Have you ever walked out into a garden and felt peace? Have you felt the worries and deadlines drop away like grains of sand in a breeze? If so, you’ve experienced mindful gardening. Have you walked into Read more…
Changing soil pH is an easy process and most people do it without realising it. Have you ever thrown the dregs of your coffee cup onto the garden? If so, you changed the pH in the direction of acidity. Changing Read more…
The pH of the soil determines the availability of nutrients. As the soil becomes more alkaline or more acidic, particular nutrients become unavailable to the plants. Whether or not we need to alter the soil’s pH is determined by what Read more…
We want to test soil pH to make sure we’re planting the correct plants in our soil. We also want to test soil pH to decide whether we might want to alter the soil’s pH. Soil tester kits come in Read more…
Soil pH is the degree to which soil is acidic or alkaline. It is a measure of hydrogen ions in the soil. The more hydrogen ions in the soil, the more acidic the soil becomes. The less hydrogen ions, the Read more…
Shaping shrubs is a way to manipulate the direction a plant will grow. We might want to shape the growth of a shrub so that it grows in a particular direction or so that it doesn’t grow in a particular Read more…
Pruning plants is like getting a haircut except that whilst you hair tends to grow back, a pruned plant will be altered forever. Here are some ways we can ruin plants by pruning: Pruning plants in a way that doesn’t Read more…
Cold compost is a process of helping organic matter to decompose over time and without the use of heat and thermophilic microbes. Homemade compost is usually cold composting. It’s called that because it doesn’t utilise thermophilic microbes to rapidly decompose organic Read more…
It might seem a bit strange for a gardener and horticulturalist to look into foraging for food. I grow a whole stack of edibles in my garden. Why would we want to forage for food when we can grow it? More Read more…
Breaking the law using a pesticide Many of us are breaking the law when we use insecticides, herbicides and other pesticides. In most countries, licensed agricultural chemical operators undergo training before being issued a licence. However, most people who use Read more…
Growing celery is rewarding because she is always producing food for us. I grow heirloom celery and the stalks are smaller and less watery than the store bought celery. Celery can be quite peppery in taste. Growing celery lasts for Read more…
Borage is one of those plants many of us have heard of but few of us have grown or tasted. Given the optimum conditions, borage officinalis can grow to 90cm in height producing a proliferation of large, hairy green leaves Read more…
I went camping once to a place called Andrew Drynan Park in Northern NSW, Australia. It was there that I saw a magical tree. I like going to this camping site. There’s usually plenty of room and the toilets are clean. Read more…
Grevillea venusta is commonly known as the Byfield Spider Flower. It can grow up to 5 metres in height (depending upon the soil and conditions) and depending upon the pruning method, probably just as wide! Grevilleas’ are typically shallow rooting Read more…
In the context of environmental protection the term ‘vulnerable to extinction’ has a specific meaning. That meaning is a legal definition. It doesn’t mean what most people think it means and that legal definition changes as legislation changes. In Australia, Read more…
Hot composting is a process that rapidly decomposes and transforms raw materials into usable compost. It’s hot because it needs to reach at least 65 degrees Celsius (150 degrees F) for at least three days. Any part of the pile Read more…