How to Stop Plant Pots Blowing Over in The Wind

If you grow plants and trees in pots, some will eventually grow large enough to become rather top-heavy. considering that most potting mixes are fairly light, they need to be for proper aeration and drainage, they may not provide sufficient weight to prevent tall or heavy container-grown plants and trees from blowing over in strongContinue reading “How to Stop Plant Pots Blowing Over in The Wind”

How To Prune and Train Blackberries and Their Hybrids

Blackberries and blackberry hybrids, such as thornless blackberries, loganberries, boysenberries, youngberries, taybberries, silvanberries, marionberries and lawtonberries all belong to the genus Rubus, along with raspberries. Unlike raspberries which have vertical growing canes, blackberries and their hybrids have long trailing horizontal canes, which are usually supported on trellises, or horizontal wires attached between fence posts. HowContinue reading “How To Prune and Train Blackberries and Their Hybrids”

A Better Way to Stake Up and Support Vegetables in Pots

Many gardeners grow vegies in pots, tubs, planters, and self-watering pots. Container gardening is an excellent solution when space is limited or more growing area is required. When growing climbing vegetables such as beans and peas, indeterminate (vining) tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, and zucchini in pots, staking them up to support them in containers can beContinue reading “A Better Way to Stake Up and Support Vegetables in Pots”

How to Grow, Prune and Propagate Raspberries

Raspberries (Rubus idaeus) belong to the genus Rubus, along with other cane berries such as blackberries, boysenberries, lawtonberries, loganberries, marionberries, silvanberries and tayberries. What’s quite interesting is that the whole Rubus genus is part of the Rosaceae (Rose) family, to which almonds, apples, apricots, cherries, hawthorns, loquats, peaches, pears, plums, quinces, raspberries and strawberries alsoContinue reading “How to Grow, Prune and Propagate Raspberries”

Garden Arches, Vertical Gardening for More Growing Area in Small Spaces

Small-space gardening is becoming increasingly popular as outdoor spaces and gardens get progressively smaller in urban areas. There are many ways to maximise the use of limited available space, and one of the best ways is vertical gardening, growing upwards rather than outwards! Gardeners are very resourceful, and in the gardening world there are manyContinue reading “Garden Arches, Vertical Gardening for More Growing Area in Small Spaces”

How to Prune Vining Tomatoes for Small-Space Intensive Growing

Want to grow lots of tomatoes in limited spaces, even containers? Ever wondered how the commercial hydroponic growers pack in as many plants as possible in their growing areas? By understanding the way tomatoes grow, we can select the right plants and utilise their growth habit for maximum production in the smallest of spaces. DeterminateContinue reading “How to Prune Vining Tomatoes for Small-Space Intensive Growing”

How to Build an Espalier Support Trellis

What is an Espalier? An espalier (pronounced “es-PAL-yer”) is a tree that has been trained to grow in a flat plane against a wall,fence, or trellis, though the term has also been used to  describe the technique of training a tree to grow this way. The technique was invented by the ancient Romans, and furtherContinue reading “How to Build an Espalier Support Trellis”

How to Build a Grape Vine Trellis

Here are the instructions for the construction of a basic 2.0m x 2.4m (6′ x 8′) grape vine trellis as shown below. Construction materials required are as follows: 2.4m (8ft) steel star pickets (x3) Plastic coated or galvanised wire, 2.0mm or 12 gauge (x30ft/10m) Turnbuckles (x3) – or some other means of tensioning the wireContinue reading “How to Build a Grape Vine Trellis”