10 Biggest Time-Saving Gardening Hacks | Great Home Ideas

The Great Home Ideas team share their top gardening tips to help you save time while keeping your outdoor spaces looking great. From pruning tricks and hedge fixes to composting, soil solutions, and simple propagation, this episode is packed with clever ideas for every corner of your garden.

0:00 Sustainable Garden Ideas
5:26 Pruning Time-Saving Tips
12:05 Hacks For Messy Hedges
17:18 Summer Garden Maintenance
23:39 Simple Way To Propagate Plants
25:52 Garden Bed Makeover
29:33 DIY Japanese Maples
34:12 Loose Leaf Compost Solution
36:07 Revamping Backyard Garden
41:27 Creating The Perfect Soil

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Labels can be a really useful thing. Take the ones on these plants for example. They tell you how much sun the plant needs, how much water, and how big it’s going to grow. Other labels like sustainable and eco. They can leave you warm and fuzzy, but what do they actually mean in a practical gardening sense? Now, we all want to live more sustainably, but where do you actually get started? Now, so many of us have been dealing with so much rain and it’s pouring today, but you don’t have to have a long memory to think back to times of drought and water restrictions. But now is the time to put in an irrigation system and prepare for that. Now, you can use a standalone or a tap timer. That’s fine. But why not harness the power of the internet and Wi-Fi with a smart controller? Now, these will monitor the weather conditions online and only water when it’s necessary. Another great way to conserve water is to install one of these. Why not take advantage of all the rain falling? Then you’ll have plenty of water to water your veggie patch when the drought sets back in. Now, this veggie patch is looking a little bit sad. So, before I get on to planting, I’m going to start clearing out. To help feed our veggie patch, I’m going to be putting in a compost bin behind us. Now, these weeds are fine to go in there, but anything that has seeds on it, like this bindy, you want to keep out of the compost. So, the plant will die down, but the seeds will survive because it’s not going to get hot enough in a tumbling compost bin. And then when you put that back in the garden, you’re just going to reinfect it with wheat. One of the best things you can do for the environment is to start a compost bin. It lessens your kitchen waste, it lessens your carbon footprint, and you create fantastic compost for your garden. Now, tumblers are a great way to do it because they speed up the process. You simply put your waste in, give it a turn, and then your compost is made. Now, just like a compost heap, you want a combination of green stuff, which is stuff like your kitchen waste and old weeds. You want about 50% of that and 50% brown stuff, which is twigs and things like dried leaves like this. Now, often you don’t create enough brown compared to the amount of green you make out of the kitchen. So, you can add in some sugar cane mulch like this. Now, there’s a couple of things you shouldn’t put in your compost bin, mainly bread and meat, cuz that’s going to attract vermin. So, keep them out. Now, our compost in the tumbler is going to take about 3 months before we can use it. So, before that’s ready, I want to get on to this area. And I need to lift the soil up because it’s compacted over time. So, I’m just using some bagged garden soil mix, which I’ll add some more bagged compost, too. But before I get to that, I’m just going to lift these plants out. We’ve got some chives and some rosemary. And I should be able to get enough of a root ball so they transplant nicely. The only one knows why. Now we got our soil levels up, it’s time to add in some compost. Now, I’m using mushroom compost, and it’s incredibly organic and dense, so it holds on to lots of moisture. It’s got lots of nitrogen in it, too, so it’s perfect for leafy greens and veggie patches. But you do want to mix it through your soil really well, cuz it’s got quite a high salt content. In an area like this, I’m going to use four bags of mushroom compost and just dig it through really well before I start planting. [Music] Growing your own produce at home is obviously a great way to lessen your carbon footprint, but you’re never really going to be able to grow enough to support yourself. So, you need to be selective with what you grow. Now, I find if I buy lettuce or leafy greens from the supermarket, by the time I come around to using the remainders of them, they’ve all gone smooshy and there’s a lot of waste. So, a great way to minimize that is to grow your own. You just come and pick what you need and the rest stays fresh out in the garden. [Music] Herbs really like being in pots because they’re really free draining and you can move them around into the sunny spots of the garden to really maximize the flavor. As well as the edible plants, I’m also going to be planting some flowering plants. And I’m going