by Mark Evans
During the Coolagolite fire of October 2023, flames swept through the bush at the Murrah right up to the edge of one property, and stopped at a wide, mown, green lawn. No garden can make a house fireproof, and a lawn is no guaranteed firebreak, but thoughtful landscaping and maintenance can help reduce the risk.
The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) calls the managed area … Read more »
by Mark Evans
Every packet of seed you buy is someone else’s harvest, sold back to you. Saving your own seed is cheaper, more self-sufficient, and satisfying, though it takes more than scooping seeds from a ripe tomato and hoping for the best.
Not every seed grows true to its parent. Open pollinated varieties, sometimes labelled heirloom, will breed true provided they haven’t crossed with another compatible variety. Hybrids, marked … Read more »
By Mark Evans
There’s no such thing as a weed, botanically speaking, just a plant growing where we don’t want it. Years ago, we removed a Lagerstroemia indica (crepe myrtle) from our garden. It had been lovely in its day, but it had to go. The rootstock never got the memo and sends up suckers through our beds – that decision we made then is now the thing we’re fighting to keep out.
Rather than risking overwatering our indoor plants and having water spill out of their saucers, we water them from below, filling the saucer and letting the soil absorb the water. If the plant is really dry, this needs to be repeated several times until an equilibrium is reached, with some water remaining in the saucer to be slowly taken up over the ensuing days. This same principle underpins wicking beds, an … Read more »
Growing your own vegetables is one of the most rewarding forms of gardening. It combines the joy of working with plants with the satisfaction of producing fresh, nutritious food. October is the perfect month to get started, as it’s when the widest variety of vegetables become ready for planting. There’s something deeply satisfying about seeing seeds and seedlings transform into vibrant, edible plants and the spring sunshine in October provides ideal … Read more »
by Mark Evans
Whether you subscribe to the meteorological view that spring begins on the first day of September or to the astronomical view that it starts with the equinox on 2 September, this month marks the season that many consider the beginning of the gardening year.
The word ‘spring’ has a rich etymological history. In English, it comes from the Old English springan, meaning ‘to leap, burst … Read more »