Solve a problem, find a plant or look for a design inspiration
This week’s program was a Come & Save My Garden special. Don Burke and Scott Cam were on the road, knocking on doors and asking people if they needed any help with their gardens and homes. They pruned, nailed, planted and fertilised their way across the...
Bromeliads are native to tropical America. Many are epiphytes, that is they live on other plants but do not parasitise those plants. Rather than growing in soil, they are found up in the forks of tree branches, surviving mainly on the moisture and nutrients they...
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...
Persimmons (Diospyros kaki) are outstanding trees for the backyard, and deserve to be much more popular in Australian gardens. They have been cultivated for centuries in China and Japan, and although they are believed to have been derived from a wild species, they are...
Growing your own salad greens and herbs is very satisfying, and you don’t need a lot of space. You can grow a few greens in large pots or troughs, or tuck them into the flowerbed. In no time at all you’ll be enjoying your first harvest. In our segment, Don...
Don visited Mick and Anna Perri at their home on Sydney’s northern beaches. Mick is an expert gardener who has been growing fruit and vegetables on his property for 24 years. Don asked Mick to take part in a trial of some new and unusual fruit trees. These are...
A beautiful plant in the wrong pot can look awful. In our segment, Don showed how to coordinate plants and pots for great designer looks. Waterwise style If you’re too busy to look after plants, think about potting up a succulent such as Agave attenuata. It...