for two different types, companion plants and pollinating plants. For the companion plants, I’m just using these marolds. So, these are going to sit near our veggie patch. And they’ll attract all the insects you don’t want on your veggies, things like aphids. When they get covered, you can just replace them. Now, I’m also planting over here lots of plants that are great for pollinators. Things like this achilia. Now, when you’re planning for pollinators, you want an array of different colors, different shapes, different heights, so the pollinators go around, have lots of lovely food. [Music] At the end of every good story, there’s a happy ending. And in the garden, that’s always with mulch. Now, I’ve gone for two types around the garden beds. I’ve gone for a eucalyptus mulch. It’s coarser and it’s going to break down slower than the sugarcane mulch that I’m using in the veggie patch. So, if you just try a few of these eco tips, you’ll lessen your footprint and have a more sustainable garden. [Music] Well, finally spring has arrived. fall for most of us, but the calendar is saying, “Yep, we’re into spring, so get out there and enjoy it.” Now, my garden is just recovering from a very chilly winter. Not sure about yours, but color is just starting to reappear again. Isn’t it a wonderful feeling? So, it’s really a good time this weekend to get out into your garden, and I’ll give you a few little tips on things you might like to be doing. [Music] Normally, it’s a time to get the secret out and start pruning your hibiscus. But let me put a holder there because things have changed a little in the gardening. As with all pruning at this time of the year, whether it’s aas or hibiscus or even your roses, you must wait till after the last frost. But these hibiscus are quite different because this is a one of a group called the trade winds group. Now, these weren’t developed in Australia or Hawaii for that matter. They were developed in the Netherlands and in Canada. Yep. Really cold, wintry countries where they get snow. And that’s why this particular group will flower right the way through winter. So, you’ve got to adjust your pruning accordingly. So, when you prune them uh at the end of summer, you get regrowth during autumn. They’ll flower and then flower right the way through winter into early spring. But I do have an old variety from Hawaii that needs pruning. [Music] And after a prune, don’t forget to give them a really good feed. There’s a lot of plants in gardening, little perennials that you can divide and get lots more of them to share or to spread around the garden. So, all you need to do is get a spade under a nice big clump, dig the whole thing up, and take it off to where you’re going to plant it and divide. Now, this is variegated lurope. I’ve been a fan of it since I was a young fella. We used to use it in garden edging way back and I just wish more garden centers had it. If you’ve got a friend’s got a clump, ask him if you can divide it up and share a bit. Split it open. There we go. And then just divide it as I’m doing now. If you pull it out sideways, you’ll find the roots just come out. The foliage is evergreen. Then you get the beautiful lilac pinky flowers. Then the black fruit follows. It’s a real attraction all year round. It’s a great little edging plant. Now all we need to do is plant these out and my job’s finished. [Music] Now is the perfect time to look after your lawn. Weed and feed. Yep. It gets rid of the weeds yet leaves your lawn looking lush and green for the whole season. Now those pesky weeds like all the flatw weeds, bendy eye and even clover. It gets rid of them all yet it has all the nutrition that give your grass a real boost for the rest of the season. And I’m using Buffalo Pro because I’ve got a Buffalo lawn here. But if you’ve got any of the fine leaf grasses and cooch and baby kuya, you can use the regular weed and feed. The great advantage is it comes in a hose on, so it couldn’t be any easier to apply. And even better, it’s got a little onoff switch to save water. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Growing plants in pots has become popular once again. And it’s not only just flowers, vegetables. I’ve got spinach, silverbe, strawberries. You can grow just about anything on a balcony in a pot. And a lot of people who don’t have a garden, that’s the way to go for the future without a doubt. Now’s the time to be planting liliums. And they’re so ideal for growing in pots. All the different colors, whites, pinks, yellows, oranges, reds. A terrific array of colors. Now, some are quite tall, others a bit short. Have a look at the labels and see what the size they grow to. So, firstly, we’ll put in our potting mix. The liliums need to be around about 10 cm below the surface. Now, I’m going for a white and pink combination in the bulbs. Make sure you put them the right way up. That’s the roots down. I’m actually going to put in a lot more than what you would expect. Okay, bulbs are