25 -4/6How does your garden fit into the bigger garden

Transcript:

Costa: Hi, it's Costa here. Thanks for joining us at Gardening Buds. Ifyou're new to the podcast, head back and start from episode one. If you've beenwith us from the start, let's get into it.

[phone rings]

[hold musicstarts]

Costa: Welcome back to the Gardening Buds hotline. Your bud is raking someleaves, but we'll be with you shortly.

[hold music ends]

Costa: Hello?

Caylee: Hi, Costa.

Costa: Caylee, how are you going?

Caylee: Good. How are you?

Costa: I am really good. What's happening?

[upbeat musicstarts]

Caylee: I've got another joke for you.

Costa:  Okay,I'm ready.

Caylee: How excited was the gardener about spring?

Costa: I don't know. Tell me.

Caylee: So excited, he wet his plants.

[Costa and Cayleelaugh]

Costa: For today I'd love to invite you back toGardening Bud's HQ because there's a little bit more I'd like to show you.

Caylee: That sounds great, Costa. Me and my mum will be over in a jiffy.

Costa: Excellent.

Caylee: Bye.

[dial tone]

[door opens andcloses]

[skipping]

[bell rings]

Costa: Coming!

[door opens]

[music ends]

Costa: Ah, welcome back, Caylee. I am always happy inGardening Buds HQ, particularly when I get visitors and buddies. You ready?

Caylee: Yeah, I'm ready for anything that comes my way. See you soon, mum.

[happy musicstarts]

Costa: Okay. Now the thing I want to talk about todayis that any space can grow a garden, but the thing we've got to remember isthat gardens aren't just for us people.

Caylee: uh huh

Costa: Gardens are home to lots of different speciesand that way we call our house a home, but when you look out into the garden,that's called a habitat. So, a habitat is a place where a bird can come andvisit and live, or a habitat could be where the bees come or it could be wherethe hoverflies gather.

Caylee: Or when the frogs come. Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit.

Costa: Exactly. And we've got a pond here at Gardening Buds HQ, and thatpond fits in with all the other things that you see. The trees provide shadefor the pond and the plants growing in the pond provide a home for the frogsand the tadpoles. The trees also provide a resting spot for the birds and theycome and look over the pond and think, "Oh, can I catch something?"

[sound of waterflowing]

Caylee: Cool and are those ants in the water?

Costa: No, they're little boatman.

Caylee: A boatman?

Costa: Yeah, they're tiny little boatmen. See theirlittle legs on either side. That's like their fins and they...

[frog croaks]

Costa: Oh, can you hear the frog? Can you hear it?

[frog croaks]

Costa: Hello?

[frog croaks]

Costa: How are you?

[frog croaks]

Costa: Caylee's here.

Caylee: It's kind of like (Caylee makes a frog noise)

Costa: Say hi to Caylee.

[frog croaks]

Costa: They love it when we get visitors here atGardening Buds HQ. So over here, there's habitat for the insects. So I've gotnative bees over here and they live in this hive, but then they go out to allthe plants and when the plants flower, they pollinate the plants. So the plantsprovide habitat for the bees to come, but the bees pollinate the flowers. Canyou see how it's all connected?

Caylee: Uh-huh (affirmative) and I have a question.

Costa: Yep.

Caylee: Didn't this used to be a swimming pool?

Costa: This did used to be a swimming pool and we changed it into a naturepond.

[splashing water]

Caylee: Why would you decide to change this?

Costa: Because I wanted the swimming pool to be a place for nature. And thisway the frogs came back, the birds come and visit, the dragon flies visit.

Caylee: Ooh, I love dragonflies.

Costa: And when it rains, all the water from the roofof the house now comes into the pond. So this is fresh water and everythingcomes for a drink. I've even seen lizards come. See that branch over there?

Caylee: Yeah.

Costa: That's like a bridge and the lizards can walk on it and then they go(costa makes a slurping noise)

[thunder andrainfall]

Costa: Oh, listen to the rain.

Caylee: Cold rain too.

Costa: Hang on one sec, Caylee. I'll just get these clothes in before itrains.

Caylee: I want to eat the rain!

Costa: Okay, let's get of the rain so we don't get too wet.

[wet footsteps]

Caylee: Why does it always go inside my eye, not on my glasses?

Costa: It's a little bit drier here out of the rain, isn't it?

