Australia’s number one monthly gardening resource, ABC Gardening Australia magazine is packed with step-by-step advice and stunning design ideas from its popular team of experts. Whether you are a novice gardener or have a green thumb and years of experience, you’ll find the advice you need.
Welcome
STAY IN TOUCH
PLANTS • This month’s pick of the bunch for garden lovers nationwide
PRODUCTS
Gardening Australia
BOOKS
APRIL • Your guide to garden shows and events around the country this month
tell us about your event
20 flowers to sow now! • It’s easy and rewarding to grow your own beautiful cut flowers, says JENNIFER STACKHOUSE
direct sowing
20 flowers sowing chart • Follow this chart to sow flower seeds for your climate zone in autumn and winter
sharp shooters • Spider plants have been around for decades, but a new generation of retro-cool gardeners has put them back in the spotlight, writes ARNO KING
top picks
jeepers creepers • Even if your garden is small, it’s easy to have beautiful autumn foliage with these plants that grow onwards and upwards, writes JANE EDMANSON
MAINTENANCE WARNING
BUSH in the ’BURBS • A stone’s throw from the beach, this cleverly designed Perth garden uses recycled materials and endemic species that need only occasional watering
A fresh start • Losing a garden to bushfire is devastating, but with the right soil remediation and planning, it’s possible for gardens to be rebuilt and thrive, writes SOPHIE THOMSON
PLANTS WITH LOW FLAMMABILITY
beauty FROM THE ASHES • It’s 11 years since the Black Saturday fires in Victoria claimed 173 lives, thousands of homes and 450,000ha of land. Here, three couples share what they learnt as they rebuilt their lives and their gardens
why you need pansies with your onions • When planted with pansies, onions grow mysteriously bigger, and the vegie patch prettier, writes JACKIE FRENCH
the gardener’s bucket list THE GIANT’S HOUSE in Akaroa, New Zealand • Populated with whimsical characters, this artist’s garden on the South Island is designed to delight and surprise, writes MICHAEL McCOY
WHILE YOU ARE THERE
APRIL a month in the GARDEN • More than 50 jobs to do in your action planner
IN THE PATCH • Horticultural editor and devoted food grower PHIL DUDMAN shows you what to plant, pick and tend in the edible garden this month
PLANT it NOW STRAWBERRY
PICK it NOW ASIAN GREENS
Phil’s FOOD CHALLENGE
CROPS IN POTS
forever yours • A choko vine has a stubborn streak almost unmatched in the vegie garden. You can expect a lot of fruit, so it pays to know how to cook them, writes JACKIE FRENCH
cooking with chokos
instant PATCH • Two beds, two people, two hours, and less than a hundred bucks. What are you waiting for?
NO-DIG MAINTENANCE
AVOID A WASHOUT
GARDEN GUESTS & PESTS • Australian bush rats have a pretty good chance of surviving bushfires, says LEONARD CRONIN
mass exodus • Animal, vegetable or mineral? The origin of this jelly-like substance may surprise you, says MARTYN ROBINSON
MAILBOX
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Your Insta posts
gleam team
how to enter
WINNERS
radio • For details of programs on your local ABC station, call 139 994 or visit abc.net.au/local
TV • Gardening Australia is on ABC TV every Friday at 7.30pm and is repeated on Sunday at 1.30pm and on iview.
the big picture • Amid a deluge of doubtful descriptors, the risk of showers is a forecast most fine, writes MICHAEL McCOY