in. Now, let’s just add a little bit of potting mix. We don’t need a lot just to cover the bulbs because now we’ve got to get our annual color in the top. And that’s going to give us immediate color straight away while we’re waiting for the liliums to come up. First up, a little dwarf stock. Isn’t it beautiful? And the perfume is just unbelievable. I love stocks. Now, if you haven’t got room for the big tall ones, try the little dwarf ones. Okay, now we’ll put that just in the middle. Okay, the next one is some sweet Alice. Isn’t it a beautiful thing? Again, a honey perfume. So, we got lots of perfume straight away. And this fella, ah, it’s called the copa. I think we can squeeze in just a few of these little This is a little viola. How good is that? Then in another couple of months, the liliums will come through and you’ll get a fantastic display of color. Let me know what your combination is. Send me some photographs. We’d love to show the rest of Australia. Now, it doesn’t matter whether you follow all or just some of my tips this weekend. Get out into the garden. The sooner you start, the better your lawn is going to be lush green and weed-free, and the color will start to return to your garden right through spring into early summer. [Music] A hedge on an edge, a hedge on a ledge. You can even have a hedge that is a wedge. And this week, I do solemnly pledge that through my experience, I shall dredge to depart my knowledge of the humble hedge. H I’m feeling like green eggs and ham right now. [Music] Buxus is one of the most popular plants for hedging and it’s really easy to see why. You can keep it quite small or you can let it get a little bit larger. The thing that makes it so great is its growth habit. Now the leaves grow really closely together. So when you prune it to a shape, it becomes really dense and you get a nice solid looking hedge. If you want something a bit bigger, you can’t go past Maria. And here it’s been used to extend the height up past this picket fence. It’s incredibly fast growing. It can be clipped tightly. And it also has the benefit of citrus smelling flowers in spring that will spot flower throughout the rest of the year. Certain standalone feature plants can also be used for hedging. Things like aelas and chameleas. Chameleas can tolerate a really hard cutback. So if you do have a small tree, you can cut it back and you can start to achieve a shape like this. What you want to be careful of though is you don’t want to cut off the flowers. Now this flower is in winter. So the last time you want to give it a prune is in early autumn. And some hedges are going to be perfect for this garden. They’ll screen the fences. They’ll give some privacy and they’ll help cool the whole space down. [Music] This is the water hower or weeping lily. Now, this can get to about 6 m tall, so it’s perfect for a tall or medium hedge. It can be kept at about 2 and 1/2 m happily. You don’t really want to make it any smaller than that. I’ve placed it in the middle of our garden bed, so it gets optimal root growth. and it kicks back in this section. So, we’ve got a bit of space for some planting in front. When it comes to spacing though, you want to space them about a meter. I’ve done these though at about 800. You don’t want any smaller than that. And I’ve done that because I want an instant effect. You also want to make sure that you give enough room for the plants to grow out to the end of where you’re hedging, especially if you’ve got a driveway or cars coming in. [Music] Although this hedge does give us good instant impact, it doesn’t give us the privacy that it’s going to give us eventually. And to get it to that point, you need to give it the right maintenance. Lots of water when it’s establishing, but also lots of pruning. Don’t let it get up to the height you want before you start pruning it cuz then it will be really sparse. You want to be tip pruning it as much as you can. In the cooler months, that’s maybe once a month. In the warmer months, every couple of weeks, and you’ll get a lovely dense hedge. The plants that I’ve combined with it are this. This is Laura patalum. It’s got a lovely purple foliage. You can see how nice that looks against the lime green of the lilyilly. And then just to cascade over the wall, some cousin. [Music] You may also wondering why I’ve left this big stitzio in here. Well, the homeowners really like it and I’ve used that to my advantage. That allows us to bring in new plants and therefore none of it looks out of place. [Music] Well, that certainly does look much better, but give it 12 to 18 months and you’re going to have a nice solid dense hedge. On this side of the garden though, I’m going for something a little bit different. It’s a smaller garden bed, so I’ve gone for a smithy eye miner. This will turn into a big tree like the waterhousia, but it can tolerate being kept much smaller, and that’s because it’s got a smaller leaf. I’m planting it in a 200 mil pot. It’s cheaper, certainly