're really tiny watermelons, which means, naturally, the
vines are smaller and morecompact too.
So, choosing varieties like that.
There's so many miniaturepumpkin varieties out there too.
I grew one this season calledthe golden nugget pumpkin, which
I found through another gardenpage on Instagram, and the
(17:31):
growth habit of this particularpumpkin is more like a zucchini.
So, rather than being a superlong vine with massive leaves,
the leaves are smaller than thatof a zucchini and the length of
the vine was probably actuallysmaller than some of my
zucchinis, so it was supercompact and I got these really
(17:52):
cute little pumpkins.
I reckon I got four to five offeach vine and it took up barely
any space.
So, be creative, growvertically and, yeah, look into
all of those different varietytypes and find ones that are
more, smaller and more compact.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That's some excellent advice.
And pumpkins, they can storefor quite a long time too, so
they are a very practical thingfor people to grow.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , If you you know, wait till the
plant fully dies back, harvestthem off with plenty of the stem
still attached so that youdon't get any nasties growing in
there.
They can store for ages.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I had a few pumpkins stored for most of winter last
year and yeah they're beautifulyeah, no, it's wonderful.
Very versatile, in the kitchentoo.
Pumpkins yeah, absolutely.
You touched on before, Brianna,the different varieties of
foods you can grow that aren'talways or so commonly accessible
in the supermarkets.
Is there anything you'regrowing that's a little bit
(18:48):
unusual or something just a bitdifferent?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I don't know.
I reckon my feijoa is a fruitthat's less common.
I also grow at the moment thisreally cute little thing.
It's called a cucamelon.
It's a cross.
It's actually a type ofcucumber but it's tiny.
So imagine it tastes like asour cucumber but it's the size
of a grape and it looks like awatermelon.
So they're super cute and youdefinitely don't see them at the
(19:16):
supermarket and they're anawesome little garden snack.
So again, I grow them over anarchway and they're the perfect
little garden snack that youknow my kids just pick off and
eat as they're playing outside.
That's a little bit quirky anddifferent, but I guess what I've
learned like on that over timeis that you see all of these
amazing people's gardens thathave you know acres to play with
(19:37):
and they grow all of thesedifferent, random and rare
things just for the fun of it.
And whilst one day, you know, wedo dream to have property so
that I can do that and have abit of a play, what I've learnt
with my small space is that youhave to be really smart with how
you use it.
I don't have a lot of space towaste to just kind of trial
things I do every now and againfor just for fun, I might put
(19:57):
one or two random things in, butmost of my space is really well
utilized to things I know myfamily will eat and that what we
eat a lot of.
So I know at the start I waslike, oh, this is fun, we never
eat this, we've never had thisbefore.
But let's just throw all thesethings in and that's where you
kind of end up with wasted foodand wasted space.
So I've learned to reallyrestrain myself and focus on the
(20:21):
things that I know my familyare going to eat.
So that's going to save onwastage, it's going to save
money for us and it's bestutilising our space.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Exactly.
Yeah, that's a very valid point.
I think we've all been a littlebit guilty of that at times.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Absolutely, and I'm always tempted.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Yeah, yeah it is.
It's very tempting.
I also like a lot of peoplethat I hear from say how much
they enjoy offering guests andfriends and things, something
really quirky.
If you have somebody over fordinner and you've got purple
cauliflower and things like that, that can be quite the novelty.
But, like you say, it has totranslate well for you in terms
(20:59):
of what you would be buyingotherwise.
Is it going to actually saveyou at the supermarket if you
grow that?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, exactly right.
It's got to be worth thateffort.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Exactly yes.
And the cucamelons.
They sound like a fantasticlunchbox snack too, the kids'
school.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, they're a bit of fun.
Yeah, and I actually saw onanother Instagram page only this
week that someone had actuallypickled them.
I'm like, oh, what a great idea.
So when I get my next harvest,that will be my next thing.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Fantastic.
And what season do they grow inthe cucamelons?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, so they're a warm month, so I got them into
the ground as seeds duringsummer and they're still happily
producing away at the moment.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Excellent.
And so what would you say?
Brianna has been your biggestchallenge in gardening in a
small space.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Just the fact that it is a small space in general.
But I suppose I'll explain why.
I guess that when you haveproperty or lots of land to play
with, I suppose you have thebenefit of really large open
space.
So you're not dealing withweird shapes and nooks and
crannies and corners and narrowgrowing beds.
(22:06):
You're not dealing with shadowsand shade.
Which is probably the hardestthing when it comes to a small
space is the sun, because we allknow that fruit and veg
generally lack full sun.
The more sun that you can givethem, the more that they will
produce, the faster they ripen.
So when you are surrounded bytall infrastructures, my back
(22:27):
fence is a massive two-storyhouse that would be a metre off
my back fence, so that casts aheap of shade.
Be a meter off my back fence,so that casts a heap of shade.
They've got the shade from myhouse.
And then obviously there aretwo meter high fences around
everybody's properties.
So the shadows casted from andthe shade casted from all of
those infrastructures is reallyreally difficult and I had to
(22:50):
over a good season or two.
You have to be patient.
You've got to really watch.
Over a good season or two.
You have to be patient.
You've got to really watch andrecord and take note or
photograph, like I did, theshadows movements throughout a
whole year, because it'sdifferent from summer to winter.
So in summer my whole garden isalmost in full sun just because
the sun is so high, but then inwinter the whole narrow
(23:13):
corridor that runs along theside of my house is full shade.
So where I grow watermelonsthere all summer, which we all
know love the heat, it'scomplete shade in winter and I
can't grow anything.
It's a dead space.
So that has been a bigchallenge and learning curve is
to actually watch, season toseason, how the sun moves and
how the shadows are thrown indifferent parts.
(23:34):
And, yeah, working with that,yeah that's very good advice too
.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Like you say, it's not the same.
All the time Changes.
Yeah absolutely yeah.
So what are some of the thingscurrently growing in your garden
?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
So we're currently transitioning and I'm very onto
it this year.
I often have seasons where I'mway behind.
You know, life takes over andthings aren't in as early as you
like, but I've actually gotlots of my brassicas in now.
So, being in a cool climate, Ido have the advantage of I can
get my brassicas in pretty early.
I had them in actually probablya good few weeks ago now and I
(24:11):
actually started sowing mybrassicas mid to end of summer,
so they've had a really goodhead start.
So I've got broccoli going in.
I tend to grow the sproutingbroccoli.
Again, that's a choice I makebecause of my small space.
If you're not sure what thesprouting broccoli is, I suppose
that's similar to what youwould see like broccolini If
you're buying broccolini fromthe shops.
(24:33):
They're just little heads butthey produce lots.
Just little heads, but theyproduce lots of little heads.
So I can get lots and lots ofharvests from it and get many
dinners worth of broccoli,rather than grow a traditional
broccoli head and just harvestthe one head and then it's done.
So I can make better use ofthat space by growing something
that gives more.
So I've got plenty of sproutingbroccoli in.
(24:55):
I've put in kohlrabi.
Kohlrabi is a fun one that,yeah, again, you don't see
normally at the supermarket.
But that's a type of brassicaand it's comparable to the stem
of a broccoli.
So if you like and eat thestems of the broccoli, it's got
that similar consistency, and Icook it in the same way as I do
my steamed veg during winter.
(25:15):
So that's a bit of fun.
And that comes in purple andwhite varieties, so a bit of fun
and colour in the garden inwinter.
What else have I got?
Peas are all in snow peas andsugar snap peas, again, all
grown vertically.
Everything you can grow up isawesome.
Carrots and beetroot have justgone in as well, and herbs I've
got parsley and coriander.
(25:36):
So that's kind of what's comingin now.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Lovely, and do you ever have excess produce from
your small space garden?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Overly.
I've gotten quite good now.
I probably did at my first yearof growing for each season
because I wasn't sure exactlyhow much each would give me.
So I kind of just as you do, Ijust want lots of everything.
(26:04):
So I put in like I had like 10silverbeet plants and it's like,
well, I didn't realize that asilverbeet plant is really
prolific and one will prettymuch keep producing leaves all
winter and I probably didn'tneed that much silverbeet.
So, you know, this year I'velearned from that and I have two
or three that will give me andmy family what we need and
that's more than enough.
Whereas, you know, broccoli wepretty much throughout winter.
(26:25):
All three of my boys lovebroccoli husband and two kids.
So I know that that's somethingwe have almost with every
dinner.
So, yes, I've got six broccoliplants for the four of us.
But yeah, it's just learning.
I suppose being okay withlearning and making that mistake
.
At the start I had plenty ofstuff to give to other people or
to just add to compost, really.
(26:46):
But yeah, I've learned and I'vekind of figured out now how
many of each thing I need for myfamily.
Excellent.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So which plant, would you say, offer you the most
harvest in terms of spacerequired?
For winter, yeah, or for eachof the seasons?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, okay, I reckon the sprouting broccoli is a
really good one If people wantto grow brassicas.
