DYNAMIC LIFTER: 

A pioneering fertiliser & probably the best ever.  Engineering genius, the late Norm Jennings, was the first person in the world to work out a way to pelletise chook poo so that it could be used as a highly reliable poultry fertiliser free of disease and great for your plants.

Price varies depending on bag size: Available at Bunnings & nurseries.

DRAMM WATER BREAKER: 

This is an invention that provides possibly the best way to water plants.  The advantages are that the water comes out very gently but still enables you to fill pot plants quickly. Note:  regardless of what watering device you are using care should always be taken not to knock the potting mix out of the pot, but the gentle flow when using the Dram water breaker makes this less likely to happen

Price approx $30 - $60 depending on length of handle.

Can be ordered online via www.gardenproducts.com.au or contact the distributors for a possible retail outlet in your area via:

Fertool/Treemax – 03 8787 4142

Products of Excellence – 02 9939 0566

YATES ANTI ROT –

This is a fungicide which gets rid of root rot & helps make the growing of touchy plants much easier.  It’s particularly useful for daphne, boronia, waratahs and is the safest fungicide ever released.

Price varies depending on container size. Available Bunnings & nurseries.

Swiss Istor Sharpener

This tool makes sharpening jobs that were extremely difficult in the past much easier and does an excellent job as well.  It usually only requires 2 or 3 movements along the blade of the knife, secateurs, shears etc to bring them to a state that’s close to razor sharp.

Price: $39.00 for a standard model, $59 for the professional model. Available nurseries which stock Felco secateurs may have this sharpener and some knife shops may have it.  Alternatively Felco can be contacted at Felco Distribution Pty. Ltd – 3 Egan St Carnegie Vic 3163 – ph 03 9569 2511; Fax: 03 9569 3139; felco@felco.com.au - www.felco.com.au.  Felco have plans for an online mail order facility in the near future & hopefully the product will be in Bunnings in the future.

ROUND-UP & ZERO

These are weed killers which are vastly safer than those used in the past which were such things as agent orange & arsenic – then a chemical called gylphosate came along and is used in products such as Round-up and Zero & a few other brands.  As a weed killer it works well and has the bonus of being much less dangerous to people.

Prices vary depending on price & size of container; Available Bunnings & nurseries

2 GOOD FERTILISERS: SLOW RELEASE FERTILISERS & NITROSOL

Some potting mixes don’t contain soil (this means the bags aren’t so heavy that they can’t easily be lifted in and out of car boots, carried, etc). To solve the problem of getting nutrients into the potting mix, slow release fertilisers were invented.  There are several brands with Osmocote and Nutricote being the first of them & therefore the best known.  Some contain wetting agents and are definitely worth considering.

Nitrosol is another excellent fertiliser – invented by a former CSIRO scientist it contains super alcohols which promote wonderful plant growth.

Prices vary depending on container size; Available Bunnings & nurseries

FOUNTAIN TYPE SPRINKLERS:

One of the best and cheapest sprinklers around is the fountain style of sprinkler.  A small circular metal product it’s been around for a long time but is very effective and virtually indestructible.  You can run over it in your car and it still works.  The sprinkler shown was Pope Capitol brand.

Price approx $15; Available Bunnings & nurseries

WETTING AGENTS:

The biggest problem in Australian gardening is non re-wettable soils.  Soils become dry & don’t allow water to soak in.  Now there are wetting agents.  Seasol Super Soil Wetter is one of these but there are many others soil wetters such as Wetta Soil, Scotts Lawn Builder with Wetting Agent & others. These allow deeper water penetration to the root zone of plants, leading to better growth of the plants.

Prices vary depending on container size; Available at Bunnings & nurseries

ROTARY LAWN MOWERS

These were the first workable really good mowers –claimed to be invented by Mervin Victor Richardson.  This lead to the Victa range of mowers and there are now many different brands such as Honda, Parklands, Scotts, Husqvarna, and others on the market. 

Prices vary depending on brand, size etc and it’s worth shopping around to find the best value mower for your particular requirements.  Available: Bunnings, mowe shops & some nurseries.

NOTE: All recommendations by Don Burke & Burke’s Backyard are genuine, based on testing done over the years – no money was paid by anyone in fact no companies or manufacturers knew their products were being mentioned.

Copyright CTC Productions 2009