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It is definitely not just a matter of sticking your fingers in the soil and voila! You have to know what you’re doing because gardening is a scientific process – and his own luscious oasis proves that he does his surname justice. Haidee Muller-Isaacs chatted with him about the third season of Tuintoere.
How did you experience the third season of Tuintoere?
Every season has its own unique character. We do gardens, yes, but the character is influenced by where in South Africa we go. Because the country is so big, we planned the routes carefully to include a variety of gardens, even in the Cape. This time we added different kinds of gardens and looked a bit wider than the gardens alone – the show also involves the green fingers behind them.
We also visited an indigenous nursery just outside Johannesburg to meet another gardening legend and I realised: It is about so much more than growing plants – it is also about the passion of a person who, for instance, wants to ensure that everyone in the country plants indigenous plants. Not only must we plant indigenous; we must take it a step further and plant endemic (plants that naturally occur in your smaller region). When you do this, you don’t have to give as much water and the birds and bees are happier … and the bonus: Your garden looks prettier for longer, because the plants naturally occur in the region.
What do you take with you from each season?
I think passion, passion, passion. Ideas. One of my favourite things is to steal with the eye. It’s not really stealing. Gardeners rarely mind if you wander around in their paradises and borrow a few ideas for your own garden. It can be anything: Maybe there is a specific plant or the pot that it is planted in that you like, or maybe you notice a special corner that could work in your own garden.
It is beautiful when you notice a particular plant and then, as the film crew is packing up, the gardener comes running to you with a ziplock bag and says: “Here is a cutting, go and make roots” or “Here are a few seeds.” Sometimes it works in your garden and sometimes it doesn’t – but it is the love that matters. And in the end that is what we share: the passion and love for gardening. It is more than just a hobby; I think gardening speaks to the soul.
Did you learn anything new? Is it true that you never stop learning?
You always learn something new. Sometimes you learn that a beautiful garden lies behind a wall that you’ve passed many times before. You would never have guessed at it … until someone opens that gate. Gardeners can be a bit shy and don’t like to brag about their gardens.
In the Cape we saw a vegetable garden planted on an old tennis court – the most beautiful garden right there on the tennis court in planters et cetera. There is also a net covering the garden to keep the birds from pecking up the seeds. Just shows, you can use what you have and you don’t always have to make big changes. I also learned that most people don’t use pesticides and that there is a huge organic movement with everyone going back to gardening the way our grandparents used to. And also that gardeners don’t just work in gardens – they are part of the families, because they share a passion for the gardens they tend to. It is amazing to see how proud they are of their gardens’ achievements.
And your own garden? Are your fingers as green as you hoped?
I’ve been through all the phases of gardening. My first house had a beautiful garden that looked like a park. The second garden had more terraces and then there is the third and current garden – first, there was only stone, and I couldn’t plant a thing. But I planted flowerbeds and a jungle right there. On the one side of my plot there is an indigenous garden for which I had to bring in tons of soil. It is ten years down the line and the trees are large and dense. You can’t walk there, or you’ll get entangled in the creepers.
The other side of my garden is covered in beautiful, natural shrubbery and overlooks the city. From my gardening experience I have learned that I don’t want to mow, weed and water every day. Then it becomes an effort and I no longer enjoy my garden. Now it’s effortless, I prune the branches every now and then and for the rest I just leave it naturally. Because of this I have the most incredible birdlife in my garden. It is as though my house looks out on the wild and my cats are in heaven because they believe they stay in the wild.
Do I have green fingers? Well, Gary Player said that the more you practice, the luckier you get and that is exactly how it is with gardening – although gardening is also a scientific process. You must find out what every plant needs and give it just that. The more you read and learn about gardens, the region and its climate, the better you’ll become at gardening. As youngster at the SABC, I worked in Keith Kirsten’s gardens over weekends.
To this day I run into people – now landscape artists – who were taught the ropes there. That was Keith’s thing: Come and work here and learn more about the plants. It broadens your knowledge – and knowledge is power … and knowledge is green.
Derrich about the décor magazine Home: A house without a Home is not a home. I enjoy compact articles with just enough information to inspire and inform. The articles work and there is always a twist that gives food for thought when you want to prettify your own indoor and outdoor spaces.
Derrich about JJ Jansen van Rensburg who shares gardening tips on Brekfis met Derrich: JJ is my green-fingered go-to guy. Currently, he lives in Australia, but we talk via the internet every Saturday. Their seasons and climate are the same as ours and therefore it works out well.
Tuintoere can be seen on VIA (DStv channel 147) on Thursdays at 17:00. Repeats are on Saturdays at 12:00 and Sundays at 15:30. VIA episodes are also available on Catch up and in the DStv app.