So when I say brassicas I'msaying cauliflower, broccoli,
cabbages.
The sprouting broccoli givesyou most bang for buck.
Cauliflower's they're a massivehead, they take up a lot of
space and you just get the onehead of cauliflower.
(27:23):
Same with cabbage.
They are really large.
I know you can get theminiature varieties, but they do
take up a fair bit of space andyou're just getting that one
harvest.
So I tend to stick to thingsthat you get multiple harvests
from, so harvest.
So I tend to stick to thingsthat you get multiple harvests
from.
So the sprouting broccolilettuce lettuce grows now in the
cool regions.
So I, rather than say, grow aniceberg lettuce where I have to
(27:44):
wait months for one ball to formand then I cut that off and
it's done, I grow the leafy oneswhere I just harvest the outer
leaves of the lettuce and itwill just keep giving me more,
and through winter I can prettymuch just show one, maybe two
successions of lettuce and thatgets me through the whole winter
(28:06):
.
So lettuce is a really good one.
And peas, snow peas, snow peasare so easy and they're so
prolific.
The more you pick, the moreflowers they put on and the more
peas you get.
So I found that snow peas are awinner and they're great for
the lunchbox.
They're great for the kids tojust snack on when they're out
and about.
So, yeah, I think snow peas area goodie In terms of for summer
(28:29):
.
If you want to go for thingsthat you're getting more bang
for buckes, you could just plantone and get pretty much a whole
summer's worth of tomatoes ifyou are smart about the variety
that you pick.
So I learned over time that ifyou're growing from seed, if you
check out on whichever websiteyou're buying your seeds from,
(28:51):
in the description about thattype, for a lot of them it gives
you an estimated yield size forthat particular variety and for
some of them the yield sidemight only be a couple of kilos
of tomatoes.
Where I grow one called aTigerella tomato and that's like
15 to 18 kilos of yield whichis constantly picked throughout
(29:13):
the season and they'remedium-sized tomatoes, I would
say.
They're not as small as yourcherries and they're definitely
not as big as your beefsteaks.
So they're a nice mid-sizedcherry, which means you can use
them in sandwiches.
I've made sauce with them andput them in salad.
So it comes back to justknowing and learning and
choosing the right varieties andbeing smart.
(29:33):
So, yeah, picking a reallyproductive tomato and capsicum
too.
I know a lot of people love togrow capsicum in summer but they
can be tricky because they cantake up a bit of space, because
they're almost like a miniaturebush shrub and they take a long
time to develop.
So you might only get four orfive, maybe six capsicums off
one capsicum plant when I'vediscovered a variety called the
(29:57):
Mad Hatter capsicum and they'rethese really cute and they look
like literally the Mad Hatter ifyou've seen Alice in Wonderland
his hat they look like hislittle hats hanging and it is
super prolific Like I've gottenmultiple harvest baskets of
these capsicums from one plant,so I always opt for that variety
rather than a traditionalcapsicum.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Fantastic, yeah, so it really is about doing your
research as well, particularlywhen you're working in a tiny
garden.
That's more important, ofcourse.
But the produce in terms ofspace I think that applies to
everybody really If we can plant, you know, have exactly what we
need to provide for our garden.
We know if we're plantingexcess to share or to preserve
(30:40):
or things like that.
I think it's very, very smartand everybody should check that
out.
That harvest ratio youmentioned Very handy.
So what's been one of yourbiggest successes, brianna,
something you're really proud ofthat you conquered in your tiny
garden?
Speaker 2 (30:57):
So this might be probably not what people are
expecting, but this summer I gota blue banded bee into my
garden, which for me is huge.
So before I started gardening,I didn't know that there was
such thing as an Australiannative bee and I certainly
didn't know that they were blue.
And when I discovered them,seeing them in other people's
gardens, I thought right, I amgetting some of these native
(31:20):
bees into my garden, which I didthink was a bit of excessive
goal really, because, like Isaid, I am in a tiny little
patch in the middle of suburbia.
I'm surrounded by concrete.
All my neighbours havesynthetic turf.
I thought how on earth am Igoing to get these little
critters to find my garden?
So I've spent just as manyyears as I have in the backyard
(31:41):
creating a productive garden.
My front garden is very, verydifferent.
My front garden gets full sun,full wind, smashed by elements.
So it needed hardy, toughplants.
So it's naturally a nativegarden where it's very much
focused on Australian nativesand food for wildlife, food,
habitat and shelter for wildlife.
(32:02):
So I thought, okay, this is theperfect time to try and put in
whatever these blue banded beeslike.
So it's jam packed with.
I've got some lavenders inthere because I know they like
lavender.
I've got grevilleas, I've gotpaper daisies you know all of
those pollen rich Australiannatives.
And then, sure enough, thissummer I heard I don't know if
(32:23):
you've never heard a blue bandedbee before.
They sound completely differentto a regular bee.
Look it up if you've never seenthem before.
They're adorable.
But they have this really loudbuzz, not like a normal buzz,
and I was like what is thatsound?
And my husband turned aroundand, sure enough, there's a blue
bee.
So that was just a huge win forme to know that you know that
(32:45):
saying of if you plant them,they'll come.
I honestly didn't believe it.
I thought how on earth are theygoing to find me here?
Like, where are they going tocome from?
There's nothing around me.
But no, they do.
They really do.
So I've had blue banded bees,I've had resin bees and leaf
cutter bees, which are allAustralian natives.
So that's been really fun.
And to educate my kids and mystudents at school, I share my
(33:08):
photos with them and yeah, it'sbeen really exciting.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Oh, that's fantastic.
And, as they say, where there'sa will, there's a way.
But when it comes to bees,there's certainly also quite the
need.
So the more people plantingpollinator gardens, the better.
I say yeah, absolutely yeah.
So, to summarise those, you saythey're like the lavender, the
grevillea.
What else have you got in there?
Okay?
Speaker 2 (33:31):
so I've got some corriers, I've got grevilleas,
I've got calistemon, someflannel flowers, paper daisies I
love the paper daisies.
The paper daisies are a reallygreat one if you're looking to
add that pollinator food in areally cheap, easy way, because
Australian natives can be reallydifficult to grow from seeds so
(33:51):
you're buying establishedplants which we know can get
pricey.
So I've grown with success,really easily, heaps of
different paper daisies, boththe miniature 30 centimetre high
versions and the massive one totwo metre tall ones.
So if you're looking to addsome native plants in, that you
can do really quite costeffective and they're really
(34:12):
easy to collect seed from aswell.
So once you kind of buy theseed, once they either keep
self-seeding themselves or youcan keep the flower heads and
re-sow them again the nextseason.
So yeah, paper daisies arereally good, easy ones.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Fantastic, and they add some nice colour too.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, they do.
They come in so many beautifulvarieties.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, Speaking of seed saving, I saw on new
Instagram page and I did want toask you you were doing a
demonstration of a really quickand easy way to save seeds.
Would you mind sharing with ourlisteners what your method was?
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, so I like to just do things the lazy way.
Really, when you've got atwo-year-old and you're a
teacher, short and sharp andfast, things are good.
So I actually wait until theflower heads.
It obviously doesn't work withall flowers, but for things like
my Echinacea so the video wasof my Echinaceas, if you don't
know what they are.
They're beautiful perennialflowers.
(35:05):
They're like massive cones andthe petals like hang down, so
really really pretty.
I actually let the flower headcompletely dry out on the plant
and I just keep an eye on it.
I make sure that there's norain coming to spoil the seed
and I just wait until I canactually get to a point where,
(35:25):
if I touch the really dried outflower head, I could see the
seeds wiggling or falling off.
And then, when it's at thatpoint, all I did was took my
bowl out with me and, ratherthan just deadheading the plants
and then throwing it in thecompost or in the green waste
bin, which most people do, Itook my bowl out with me, I
shook the plant head upside downinto the bowl, all the seeds
fall out, and then threw thestem into the compost bin.
(35:47):
So it can be as simple as that.
Just, you know, shake the plantout into a bowl and then that
will just go into a brown paperbag where I'll just label it and
put it in with my other box ofseeds, ready for next summer?
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Fantastic, so it certainly can be done.
You don't have to be spendinghours and hours handpicking
individual seeds out of them.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, reallyeasy, excellent.
So is there anything you have,brianna, for the future lined up
, something that you'd like totry in your garden, or a tiny
garden idea that you think isworth a try?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yeah, so I'm look, I'm always experimenting.
I think that's one of thebiggest learning curves that I
had when I started gardening.
I think if you're new togardening, you have this fear of
, oh, but I'm going to kill itor or it's going to die or it's
not going to work, and you haveto kind of be okay, especially
if you're experimenting with asmall space and thinking outside
the box like we have to.
Chances are, things are notgoing to work and that's okay.
(36:46):
So I'm constantly trying weirdand wonderful things.
But my big project now that I'mdoing is I am actually getting
rid of the lawn in my naturestrip and extending my native
front garden into the naturestrip and fully planting that
out.
