Sunraysia's Best Gardens

THIS week we take a walk on the wild side of gardening with self-described "crazy chook lady", Jude Gowers. Living on about 8000ha of cropping land, 7km from Carwarp, Jude leaves reporter Matt Taylor cock-a-hoop after teaching him about chooks and the important role they play in her life and garden.

What have you got on your property, Jude?

Cattle, sheep, lupins, lentils, chickpeas, barley, wheat – but not canola any more. It's too high-risk.

We also have a couple of horses out the back.

You've left out the obvious: What about all the chooks?

(Laughs) Yes, I'm the crazy chook lady.

I am breeding them here. I have a maternity ward, a pen for toddlers, teenagers and then ones the girls and the boys, as well as a pretty hen pen, which the grandkids love.

My favourite is a dark-barred Plymouth rock chook. They are the best I have.

They are hardy, they are great mums, they grow into big roosters, and they're a general all-rounder and quite docile most of the time.

Clearly, the chooks are a key feature in your garden set-up.

I have a big garden and most of the chooks don't get the run of the garden.

But the maternity ward (for chooks) is inside my yard so when I've got mums and their babies, they get to wander the garden to a point.

But when they start digging up stuff I don't want them to, the babies go to the toddler pen and the mum goes back to work (chuckles).

How long have you had this fascination with chooks?

Oh, forever.

I can remember being a little girl on Mum and Dad's block at Red Cliffs and we would breed pigeons, ducks and chooks.

Really, I've been animal-crazy forever.

I got married and we had four children and now have eight grandchildren. Our daughter and her daughter also have the animal husbandry in them.

Can I turn your attention to the other features in your garden?

I have a sunken area, which is the herb garden – and it has a lovely magnolia tree over it, as well as two kumquats.

I also have statues in it of all my grandchildren. Each time I have a grandchild, I buy a little boy or girl statue that is a bit different to the last.

I have (statues) of my first daughter's children in the herb garden and our daughter who is on the farm, I have the two statues of the girls but not one of the boy yet, and he's 10 months old. I just have to find the right one for him.

What else is in the garden? Natural pines, natives, bird's-nest ferns and elephant ear plants. I'm not very good at throwing cuttings away so I've got an area that's got a 1000 plants in it of all sorts of things.

We have an orchard of 50-odd trees down the southside of our house, as well as 50 roses around the place.

We also have wheelbarrows planted up with different flowering. There is seriously lots here."

Have many years has it taken to get your garden where it is now?

We got married in 1983 – and we've been here ever since then.

When we came here, there was no lawn, fruit trees or pathways. We had a big cedar tree, cabbage trees and pine trees out the front, and that's basically it.

We've slowly developed everything over 37 years into what it is today.

When you look out at your garden, what are you most proud of?

The little oasis we have around the house, where all the green contrasts with the surrounding dry paddocks.

I love all the garden really ... but I do have a soft spot for the chooks.