easier to get in the ground, and it’s going to establish much quicker. [Music] When you’re selecting plants for a hedge, it’s all about getting the right plant for the right spot. These acme are perfect for here. They can tolerate a limited root run, which they’ve got. They’ll easily reach fence height. I don’t want them to get any taller cuz they’ll block light out of the garden. And to achieve that, I’ve spaced them at 600 mm. For a plant that gets this high, you don’t really want to space them any closer. If you’re using a smaller plant like a buxus, you could plant those as close as 200 mil together and they’d be absolutely fine. [Music] [Music] The last thing you need to do is water your plants in well. And it is really tempting just to leave them to grow. But actually, the more you prune them, the more new growth they’ll put on and the denser your hedge will be. And then the last thing you need is just some good oldfashioned patience. [Music] With spring coming to an end, the garden is absolutely filled with flowers. You might remember this bed that I built about 6 weeks ago. It is looking fantastic. But with the heat of summer coming, there’s plenty to do. Like every good relationship, your garden needs time and affection. Oh, I love you, darling. So, let’s take a closer look at mine, then. My garden of course, not my marriage. That’s all absolutely fine. I hope the front part of my garden is filled with lots of lovely shade tolerant plants which give you textural interest through their foliage. Things like this liaria and hosta. The problem with plants like this though is they’re just snail food and they will strip them clean in no time at all. So I’m going to use a snail pellet. Now, I’m using one that is ironbased because it’s fine around household pets like cats and dogs. And you want to be applying this every time it rains. [Music] Almost every garden I know has a citrus tree in it, and at the moment, I can guarantee they’re covered in pests and diseases. Mine is no exception. I’ve got some leaf miner, some aphids, I can even see some selid in there. So, I’m going to attack them all with a naturalbased spray. Now, at the moment, they’re covered in these lovely soft green leaves, and that’s what the insects are looking for. So, you want to focus on those. [Music] Citrus really don’t like root competition. So, I’ve removed all of the weeds from underneath, and now I’m giving it a really good dose of an organic fertilizer. You really can’t overfeed citrus. Rust is a fungal problem you can get in your gardens that comes when you’ve got really moist and warm conditions. And these nesters are just covered in it. Now, I’ve got plenty of notoriums. I don’t need these ones. So, rather than trying to treat them, I’m just going to rip them all out, which is going to give me more space for some planting. [Music] It’s really important when you’re removing any fungal problems from a garden bed not to put this in the compost because it will just spread when you put the compost back in the garden. So, it’s best to go in the bin and get it out of the garden. [Applause] In the foreground of this garden bed, I’m planting these patunias. Now, this one is called a crazy tuna. You can tell cuz have a look at the flowers. It almost looks like a galaxy. Now, these are an annual, so they’re only going to last one year, but they’re going to flower all the way through summer and give you lots and lots of a fantastic color. [Music] A good way to ensure your springtime flowers go all the way through to summer is to dead head them. I’m going to dead head all my coropsis through here. What that basically does is take the old flower head off so you break the life cycle and it won’t go to seed and it pushes more flowers through. It doesn’t work with all flowers. I’m not going to do it with my snap dragons, but things like daisies and like I said, this coropsis respond really well to dead heading. It’s a great job to do with secretars. I’m just using a little knife. And it’s a great way to get kids out in the garden as well. They get in, they look for the old flowers and see how many they can collect. [Music] The more time I spend in my garden, the bigger it seems to get. And this area out the back is growing as well. Now, I’ve just planted some fruit trees, but until they get up and give me a canopy, I’ve got all this real estate underneath that I’m going to be planting into. Before you plant anything, and especially now before it heats up, you need to improve your soil. I’ve put lots of compost into here. And I’ve also applied a wett agent. Now, your soil doesn’t have to be hydrophobic to apply a wetting agent. It’s just good practice to do it. It means the rain water gets in easily and gets to the roots of your plants. I’m going to be planting a combination of fruits like this tomato and some herbs. And the reason I’ve selected these is cuz they’re shortlived and by the time the canopy gets up, they’ll be long gone. [Music] I’m using a liquid