So obviously it's dependent onwhich city council you're in and
(37:06):
the rules that they haveregarding the nature strip, but
the council that I'm in doactually allow it and actually
encourage it for biodiversityand for wildlife.
They obviously have rules.
So you do need to make surethat you've either spoken to
your council or you've lookedonto their website, which is
what I did for their rules,things like you know, not
obstructing views andconsidering whatever's going on
(37:28):
under the nature strip water,water and internet and pipes and
things.
But once you've kind of done abit of research and figured out
what you can and can't do, Ithink people's nature strips are
kind of a wasted piece of space.
For most people it's just deadlawn sitting there.
But lawn really to me should bea place to play and sit and be
able to walk comfortably.
So I'm not saying, you know,never have lawn.
(37:50):
We have lawn in our backyardfor the dogs and for the kids,
but for the front lawn, like noone goes and sits on the nature
strip next to the road and playson that grass.
So you know, to me I'm like,well, that's wasted space.
So that's going to be gardennow.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
So I am currently in the middle of slowly digging up
and taking off the grass that'sthere and planting it out with
more natives.
So that's my next big thing oh,fantastic.
And yeah, like you say, yourcouncil allowing that.
That's brilliant.
More and more councils aregetting on board with that.
So if you're unsure, it's worthcalling up or sending an email
and finding out.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
I had had a lot of people whenI first shared that on my
Instagram page last week what Iwas doing.
I had so many people reach outand think and ask me you know,
did you have to get permissionfor that, or particular
clearances and things, or areyou even allowed to do that?
It actually shocked me how manypeople thought that they just
weren't allowed to do anythingwith their lawn.
So I just feel like it shouldbe more promoted that that
(38:49):
nature strip can be better used.
Something so small as putting afew extra grevilleas or paper
daisies in your nature stripthat isn't used anyway could
have a huge difference on ournative wildlife.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Another native seed that's quite easy to germinate
is the billy buttons too, andthe bees do love those.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Yes, I do have those as well.
They're gorgeous, they do, andthey look so sweet.
There's little yellow ballssticking up and bopping around
in the breeze in summer.
Yeah, they're a really good one.
They do so and they look sosweet.
There's little yellow ballssticking up and bopping around
in the breeze in summer.
Yeah, they're a really good one.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
They do.
So those, along with the, likeyou say, the paper daisies, the
everlasting daisies.
If there's anyone out therethinking I can't grow from seed,
give those a whirl, I think,yeah, you'll be pleasantly
surprised.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, absolutely, because, yeah, natives can be
really tricky because a lot ofthem with that being native, you
know, some of them need to beopened up with smoke and heat
and because they've come fromour native environment.
But and I was really taken backand thought I can't grow native
from seed.
But yeah, no, these definitely,you absolutely can.
They're super easy and I have apretty good germination rate
(39:49):
with them and I don't reallygive them any extra love or make
any particular soil mixes oranything.
When I do them it's literallyjust premium potty mix.
Take out some of the big chunks, throw your seeds in.
It's as easy as that.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Easy, excellent.
So is there something, brianna,that you'd like to see more of
in the gardening realm?
Speaker 2 (40:08):
I think people's more organic approach to gardening,
I think, is what I would like tosee more of, and people
thinking of more alternativeways for pest management and to
control pest pressure in thegardens.
It's still cringey and I haveto hold it back when I go to my
hardware and see people pickingup all of those pesticides and
weed killers and things andputting them into their trolleys
(40:31):
.
I just want to say, oh stop,please stop, because there's so
many other ways that you can goabout growing organically.
So my garden is completelyorganic.
I don't spray anything.
It's all about and it takestime but creating an ecosystem
where the creatures and plantsall kind of take care of
themselves.
It's not to say that I don'thave a single aphid in my garden
(40:54):
.
I absolutely do, and Iabsolutely do occasionally lose
a plant or a harvest from a pest, but all in all, considering I
don't touch it with anypesticides, any herbicides,
anything.
I think my harvests are prettygood and proof that you don't
have to kill everything or covereverything in chemicals for it
(41:14):
to grow.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yes, yeah, that's a wonderful point to make, and
there's also things like youknow, sacrificial plants.
You can do so if you know thatyou might get some aphids on
that one.
You know, planting a sacrificeplant out a little further away
from or in a different area towhere you're growing the ones
that you plan on eating is alsoa practical idea.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, 100%.
I have a bit of a rule withwhenever I plant any vegetables
into my veggie gardens, I alsohave to add with it a flower of
some kind, whether it's anasturtium, whether it's an
alyssum, whether it'ssnapdragons.
There's multiple marigolds,depending on the season and what
I'm planting, but I always putflowers in with it, and not only
(41:58):
does that make it look pretty,it does.
It's very aestheticallypleasing to have your flowers in
amongst your fruit and veg, butit also serves a purpose.
With that interplanting, you'recreating an ecosystem.
The more things you mix up andplant together, the more diverse
the soil is, the more diversethe scents and the different
types of plants that are growingtogether and they help each
(42:20):
other out.
They bring in lots of differentbugs, both your pests and your
garden helpers, things like yourladybirds and your parasitic
wasps.
And again, I was one of thosepeople that was really sceptical
.
I'm like how on earth can Ihave all of these brassicas
completely covered in aphids andjust leave it and wait for a
wasp to come and fix it?
But you know, I actuallywatched it unfold.
(42:43):
This year I had one of those.
I don't know the scientificnames, but it's one of those
swan plants that the monarchbutterflies is a host plant for
them.
I don't know if people knowthose.
They've got those big greenkind of fairy balls on them.
But I planted it because it's ahost plant for the monarch
butterfly and I was hoping toget some monarch butterflies in
the garden.
But then throughout summer Iwatched it just get completely
(43:05):
covered in aphids, likecompletely.
You could see every new shootand growth from the plant was
completely swarmed and I thought, oh my goodness, like it's
going to just get decimated anddie and I thought, well, I'm
going to leave this as a bit ofan experiment and I'm going to
watch it and I let it go.
And sure enough, I reckonwithin a week, a week, of just
not touching it, the plant wascompletely covered in ladybirds,
(43:29):
ladybugs, both the larvae Idon't know if you've seen the
little larvaes of a ladybug.
They're very they've likelittle long black critters.
They look nothing like theactual ladybug.
So it was completely covered inthem and ladybugs and parasitic
wasps which I had never seenbefore in my garden.
But I saw this little guyhovering around and crawling
around on the leaves and sureenough, I did the old Google
(43:51):
with a photo and it was aparasitic wasp and, yeah, I was
watching it going around andtaking care of all the aphids
and I just left it.
I left the plant and now when Igo out there there's not a
single aphid on it.
So you know, it just proves ifyou just leave it, if you just,
you know, it might not lookslightly for a little while,
sure, but you don't have tospray it and kill everything
(44:12):
else around it.
Because if I had sprayed thatplant, it also would have taken
out the ladybugs, it also wouldhave taken out the parasitic
wasps.
But I don't think peoplerealize that these things don't
just target the pest, they'lltake out anything.
So as soon as you put it onthere, you're getting rid of the
good stuff as well as the badstuff.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Yeah, that's very true and there is a balance in
nature.
That's very true and there is abalance in nature.
If we educate ourselves on whatwe need, like you say, that
variety, those different things,what is actually found in
nature, rather than trying toachieve manicured, pristine
gardens, growing only what wewant, nature will provide.
And if we're providing theright conditions, that balance
(44:51):
will occur.
Like you say, you see, the bugscome in, the beneficial insects
and it all takes care of itself.
We're not supposed to eat 100%of everything we grow or plant.
It's not realistic.
You know we will lose somethings along the way, but it's
that balance that comes intoplay and levels things out.
(45:12):
Yeah, exactly right, yeah, yeah.
So I'll finish up, brianna,with a question for you, for our
listeners.
If there's anyone out therelistening today and thinking,
okay, I'm going to give smallspace gardening a go, be it on
an inner city balcony or a smallsuburban yard, what's the one
(45:33):
piece of advice that you thinkis paramount?
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Start small.
Don't feel like you have to goand have 17 raised garden beds
or 10 pots to begin with.
Just start small.
Focus on getting your soilright.
That was a huge thing for me inthe beginning, not
underestimating the importanceof getting your soil right.
So focus on your knowledge ofhow to get really good, rich
(45:59):
soil that's filled with organicmatter that's going to serve its
purpose.
Do a bit of research into that.
And, yeah, start small.
Pick a few plants that you knowyou or you and your family eat,
whether that's one or two pots.
I know at your hardware you canget those really large, like 80
centimeter diameter pots.
Start with one or two of those.
Throw some lettuce in there,put a broccoli in there, put
(46:21):
some parsley in there, and watchthat and learn how to keep that
thriving, and then you'll findthat it's actually easier than
it might appear.
Start small, master that andthen slowly add to it.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
And learn from that, one thing at a time.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
That's wonderful advice, brianna, thank you.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
It's been really fantasticchatting with you and I'm sure
we have listeners out there whohave been inspired by your
accomplishments today.
