ABC Organic Gardener Magazine

Organic Gardener Magazine is a guide to organic gardening, providing informative and inspirational stories on everything you need to know to grow your own fruit and vegetables- without the use of harmful chemicals. Each issue includes practical tips and advice from leading organic gardening experts.

Food for summer

ABC Organic Gardener Magazine

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reviews • Great reads for the holidays and beyond

On the ground • Ground covers can lift gardens with long-flowering colour, filling in spaces and acting as living mulch. Many are great habitat plants for insects and small birds and lizards. Some form loose covers and can be planted so that bulbs or perennials seasonally emerge through them. Others form dense mats, great for weed suppression and keeping soil temperatures down and moisture levels up. Karen Sutherland picks three to try.

Lilly pillies • This popular native plant is easy-to-grow with colourful edible fruits, just pick the right species to suit your garden space, writes Karen Sutherland.

Summer BOUNTY • Jian Liu profiles her top easy-to-grow summer crops that will give you bountiful harvests (fast) for tasty, nutritious meals.

HOW TO get growing now! • No matter your budget, you can kickstart or expand your food garden today – to save money on groceries, take the pressure off the planet, and enjoy the goodness of homegrown veg. Phil Dudman tells how, from basic to deluxe options!

Summer PROTECTION TRICKS • Here are some practical ideas from Phil Dudman to help beat the heat and protect your crops.

Show us your shed • We’d love to see what you’ve got in your garden! Enter for a chance to win!

NOZZLE IT • Get your good watering gear ready now – that way your gardening life will be much easier when the weather heats up, writes Karen Sutherland.

discover goji and jujube • Melbourne-based permaculture gardener Connie Cao has just released her first book Your Asian Veggie Patch, filled with more than 50 planting guides for veggies, herbs and fruit, along with cooking tips and recipes. Here, we focus on two less common fruits that are hardy, delicious and nutritious.

Beat THE HEAT • It’s time to get your garden set up to cope with the extremes of summer.

Summer salad celebration • Try these delicious salads from Alice Zaslavsky’s latest inspirational book.

Dear dairy… • More and more people are choosing certified organic, free-range eggs and avoiding factory farmed meat, but have you considered the ethics of the dairy industry? Simon Webster meets some farmers who are doing things differently, from keeping calves with their mums, to using glass bottles instead of plastic.

The little things that RUN THE WORLD • Reese Halter explores the amazing work of the insect world, work that is vital to understand when looking at ways to mend the Earth’s health.

JAMES BRADLEY PLIGHT OF THE OCEANS • Writer and critic James Bradley is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books. His latest, Deep Water, explores the beauty and plight of the oceans. Simon Webster spoke to him at the 2024 Byron Writers Festival.

War, art and action • MAKING A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE THROUGH ORGANIC PRINCIPLES.

HOW TO RAISE CHICKS • Jessamy Miller outlines the essentials of raising your own chickens, including set up, diet and safety.

the best of your

I’m in a state • Simon Webster ponders the question: What does your garden say about you as a person?