'Frog-scaper' committed to sustainability
A lifelong gardening enthusiast, Debra Pearson credits community groups, non-profit horticultural associations and organisations and pottering around her own gardens for the knowledge she uses to help West Australians make their gardens more sustainable.
The farm she ran with her husband in Victoria, until he was diagnosed with melanoma and they returned to his home town of Perth, was where she honed many of her skills.
When her husband died 20 months ago, Ms Pearson and their four children decided to stay in WA.
She put her horticultural knowledge to good use, joining the team at Wildflower Nursery at Home Base Expo in Subiaco.
She spends her weekends at the nursery, creating and nurturing display gardens and answering gardening questions, and her weekdays are dedicated to in-home consultations with homeowners.
Working in other people's gardens every day leaves her with little time to attend to a garden of her own, so she has settled into inner-city apartment life. But don't think she has no plants to tend to.
"We have Mandy the Mango, who lives on the balcony," she said.
"She has peas planted with her to give her nitrogen and basil planted with her to attract bees for pollination."
Debra Pearson at Wildflower Nursery in Subiaco.
Ms Pearson said the first thing people should address in their garden was soil quality.
"That makes all the difference, especially when we're gardening on sand here (in WA)," she said.
"What needs to be done to this soil is minerals, mulch and manure, twice a year, autumn and spring.
"If you don't have worms in the garden - which is something that's missing in a lot of the gardens I see - you're not going to grow any good plants of any sort."
Ms Pearson said chooks were also a great addition to a garden, particularly if there was a vegetable garden, because they ate insects and weeds.
People could grow herbs and vegies at home for their chooks, such as wormwood and fennel for external parasites and kale and silverbeet to ensure good yolk colour.
The key to happy chooks was to accommodate their natural behaviour.
"There's always got to be the boss chook; for example, the chook at the top of the pecking order can't sleep at the same level as the chook at the bottom because that is just not good for her ego," Ms Pearson said.
Just as beneficial to a garden as the chicken was the humble frog.
"They're like the canaries down the coalmine - frogs are the first thing to disappear when the environment's wrong," Ms Pearson said.
"If you've got frogs it means you've got a healthy garden.
Another of Ms Pearson's specialties is making gardens frog-friendly.
"I don't go for ripping whole gardens out and making them all native for 'frog-scaping'," she said.
"The highest carrying-capacity garden that I've ever seen for frogs is an organic vegie patch.
Learn how to look after chooks with Debra Pearson at a workshop in Jolimont on October 20, 10am-12.30pm. Tickets are $65. Phone 9295 0497 or go online at www.opengarden.org.au.
