TV personality Vasili Kanidiadis of Vasili’s Garden fame has helped blind and low vision green thumbs after participating in Vision Australia’s Telelink Gardening group.
The Channel 31 and Channel 7 personality was a special guest for the weekly over-the-phone gardening group on Wednesday 23 June.
He gave a plethora of tips and tricks for growing the best backyard garden in the Australian climate.
The group was particularly keen on troubleshooting some of their gardening woes, including a particularly popular grievance of lemons not ripening fully on the tree.
Caption: Vasili Kanidiadis in a garden holding a puppy.
“You need a well-protected environment so it’s away from the wind and hot sun, and you need to ensure there is adequate drainage and fertilising happening,” he advised.
Vasili also gave an insight into the recent storms Melbourne experienced, which caused widespread damage in Mt Dandenong and cutting power to hundreds.
“Gum trees are known as widow makers,” he said.
“They’re renown for dropping limbs out of nowhere. Uprooting happens because it’s a top-heavy plant, it makes it unstable because the root system isn’t deep enough to counteract the sway.”
Here are some of the best tips from Vasili during his Telelink appearance:
Best time to prune a fig tree: “If it’s dropped all its leaves, prune it now.” (winter time)
Easy homemade fertiliser: 1tbp olive oil in 1L water and a couple drops of dish soap. Easy!
Growing blueberries, strawberries etc.: Berries love acidic soil, so you will have to monitor the PH of your soil. Keep it between 4-5.5ph.
Growing cranberries: “They need the warmth – that’s for sure. You can leave them in pots or plant them in the ground. They need full sun and drainage as they are very shallow-rooted. They need their high fertilising.
Thank you to Vasili and his team for volunteering their time to the group.
Maresi!
The Vision Australia Telelink groups are a free, weekly social groups on lots of different topics for people who are blind or have low vision. The program has been in operation for more than 40 years and provides a vital social outlet for people going through similar situations.
To join a group, fill in the enquiry form.