fertilizer because it’s quickly absorbed by your plants. About 4 and a half capfuls per 9 L should do the trick. Now, this one is a well balanced fertilizer, but it’s high in potach, which means you’re going to get lots of juicy fruit. Your tomatoes going to be nice and plump. [Music] If you’re using a good quality potting mix, you don’t really need to be liquid fertilizing for about 6 to 8 weeks. But because these have gone straight into the ground, I’m giving them a boost right now. You can liquid fertilize every 7 to 10 days for maximum results because liquid runs through the soil quickly, but it’s also absorbed really fast as well. [Music] Mulching your garden bed is one of the most important things you can do to set it up ready for summer. But not all mulch is the same. For garden beds like this where I’ve got ornamental plants, and I’m going to be mixing more plants into it. I’m using a sugar cane. This is going to break down really quickly to help feed the plants, and I’m not concerned if that gets mixed through the soil as well. For my veggie patch, I’ve gone for something even finer. This is a loosen mulch that’s going to break down really quickly, but because veggies need so much nutrition, that’s great for them. For things like my hedges and trees, I’m just using a coarser pine bark mulch cuz it breaks down slower, but it still helps to retain the moisture. [Music] [Applause] And that is my spring garden all ready for summer. It’s your turn to get outside, show your garden some love, and it will look good all summer long. You know, there’s nothing better than getting free stuff in the garden. The best news is you can end up with a whole lot of new plants. Some you can share and others to get the kids excited about getting out into the garden. [Music] Propagating plants is really so simple. My grandmother showed me how to do it. All you really need is a pair of secretars, pair of scissors, and some interesting plants. Take these beonas for example. They look really delicate, don’t they? Well, in fact, they really strike easily from lots of different parts of the plant. Firstly, you can strike just from a leaf. And there are lots of different varieties of leaves. I’ve got different colored spotted ones there. This happens to be a a plain one with beautiful white flowers. Now, all you need to do is just stick that just into a jar. Just let it sit there. Now, the other great thing is if you just remove those lower leaves, remove the flowers. Just cut those off and then the plant completely focuses on getting new roots on this little stem. This is where it gets very technical. So pay attention. See the stem here? Now you just pop it into a jar of water. That’s how easy it is. The great thing is the kids and the grandkids can watch the roots develop on that stem through the side of the glass of the jar. It’s just magic. [Music] Then all you need to do is to put them in a window sill where they’re going to get plenty of light. Now, this is actually facing west, but the frosting on the glass filters the sunlight, but it also keeps it really warm. Not only is it really practical, but if you’re like me and you collect glass, unusual colored bottles, medicine bottles, it’s just a bit of fun. The other really good tip is put them in a room that you’re going to visit on a regular basis. Then you can see them as they’re striking. Time to check them out. Excuse me. [Music] One of the easiest plants to propagate is the agave. They pretty much do it for themselves. This is agave a tenuata. And you can see all the way down the stem, it’s already shooting roots off. So when you’ve got a congested amount like this, all you really need is a pruning saw to cut through the stem. You’re good to go. But what you can also do is if you look down on the stem, you’ll see these smaller little pups forming. You can just give those a twist and they come off. Now, you could plant that directly into the garden, but it’s quite tender with its leaves and they could damage as it grows. So, I like to take up jar of water like this. Simply pop it in and you’ll watch the roots develop and the plant get bigger. Also looks great on the kitchen bench. There’s a few more in here and then I’ll get into chopping that stem. [Music] Now, before I plant this in the ground, I’m just going to go around the base and remove any of these ugly looking leaves just to expose the trunk a bit more. [Music] me with the spirit song here to set me free. [Music] Shine. In all honesty, you can lay these agave down on the soil, scatter a bit of dirt over the stem, and they’ll keep growing. But I’m digging mine in so I can orientate them just the way I want them to look. [Music] I can hear it. [Music] [Applause] A little bit of instant impact in an otherwise barren bed. But we do have a couple of spots. And I have spied some of the second most easiest plants to propagate. Some agapanthas. You either love or hate agapanthas. Now I absolutely love them because they’re tough as old