All The Dirt Gardening, Sustainability And Food

Professor Tim Entwisle, the Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, enjoys communicating and promoting science, plants and gardens. In this week's 'All The Dirt' podcast, recorded in the Melbourne Botanic Garden, he shares with Steve and Deryn some of his favourite trees, his fascination with algae and love of garden travel.

Joe Tassone from Tass 1 Nursery grows a wide range of common and unusual fruits at his Middle Swan nursery. On this week's All The Dirt podcast he chats with Steve and Deryn about growing fruits in sub tropical and Mediterranean climates and they taste and discuss the fruits he picked that morning from his garden. The fruits are: panache and hasbergen figs, acerola cherry, orange berry, Chinese date (Ju-jube), beach cherry, white sapote, tropical wampee, native wampi, wax jambu and passion fruit.

Ross Mars is a wastewater specialist, permaculture teacher and author who speaks to Steve and Deryn on this week's All The Dirt podcast about designing systems that reuse water in the house and garden.

In this week's podcast Terry Sellick, the Lawn Doctor, talks with Deryn and Steve about the best lawn varieties, dispels a few turf myths and shares tips on maintenance to keep lawns looking good year round.

Since 1987 the Varischetti family have been growing tropical plants in their 10-acre Beechboro nursery,  Coast Road Palms. In this week's podcast Steve and Deryn are joined by Connie and son Daniel to talk about the plants that thrive in warm areas outside of the tropics.

Neville Passmore is a passionate horticulturalist who was born into a gardening family and has spent more than 47 years in the gardening industry.  On this week's podcast he speaks to Steve and Deryn about his career which includes plant production, gardening retailing, media and education and his passion for bringing greenery into suburbs and cities.

Haydn Gunningham has perfected making compost at home. On this week's podcast he tells Steve and Deryn his secrets for making a perfect batch every time and talks about his thriving vegetable patch. For in-depth written notes and a list of the carbon and nitrogen content of organic products visit the DIY section of our website.

Keeping the garden looking good in summer can be a challenge in a hot and dry climate but Steve Wood and Deryn Thorpe from All The Dirt Podcast share tips to keep your garden thriving as the temperatures soar.

Jeremy Thomas the Curator of Aboriculture at Kings Park and Bold Park talks trees with Steve and Deryn in this week's podcast. They discuss moving the giant boab from the Kimberley to Kings Park and techniques for looking after stressed trees.

Aboriginal elder Dale Tilbrook talks about traditional bush tucker, using our tasty Australian ingredients to flavour our food at home and Aboriginal spirituality.

Dr Philip Groom, author of Plant Life of Southwestern Australia, talks about the adaptations that plant have to cope with the world's most nutrient- impoverish soils, a hot dry summer, frequent fires and the animals and birds that want to eat them!

There are over 25,000 orchid species known and many more hybrids. With just a little knowledge, orchids can be surprisingly easy to grow. Join Kaye and Jay Baylis from The Orchids Society of Western Australia as they chat everything orchids with Deryn and Steve. 

Digby Growns is Kings Park's Senior Plant Breeder. Digby, leads a small team of staff and volunteers involved in the plant breeding program. This week Deryn and Steve discuss the science behind plant breeding.

Louise Clark is a horticulturist at Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia in the US, and provides advice on growing green roofs, expands on her favourite trees and gives us an insiders look at the many outstanding gardens in the Philadelphia region.

Dr Josh Byrne, television gardening presenter with ABC's Gardening Australia, talks about how his love of nature and childhood spent in the garden developed into a career developing sustainable environments.

Bob Hunter, president of the Cactus and Succulent Society of WA, talks to Steve Wood and Deryn Thorpe about succulent and cactus varieties and shares the secrets of his potting mix and cactus shadehouses.

Horticultural therapy is using plants and gardening to promote healthy bodies and minds. Practitioners Glenice Batchelor and Jeanette Penklis talk with Steve Wood and Deryn Thorpe about how we can use our gardens to heal.

Scientists are beginning to understand that plants have abilities that we've only ever associated with animals. They can learn, have memory and decision making capabilities. Steve Wood and Deryn Thorpe discuss the latest research with scientist Monica Gagliano, a Research Associate Professor in Evolutionary Ecology and  Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia & Research Affiliate at the Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney.

Steve Wood and Deryn Thorpe discuss ways to save money in the garden like taking cuttings and making your own compost.

It's spring and Steve and Deryn discuss what should be planted in the veggie patch now. Listen in to find out tips for planting tomatoes, including their favourite varieties as well as how to get the most out of your, sweetcorn, zucchini, eggplant, Ceylon spinach, capsicum and chillies.