Costa's Garden Odyssey

A community garden like the Northey Street City Farm in Brisbane’s CBD is the perfect place to start the odyssey as we learn from their groundbreaking sustainable practices. Costa also examines a major water issue at a house built on a swamp and we travel out to the unique Chinchilla Watermelon festival for our Obscure Green Road.

The first ever Pimp My Plants is one very close to Costa’s heart as he fixes a garden problem that his own father has waited the best part of 5 years for. In this week’s featured Zen Shed, we all get a bit more Zen in our lives through the wisdom of Buddhism.

The first episode of Costa’s Garden Odyssey provides a window into Costa’s unique, intriguing and sustainable world and a community garden like Northey Street City farm is an ideal way to begin.

A seven-acre property in the heart of Brisbane’s CBD, the Northey Street City Farm is a world away from its surroundings and a sanctuary that teaches and practises Permaculture and sustainability. Costa explores and explains the techniques used in this best practise community garden with the help of local tour guide Bunyah: “Permaculture is about making informed decisions on the way we live our lives…from the food we eat to the way we travel to the jobs we perform..”

In the first Water Works segment, Costa gets well and truly soaked in a classic Queensland rainstorm as he examines and then solves a major water issue at a house built on a swamp. When Johnny and Marina Kanaan first bought their home in the Brisbane suburb of Cannon Hill, little did they know of the disaster that lay beneath. You see whenever it rains, the front yard fills up like a pool, providing a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and termites as well as structural damage caused by rotting piers. Over two episodes, Costa gets his hands (and most of the rest of his body) dirty as he sets about providing a water solution to this desperate family.

Chinchilla, in the Darling Downs in Queensland is famous for its watermelons. Costa meets with local Watermelon farmer Terry O’Brien to learn about the seasons and cycles of these fantastic fruits. Then, its into town for the annual Watermelon Festival where Costa witnesses history in the making – as John Alwood successfully breaks his Watermelon head smashing World record!

Costa’s dad Stan is a patient man. He has waited 5 years for his own son to come and Pimp his Plants. As a great way of introducing Costa and his family to the show, Stan allows the camera’s into his home as his son tries to make amends by planting a kitchen garden. But in true Greek style, no gathering would be complete without 20 or so friends and family – and the obligatory lamb on a spit.

Buddha once stated: “when you hold a flower then you are in fact holding the entire cosmos in your hand…” In this week’s Zen Shed, we explore the spiritual and psychological benefits of gardening, through the eyes of a Buddhist Monk.

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