Vasili’s Garden

Vasili’s Garden began on Greek radio 3XY in Melbourne around the turn of the millennium and it wasn’t long before it found it’s way to community television on C31 in Melbourne, where it became a firm fixture of the Friday night schedule. After nearly 200 episodes, many of which have also been shown on other community TV channels around Australia, Vasili now has a new home at SBS.

Vasili Kanidiadis was born in Coburg in Melbourne’s north, and he’s never left home as the house where he grew up is now a part of the Munro Street Nursery that he owns and operates. After studying as a structural engineer and then as a classical pianist Vasili studied horticulture. None of that hard work has gone to waste as Vasili now combines all three of these skills professionally and on screen.

Eleni Kanidiadis was born in Thessaloniki where, as a teenager, she fell in love with Vasili’s father Ilia. They married and migrated to Australia and now they both work with Vasili in the Munro Street Nursery. Eleni learnt all her cooking tricks and tips from her home town back in Greece and with every dish she prepared, Eleni would trial new herbs, spices and techniques, always attempting to improve and explore the recipe, to go where no dish has gone before.

Vasili’s Garden is produced by I Like It Productions, a partnership between Vasili’s own company Maresi Productions and Renegade Films, who also produce RocKwiz and Wilfred for SBS. (Source: SBS)