Tag: Garden Guru

Employing Methods of DIY Irrigation To Your Garden And Other Plants

A garden is often the centerpiece to an individual’s desire to eat healthier and to live a more natural lifestyle. As with most collection of outdoor plants, a garden is filled with green vegetation which is constantly thirsty for water. Without water, plants wilt and die. Overly dry conditions, which restrict a plant’s access to the water it needs, does not spell good news for anyone’s garden. To remedy the problem of getting water to the plants in an arid, dehydrated garden, people have developed all sorts of innovative irrigation methods. The following are a few irrigation methods that are particularly useful for ensuring that plants get the moisture they need. Read more

5 Tricks to Make Your Backyard Look Bigger

Gone are the days of the quarter acre block, with the average suburban land size now more likely to be somewhere between 600m² and 800m². While that caters to an increasing population, it also means many of us are challenged to make the most of a small backyard. These are the tricks to make that space look bigger. Read more

The ABC’s of Growing Your Own Food

We live in a world surrounded by convenience foods and unhealthful nutritional choices.

While most understand that putting these foods in the body can result in harmful effects, they often counter this with the excuse that it’s too expensive to eat right. If you’re one of them, there is a way to get the nutrients you need without breaking the bank. Read more

Beginner’s Guide to Outdoor Water Features

There are gardens, and then there are gardens with water features. The simplest of water features can transform your outdoor space into a tranquil getaway — even if you just need to get away from the hullabaloo happening inside of your home. The sounds of babbling water or the light dancing off the surface work wonders when it comes to clearing your mind.

There’s no “right answer” when it comes to water features, either; all you have to do is choose the water feature that best suits your style and your garden. Below are four examples of simple installments that will drastically change the look and, most importantly, the feel of your outdoor space. Read more

Gardening Guru’s – Country Style Magazine

Another month, another guru magazine to review! This month I am reviewing the ‘Country Style’ magazine. Country Style is a monthly magazine published by News Magazines with a recommended retail price of $7.95 inc GST in Australia and $8.99 inc GST in New Zealand. Country Style magazine seems to be pitched as a more formal magazine. At roughly 160 pages per issue it is quite substantive for a monthly edition magazine and it is published with quite a stylish look. Though it is not technically a ‘gardening magazine’ per see, it regularly features some great gardening articles. The October edition, which i am reviewing, is actually a ‘garden special’ which works well!

Article Headline Examples

Kitchen Gardens – Visit one of the world’s most beautiful kitchen gardens.

Roses in Adelaide Hills – A leading Adelaide horticulturalist has created a series of striking garden spaces.

Everlasting moments – WA’s spectacular wildflowers.

Best of the Regular

Reader Events – A page dedicated to informing you of upcoming special events. Usually this page seems to only promote one event but that one event is usually quite a good one.

A month in the country – Another section which outlines what is going on in the different states country area’s throughout the current month. Really good place to find out when garden festivals are happening!

The Last Word

As someone who has spent equal time living in the country as the city but now residing in the city, I really enjoy Country Style magazine. It almost helps me to experience some of the charms of country life from my city dwelling! This magazine really is very well put together with a great mix of the different elements that make up country life. It also often features some rather large gardens given the space country people often have to work with.

Check it out! 7.5/10 for me.

Gardening Guru’s – Australian Handyman Magazine

This month’s gardening guru review is of the Australian Handyman magazine, a readers digest magazine. They release a new edition every month which means there are 12 fantastic issues a year. For this particular review I will be looking at their 2010 April edition but the May edition should be in your local Bunnings stores now. The Handyman magazine is more than just a gardening magazine, it covers topics across many different area’s such as makeovers, workshop , renovating and of course, gardening.

Article Headline Examples

Makeovers
Outdoor Table renovation – Gives a good run down on how to go about restoring your own outdoor table for as little as $125.

Workshop
Ultimate DIY workbench – Provides some great plans for your dream work bench and then shows you how to make it.

Renovating
Expert paint application – How to hold and properly use a paint brush. Seems simple but these tips will help improve your painting!

Garden
Growing Leeks – Goes through the process of how to grow leeks, from planting right through to cooking.

Best of the Regular
What’s new – Discusses a heap of new gadgets and equipment out in the market to help you in your own DIY projects.

The Last Word
I am very impressed with the Australian Handyman magazine. I picked it up for just $6.50 on my way out of Bunnings one day really not expecting much, to be honest,  but it is 136 pages of quality hints, tips and traps across many DIY fields. I was a little disappointed that the garden section wasn’t bigger, but it makes sense when the magazine is more about being a handyman than growing potato’s or something like that. Get’s a 7.5/10 from me!

Gardening Guru’s

Welcome to my Gardening Guru’s series. Each month I will review either a regular gardening magazine or website that I have found useful or helpful in my gardening journey. I like to think that I offer some fantastic advice at AussieGreenThumb.com but I do not claim a monopoly on gardening advice, so am happy to recommend other good sources of information. In fact, Aussie Green Thumb’s main goal is to help YOU be the best gardener you can be, and I believe that means learning a breadth of skills from many different sources. I hope the garden guru sources that I review are as beneficial to your gardening lifestyle as they have been to mine.

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.

Read more