boots. They like their roots to be cramped. So they’re perfect for a pot, but when they get over congested, you can get a reduction in quality and quantity of the flowers. So every 5 or 6 years, it’s a good idea to dig them up and separate them out. That gives you loads more plants to place around the garden. You can be really rough with them. You just want to dig out large clumps and then you can separate them out by hand. [Music] Now, agapanthas are really hardy when you plant them. Something like this. There’s plenty of roots to these leaves, and I would just pop that in the ground. If you’ve got something that is got too many leaves for root here, you can simply chop it in half, and that reduces the stress on the plant and you can plant that straight up. Doesn’t look the best though, so I like to pop these in the ground as they are. And if any leaves die back, so be it. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Whenever you transplant anything, it’s really important to give it a really good soak in. Now, we have a free garden bed. I am a genius. A thrifty, thrifty genius. Now, the Japanese maples are one of my absolute favorites. This one here in my garden has been there for over a hundred years now. They do have a reputation for being difficult and hard to grow. Well, I’m about to show you how to grow them in pots that are really quite small. [Music] I have to admit over the last 40 years that I’ve been going to Japan, I’ve watched the masters at work, I’ve learned a lot from them, but I’ve never actually applied it in my own garden. I’ve been buying pots for years. I’ve got a great collection of bonsai pots in the garden shed, but they’re all lying empty. Now, for the last couple of years, I thought, I really got to give this a go. be brave and pot up some grafted Japanese maples into small bonsai pots. And here’s my subject. Now, some of the ones that I’ve done over the last couple of years are these little fellows here. As you can see, they’re in quite small pots. Now, the subject I’ve chosen, this fellow here, is a variety called Asa Tamuka. They think it’s one of the oldest, if not the oldest maple cultivar or variety in the world. It was created in 1710 in Japan. Now, all of these plants here were also in 6 or 8 in pots, the same as this one here. The thing is, you just have to be brave. You have to understand that the understock is super tough. But first, we got to get rid of all this soil. Okay, now for the big operation, you need a good sharp pair of secreturs. So, what I’m doing is reducing the root ball by around about 3/4. [Music] Yes, it’s almost like a short back in size, isn’t it? Yes, I’ve removed a lot of roots. Let’s find the pot now from this selection that I have left without taking any more roots off. Oh, that one’s close. That one’s too small. Oh, I think that one is just perfect. Now, if we look at the shape of the curve of the trunk and the weeping habit, I think that’s about it. Now, you can use regular top quality potting mix, but I think it’s a bit chunky, so I like to make my own. It’s a combination of koa pete, coarse river sand, which is really, really coarse for drainage, and this is regular potting mix, top quality red ticks, but I’ve actually sd it out and removed all these chunky bits because they’re taking up space for my roots, which are really important to regrow from my maple. It’s roughly one/3 each [Music] and then just mix it all up with your hands. [Music] Okay. Now, as you can see, there are holes in the bottom of the pot. So, I need to cover those over. Just a bit of fly screen or a bit of shade cloth will do. Stop the soil falling through. And then a handful of soil on top and then sit our little fella back there. Then it’s just a case of back filling it with your homemade soil mix. But it’s important to get that soil compacted onto the roots. Get that little edge in there. Now, the reason I left the little channel on the edge of the pot there becomes obvious when I start to put on the pot topping. Now, this may not be the rigidest thing they do in Japan, but I find it’s really handy just to keep the moisture in the pot. And then gently, slowly water it in. Now, remember, these are not indoor plants for other than maybe an hour or two. They’re outdoor plants. And you might need to water them every single day. Well, there you go. Another one added to my collection. Give it a go this weekend. It’s a lot of fun. [Music] is a pretty common site in gardens all across Australia in autumn and winter. Now, you could throw your leaves in the green bin, but why not do something at home and make use of them to make your garden even better? Now, you can turn these into a thing called leaf mold. It’s very similar to compost, but doesn’t have any of the green nutrients in it. So, all you need to do is take this, ram it into a bag, and the trick is to get as many leaves in the bag as you possibly can. Now, we’re going to soak this and it’s going to break down over about 6 months. And what