Recently, Anthea wrote to me about the problem of growing her Chinese Magnolia where soil is alkaline.
I was just reading your article on changing soil ph and was hoping you could give me an idea on how to fix a problem I have with my magnolia x soulangeana.
I bought the tree approx 4 years ago [...]

Last Saturday’s ‘Gardening Australia’ program made the claim that you won’t find the tip to use Epsom Salts to assist germination in any gardening books. That’s not true!
You will find that tip and lots of other tips for getting the best germination and growth from young seedlings in ‘Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting’ pages [...]

Before purchasing mulches or manures for your garden, ensure that they don’t come from pastures treated with a broad-leaf weed killer.
A relatively new herbicide (weed killer) ingredient, aminopyralid kills broad-leaf plants by disrupting plant cell growth. It does not affect grasses, but can remain active in them, and manures from animals that eat sprayed grasses, [...]

Mary’s pumpkin vines have produced some good fruits but a lot of pumpkins get black spots, shrivel up and rot while they are still small. Other vines have had very few or no female flowers, and she is puzzled as to the cause of these problems.
The squash family can also suffer from ‘blossom end rot’, [...]

Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for someone who enjoys gardening?
The new edition of my book, ‘Easy Organic Gardening and Moon Planting‘ would be an excellent choice. This book is not just about growing food – all your garden will benefit from organic cultivation. It has 500 pages packed with easy-to-follow guides and secrets on [...]

One of our SA readers wants to know what to do about the weeds that sprout from their horse manure pile, as she is concerned about spreading the weeds through her garden. She also has a problem with millipedes. Interestingly, manure and millipedes have a relationship because millipedes feed on decaying organic matter and they [...]

The ABC’s Gardening Australia program on June 20th told gardeners how to identify plants affected by bacterial wilt but, unfortunately, did not tell them how to eliminate the disease.
Bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) is a serious soil disease that can, like Fusarium and Verticillium wilts, spread throughout the garden on boots, gardening tools, and infected plant [...]

Soil fungi that affect the water-carrying parts of plants cause wilt diseases that can affect a wide range of vegetables, grains, and ornamentals. Fruit trees can also be affected.
Wilt diseases are commonly caused by not practicing a proper crop rotation. Adding organic matter to soil helps to limit soil-borne diseases because the beneficial fungi in [...]

As anyone who has had a vigorous, productive pumpkin vine emerge from an old compost heap will know, pumpkins l-o-v-e compost. If you are a pumpkin enthusiast, and live in an area with cold winters, you can prepare for pumpkin growing now.
Choose a sunny spot in the garden where you want to grow pumpkins next spring, [...]

May 3 – May 9 is International Composting Awareness Week.
Learn how you can help to combat climate change by composting waste.
Click here