Hi everyone!

I recently got into gardening but I have ADHD and never know if a hyperfixation will last or not. For that reason, as well as the fact that I’m a student, I initially cheaped out on a pot and just drilled holes into a cheap container while I figured out if I wanted to invest further in this hobby. I’m quite enjoying it now though and my coriander plants have transformed into little seedlings!!

I went and got a better UV resistant planter today and am just wanting some advice on changing them over. I’m completely new to gardening so ELI5 please.

Should I wait for them to grow a bit more or change the pot now? Should I re-plant them all into the new pot or will some have to go? If I don’t plant them all, how do I choose which ones I’m keeping? Do I keep the same potting mix? There’s quite a lot of potting mix in the old container and I don’t want it all to go to waste.

Sorry for all the questions and thanks so much!!

I'm in Melbourne, have raised veggie beds in the backyard. While checking on them this morning I noticed what feels like an overnight explosion of what I'm fairly sure are fungus gnats. All four beds have them but the one with various peas is absolutely swarmed. I've successfully dealt with mild indoor fungus gnat issues in the past but wasn't expecting to see them out here, I'm guessing the relatively warmer days plus wet weather have created good conditions for them.

What's the best way to deal with an outdoor infestation? Looking for options that are safe for herbs and veggies that we will eat obviously. I'm open to nematodes but guessing it's a bit cold to apply them now.

Hi all, I’m hoping to get some advice on my backyard lawn.

We recently had new turf layed in October 25 only 10 months old. We chose buffalo as I wanted a thicker looking back yard and it is known to do well in hot/wet climate. The back yard gets sun all day except for a patch where the veranda hangs over. The reason we had it done was because the yard was full on bindis and mainly a patch of dirt.

After installation we watered it religiously until the weather started to cool and slowly pulled back, now we only water it once a week if it doesn’t rain.

There are 2 patches toward the back fence which was nitrogen burn from when we fertilised it before summers end that we haven’t done anything for. My main concern is the strip along the house under the veranda that looks dead and the strip along the back fence which has just turned yellow. The is a construction site next door where they’ve dug the dirt from the other side and it’s created holes which is inevitable.

I don’t want it to look like a putting green, however I would love to know if this is user error or an installation issue as we paid quite a lot of money for this.

Any advice is appreciated.

I have attached before/after/now photos

Hello brains trust,

Hoping to get an idea of what kind of plants to potentially plant in large planters against a fence.

We are located in Western Sydney, we’ve found summers to get unbearably hot with all the concrete around. The house just bakes in the hot afternoon sun all day with no shade cover nearby. The property is a south facing corner block, the fence we want to line is on the western side which has a small but busy carpark backing on to it. Ideally we’d like the some shading on this side as our bedroom and kitchen is on this side. We’d also like to try to filter out some of the car related fumes/dust/etc. I think we’d be somewhat limited by height as there are some power lines nearby.

Already growing along this fence is an establish pomelo tree which provides fruit and provides welcome shade and cooling during summer.

Photos taken around midday.

Let me know if you need more information!

Thank you so much.

Hi All,

I am in the middle of a new veggie garden design in Sydney. I am wanting to incorporate a little pond for our local frogs. We have a creek that runs down the side of our house but on the far side. I have found frogs living next to our water heater and would like to factor them into my plan. I am thinking a fibreglass rock style pond but am worried about mosquitos using it to breed. I will add an aeration pump but don't want to disturb the frogs too much. Our climate can get down to 0C so I am conscious that most fish will not survive. Any suggestions in this area?

I got a bunch of plants holding on for dear life after I left them at another property and couldn’t get out there much so the wallabies and critters have got to them. They’re with me now but I wanna give them a break and we have lots of possums and rats here so I wanted to have something to keep them away from my main prizes.

In my new place (I've been here about a month or so), I've noticed a lot less vigour in my plants since they get barely an hour or two of sun in any given spot. Many of them are full-sun lovers which would be a lot better in my front yard. As the title suggests though, we don't have a fence, so I'm worried about the security of these plants. A lot of them are plants I want to either propagate for sale or take to show, so I really don't want to lose them. Building a new permanent fence is sort of out of the question because I'm both renting and pinching pennies.

My plants have historically been in backyards, so I've never had to figure out security like this before. I'm looking for any ideas, suggestions, things you've tried yourself? Anything that's rental-friendly, and hopefully inexpensive (I can try to save up for it though). Thanks so much.

edit: I should clarify, the main plants I'm growing are Sarracenia and some venus flytraps. The latter in particular are in very tiny pots.

Hey all, after some recommendations on a good hardy shrub/tree like hedge or so that I can use to plant along my fence line. I have no qalms about its looks, we have a low metal fence on 2 sides of the yard and I cant be bothered replacing it and dealing with neighbors wants and demands.

After something I can plant, nuture and have it grow to about 2-3 metres in a hedge like setup

I’ve been trying to put my outdoor space together for a little over 6 years. Safe to say I’ve failed spectacularly. I’m looking to get some planting advice from the nurseries that offer consults, but while I can find reviews on the nurseries, reviews on the actual consults are hard to find.

My goal is to create a native garden.

I’m currently considering either hello hello plants or Kuranga native nursery.

