Bushfire community gardens and a manual

Community gardens are about community and getting hands into the soil says PENNY WOODWARD.

Red and purple edibles

Add colour and interest to your garden by planting red and purple-leafed edible plants says PENNY WOODWARD.

Mulches and mulching

As the weather warms up and before soils dry out, organic gardeners are laying mulch. But why do we mulch and what can we use?

Chives

Spring is such a lovely time in the garden with an abundance of flowers. Chives is a very useful and quietly pretty plant that is often overlooked amongst this profusion.

Blooming delicious!

PENNY WOODWARD reveals her favourite edible ?owers and how to grow them, while JULIE RAY describes their varied ?avours and culinary uses, from spicy nasturtium petals to nutritious sun?ower seeds.

Full greens ahead

Packed with flavour and nutrients, leafy Asian greens can be easily grown in all climates.

Cherry Charm

Cherries can be tricky to grow, but the rewards are high and with new low-chill and dwarf varieties, more gardeners are giving them a go, writes PENNY WOODWARD.

The story of a herb garden

PENNY WOODWARD witnesses the transformation of old trial planting beds into a beautiful big herb garden. A large herb garden was established at Heronswood – the home of the Diggers Club in Dromana, Victoria – designed by gardeners Simon Dodd and Clive Blazey.

Fabulous figs

Fresh figs are hard to find at markets and grocers, making them an ideal fruit tree for home gardens, says PENNY WOOWARD.

On the snail trail

PENNY WOODWARD goes to town on snails and slugs, testing a wide variety of methods for getting rid of these intriguing but troublesome pests.

A vegetable to invest in

Asparagus is a tough, rewarding, long-term vegetable that, once established, will give many years of nutritious spears, writes PENNY WOODWARD.

Herbs: burdock

Burdock (X Arctium lappa X) may be a tough, unglamorous and thistle–like, but it has a delicious edible root and invaluable medicinal uses,