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Circular dead patches in your lawn can be caused by your female dog urinating in the middle of the lawn. The problem can be due to a dietary imbalance. If dogs are fed a high proportion of dried food, their urine is so concentrated that the lawn is killed off when...
Growing persimmons In the April 2010 issue of Burke’s Backyard magazine, on sale now nationally, our ‘Kitchen Garden’ section has a complete grower’s guide to persimmons. These deciduous fruit trees, which grow to about 5-8m tall and wide, make...
Australia’s foremost authority on everything that’s happening in Aussie backyards, Don Burke has been growing vegies and keeping chooks ever since he was a kid. He went on to graduate as a horticulturist and tree surgeon and is a life-long gardener. ‘Organic’ is...
Don Burke and his makeover team turned a storm-damaged backyard into a wonderful French-flavoured country-style hobby farm, complete with rustic chook house, potager vegie patch and lots of lovely old bric-a-brac. The fabulous ‘aged’ look takes the owner’s love of...
NOTE: THE HEAT WAVE HAS COME IN MANY PARTS OF AUSTRALIA SINCE FILMING. ALTHOUGH YOU CAN SAFELY LAY TURF ON VERY HOT DAYS, YOU ARE PROBABLY BETTER OFF TO WAIT FOR SOME COOLER WEATHER BEFORE ORDERING YOUR TURF. In many ways there’s nothing better in all the world than...
Don looked at some of the plants that produce their perfume through the summer months. Perfume adds atmosphere and a wonderful feeling of romance to any garden. The next time you visit your local nursery, think about buying some fragrant plants. STAR JASMINE...
Many people keep a radiata pine in a pot, which lives out door for most of the year & then comes indoors at Xmas time to be decorated & transformed into the family Xmas tree. But many people would like a tree that is a bit smaller & that is Australian. Don...
While there’s always some doubt cast on home remedies, alternative medicines etc this doesn’t mean they aren’t worth trying if they seem harmless enough… The current (November) issue of the Burke’s Backyard Magazine has a number of suggested home remedies...
For the typical household, a worm farm can be a good way to turn kitchen scraps into soil improver. But we’ve found that keeping them going is not as easy as is often suggested. Most gardeners who own or are considering a worm farm opt for one of the commercial...
The orchid qualifies as a strong contender for being the weirdest plant in the world. Their seed is like dust; it floats in the air & is the smallest seed of all plants, taking more than 1.25 million seeds to weigh a single gram. A specific fungus allows orchid...