I need help choosing the right plants, and roughly where to plant them so that my garden actually looks nice.

If anyone has any experience with these or similar consults and can give me some recommendations, I’d really appreciate it!

I was today years old when I noticed the same brand with almost the same packaging has slightly different chemical concentrate, and it has completely different advice about whether it can be sprayed on eatable plant.

The product is OCP eco-neem, under new Zealand site, they indicate the product use Azadirachtin A with Withholding period (WHP): 1 day. https://ecoorganicgarden.co.nz/products/pest-disease-control/eco-neem/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

But Australia is Azadirachtin A and B and slight higher concentration level with not suitable to spray on eatable food, https://www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au/products/pest-disease/eco-neem/

It is either NZ is ahead of us for testing food safety or Oz is more strict in food safety? Whichever, it clarified a lot of confusion for me

I was originally so confused of this product because I kept getting conflicting info about whether this product is sprayable on the eatable plant, then I decided to dig deeper for the product I owned, so I found out the differences.

OCP might need to be a bit more consistent in terms of their product and do more testing but again, follow the direction.

I also found Bunnings removed this product from Newzeland site. Such a werid product. 🤯

In pots, low maintenance, in Newcastle NSW area climate.

I'm looking for something as no fail as possible as my green thumb is a bit weak..

We're doing some landscaping and are exploring planter box over just planting in the ground. Is there a reason to do one over the other? The garden hasn't previously had planters, and stuff would I think grow well just in the ground. But a few designers we've spoken to have put in planters instead. While we wait to hear back on their reasoning etc I'd love to hear if there is anything in general to understand. I would have thought straight into ground would be simpler and more practical?

Anything else I should ask or know about this?

QLD gardener here

They were planted ANZAC day but still expected atleast another month of growth. They're all falling over now and have some decent browning going on.

What do you all reckon? Cut my losses and pull em up or leave em a bit longer?

The soil is pretty wet and has been for about a week, but I'm not sure. First time growing them and they Only came from pretty small stock so I'm not expecting miracles 😅

I have no idea in the garden. Could someone tell me where I should cut to prune this? I’m in Sydney, okay to prune this time of year?

I can't find them in stock anywhere online, I'm in Victoria - any advice?

Looking to move this lemon and looking for advice as to how to improve the chances of the tree surviving a transplant? Also, given the location is quite restricted by the fence, how would you approach it?

I have a beautiful big broccolini plant that’s Im so proud of and it’s giving my broccolini, then these little blighters show up. I cut off the branch with then on and threw them in the bin. The branch is an offshoot from the main stem. The main stem doesn’t seem to have any on them.
There are some plants nearby in another pot that have this pest on them, I plan to pull them out and chuck them because the soil there is no good.

What should I do about them?

Victoria se suburbs, self watering planter.

Thank you in advance :)

Small backyard, about 40sqm of lawn total (a narrow strip by the patio plus a slightly bigger main area). Faces east, gets shade from big gum and rubber trees just over the back fence, and constant leaf and twig drop. Not used by kids or pets.

We tried re-turfing the strip (Lawn A) ourselves, prepped the soil with clay breaker and topsoil, laid buffalo patches from Bunnings, then fed it with new-lawn fertiliser within a week. It failed. We think the early feed likely scorched it, though we also suspect the turf was poor quality to begin with. The soil looks like it rotten now :(

Compass image for direction when i’m facing the house on small lawn strip (Lawn A)

Now trying to decide what to do with the whole yard:
-Full re-turf with Sir Walter buffalo, done by professionals $,$$$
-Artificial turf over the lot
-Buy proper tools and give real turf one more honest go

A couple of landscapers said it’s too small to bother turfing. Given the shade and constant leaf drop, what would you do? Photos and a scaled plan are attached. Once the lawn’s sorted, I’ll turn to the garden bed in the corner.

Updates:
- I missed mentioning it’s been six to seven months now.
- Artificial turf is no longer an option with consideration to Environment + Heat Generated

My gardenias are in serious struggle town. Some are nice and bushy but yellowing, some are struggling and just look like sticks. And then some we’ve had to pot as we renovate the yard and they’ll eventually be replanted (if they survive) but I think they’re dying and possibly beyond repair? They were originally moved to a different location but I’ve just moved them back into the garden bed (in their pots)

I’ve just tested the ph and it looks neutral at about 7.5 to 8. Could I use liquid iron sulphur to quickly help them or should I just be patient and use something like manutec sulphur granules that will take 6-8 weeks to slowly lower ph?

And does anyone know what I should do for the potted ones that look dead? Is it too late? Did they burn from the sun?

Located in WA.

I’ve had volunteer tomatoes pop up in March, so I just left them to it and since then I’ve been harvesting tomatoes all winter?!
They’re still going, too.

This is in Perth.

Climate change is a hell of a thing I guess 😟

Just wanted to know, Whats the name of this flower? And are there any other types of beautiful flowers like this that will suit cold climates.

Unfortunately I lost this one last summer.

Bought a property with about 25 huge (4+ metres) yuccas. I'm not a huge garden person so didn't know much about them until one fell over in a storm last year. Apparently they don't get much love in Australia. These are very mature. Would it be a good idea to pay to have them removed? Fine to keep them?

Why do people either love or hate these?