But before we sign off, couldyou please share with us how our
listeners can find out moreabout you and your garden?
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
I have an Instagram page whereI share everything that I'm
doing in my garden.
I like to do how-to videos andjust do me just walking through
the garden, talking randomnonsense about what's happening.
So you can find me attinygardengrowing.
My name's Brianna, so you'llsee that all there in my bio.
(47:16):
So, yeah, come and give us afollow or jump in my DMs and
have a chat.
I get a lot of people inboxingme and asking for advice or you
know how do I start out or whatdo you do for your soil.
So don't be afraid, I'm alwaysup for a chat and I love to
share what I've learned alongthe way.
So I'd love to have you joiningalong with me.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Excellent, thank you.
And for those who haven'talready been following Brianna
on Instagram, do check it out.
There is a world of knowledgethere and you will be surprised
by what her tiny garden isproducing.
That address, again, for herInstagram is tinygardengrowing.
You've been listening to how IGrow, produced by the Seed
(47:57):
Collection in Melbourne,australia.
It is our aim to make gardeningmore accessible to more people,
and this podcast is one of themany ways we're doing that.
If you don't already know whowe are, jump online and visit
wwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
You'll find a treasure trove ofgardening information, as well
(48:19):
as a huge range of seeds andgarden supplies and accessories.
That address, again, iswwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
Thanks for listening.
You're listening to how I Grow with the Seed
Collection.
My name is Gemma and today I'llbe speaking with Brianna from
Tiny Garden Growing on Instagram.
Brianna is a small spacegardener from Melbourne which
has a cool climate.
She's a passionate, self-taughtgardener, proving that a tiny
garden can be productive.
Brianna aims to inspire peopleto want to eat healthier,
(00:21):
homegrown food, gardensustainably and create habitat
for native critters,irrespective of their garden
size.
Hi, brianna, thank you so muchfor taking the time to speak
with us today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hi, gemma, I'm really excited to be here.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
My pleasure, I'm really keen to learn more about
how you grow and I am alwayskeen to share Fantastic.
So, understanding that you're asmall space gardener.
To help our listeners get abetter idea of the garden that
you're working with, could youplease tell us how big the land
is where you're growing andpaint a bit of a picture of what
it looks?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
like yeah, no worries .
So I am in southeast Melbourne,so it's one of the fastest
growing corridors in Victoria atthe moment.
So there are houses popping upeverywhere and it's very much a
let's fit as many houses in asmall space as possible.
To give you an idea of the landI'm working with, so it's about
400 square metres in total, butmost of that is house,
(01:22):
obviously.
So little front yard, about ameter and a half wide strip
between the fence and the housedown the side and then a little
bit of a backyard.
So it's a very typical kind ofthose flat back houses that are
being built everywhere at themoment.
So, yeah, very, very squishy,not a lot of working space, I
see.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And so how are you growing all of your fruits and
vegetables?
Are they in planter boxes?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yep, yeah, yeah.
So I suppose when we firstbuilt our house I wasn't a
gardener.
I never had a garden before.
It's kind of evolved as timehas gone on.
So when we first did thebackyard and the front yard, we
did it ourselves.
We didn't go with a landscapepackage.
So my brother's a chippy, so hebuilt a decking.
We thought, yeah, cool, newhouse, new decking, that sounds
(02:10):
fun.
That's about as far as it went,with a bit of lawn.
And then from there COVIDhappened.
I had my second child, somaternity leave all kind of
mixed into one, so a lot of timeat home, so that kind of
eventuated into getting into thegarden, which then I had to
make the space that we had work.
(02:32):
So, given that the sunniestpoint in my garden is actually
decking now, I had to becreative and think well, how can
I grow veggies there?
And that's where a lot of mystuff is in pots and in raised
veggie boxes which I upcyclefrom various things shipping
crates and boxes and whatnot.
But yeah, so I have onein-ground garden that is a
(02:55):
pollinator garden and forperennial flowers, and all of my
produce, fruit and veg, are allin either pots or raised veggie
boxes.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Ah, fantastic.
So how much produce or how manydifferent plants have you
managed to fit into that space?
Do?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
you have a rough idea .
I've never actually counted.
I'd be there all day, I reckonWell, look, I've got three, one
by one metre crates.
Yeah, there's likeone metercrates.
You know those like timbershipping crates.
So I've upcycled three of those.
They're sitting on my deckingand they're all packed with
veggies and herbs pretty muchall year round.
(03:33):
Then I've got I think I've got.
What have I got?
I've got a potted lemon, apotted mandarin, a potted feijoa
, I've got four potted apples.
So I reckon I've got seven oreight potted fruit trees.
I've got a couple of plums,actually, and a peach.
So lots of fruit trees and yeah, I don't even think I could
(03:56):
count, to be honest.
But a lot, a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
That's brilliant.
Feijoa is one of the lesscommon fruit trees.
Could you explain for ourlisteners what that is and what
that fruit is like?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, so it's actually an amazing one for kids
.
If you've got little people,it's super, super sweet.
My boys love it.
It's like a really long ovalkind of shape.
It'd be probably the size Idon't't know maybe probably
similar size to the length of anorange, I reckon, but more,
yeah, oval than round, and theyare super sweet, like lolly
(04:32):
sweet, and my boys just devourthem and they grow really well
in pots.
So anything that grows well inpots is a win for my little
garden lovely, and so you caneat them just fresh off the tree
yes, yep, that's what my boysdo.
They don't last very long.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Do you have any tips for growing the feijoas?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Anything in particular you've found helpful
in their soil Well in terms ofthe feijoas specifically, I
actually find that it thrivesthe same way as I do all my
other fruit trees.
Citrus are a little bitdifferent, but my apples, my
stone fruit and my feijoa allhave the same soil ratios.
So when I'm planting them freshout into a new pot I'll use top
(05:13):
quality premium potting mix,because that's just optimal for
drainage.
But for fruit trees the pottingmix on its own just doesn't
have enough oomph and nutrientsin it.
So then I usually do a 50-50ratio with compost, whether it's
my own made compost I've got acouple of small compost bins
here but being such a smallspace and a lot of plants, I do
(05:36):
have to buy some compost as well.
So whether I've got mine on handor a bag, I'll do a 50-50 mix.
I then mulch it with sugar canemulch, because obviously pots
dry out a lot easier than in theground and you don't want the
soil to go anaerobic and putstress on the trees.
So mulch 50-50, high pottingmix and compost and then a
(06:02):
liquid feed of seaweed and fishemulsion throughout their
growing season, and I find thatthat works for all my potted
fruit.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Oh, fantastic and that's really great that we can
have something quite unique aswell and care for it in the same
ways as the things we're alittle more used to.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, yeah, and it's a bit of fun to grow something
different.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, that's true, yeah, and exciting for the kids,
like you say.
Yeah, absolutely so.
You mentioned having compostsystems in your small garden as
well.
What kind of composting systemare you using, brianna?
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yep.
So I've got two, just theregular drums that sit on the
ground.
I've got them partially duginto the ground so to prevent
rodents, rats and mice diggingin.
But we don't obviously get toomuch of that here.
There's not a lot of your bigpests here, it's just too much
of a concrete jungle.
So we've buried them partiallyin and I've got two of them on
(06:57):
the go.
But I also have a little wormfarm, which are amazing for
little spaces.
I probably get more, to behonest, out of my worm farm than
I do my compost bins, andthey're even easier.
So I always recommend, ifpeople are interested in reusing
their scraps or living slightlymore sustainably than to opt
for a worm farm.
(07:17):
They're super easy.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
That's fantastic.
And how does the worm farmoperate?
Just for those who might nothave a good understanding of
these, could you explain thatfor us?
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So these are a little box that just stand off the
ground.
Mine have little legs.
You can get them of varioussizes.
I just have a really small one.
It's probably, I reckon, 30 by30 centimetres and it's a
two-levelled system.
So how it works is that you buythe kit that usually comes with
(07:49):
the worm bedding and the traysthat you need.
Then you can actually go andbuy composting worms.
You can just get them fromlocal hardwares and garden
suppliers usually have them.
So you basically you put thebedding in, add your worms and
then over time slowly add scraps.
So that's any of your greengarden wastes essentially.
(08:09):
So we put in peels and coresand things and slowly increase
it over time.
What's really awesome aboutcomposting worms in the worm
farm is the more you add to theworm farm, the more that they
multiply.
They kind of breed and adapt tohow much food is in there.
So the more you feed it, themore worms that appear and then
(08:30):
the quicker the food isdemolished.
So we're getting to a point nowwhere I can put a very big full
bowl of scraps in weekly andthey're pretty much gone the
next week.
I open it up to top it up andthen from that, not only do you
get the worm castings, which isessentially a worm poo, which is
a fantastic, organic, reallyrich fertilizer that you can put
(08:51):
straight in your garden.