you’ll get is this lovely crumbly black sort of composty material that you can add into soil, which will improve the structure and add fungi to the soil. Now, that fungi is going to attach itself to the roots of your plants and then they’re going to be able to take up more water for longer, so it’s going to be better throughout the summer months. [Music] Because there’s no green content in here as far as grass clippings or kitchen waste, it’s going to break down in a very different way than compost wood. You’re going to do it in an anorobic way. And for that, you need water. So when you place your bag down, you got to be happy with where it’s going to sit for the next 6 months cuz it’s going to be incredibly heavy. Next step, fill your bag up with water. [Music] With your bag full of water, you then want to tie it up nice and tight. And then you’re going to put one hole in the bottom just to get the excess water out. Now, that’s going to keep these leaves nice and moist for about 6 months. And in 6 months time, you’ll get it all out and you can mix it through the soil and it’s going to add wonderful structure to the soil. And we use something that was just going to go in the green bin. Now, a pencil is perfect for that hole. [Music] First impressions are so important when it comes to the front of your house. We almost judge people on the way the front of the house looks. Very nice. Well, let me tell you, it’s exactly the same when it comes to the back garden. [Music] This back garden is the perfect example of a bad first impression. And the first thing you see is this big block of buildings here. Then your eyes drawn over to the nasty looking bins. And as you turn back around, well, the things in the veggie patch are looking nice, but the whole thing needs a bit of a revamp. So, I’ve got some ideas for trouble spots just like this. taking me by surprise. The tension alone is caring me. I will be yours for now. To get rid of our bins. I’m going to be building a screen. Now, I want something quite tall, about 1.8 m. So, I need to go into the ground 1/3 of that. So, I’m digging a hole that’s 600 mil. We’re going to put in two posts. Bolt one to the wall. Then we can put some slats in and some vertical black butt screening. Not only is this going to hide the bins, but any other junk in the garden is going to be kept behind here as well. That way when you’re in the garden, you get a lovely peaceful setting. [Music] I’ve precut our black butt decking boards ready for our screening. Now, I’ve cut these to 1.7. I said our screen was 1.8, but by cutting them 100 mil shorter, it gives us a bit of play in the height because we’re not on an exactly level playing field here. I’ve also pre-drilled and counter sunk the holes ready to go into our rails. Now, what I’m going to be doing is using this fancy little shaving brush type thing to oil the back of our boards. The reason I’m oiling the back of the board is to protect it. I don’t want the boards to cut. [Music] With our framework complete, I’m just giving it a lick of black paint. And what that does is it makes it disappear. And the black butt screening that goes on front, well, that becomes the star of the show. [Music] When it comes to getting your screening boards on your screen, I’ve already clamped a spirit level to the top. So, I know my top’s going to be nice and level if I just use that as a guide. I’m also going to use the plum line of the post for my first board. I’m going to put one screw in the top and one screw in the bottom and leave out the middle. I’ll use a packer to space them out and I’ll do five to start with. Once I’ve done five, I’ll go back and pop this packer in the middle and screw the middle off. That way it’s going to take out any bows of the timber. You’ll also notice I’ve got offset screw marks. If I had them all straight along in one line, it would never be perfect and it would get really quite annoying to look at. By offsetting them, it takes out just those millimeter imperfections. A much more professional look. If you’re doing this by yourself, you could clamp it off or you could summon yourself a special genie. Allow me to rub my lamp. Jr. Here he is. Perfect. You don’t mind holding this for me, do you? Not at all. Thank you. [Music] You can see what I mean with this center rail. Our first gap is absolutely fine. The second one far too big. The one after that too small. So, I’m going to get a chisel into this one. Pull it all over this way and make the gaps nice and even. [Music] I’m just applying our oil to the front face of the screen now to finish it off. Now, this is going to protect it against the sun and the harsh elements. A couple of things to remember is you always want to work the wet edge. So, don’t do the top half and then the bottom half. Otherwise, you’ll get a line across the middle of the screen. So, go from top all the way down to the bottom. And I know you’ve done the back and sides, but don’t forget to do the cut edge on top cuz that’s