Every week part of Burke’s Backyard is filmed in Don’s garden. It is an indigenous native garden, which mostly features plants that are native to the local area. A well-manicured, emerald green lawn offsets the areas of bush. Don grows two varieties of...
Don looked at some practical ways to save water and keep the garden alive and functioning through the drought. Watering the lawn If there are water restrictions in your area and you want to conserve water, it doesn’t hurt to let the lawn yellow off a little....
If you’ve always wanted to grow a lush, green lawn but you’re not having much success, the problem could be soil compaction. Grass does not grow well in compacted soil. Don’s tip Simply stamp your foot on the ground! If it feels fairly hard...
Don visited turf farms at Clarendon and Windsor, on the outskirts of Sydney. Recently, this area has had severe frosts with temperatures as low as -6°C. He compared lawn varieties being grown at the farms for frost and cold tolerance. ‘Couch’ Couch is a...
One of life’s pleasures is to go without shoes in summer – unless there’s bindii in your lawn. If you’ve ever had bindii prickles in your bare feet, you’ll know how painful it can be. Bindii (Soliva pterosperma) is a specialist plant,...
Coriander grows better during the cooler months of the year. During summer, coriander plants change rapidly from leafy to seedy (this is called ‘bolting to seed’) and it’s almost impossible to have a crop on hand for use in the kitchen in the hot months. During...
Every week, parts of Burke’s Backyard are filmed in Don’s garden. It is a native garden, which includes many plants that are indigenous (that is local) to the area. Over 200 species of birds visit the garden throughout the year, including silver eyes,...
This ugly, disused courtyard was planted with sharp, spiny succulents. The owner, Sally Gebert, explained that it wasn’t a safe place for her baby, Cody, to play. Don, Scott and Tara transformed the courtyard into a stylish, outdoor living area, which the whole family...
Last year Don teamed up with Cheryl Maddocks to create a stunning succulent ball. The succulent they chose to make the ball was Echeveria secunda (sometimes sold as Echeveria glauca), which has grey-green leaves arranged in flattened rosettes. The ball looks even more...
The theme of our first program for 2003 is outdoor living – extending the indoor living areas out into the garden. Many Australian houses have poor access to the backyard, with one door and perhaps a few small windows, so the occupants feel closed in and trapped...