But you also get a worm tea,which is kind of like the runoff
and the worm wee, I guess, theextract that runs through the
system constantly and it has alittle tray underneath it that
it drips into and that's aninstant liquid fertilizer that
you can put on your garden aswell, and I'm constantly
harvesting those two from thereand adding to my garden.
(09:13):
So I really love that system.
It's really easy.
You're not having to worryabout balancing greens and
browns and things that I knowpeople find difficult with a
compost system.
It's just put the worm farmsomewhere out of the sun so that
they don't fry.
I've actually just got minesitting in a little corner of
the decking so it's not even outin the garden.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Oh nice, it sounds really wonderful.
And yeah, you've got a lot ofreward for little effort with
those.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, absolutely, and the kids love it too, like if
you've got kids.
I'm all for educating my kids,and my two-year-old loves
checking out the worms.
Mommy, the worms, the worms.
Can we see the worms whenever?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
we go outside.
Oh, that's sweet.
Do the kids help in the gardenat all?
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, they do, they do.
My oldest is 10, so he's kindof at that age where you know
when he's in the right mood.
But the two-year-old he lovesit.
He's constantly outside with meand he's now learnt when a
fruit is ripe.
So it was difficult at thestart.
He just saw some kind of fruitand would pull it off, whether
it was a green strawberry or agreen tomato.
(10:14):
So he's learnt now you know oh,red, red, I can pick it, I can
eat it, which is really cute,yeah, and he loves to get his
hands dirty.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, oh, that's lovely.
I think there's a lot we canlearn from watching children
interact with the outdoors andnature.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
And as a primary school teacher, I'm surprised all the time
with the amount of kids thattell me they've never seen you
know what a tomato grows off orhow does a potato grow.
It's crazy to think that thesekids have never seen it and just
have no idea.
So that kind of was an eyeopener that you know we need to
educate our little people,starting with our own kids at
home.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Yeah, very much so.
Could I ask you, brianna, toexplain why you think it's so
important that we do teach theyoung generation now children
and the children around us aboutwhere our food comes from and
how to garden?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, well, there's so many factors.
I suppose the first one is thehealth behind it, the health for
us as a human race, the factthat so much of our food is
genetically modified or coveredin chemicals and pesticides and
things.
It's better for health, I guess, for us to be having really
organic, fresh food that hasn'tbeen sitting in storage for
(11:24):
months and covered with goodnessknows what, and teaching kids
that.
But also, you know, we lose somany heirloom varieties of
vegetables.
If you go to Coles or Wooliesor any supermarket, really you
see the same two varieties ofbroccoli, the same one type of
green bean, where growing my ownfood and looking into seeds and
(11:44):
growing from seed in particularopens up a whole world of all
these different varieties anddifferent colours and versions
of vegetables and fruits thatyou just had no idea existed.
And if people aren't growingtheir own food, then those
heirloom varieties willdisappear and we lose those.
I think for the future, to keepall of these varieties going and
(12:04):
have all of these fruits andveggies at our fingertips is
really important as well.
But then also the impact on theenvironment too.
We're kind of in that timewhere a lot of different
industries and people arelooking to try and make a
greener world and protect theenvironment, and I think growing
your own food is a massive helpin that regard.
(12:25):
If you grow organically in yourown garden, you're limiting
things like transport and theuse of plastic in people
packaging these fruits andvegetables.
So you don't think about thekind of the bigger impact If you
just decide I'm only going togrow my own tomatoes.
Well, if you think about howmany times you buy tomatoes over
summer and how many plasticcontainers that is consuming
(12:46):
into your household, if youeradicate that plastic use over
one summer, like that's huge.
So even the smallest thing canhave a really big impact.
If kids start to see thesethings and normalise this view
from a young age, I thinkthat'll have a huge impact later
on.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
I couldn't agree more .
I think yeah, indeed, and yeah,like you say, just one thing at
a time, it can make adifference.
It might seem small, but in thescheme of things, that's how it
all starts and that's what weneed to happen.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Yeah, 100%, because I can say really overwhelming and
I know it was for me when Ifirst jumped onto Instagram and
you see all of these wonderfulpeople, you know, living almost
completely off the land anddoing the whole homesteading
thing, which obviously you canaspire to do, but it can be
overwhelming.
To start with, you had thewhole idea of growing your own
food and then having the compostsystem and then baking your own
bread and then, you know, usingreusable everything.
(13:37):
It's just a lot at once.
So I think people just need tostart small, you know, start
with your little space, startwith one pot, start with one
worm farm and then go from there.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
So what would you say to people, brianna, who say, oh
, I can't grow my own food, Ionly have, you know, a very
small block, or I only have adecking area?
What would you say to thosepeople to make them perhaps
reconsider?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
The first thing is to go and have a look at my
Instagram page, because I thinkit's proof that space is just
not a limitation and I 100% wasin that boat.
I grew up up in the Dandenongs,so my parents have property up
there.
That's what I knew lots andlots of space.
So then when me and my husbandbought our first home and
obviously you know first homebuyers, you buy and just knew
(14:20):
those little pop-up houses itwas a bit of a shock.
And just knew those littlepop-up houses, it was a bit of a
shock.
And both my mother and I mymother's a gardener too we were
like, oh, I can't fit that, Ican't have what you've got at
your house, so there's no way Icould grow that.
But I'm also very stubborn and,like I said, through lockdown
and maternity leave, sittingaround twiddling my thumbs, I
decided no, I want to grow foodand I'm going to make it happen.
(14:42):
And then, yeah, so you can,absolutely.
You have to be creative, yes,and you have to think outside
the square and you have to breakgardening rules.
That's kind of the two biggestthings that I preach a lot on my
page is that if you want togrow in a small space.
You have to be willing to thinkcreative and you have to break
the rules, because you know,traditional growing of fruit and
(15:03):
veg is like okay, well, youneed three metres by two metres
to grow six broccolis?
Well, not necessarily.
I grow six broccolis in myone-by-metre garden bed.
So you've got to be willing to,yeah, break those rules and you
can absolutely do it, 100%Excellent.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And speaking of breaking those rules, I have
seen on your Instagram page thatyou have even managed to grow
watermelon and other melons inthis space.
Are there any secrets to thisand how have you done that?
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Another key to growing in asmall space is remembering that
while your horizontal spacemight be limited, vertically it
is not.
The sky is literally the limit.
So for things that vine.
So I know a lot of people, andme included.
I was so in this boat at thestart of my gardening journey.
I would see people growingwatermelons and pumpkins
Pumpkins is another one that youthink you know huge plants with
(15:57):
huge fruit, and they sprawleverywhere and they take up so
much space.
Well, yes, they can, but again,if you're creative and a bit
clever with how you do it, allof these things can actually be
grown vertically.
So so many of my things, asmuch as I possibly can, I grow
up, whether that's up overarchways, up trellises, and I
just make really, you know,cheap, movable ones with garden
(16:22):
stakes, garden pickets and dogfencing or mesh.
I use cheap, $20 flimsyarchways from hardware stores
that I just reinforce withgarden stakes or wire for the
plants to climb up.
But yeah, my watermelons growsuper happily up and over
archways.
So do my pumpkins.
(16:43):
And another trick too,especially with things like
watermelons and pumpkins, ischoosing your variety.
So, like I said before, there'sa whole world of varieties that
you won't have ever seen beforein your green grocers or your
supermarkets.
The watermelon variety that Itend to grow is called Sugar
Baby, and it's a much, muchsmaller variety.
The watermelons are probably Idon't know comparative to they'd
(17:07):
be smaller than a netball.
It's the only one out therethat does sport.
They're really tiny watermelons, which means, naturally, the
vines are smaller and morecompact too.
So, choosing varieties like that.
There's so many miniaturepumpkin varieties out there too.
I grew one this season calledthe golden nugget pumpkin, which
I found through another gardenpage on Instagram, and the
(17:31):
growth habit of this particularpumpkin is more like a zucchini.
So, rather than being a superlong vine with massive leaves,
the leaves are smaller than thatof a zucchini and the length of
the vine was probably actuallysmaller than some of my
zucchinis, so it was supercompact and I got these really
(17:52):
cute little pumpkins.
I reckon I got four to five offeach vine and it took up barely
any space.
So, be creative, growvertically and, yeah, look into
all of those different varietytypes and find ones that are
more, smaller and more compact.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That's some excellent advice.
And pumpkins, they can storefor quite a long time too, so
they are a very practical thingfor people to grow.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, absolutely yeah , If you you know, wait till the
plant fully dies back, harvestthem off with plenty of the stem
still attached so that youdon't get any nasties growing in
there.
They can store for ages.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
I had a few pumpkins stored for most of winter last
year and yeah they're beautifulyeah, no, it's wonderful.
Very versatile, in the kitchentoo.
Pumpkins yeah, absolutely.
You touched on before, Brianna,the different varieties of
foods you can grow that aren'talways or so commonly accessible
in the supermarkets.
Is there anything you'regrowing that's a little bit
(18:48):
unusual or something just a bitdifferent?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I don't know.
I reckon my feijoa is a fruitthat's less common.