where water will get in. [Music] I’ve got a few jobs to revamp our veggie patch. First of all, I’m going to take off this capping. There’s a miter cut here, and over time, it’s just opened up. So, I’m going to replace it with these thicker boards, and I’m just going to give it a nice square finish. It’s never going to open up. [Music] Last up, I’m going to be putting a lattice screen across the back. You grow broad beans, you grow cucumbers, maybe even try pumpkins. Well, we haven’t spent much on this veggie patch, but it’s already looking better. [Music] [Applause] Across so much of the country, we are faced with the issue of shallow soils, and that’s a problem when you want nice things like a garden bed. It can be from bedrock. It could be from established trees taking up space, even clay deposits and pipes. All of them obstacles in their own right. [Music] But I’ve got a few solutions to this very problem in this small inner city garden. [Music] I’m just taking the front fence out so we got better access. Then I can get on to the clearing. [Music] Right. [Music] You know, you could be getting crazy. [Music] With the garden cleared, it’s time to do a bit of investigation work. And that just means digging some holes to see how deep the soil is. When you’re doing this, you want to watch out for any pipes. We got some water over there. We’ll probably have some foundations just under here as well. As well as working out where the shallow spots are. We also need to work out where the deep spots are so we know where we can get some plants in the ground. [Music] So up the far end we’ve only got about 150 mls worth of soil. As it gets closer to the path it might drop to about 300 mil. On this side of the path though because of this palm there’s just a mat of roots and it’s left the soil dry and impoverished. So I need to improve the soil all over. But I’m going to build it up as well. [Applause] To improve the soil in our garden bed, I’m using compost. Now, this is going to help the soil hold on to moisture and nutrients, but most importantly, it’s going to improve the whole structure. Now, where I can, I’m going to dig it through cuz it’s not ideal to plant directly into compost. But where there’s too many roots, I’ll just leave it as a surface mulch, and it will still do the good work. [Music] To build our garden beds up, I’m just using some treated pine edging. Now, it’s 150 by 25. And I’m going to create a hexagon shape just to add a bit of interest. Now, to do that, you need to cut your timbers to an angle of 60°. It’s a little bit complicated. A saw will cut at 90°. So, if you set it to 30°, you’re taking that off, leaving you with 60°. Now, the overall size is going to be about 500 mil. So, you need to cut your bits to about 300 mil. [Music] Now, it’s really important once you’ve cut your timber to flip it over before you measure it. And that’s because you want your angles to fit together nicely. [Music] Next, I’m going to glue and screw these together with the help of a ratchet strap. The cold is fading now. It’s too late and too far gone. And if I was told, where were all the warning signs? Now I know the final stage of securing this all together is just to use these gang nail plates. These are going to give us maximum longevity. They’re really simple to install and then we can get on to giving it a lick of paint. [Music] We’re placing our hexagons in the front garden in the point where we’ve hardly got any soil because of the roots. And I’m just putting a few together to create a larger body of soil. And then I’ll put one on top to give us some deep planting area as well. Of [Music] course, there’s times where you just don’t have any soil. Things like apartments and front a house like this. So, you’re going to have to use pots. And if you’re using pots, you need the best potting that you can afford. And that’s why I recommend Rich Grow Black Marble. Now, this is high in pot ash. So, if you’re growing flowers, it’s perfect for those. We got a shady spot here, so we’re going for foliage based plants. It’s high in iron, which makes those leaves super green. It’s also got plenty of fertilizer and a soil wetter in there, so once it’s in, you really don’t have to think about it for six months. When you’re using pots, it’s always a good idea to put them up on feet just to make sure the drainage is perfect. Dreams come true and all is okay. Tomorrow is our birthday to save the best for last. We’re biting into a fruit. It’s full of tiny holes. I can still taste the sugar in there, but my tongue has a mind of its own. [Music] Watering a new garden might not be as simple as you think. Just cuz you’ve got a shallow soil profile doesn’t mean the water’s going to get away and drain. So keep a close eye on your plants and see how they’re reacting to your watering. And just adjust it accordingly. And if you follow these tips well, doesn’t matter how deep the soil is, you should be able to have a cracking garden just like this one. [Music]