In the Garden

Watering the garden is a much more complex job than many people think. It is particularly difficult if your soil is water repellent (or hydrophobic), because the water just runs off instead of soaking into the soil. These soils can be treated with a soil wetting agent...

Don explained why the orange tree (Citrus sinensis) shown in our segment was dying. It was struggling to survive in a damp, shady position, in heavy clay soil, with competition from the surrounding lawn. Don advised the garden owners not to try and save the orange...

Don’s first impression of this garden was that it looked ‘messy’. The owner, Wendy Coppock, had placed potted plants of all shapes and sizes outside the back door to screen the clothes line from view. A white cubby house for the kids had been plonked...

Fertilisers Plants produce most of their annual growth over the next few weeks, so it is important to fertilise them now. Lawns: use a complete lawn food, an organic food such as Dynamic Lifter formulated for lawns, or a slow-release lawn fertiliser such as Scotts...

In spring grass starts sending up new growth, so it’s the perfect time to give your lawn some extra care and attention. Water Using a fixed sprinkler (those with a rainmaker or arching pattern are excellent), give the lawn a good soaking once or twice a week...

About 10 months ago Don reworked an azalea hedge that had grown so tall it was blocking the light and obscuring the view from the house. The pruning was done in late spring, after the main flush of flowers had finished. In order to reshape the hedge it had to be cut...

Rosemary Healion wrote a letter to Burke’s Backyard begging Don to come and save her garden. Just over twelve months ago she and her husband, Craig, hired a local landscaper to create a curved, paved edging in their backyard. Instead, the Healions were faced...

Jackie French made an environmentally friendly snail trap using a plastic drink bottle and some beer. Snails are attracted to these traps because they love the sweet, sour and yeasty smell of the beer. When the snails crawl into the trap, they either drown or the...

Don came across a thriving row of grevilleas (Grevillea ‘Robyn Gordon’). When the gardener, Brian, planted the grevilleas, he followed two important gardening principles: 1. Plants grow better in raised beds Raised garden beds provide good drainage, which...

Don looked at a camellia suffering from a problem called ‘balling’. It should have been a mass of flowers but instead, few flowers had opened. Most of the buds had browned and fallen unopened to the ground, and were scattered under the shrub. Balling...