Article Headline Examples
Special Feature
Italian Garden
Starch Staples

Plants & Flowers
Undercover Colour
Heady Hydrangeas

Gardens & People
Chook palaces
Grow your own

Know How
Sandy Soils
Thrifty Gardens

Best of the Regular
Clippings – Monthly guide to the latest plant releases, products, events and gardening news

Backyard Wildlife – Reviewing various animals that you may find in your backyard, both beneficial and dangerous.

Troubleshooting – Gardening experts answering readers questions.

Last Word
The Gardening Australia Magazine retails for around $6 and is available at most local newsagencies. You know you are getting quality when you buy something from the Gardening Australia franchise and you also know you will be able to find added content on their website which I will also be reviewing at a later date.

Update
I wrote this article in February last year and looking back on it now, not a lot has changed! I regularly peruse this magazine and very much use the Gardening Australia website. It has a lot of great articles and tips on gardening, provides a lot of good fact sheets from their show and has many links to other great resources. Why not check it out today?

This month’s review – Burke’s Backyard magazine

Burke’s Backyard magazine is a spin off of the fairly famous lifestyle television show in Australia of the same name, started by Don Burke many, many moons ago. The trend for gardening shows and magazines to become more ‘lifestyle’ orientated and not just garden focused is certainly clear in this magazine, but this does not take away from the fantastic gardening advice that is on offer.

Burke’s Backyard never fails to have some very interesting and insightful feature stories which are backed up by solid, regular columns by intelligent and witty writers. The magazine is generally divided up into three sections, gardens, lifestyle & pets, and health & nutrition, though articles in each of these sections often could be classified in more than one of these sections.

Article headline examples
Gardens
Australian Style – waterwise garden design
Amazing Fungi – stunning photography
Lifestyle & Pets
Shade Sails – install some instant made
Silkworms – the ideal pet for children
Health & Nutrition
Nutrition Adviser – Rosemary’s Q & A

Best of the Regular
Mailbag – Readers send in articles and information on what they have been up to, often thanks to the advice of the magazine.

Readers Photo’s – Always some great shots showcased here sent in by readers.

Dear Don – Don Burke answers reader’s questions on pretty much anything at all.

Classifieds – Yes, that is right, classifieds. If you are hunting for a particular plant or want to know some good nurseries in your area, chances are you will find details in this section.

Last Word
Burke’s backyard is the kind of gardening magazine that a subscription would be a fantastic idea, if you are so inclined. It has a recommended retail price of $6.75, putting it pretty much alongside most magazines cost wise. This is $6.75 well spent. So if you are looking for a good magazine to get into regularly, why not give Burke’s Backyard magazine a try?

Welcome to the first installment of this series for 2010. The main purpose behind this series is to give you a little bit of background as to where I have come from as a green thumb. I want to introduce you to the people that have shaped me into the gardener that I am and help you to understand why I am indeed so passionate about gardening. The entries in this series may be shorter than some of my more regular entries but I do hope they give you an idea of my gardening history.

I will start this series in what could be seen as a strange fashion. I want to explain what I am not as a gardener before I go into what I am as a gardener, as well as where I have come from and why what I am saying at AussieGreenThumb.com can help you in your garden.

I am not a qualified gardener or landscaper. I did not go to university and gain a degree in gardening nor have I gone to TAFE to gain a certificate in gardening. I am not a TV celebrity gardener like Jamie Durie or Don Burke. This paragraph alone may leave you wondering why you are bothering with AussieGreenThumb.com? My hope is that what I write will answer for itself as to why it is useful.

At AussieGreenThumb.com it is not really my aim to teach you to take your garden and turn it into ‘Australia’s Top Garden’ because I realise this is not the goal of the everyday person. In fact, in my experience, most people simply want a garden they do not feel ashamed of. I believe you probably just want a front garden that does not make you cringe when you invite people to come over, and wish you could blindfold your friends until they are inside the doors. You want a backyard that compliments your amazing outdoor entertainment area and not be a cause for moving the party to your second cousins place! It is you that I have in mind with this blog. It is the everyday, minimum fuss, just want it to look neat gardener.

It is because of this that I believe what I have to say is worth reading. It is because of this that I believe where I have come from has trained me to help in this circumstance. I have grown up in and around the garden. I am not a professional gardener but simply someone who is passionate about the garden. Things that I take for granted in gardening terms, I am discovering are not quite as simple for people that did not grow up in the garden and it is this kind of simple advice that I believe can make a big difference between someone bothering and not bothering with improving their garden.

It is my belief that every person can have a gardening lifestyle, today and tomorrow. What matters is what this means to you. What does it mean for you to have a garden you are happy with, and what are you willing to do to work towards this? It is the goal of this blog to empower you towards this end and it is the goal of this series to show you how simple it can actually be, with the right people helping. I have learnt most of what I know today as a child. Because of this I believe anyone can learn some simple skills that will go a long way towards them having the garden they want.