Gardening in the Australian climate? Discover expert tips for thriving in diverse Australian conditions, from arid deserts to tropical rainforests.
The best soil mix for a raised garden bed in Australia is a blend of mineral bulk, compost, and a coarse mineral that keeps the mix open. For most vegetable beds, that means 3 equal parts: topsoil, finished compost, and…
Most kitchen scraps will not grow a second vegetable. A spring onion base grows new greens in days. A carrot top grows greens and never grows a new carrot. This page sorts common scraps into three groups, then gives each…
Pick a dwarf or determinate tomato for a small pot. Give it at least 19 L of premium potting mix, 6 to 8 hours of direct sun, steady water, and a cage set at planting time. That is growing tomatoes…
Rub one white patch with a fingertip before you reach for a spray bottle. Powdery mildew on zucchini starts as small white spots that lift off the leaf as powder, and that rub test tells you more in 5 seconds…
Why are my cucumber leaves turning yellow? 9 causes sit behind that question, and the pattern on the leaf names the one you face. Match the pattern first. Treat second. I have learned that a vine with wet feet yellows…
Citrus leaves turn yellow for 9 common reasons, and the pattern names the cause. Yellow on older leaves first points to nitrogen or magnesium. Yellow between green veins on young leaves points to iron, zinc, or manganese. Read the pattern…
11 pests attack pumpkins in Australian gardens. Six of them suck sap. The rest chew leaves, stems, or fruit, and the fix follows the feeding type. If you searched for sap-sucking bugs on pumpkin, start here, because the most famous…
Match the browning pattern to 1 of 9 causes before you spray, prune, or feed anything. A lilly pilly turns brown from water stress, weather burn, insects, fungi, or one biosecurity disease, and each cause leaves a different mark on…
Sow sweet corn in a block of at least 4 rows after the soil warms, feed it like the heavy feeder it is, and pick each cob the day you eat it. That is growing corn in Australia in one…
White stuff on plants in Australia comes from 3 culprits in most gardens: mealybugs, powdery mildew, or scale. Run 3 tests before you spray anything. The rub test names the culprit. The sticky test confirms it. The disturb test rules…
What’s eating my plants in Australia? Start with the damage, not the pest. Holes, slime trails, curled leaves, and missing seedlings each point to a short list of culprits, and the 15 pests below match each sign to its maker…
Five rules decide whether Australian native plants thrive in your garden: drainage, sun, local provenance, low-phosphorus feed, and mulch 75 to 100 mm deep. A native that gets all five thrives on neglect. A native that misses one fails while…
Pick the banksia that fits the space before you fall for the flower. The 15 picks below run from a 45 cm dwarf to a 25 m tree, and each one carries its mature height, its spread, its flower color,…
Pick a banksia that fits the space, the soil, and the summer humidity you actually have. The genus holds 173 species, from groundcovers under half a meter to trees that reach 25 m, according to the Australian National Botanic Gardens…
Beginner gardening in Australia starts with 6 hours of sun, a ribbon test on your soil, and one small bed. A first garden fails when the gardener plants first and reads the site later. Read the site first and the…
Australian grass identification starts with three photographs: the whole clump, one leaf pulled flat, and one seed head. Those three shots separate a lawn grass from a native grass and an ornamental grass in most cases. A grass that still…
Pick the gum that fits the block, because the best eucalyptus species for home gardens earn their place at mature size, not at nursery-pot size. The 12 picks below run from a 2 m mallee to a 20 m shade…
Pick the gum that fits the space, because the lateral roots of a large gum can spread 30.5 m from the trunk. A gum tree in the right spot needs little from you for decades. A gum tree in the…
Pull the whole root, bag the seed heads, and mulch the gap so the next flush finds no bare soil. That is Australian weed identification for the 21 common weeds on this page. The rest of this page is 21…
Photograph the flower, the leaves, and the whole plant before you guess a name. That is Australian flower identification for the 15 common flowers on this page. The rest of this page is 15 flowers, from the first wattle head…
