Dealing with the Mother of Tough Garden Beds

 DESIGN ELEMENTSWhen the going gets toughMany gardeners have a section of their garden that might often see plant failures year after year. They’ve tried all sorts of plants that claim to be tough as old boots, but still they fail. Glenice Buck has dealt with one such problem garden bed where she lives and this week starts a series of 3, on how she went about solving...

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Experimental sea snail and epoxy resin pendant

 Tools and materials I propose:Hot glue gunVacuum chamber kitResin colorsBuffing kitMicro mesh sanding padsForedom Woodcarving KitDiamond Cutting Wheel DiscsBuffing Wheel SetMini machinist’s latheJeweler's sawIn this video I make a pendant inspired by ammonite fossils. I made it out of a sea snail shell and epoxy resin.First of all I hot glued the shell on a base to keep...

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Grow Coriander: The Primadonna of Herbs

 THE KITCHEN GARDENSUCCESS WITH CORIANDERScientific name: Coriandrum sativumI mentioned before that certain herbs that look alike and again I find myself talking about another herb that confuses people.Australians refer to the seeds and leaf as coriander but in the northern hemisphere, the leaf is sometimes known as 'cilantro.'Coriander is one of those herbs that people...

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Winter Savory and Thyme: What's the Difference?

 SPICE IT UP    SAVORY VS THYMEOften there’s a couple of herbs that look alike and even have similar flavour profiles. If you had them growing together in the herb garden, you may even confuse the two because of how closely they look to each other.Thyme is the better known herb in Australia, which from the 1950's was commonly used in soups, stews, scones...

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Fungus Gnats Begone

PLANT DOCTORFUNGUS GNATSThese tiny flying things can swarm around your indoor plants but other than annoyance, are they killing your plants?Those tiny little flies that hang around your fruit bowl or indoor plants aren’t always that same thing. Sometimes they’re confused with fruit flies, or even ordinary house flies, but none of those two are correct. Inevitably they’re...

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How to make a DIY palette painting knife

 Tools and materials I propose:Silver solderFluxPropane torchCopper pipe cutterTormek honing compoundForedom Woodcarving KitLatheBuffing kitWood turning tools setChuck kitTormek T8 Sharpening SystemTormek Woodturner’s KitIn this video I make a palette knife out of a nail, a spatula, copper pipe and wood. This a pretty interesting tool used in a very impressionistic painting...

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Rotten burl from another planet

 Tools and materials I propose:Hot glue gunLatheWood turning tools setChuck kitVacuum chamber kitBlock planeFlexcut starter carving setResin colorsBuffing kitMicro mesh sanding padsIn this video I use a rotten burl from an unknown (to me) type of tree. I think that these fragile wood pieces hide a lot of beauty and resin can help a lot to preserve it. So I made a resin...

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Plant Nutrition Unpacked: Plant Nutrients and Deficiencies

 PLANT NUTRITION UNPACKEDMajor NutrientsHave you ever asked yourself "how do plants take up nutrients when you spread fertiliser around them on the ground or dilute it into liquid ?"It's something that we gardeners do quite a lot of,  spreading fertiliser around that is, and probably don't give it a second thought until plants don't respond to all this nutrient load.What...

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