Enjoy Your Garden

It is estimated that 25 per cent of household water is used in the garden, which makes the garden a great place to start gradually introducing more water conservation practices.

This month's tip

December brings warm weather and the smell of barbecues to the neighbourhood.  We all want the backyard to look a treat when we're welcoming family and friends but this is not a great time to establish new plants in the garden.  Instead grow some potted beauties that will bring colour throughout the long summer months.  Try kangaroo paws in reds and yellows, dwarf banksias e.g. 'Birthday Candles', dwarf eucalypts e.g. Corymbia 'summer Red' or one of the spectacular new Warratah varieties. Be sure to choose glazed or sealed pots, use a good quality potting mix with some water storing crystals added and mulch on the top.  Follow these simple steps and you will have healthy plants through the hottest days of summer.

Top tips for gardening in spring

• Keep the soil moist
  Now is the time to get your hands dirty and add some compost, straw mulches or animal manure around your garden beds, trees and scrubs.
• Sow summer veggies and herbs
  Spring is an ideal season to grow beans, corn, zucchini and lettuce and don’t forget to plant some summer herbs which will add lots of fresh flavours to your summer dishes.
• Choose your plants wisely
  Many garden plants do not fare well in extreme weather conditions, so next time you’re buying plants from your local nursery why not consider, bottlebrush, goodenia and local grass species that can easily adapt to varying conditions.

Spring tips brought to you from Sustainable Gardening Australia (SGA)

General gardening tips

Gardening is a wonderful pastime that delivers many positive benefits – for you and your home and for our environment.

Before you can enjoy a thriving, water wise garden it’s important to get the basics right. 

We have joined forces with Sustainable Gardening Australia and Brendan Moar, Landscape Architect from the Lifestyle Channel’s Dry Spell Gardening to share with you four easy steps to creating your own water wise garden.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or already have an established garden, we’ve covered everything you need to know - from understanding your soil, to the types of water wise plants to select, to ways you can save water in your garden.

So take a look at our four easy steps to enjoying your garden and watch our Enjoy Your Garden video below (*video requires Flash Player).

Happy gardening!

Enjoy Your Garden video

• How do you make compost?

  1. Place your compost bin or heap on soil, not concrete, so it drains well and the worms and bacteria can enter the bin to decompose the waste.

  2. All compost bins or heaps need a balance of materials that:

  • are high in nitrogen, such as blood and bone or chicken manure
  • contain carbon, such as dried leaves or shredded newspapers
  • contain both carbon and nitrogen, such as kitchen scraps, pea straw and green garden prunings.

  3. To maintain your compost:

  • add water, but only enough so that the contents are moist but not wet
  • regularly turn the compost to add oxygen
  • put it in a sunny place to keep it warm.