I also grow at the moment thisreally cute little thing.
It's called a cucamelon.
It's a cross.
It's actually a type ofcucumber but it's tiny.
So imagine it tastes like asour cucumber but it's the size
of a grape and it looks like awatermelon.
So they're super cute and youdefinitely don't see them at the
(19:16):
supermarket and they're anawesome little garden snack.
So again, I grow them over anarchway and they're the perfect
little garden snack that youknow my kids just pick off and
eat as they're playing outside.
That's a little bit quirky anddifferent, but I guess what I've
learned like on that over timeis that you see all of these
amazing people's gardens thathave you know acres to play with
(19:37):
and they grow all of thesedifferent, random and rare
things just for the fun of it.
And whilst one day, you know, wedo dream to have property so
that I can do that and have abit of a play, what I've learnt
with my small space is that youhave to be really smart with how
you use it.
I don't have a lot of space towaste to just kind of trial
things I do every now and againfor just for fun, I might put
(19:57):
one or two random things in, butmost of my space is really well
utilized to things I know myfamily will eat and that what we
eat a lot of.
So I know at the start I waslike, oh, this is fun, we never
eat this, we've never had thisbefore.
But let's just throw all thesethings in and that's where you
kind of end up with wasted foodand wasted space.
So I've learned to reallyrestrain myself and focus on the
(20:21):
things that I know my familyare going to eat.
So that's going to save onwastage, it's going to save
money for us and it's bestutilising our space.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Exactly.
Yeah, that's a very valid point.
I think we've all been a littlebit guilty of that at times.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Absolutely, and I'm always tempted.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Yeah, yeah it is.
It's very tempting.
I also like a lot of peoplethat I hear from say how much
they enjoy offering guests andfriends and things, something
really quirky.
If you have somebody over fordinner and you've got purple
cauliflower and things like that, that can be quite the novelty.
But, like you say, it has totranslate well for you in terms
(20:59):
of what you would be buyingotherwise.
Is it going to actually saveyou at the supermarket if you
grow that?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, exactly right.
It's got to be worth thateffort.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Exactly yes.
And the cucamelons.
They sound like a fantasticlunchbox snack too, the kids'
school.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, they're a bit of fun.
Yeah, and I actually saw onanother Instagram page only this
week that someone had actuallypickled them.
I'm like, oh, what a great idea.
So when I get my next harvest,that will be my next thing.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Fantastic.
And what season do they grow inthe cucamelons?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, so they're a warm month, so I got them into
the ground as seeds duringsummer and they're still happily
producing away at the moment.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Excellent.
And so what would you say?
Brianna has been your biggestchallenge in gardening in a
small space.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Just the fact that it is a small space in general.
But I suppose I'll explain why.
I guess that when you haveproperty or lots of land to play
with, I suppose you have thebenefit of really large open
space.
So you're not dealing withweird shapes and nooks and
crannies and corners and narrowgrowing beds.
(22:06):
You're not dealing with shadowsand shade.
Which is probably the hardestthing when it comes to a small
space is the sun, because we allknow that fruit and veg
generally lack full sun.
The more sun that you can givethem, the more that they will
produce, the faster they ripen.
So when you are surrounded bytall infrastructures, my back
(22:27):
fence is a massive two-storyhouse that would be a metre off
my back fence, so that casts aheap of shade.
Be a meter off my back fence,so that casts a heap of shade.
They've got the shade from myhouse.
And then obviously there aretwo meter high fences around
everybody's properties.
So the shadows casted from andthe shade casted from all of
those infrastructures is reallyreally difficult and I had to
(22:50):
over a good season or two.
You have to be patient.
You've got to really watch.
Over a good season or two.
You have to be patient.
You've got to really watch andrecord and take note or
photograph, like I did, theshadows movements throughout a
whole year, because it'sdifferent from summer to winter.
So in summer my whole garden isalmost in full sun just because
the sun is so high, but then inwinter the whole narrow
(23:13):
corridor that runs along theside of my house is full shade.
So where I grow watermelonsthere all summer, which we all
know love the heat, it'scomplete shade in winter and I
can't grow anything.
It's a dead space.
So that has been a bigchallenge and learning curve is
to actually watch, season toseason, how the sun moves and
how the shadows are thrown indifferent parts.
(23:34):
And, yeah, working with that,yeah that's very good advice too
.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Like you say, it's not the same.
All the time Changes.
Yeah absolutely yeah.
So what are some of the thingscurrently growing in your garden
?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
So we're currently transitioning and I'm very onto
it this year.
I often have seasons where I'mway behind.
You know, life takes over andthings aren't in as early as you
like, but I've actually gotlots of my brassicas in now.
So, being in a cool climate, Ido have the advantage of I can
get my brassicas in pretty early.
I had them in actually probablya good few weeks ago now and I
(24:11):
actually started sowing mybrassicas mid to end of summer,
so they've had a really goodhead start.
So I've got broccoli going in.
I tend to grow the sproutingbroccoli.
Again, that's a choice I makebecause of my small space.
If you're not sure what thesprouting broccoli is, I suppose
that's similar to what youwould see like broccolini If
you're buying broccolini fromthe shops.
(24:33):
They're just little heads butthey produce lots.
Just little heads, but theyproduce lots of little heads.
So I can get lots and lots ofharvests from it and get many
dinners worth of broccoli,rather than grow a traditional
broccoli head and just harvestthe one head and then it's done.
So I can make better use ofthat space by growing something
that gives more.
So I've got plenty of sproutingbroccoli in.
(24:55):
I've put in kohlrabi.
Kohlrabi is a fun one that,yeah, again, you don't see
normally at the supermarket.
But that's a type of brassicaand it's comparable to the stem
of a broccoli.
So if you like and eat thestems of the broccoli, it's got
that similar consistency, and Icook it in the same way as I do
my steamed veg during winter.
(25:15):
So that's a bit of fun.
And that comes in purple andwhite varieties, so a bit of fun
and colour in the garden inwinter.
What else have I got?
Peas are all in snow peas andsugar snap peas, again, all
grown vertically.
Everything you can grow up isawesome.
Carrots and beetroot have justgone in as well, and herbs I've
got parsley and coriander.
(25:36):
So that's kind of what's comingin now.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Lovely, and do you ever have excess produce from
your small space garden?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Overly.
I've gotten quite good now.
I probably did at my first yearof growing for each season
because I wasn't sure exactlyhow much each would give me.
So I kind of just as you do, Ijust want lots of everything.
(26:04):
So I put in like I had like 10silverbeet plants and it's like,
well, I didn't realize that asilverbeet plant is really
prolific and one will prettymuch keep producing leaves all
winter and I probably didn'tneed that much silverbeet.
So, you know, this year I'velearned from that and I have two
or three that will give me andmy family what we need and
that's more than enough.
Whereas, you know, broccoli wepretty much throughout winter.
(26:25):
All three of my boys lovebroccoli husband and two kids.
So I know that that's somethingwe have almost with every
dinner.
So, yes, I've got six broccoliplants for the four of us.
But yeah, it's just learning.
I suppose being okay withlearning and making that mistake
.
At the start I had plenty ofstuff to give to other people or
to just add to compost, really.
(26:46):
But yeah, I've learned and I'vekind of figured out now how
many of each thing I need for myfamily.
Excellent.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So which plant, would you say, offer you the most
harvest in terms of spacerequired?
For winter, yeah, or for eachof the seasons?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, okay, I reckon the sprouting broccoli is a
really good one If people wantto grow brassicas.
So when I say brassicas I'msaying cauliflower, broccoli,
cabbages.
The sprouting broccoli givesyou most bang for buck.
Cauliflower's they're a massivehead, they take up a lot of
space and you just get the onehead of cauliflower.
(27:23):
Same with cabbage.
They are really large.
I know you can get theminiature varieties, but they do
take up a fair bit of space andyou're just getting that one
harvest.
So I tend to stick to thingsthat you get multiple harvests
from, so harvest.
So I tend to stick to thingsthat you get multiple harvests
from.
So the sprouting broccolilettuce lettuce grows now in the
cool regions.
So I, rather than say, grow aniceberg lettuce where I have to
(27:44):
wait months for one ball to formand then I cut that off and
it's done, I grow the leafy oneswhere I just harvest the outer
leaves of the lettuce and itwill just keep giving me more,
and through winter I can prettymuch just show one, maybe two
successions of lettuce and thatgets me through the whole winter
(28:06):
.
So lettuce is a really good one.
And peas, snow peas, snow peasare so easy and they're so
prolific.
The more you pick, the moreflowers they put on and the more
peas you get.
So I found that snow peas are awinner and they're great for
the lunchbox.
They're great for the kids tojust snack on when they're out
and about.
So, yeah, I think snow peas area goodie In terms of for summer
(28:29):
.
If you want to go for thingsthat you're getting more bang
for buckes, you could just plantone and get pretty much a whole
summer's worth of tomatoes ifyou are smart about the variety
that you pick.
