A viewer emailed wanting design suggestions for the ‘dead side’ of the house. Her view from a picture window in the formal dining room was a weedy side passage and an ugly fence. Design constraints This side passage is very shady. The houses are fairly...
It’s often difficult to keep the front lawn looking good, particularly now that there are water restrictions in many areas of Australia. Evan Gaulke of Ochre Landscapes thinks that front lawns are a waste of space if they aren’t maintained to a high...
Don visited a cutting edge garden belonging to Gitta and Gunther Rembel. The garden is situated in bushland, and takes elements from the natural landscape as well as borrowing sparky ideas from other countries. The Mogul gardens of northern India and Pakistan,...
Backyards and gardens have changed a lot in recent years. Modern gardens do not start at the back door. Instead, they are often cheery, spacious extensions of indoor living areas. In our segment, Don looked at a futuristic warehouse garden in inner city Melbourne....
Bamboo is used extensively in Asia, both for ornamental and construction purposes. The stems are straight and uniform, making them perfect for the construction of fences, walls, scaffolding and even small bridges. When split into thin slats, bamboo stems can be woven...
Greg Vale has always been a keen gardener, but several years ago he moved from a house into a unit. The tiny apartment balcony (1.5m x 2.5m) was bare except for a few miserable, half-dead plants and some kitty litter. Greg set about transforming the balcony into a...
If you’re tired of hedges that are boring and predictable, a tapestry hedge is a very attractive option. Tapestry hedges are made up of a range of different plants, chosen for foliage colour, texture, flowers, berries and fragrance. In our segment Don showed a...
Fiona King wrote to Don to say that she was keen to fix the rotting timber sleepers around her garden beds. The timber was not treated, so it had become infested with ants and was falling apart. Fiona had been eagerly watching the program hoping for a segment on...
Garden designer, Ted Whitley, faced a real challenge when he was asked to create a garden on top of a garage. Ted said that it was the most difficult garden he has ever worked on, because of its westerly aspect, shade from trees on a neighbouring property, steepness,...
Lynn and Greg Duffy wrote to Burke’s Backyard asking for help with their tiny apartment courtyard. The area was originally part of a driveway that was divided up to create small courtyards for the ground floor units. Part of the problem was that a concrete...