“My earliest memories are our back yard and raking up the bloody leaves of this huge rubber tree. I was the youngest and always looking for attention so to get me out of her hair my mum would send me out to clean scale off this plant with soapy water which was my earliest intro to organic pest control. I clearly remember as a toddler in the 60’s the Hibiscus plant with their huge, beautiful flower. We were always sucking on the Honeysuckle plant and I remember being with all the local kids devouring mangos off the tree and the mulberry tree on the way home from school. All my joy was around plants.
As a teen I was drawn to native plants, Grevillia and Banksias and all the plants that brought in wildlife. I was going to be an Architect as I drew houses and was into design. I did it for a year it didn’t work out. I then got a job in an insurance company and for 3 years studied business management but realised it was not my place.
I was a muso at the time, playing in punk bands, drums initially but took on the bass as I wanted to be out the front, that attention seeking again (laughs). We moved to Sydney in the late 80’s and played in inner-city pubs. That sort of finished late 90’s and at that stage I’d met my wife Melissa in Sydney. She said, ‘I’m going overseas, you coming?’ and I thought I better go because she was pretty special and I didn’t want to lose her. She’s actually a massage therapist here at Inner Sanctum, best massage in Lismore.
It was on a Greyhound bus from Sydney to Brisbane where I was thinking, what the hell am I going to do now? It was like a flash and it came out of the blue and it was Horticulture. We arrived in Brisbane and I booked into an Associate Diploma in Horticulture at Grovely TAFE , got a part time job through my landlord who then put me onto a boutique nursery where I worked as well. I bought a ute and started my own gardening thing while I was studying. I soaked it all up. First job out of TAFE was at Hayman Island resort as assistant landscape manager.
Soon after that we moved to Lismore which was 18 years ago. Since then we’ve always been in Lismore. We never intended to stay. My wife came here to study Naturopathy so we packed up the kids and I was home Dad while she was at Uni for 5 years. We loved this place and decided to stay. When the kids were little I started doing Community radio at 2 NCR. I was already writing for some gardening magazines but gave the radio thing a go because being at home with little kids you kind of forget how to speak. I needed to be speaking. I was doing breakfast and some other shows on the station and I put together a gardening show. Not talkback as we didn’t have that facility. It was a bunch of tips and interviews with different gardeners including celebrity gardeners and it went well.
I approached the ABC about doing a show but before I got onto the Saturday morning show I got some funding from the ABC to do a series which went National. It was a regional radio production and they had to mentor me on radio skills. I actually got funding twice more to do that series and it won a Horticulture Media award. I also picked up the talk back program on ABC North Coast which I’ve now been doing for 14 years with Graeme Stewart 8.30am — 9.30am every Saturday. Once a month I get together with Julie Ray who does a cooking segment on my show called Garden 2 Kitchen. It’s something I never want to give up because it’s a great connection with the gardening community and it’s a great way to start the weekend. I’ve done 3 gardening books, Garden Guru 1 and 2 and I did a book called Down to Earth Garden Design.
From there I’ve been doing magazines. At the moment my role is Horticulture Editor for Gardening Australia Magazine. I was doing the same role prior to that with Organic Gardening Magazine for a few years. The editor for that magazine lives locally, Steve Payne. There’s a few local people involved in that national magazine which is an ABC publication. I was working on a Channel 9 program for a while called The Garden Gurus and I was doing this thing on Prime News for a few years which was a little gardening piece every Wednesday night on the news. I attend events as well around the country presenting. It’s a nice mix of things that I can do.
There are many community garden across the Northern Rivers and I try and support them all but the one that is closest to my heart is the one here in Lismore. It’s a wonderful asset to Lismore. It’s in a great central location and has a really good team of dedicated people who keep it rolling. The volunteers get a lot out of it. It’s a fairly big site so right from the beginning we put together a concept plan and designed something that visually has a strong appeal. It has a big circle in the middle which has pathways linking you up to all the different parts of the garden. The first section is the nursery which leads on to the orchard. Just beyond the orchard they are getting ready to build a kitchen area to serve the garden. Beyond that there are beds which you can hire so you can grow your things in the garden. There’s an indigenous garden and also a demonstration area. In the centre there are raised beds going all the way around. In the middle is the gathering area where the events are held. They can fit hundreds of people there surrounded by edible plants.
It’s far more than a place to grow things, it’s a place where you can learn how to garden, share produce and seeds and pick up produce to take home. Probably the most important thing is the social connections that are happening at the garden. Like minded people have a place to meet and share information, knowledge and the joy of gardening. They have a stall at the Thursday night farmers market. You can go down and see Terri or Peter and organise a pay and pick if you need to. It’s all done strictly to organic principles.
It’s a place for Lismore people to be proud of and to take visitors. Go down on a Saturday morning. There’s usually some harvesting going on, a meal being made with the produce. Lend some time, pick up some skills. It’s a beautiful space.
I’m so glad that in my late 20’s I had this calling for the plant world because I’ve managed to make a living out of something I love. I was hoping it could have been music but its turned out to be my other love. I love tending my veggie garden, to eat fresh, organic food from the garden is one of the greatest joys we can have. If I was living in a cardboard box I’d find a little crack in the pavement to plant some Basil.”