Caylee: Yeah, it is. And a bit more warmer.

[gentle guitarmusic starts]

Costa: Now the thing about a garden, Caylee, is that you can have a gardenat your place, but it's not alone. Your garden is part of nature and it's kindof like a stop on the hopscotch board because when you have a garden and thenyour neighbor has a garden and there's plants on your street, then all ofnature, all of the insects, all of the birds, all of the wildlife, can go fromone place to another. And you know what we call that? A pollinator corridor.

Caylee: Whoa.

Costa: The flowers need the bees because the bees pollinate the flowers, sothe flowers need the bees and the bees need the flowers. It's a relationship.

Caylee: That makes sense.

Costa: So if you have flowers and plants in your garden, what do you providefor nature?

Caylee: Uh, food.

Costa: Food, and what else?

Caylee: Uhhh… Shelter?

Costa: Exactly. And that's known as habitat. So your garden becomes a house,it becomes a home. So what things do you want to attract?

Caylee: I want to attract some bees, birds, butterflies.

Costa: Butterflies. Here's the thing. If you want the bees to come, youneed flowers. If you want the butterflies to come, you need to plant the plantthat will attract them. And you know what we call that? It's called a hostplant.

Caylee: Host plant.

Costa: Yeah, it's the host, like the host of a party. Come to my garden andI will host you. So if we plant a butterfly host plant, they'll come.

Caylee: What plants are host plants?

Costa: Host plants are plants that the insect or bird or butterfly needs inits life. So it could be a plant that it can eat the leaves, or it could be aplant that it comes and gets the pollen and the nectar from.

[frog croaks]

Caylee: So they could be all different types of plants?

Costa: Exactly.

Caylee: I definitely want host plants in my garden.

[music ends]

Caylee: Costa, I have a question. Is the whole world agarden?

Costa: Yeah. We live on a garden planet and every little piece of theplanet makes up the garden.

[rainintensifies]

Caylee: Whoa. It's raining really heavy now.

Costa: And look at where the water's going from the roof of the house.Where's it ending up?

Caylee: In the pond.

[quiz theme musicstarts]

Costa: Caylee, before we head home for the day, we need to do the GardeningBuds quiz.

Caylee: Awesome. I love the Gardening Buds quizzes.

Costa: Are you ready?

Caylee: Come on, let's do this thing.

Costa: Get your quiz hat on. Question number one. What's the name of aplant that birds, bees and bugs need to eat and breed and visit?

Caylee: Flowers that have pollen.

Costa: Do you want a clue?

Caylee: Yes, please.

Costa: Okay. If I was coming to your birthday party, your mother and fatherwould be the something-

Caylee: Host!

[birds tweet anda crowd cheers]

Costa: Exactly. Question number two. You ready?

Caylee: Yeah.

Costa: You sure?

Caylee: Yeah.

Costa: 100%?

Caylee: Yeah.

Costa: How are gardens connected to other gardens?

Caylee: Well... Oh, by bees, butterflies and other animals becausepollinating animals... Because they can get some pollen from one garden andspread it over another garden.

Costa: And what's the name for how animals and insects and birds move fromone place to another?

Caylee: Oh, corridor. A pollinator corridor.

[birds tweet anda crowd cheers]

Costa: Question number three. What are three animals that use the GardeningBuds pond?

Caylee: Okay. The first one that pops into my head is a frog. I don't knowwhat they're called. The thing that go inside the ponds, the blue boatman. Theblue boatmans and birds and some lizards.

Costa: That's four things. I also would've accepted dragonflies,butterflies, bees, native bees.

[birds tweet andcrowd cheers]

Caylee: Whoa.

[costa laughs]

[music ends]

Caylee: Thank you so much for inviting me to HQ. Itwas so much fun.

Costa: Caylee, you're welcome here anytime.

Caylee: Oh, thanks. I can't wait to come back next time.

Costa: Next time is the big day, when we are going to use everything thatwe've learned to choose the plants for your garden.

Caylee: Really?

Costa: Yes.

Caylee: Yes, it's going to be so much fun. I can't wait. See you next time,Costa.

[upbeat thememusic starts]

Costa: Can't wait. See you.

Costa: The Gardening Bud's challenge of the week for you listening at homeis to get you grown up and go outside and wander around your neighborhood andsee what critters you can see living in the gardens, in the streets and in theparks where you live.

[music ends]