So I learned over time that ifyou're growing from seed, if you
check out on whichever websiteyou're buying your seeds from,
(28:51):
in the description about thattype, for a lot of them it gives
you an estimated yield size forthat particular variety and for
some of them the yield sidemight only be a couple of kilos
of tomatoes.
Where I grow one called aTigerella tomato and that's like
15 to 18 kilos of yield whichis constantly picked throughout
(29:13):
the season and they'remedium-sized tomatoes, I would
say.
They're not as small as yourcherries and they're definitely
not as big as your beefsteaks.
So they're a nice mid-sizedcherry, which means you can use
them in sandwiches.
I've made sauce with them andput them in salad.
So it comes back to justknowing and learning and
choosing the right varieties andbeing smart.
(29:33):
So, yeah, picking a reallyproductive tomato and capsicum
too.
I know a lot of people love togrow capsicum in summer but they
can be tricky because they cantake up a bit of space, because
they're almost like a miniaturebush shrub and they take a long
time to develop.
So you might only get four orfive, maybe six capsicums off
one capsicum plant when I'vediscovered a variety called the
(29:57):
Mad Hatter capsicum and they'rethese really cute and they look
like literally the Mad Hatter ifyou've seen Alice in Wonderland
his hat they look like hislittle hats hanging and it is
super prolific Like I've gottenmultiple harvest baskets of
these capsicums from one plant,so I always opt for that variety
rather than a traditionalcapsicum.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
Fantastic, yeah, so it really is about doing your
research as well, particularlywhen you're working in a tiny
garden.
That's more important, ofcourse.
But the produce in terms ofspace I think that applies to
everybody really If we can plant, you know, have exactly what we
need to provide for our garden.
We know if we're plantingexcess to share or to preserve
(30:40):
or things like that.
I think it's very, very smartand everybody should check that
out.
That harvest ratio youmentioned Very handy.
So what's been one of yourbiggest successes, brianna,
something you're really proud ofthat you conquered in your tiny
garden?
Speaker 2 (30:57):
So this might be probably not what people are
expecting, but this summer I gota blue banded bee into my
garden, which for me is huge.
So before I started gardening,I didn't know that there was
such thing as an Australiannative bee and I certainly
didn't know that they were blue.
And when I discovered them,seeing them in other people's
gardens, I thought right, I amgetting some of these native
(31:20):
bees into my garden, which I didthink was a bit of excessive
goal really, because, like Isaid, I am in a tiny little
patch in the middle of suburbia.
I'm surrounded by concrete.
All my neighbours havesynthetic turf.
I thought how on earth am Igoing to get these little
critters to find my garden?
So I've spent just as manyyears as I have in the backyard
(31:41):
creating a productive garden.
My front garden is very, verydifferent.
My front garden gets full sun,full wind, smashed by elements.
So it needed hardy, toughplants.
So it's naturally a nativegarden where it's very much
focused on Australian nativesand food for wildlife, food,
habitat and shelter for wildlife.
(32:02):
So I thought, okay, this is theperfect time to try and put in
whatever these blue banded beeslike.
So it's jam packed with.
I've got some lavenders inthere because I know they like
lavender.
I've got grevilleas, I've gotpaper daisies you know all of
those pollen rich Australiannatives.
And then, sure enough, thissummer I heard I don't know if
(32:23):
you've never heard a blue bandedbee before.
They sound completely differentto a regular bee.
Look it up if you've never seenthem before.
They're adorable.
But they have this really loudbuzz, not like a normal buzz,
and I was like what is thatsound?
And my husband turned aroundand, sure enough, there's a blue
bee.
So that was just a huge win forme to know that you know that
(32:45):
saying of if you plant them,they'll come.
I honestly didn't believe it.
I thought how on earth are theygoing to find me here?
Like, where are they going tocome from?
There's nothing around me.
But no, they do.
They really do.
So I've had blue banded bees,I've had resin bees and leaf
cutter bees, which are allAustralian natives.
So that's been really fun.
And to educate my kids and mystudents at school, I share my
(33:08):
photos with them and yeah, it'sbeen really exciting.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Oh, that's fantastic.
And, as they say, where there'sa will, there's a way.
But when it comes to bees,there's certainly also quite the
need.
So the more people plantingpollinator gardens, the better.
I say yeah, absolutely yeah.
So, to summarise those, you saythey're like the lavender, the
grevillea.
What else have you got in there?
Okay?
Speaker 2 (33:31):
so I've got some corriers, I've got grevilleas,
I've got calistemon, someflannel flowers, paper daisies I
love the paper daisies.
The paper daisies are a reallygreat one if you're looking to
add that pollinator food in areally cheap, easy way, because
Australian natives can be reallydifficult to grow from seeds so
(33:51):
you're buying establishedplants which we know can get
pricey.
So I've grown with success,really easily, heaps of
different paper daisies, boththe miniature 30 centimetre high
versions and the massive one totwo metre tall ones.
So if you're looking to addsome native plants in, that you
can do really quite costeffective and they're really
(34:12):
easy to collect seed from aswell.
So once you kind of buy theseed, once they either keep
self-seeding themselves or youcan keep the flower heads and
re-sow them again the nextseason.
So yeah, paper daisies arereally good, easy ones.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Fantastic, and they add some nice colour too.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yeah, they do.
They come in so many beautifulvarieties.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, Speaking of seed saving, I saw on new
Instagram page and I did want toask you you were doing a
demonstration of a really quickand easy way to save seeds.
Would you mind sharing with ourlisteners what your method was?
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, so I like to just do things the lazy way.
Really, when you've got atwo-year-old and you're a
teacher, short and sharp andfast, things are good.
So I actually wait until theflower heads.
It obviously doesn't work withall flowers, but for things like
my Echinacea so the video wasof my Echinaceas, if you don't
know what they are.
They're beautiful perennialflowers.
(35:05):
They're like massive cones andthe petals like hang down, so
really really pretty.
I actually let the flower headcompletely dry out on the plant
and I just keep an eye on it.
I make sure that there's norain coming to spoil the seed
and I just wait until I canactually get to a point where,
(35:25):
if I touch the really dried outflower head, I could see the
seeds wiggling or falling off.
And then, when it's at thatpoint, all I did was took my
bowl out with me and, ratherthan just deadheading the plants
and then throwing it in thecompost or in the green waste
bin, which most people do, Itook my bowl out with me, I
shook the plant head upside downinto the bowl, all the seeds
fall out, and then threw thestem into the compost bin.
(35:47):
So it can be as simple as that.
Just, you know, shake the plantout into a bowl and then that
will just go into a brown paperbag where I'll just label it and
put it in with my other box ofseeds, ready for next summer?
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Fantastic, so it certainly can be done.
You don't have to be spendinghours and hours handpicking
individual seeds out of them.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, reallyeasy, excellent.
So is there anything you have,brianna, for the future lined up
, something that you'd like totry in your garden, or a tiny
garden idea that you think isworth a try?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yeah, so I'm look, I'm always experimenting.
I think that's one of thebiggest learning curves that I
had when I started gardening.
I think if you're new togardening, you have this fear of
, oh, but I'm going to kill itor or it's going to die or it's
not going to work, and you haveto kind of be okay, especially
if you're experimenting with asmall space and thinking outside
the box like we have to.
Chances are, things are notgoing to work and that's okay.
(36:46):
So I'm constantly trying weirdand wonderful things.
But my big project now that I'mdoing is I am actually getting
rid of the lawn in my naturestrip and extending my native
front garden into the naturestrip and fully planting that
out.
So obviously it's dependent onwhich city council you're in and
(37:06):
the rules that they haveregarding the nature strip, but
the council that I'm in doactually allow it and actually
encourage it for biodiversityand for wildlife.
They obviously have rules.
So you do need to make surethat you've either spoken to
your council or you've lookedonto their website, which is
what I did for their rules,things like you know, not
obstructing views andconsidering whatever's going on
(37:28):
under the nature strip water,water and internet and pipes and
things.
But once you've kind of done abit of research and figured out
what you can and can't do, Ithink people's nature strips are
kind of a wasted piece of space.
For most people it's just deadlawn sitting there.
But lawn really to me should bea place to play and sit and be
able to walk comfortably.
So I'm not saying, you know,never have lawn.
(37:50):
We have lawn in our backyardfor the dogs and for the kids,
but for the front lawn, like noone goes and sits on the nature
strip next to the road and playson that grass.
So you know, to me I'm like,well, that's wasted space.
So that's going to be gardennow.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
So I am currently in the middle of slowly digging up
and taking off the grass that'sthere and planting it out with
more natives.
So that's my next big thing oh,fantastic.
And yeah, like you say, yourcouncil allowing that.
That's brilliant.
More and more councils aregetting on board with that.
So if you're unsure, it's worthcalling up or sending an email
and finding out.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
I had had a lot of people whenI first shared that on my
Instagram page last week what Iwas doing.
I had so many people reach outand think and ask me you know,
did you have to get permissionfor that, or particular
clearances and things, or areyou even allowed to do that?
