Gardening is a lifelong love for Sophie Thomson. Her parents ran a plant nursery in the Adelaide Hills where she grew up surrounded by flowers, vegies, herbs and greenery. After her parents sold the business, she launched a career as a gardening expert on TV and radio and, for the last 20 years, has served as a host on Gardening Australia.
Until recently, Thomson lived on a large property in the Adelaide Hills. There she spent a decade transforming a dry cow paddock into a two-acre garden, a journey she documented in the book Sophie’s Patch. Thomson has since sold that property and, while she’s OK with leaving the garden behind, she does miss the soil she lovingly cultivated there. Here the horticulturist tells us about that “spectacular” brown stuff and shares the stories of two other essential gardening items.
What I’d save from my house in a fire
My seed box. It contains all the seeds of vegies and some annual flowers. There are old favourites, common run-of-the-mill varieties, and then there are the rarities. Many I could source again but some I would struggle to find. And, even if I could find them, they may not be the form I have known and loved.
Keeping seeds on hand means I can produce bountiful crops in just a few months in summer if I have water and good soil. And having worked with fire- and flood-affected communities of gardeners who lost their own seeds in these natural disasters, I know that having my seed box would give me hope – so I can begin again and sow new life.
My most useful object
My infrared thermometer, which travels with me wherever I go.
I started using it to test surface temperatures around my garden, initially measuring the difference between soil exposed to the sun and soil covered and insulated with mulch. Then I graduated to measuring stone or brick walls and corrugated iron, noticing the difference in temperatures between areas sheltered by plants and those exposed to the afternoon sun. Next I measured the temperature of paving versus real turf lawn – and then it became an obsession!
While many governments around the world are worried about the urban heat island effect, I have been out there measuring it. I can be found on the side of a road measuring the temperatures of fake turf compared to real turf (it’s often 30C to 40C hotter!) and the temperature of soft fall in playgrounds (up to 88C?!).
I travel with it daily in my handbag or basket, although there are definitely fewer issues if I pack it in my checked-in suitcase when flying interstate. Its shape does tend to make some security heads turn.
The item I most regret losing
My soil. Having sold my property, many people have been asking me if I miss it. Some people create gardens, put down roots, sowing their heart and soul into the garden, and they never want to leave. Others enjoy the process and challenge of creating gardens, still with all their heart and soul – however when they have finished one, they are ready for the next.
While I loved the garden I created, it was the third garden I had created from scratch, and I think I still have another big, audacious project left in me. So, as my “gap” year draws to a close (we are renting for a year while my youngest, twin girls, do year 12 at two different schools in different directions), and I start the hunt for the next property, the thing I do miss is the soil I created.
After 12 years of adding compost and other organic materials, the soil in our vegie patch supported us, fed us and grew amazing fruits and vegies – including Australia’s longest tromboncino at 1.68 metres (OK, it was an unofficial record, but still!). The soil grounded us and made us happy – quite literally, as healthy soil contains a microbe called Mycobacterium vaccae that triggers serotonin release in our brains.
While I am sad that I have “lost” my soil, I know that when I find my next garden project I can again create spectacular soil to keep me down to earth, feed our bellies and nourish our hearts.
Gardening Australia airs Fridays at 7.30pm on ABC and is available to stream on ABC iview
