Fire protection is especially important in Australia, the driest continent in the world, which is plagued by periodic bushfires. These fires can burn uncontrollably in wilderness and rural areas, tearing through forests or grasslands, consuming dry combustible fuels which build up from prolonged dry weather […]
In permaculture, tagasaste (tree lucerne) is used as a nitrogen-fixing tree on large sites and rural properties, but it can grow around 5-7m tall and equally wide, which is way too large for smaller urban properties. Luckily for Australian permaculture gardeners, we have a much […]
Permaculture is all about energy-efficient design, and if you can add a single design element to a site that can perform many functions, then that’s an incredible gain in efficiency! A tree that could do almost everything would be incredible, but it doesn’t exist. The […]
Arboriculture is the cultivation, management, and study of trees and shrubs, and arborists use several formulas for calculating how far tree roots extend in order to protect the health of trees when construction works and soil disturbance occurs nearby. Knowing how far tree roots extend […]
The first step in pruning a tree, before making and cuts to change the shape or size of a tree, is to remove any dead, diseased or broken branches. If removing a branch completely, it’s important to make the cut correctly so as to not […]
“He who plants a tree plants a hope.” -Lucy Larcom Planting a fruit tree is truly an investment in the future, it may take a year or three before a tree begins to bear fruit, but most fruit trees can be productive for 20 to […]
Permaculture is all about working efficiently and in harmony with Nature. We can garden far more efficiently, with far less effort, and improve the soil at the same time by emulating Nature’s soil building processes through practising Chop and Drop gardening. How do most sustainable […]
Glue-banding of tree trunks is an effective technique for controlling various pests of fruit trees. A waterproof band covered in horticultural glue, an aggressive long-lasting adhesive, is wrapped around the trunk of the tree to create a sticky barrier which prevents climbing insects from making […]
Sometimes we need to cut down trees to remove them, but chopping trees down to the ground does not stop them putting out new growth from the stump or from the roots and eventually turning back into full sized trees again. In fact, the technique […]
With the ever-increasing interest in food growing worldwide, many people are trying their hand at growing nut trees with great success. Pistachio nuts are very popular, just about everyone loves them, and it’s inevitable that some gardeners will take interest in growing their very own […]