It actually shocked me how manypeople thought that they just
weren't allowed to do anythingwith their lawn.
So I just feel like it shouldbe more promoted that that
(38:49):
nature strip can be better used.
Something so small as putting afew extra grevilleas or paper
daisies in your nature stripthat isn't used anyway could
have a huge difference on ournative wildlife.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
Another native seed that's quite easy to germinate
is the billy buttons too, andthe bees do love those.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Yes, I do have those as well.
They're gorgeous, they do, andthey look so sweet.
There's little yellow ballssticking up and bopping around
in the breeze in summer.
Yeah, they're a really good one.
They do so and they look sosweet.
There's little yellow ballssticking up and bopping around
in the breeze in summer.
Yeah, they're a really good one.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
They do.
So those, along with the, likeyou say, the paper daisies, the
everlasting daisies.
If there's anyone out therethinking I can't grow from seed,
give those a whirl, I think,yeah, you'll be pleasantly
surprised.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, absolutely, because, yeah, natives can be
really tricky because a lot ofthem with that being native, you
know, some of them need to beopened up with smoke and heat
and because they've come fromour native environment.
But and I was really taken backand thought I can't grow native
from seed.
But yeah, no, these definitely,you absolutely can.
They're super easy and I have apretty good germination rate
(39:49):
with them and I don't reallygive them any extra love or make
any particular soil mixes oranything.
When I do them it's literallyjust premium potty mix.
Take out some of the big chunks, throw your seeds in.
It's as easy as that.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Easy, excellent.
So is there something, brianna,that you'd like to see more of
in the gardening realm?
Speaker 2 (40:08):
I think people's more organic approach to gardening,
I think, is what I would like tosee more of, and people
thinking of more alternativeways for pest management and to
control pest pressure in thegardens.
It's still cringey and I haveto hold it back when I go to my
hardware and see people pickingup all of those pesticides and
weed killers and things andputting them into their trolleys
(40:31):
.
I just want to say, oh stop,please stop, because there's so
many other ways that you can goabout growing organically.
So my garden is completelyorganic.
I don't spray anything.
It's all about and it takestime but creating an ecosystem
where the creatures and plantsall kind of take care of
themselves.
It's not to say that I don'thave a single aphid in my garden
(40:54):
.
I absolutely do, and Iabsolutely do occasionally lose
a plant or a harvest from a pest, but all in all, considering I
don't touch it with anypesticides, any herbicides,
anything.
I think my harvests are prettygood and proof that you don't
have to kill everything or covereverything in chemicals for it
(41:14):
to grow.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yes, yeah, that's a wonderful point to make, and
there's also things like youknow, sacrificial plants.
You can do so if you know thatyou might get some aphids on
that one.
You know, planting a sacrificeplant out a little further away
from or in a different area towhere you're growing the ones
that you plan on eating is alsoa practical idea.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, 100%.
I have a bit of a rule withwhenever I plant any vegetables
into my veggie gardens, I alsohave to add with it a flower of
some kind, whether it's anasturtium, whether it's an
alyssum, whether it'ssnapdragons.
There's multiple marigolds,depending on the season and what
I'm planting, but I always putflowers in with it, and not only
(41:58):
does that make it look pretty,it does.
It's very aestheticallypleasing to have your flowers in
amongst your fruit and veg, butit also serves a purpose.
With that interplanting, you'recreating an ecosystem.
The more things you mix up andplant together, the more diverse
the soil is, the more diversethe scents and the different
types of plants that are growingtogether and they help each
(42:20):
other out.
They bring in lots of differentbugs, both your pests and your
garden helpers, things like yourladybirds and your parasitic
wasps.
And again, I was one of thosepeople that was really sceptical
.
I'm like how on earth can Ihave all of these brassicas
completely covered in aphids andjust leave it and wait for a
wasp to come and fix it?
But you know, I actuallywatched it unfold.
(42:43):
This year I had one of those.
I don't know the scientificnames, but it's one of those
swan plants that the monarchbutterflies is a host plant for
them.
I don't know if people knowthose.
They've got those big greenkind of fairy balls on them.
But I planted it because it's ahost plant for the monarch
butterfly and I was hoping toget some monarch butterflies in
the garden.
But then throughout summer Iwatched it just get completely
(43:05):
covered in aphids, likecompletely.
You could see every new shootand growth from the plant was
completely swarmed and I thought, oh my goodness, like it's
going to just get decimated anddie and I thought, well, I'm
going to leave this as a bit ofan experiment and I'm going to
watch it and I let it go.
And sure enough, I reckonwithin a week, a week, of just
not touching it, the plant wascompletely covered in ladybirds,
(43:29):
ladybugs, both the larvae Idon't know if you've seen the
little larvaes of a ladybug.
They're very they've likelittle long black critters.
They look nothing like theactual ladybug.
So it was completely covered inthem and ladybugs and parasitic
wasps which I had never seenbefore in my garden.
But I saw this little guyhovering around and crawling
around on the leaves and sureenough, I did the old Google
(43:51):
with a photo and it was aparasitic wasp and, yeah, I was
watching it going around andtaking care of all the aphids
and I just left it.
I left the plant and now when Igo out there there's not a
single aphid on it.
So you know, it just proves ifyou just leave it, if you just,
you know, it might not lookslightly for a little while,
sure, but you don't have tospray it and kill everything
(44:12):
else around it.
Because if I had sprayed thatplant, it also would have taken
out the ladybugs, it also wouldhave taken out the parasitic
wasps.
But I don't think peoplerealize that these things don't
just target the pest, they'lltake out anything.
So as soon as you put it onthere, you're getting rid of the
good stuff as well as the badstuff.
Speaker 1 (44:29):
Yeah, that's very true and there is a balance in
nature.
That's very true and there is abalance in nature.
If we educate ourselves on whatwe need, like you say, that
variety, those different things,what is actually found in
nature, rather than trying toachieve manicured, pristine
gardens, growing only what wewant, nature will provide.
And if we're providing theright conditions, that balance
(44:51):
will occur.
Like you say, you see, the bugscome in, the beneficial insects
and it all takes care of itself.
We're not supposed to eat 100%of everything we grow or plant.
It's not realistic.
You know we will lose somethings along the way, but it's
that balance that comes intoplay and levels things out.
(45:12):
Yeah, exactly right, yeah, yeah.
So I'll finish up, brianna,with a question for you, for our
listeners.
If there's anyone out therelistening today and thinking,
okay, I'm going to give smallspace gardening a go, be it on
an inner city balcony or a smallsuburban yard, what's the one
(45:33):
piece of advice that you thinkis paramount?
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Start small.
Don't feel like you have to goand have 17 raised garden beds
or 10 pots to begin with.
Just start small.
Focus on getting your soilright.
That was a huge thing for me inthe beginning, not
underestimating the importanceof getting your soil right.
So focus on your knowledge ofhow to get really good, rich
(45:59):
soil that's filled with organicmatter that's going to serve its
purpose.
Do a bit of research into that.
And, yeah, start small.
Pick a few plants that you knowyou or you and your family eat,
whether that's one or two pots.
I know at your hardware you canget those really large, like 80
centimeter diameter pots.
Start with one or two of those.
Throw some lettuce in there,put a broccoli in there, put
(46:21):
some parsley in there, and watchthat and learn how to keep that
thriving, and then you'll findthat it's actually easier than
it might appear.
Start small, master that andthen slowly add to it.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
And learn from that, one thing at a time.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
That's wonderful advice, brianna, thank you.
Thank you so much for your timetoday.
It's been really fantasticchatting with you and I'm sure
we have listeners out there whohave been inspired by your
accomplishments today.
But before we sign off, couldyou please share with us how our
listeners can find out moreabout you and your garden?
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
So.
I have an Instagram page whereI share everything that I'm
doing in my garden.
I like to do how-to videos andjust do me just walking through
the garden, talking randomnonsense about what's happening.
So you can find me attinygardengrowing.
My name's Brianna, so you'llsee that all there in my bio.
(47:16):
So, yeah, come and give us afollow or jump in my DMs and
have a chat.
I get a lot of people inboxingme and asking for advice or you
know how do I start out or whatdo you do for your soil.
So don't be afraid, I'm alwaysup for a chat and I love to
share what I've learned alongthe way.
So I'd love to have you joiningalong with me.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Excellent, thank you.
And for those who haven'talready been following Brianna
on Instagram, do check it out.
There is a world of knowledgethere and you will be surprised
by what her tiny garden isproducing.
That address, again, for herInstagram is tinygardengrowing.
You've been listening to how IGrow, produced by the Seed
(47:57):
Collection in Melbourne,australia.
It is our aim to make gardeningmore accessible to more people,
and this podcast is one of themany ways we're doing that.
If you don't already know whowe are, jump online and visit
wwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
You'll find a treasure trove ofgardening information, as well
(48:19):
as a huge range of seeds andgarden supplies and accessories.
That address, again, iswwwtheseedcollectioncomau.
Thanks for listening.
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