Kath Irvine

Radio+ Podcasts

Simply Gardening #8 How to mulch

Loving do these 15min radio shows with Catherine Scullin at Coast Access radio. We're live to air every Wednesdays at 9.15am ish on Coast Access, then as a podcast on apple or spotify, thereafter. How to Mulch, and what to use?Mulching - what to use, where to

Radio+ Podcasts

Simply Garden #7 Let The Garden Go

Loving do these 15min radio shows with Catherine Scullin at Coast Access radio. We're live to air every Wednesdays at 9.15am ish on Coast Access, then as a podcast on apple or spotify, thereafter. Letting the Garden Go?Letting the garden go? What?? Like wild? Yes, that

Radio+ Podcasts

Simply Gardening #6 Spraying! Do we, Don't we?

Loving do these 15min radio shows with Catherine Scullin at Coast Access radio. We're live to air every Wednesdays at 9.15am ish on Coast Access, then as a podcast on apple or spotify, thereafter. Simply Gardening with Kath Irvine - Spraying! Do we, don’t we?To spray

Radio+ Podcasts

Simply Gardening #5 Tomatoes, Driveway Weeds + Blackberry

Loving do these 15min radio shows with Catherine Scullin at Coast Access radio. We're live to air every Wednesdays at 9.15am ish on Coast Access, then as a podcast on apple or spotify, thereafter. Simply Gardening with Kath Irvine - Tomato Planting, driveway weeds and blackberry removalPlanting tomatoes,

Radio+ Podcasts

Simply Gardening #4 Bugs and Pests

Loving do these 15min radio shows with Catherine Scullin at Coast Access radio. We're live to air every Wednesdays at 9.15am ish on Coast Access, then as a podcast on apple or spotify, thereafter. Simply Gardening with Kath Irvine - Bugs and PestsAre Bugs Pests? The answer is

Radio+ Podcasts

Simply Gardening #3 Easy-peasy Compost

Loving do these 15min radio shows with Catherine Scullin at Coast Access radio. We're live to air every Wednesdays at 9.15am ish on Coast Access, then as a podcast on apple or spotify, thereafter. Simply Gardening with Kath Irvine - Easy Peasy CompostCompost - the SOIL FOOD WEB - its

Radio+ Podcasts

Simply Gardening #2 The Secret Life of Plants

Loving do these 15min radio shows with Catherine Scullin at Coast Access radio. We're live to air every Wednesdays at 9.15am ish on Coast Access, then as a podcast on apple or spotify, thereafter. Simply Gardening with Kath Irvine - The secret life of plantsPlants are more like

Radio+ Podcasts

Simply Gardening: #1 Soil Health

Loving do these 15min radio shows with Catherine Scullin at Coast Access radio. We're live to air every Wednesdays at 9.15am ish on Coast Access, then as a podcast on apple or spotify, thereafter. Simply Gardening with Kath Irvine - Soil healthIt’s all about soil. Connect with

Pests + diseases

Dear Kath, my tomatoes have blight...

Dear Kath, the tomatoes in my greenhouse are suffering from blight. What can you advise to treat them? Is it a deficiency in the soil or a pest? thanks A deficiency, in this case, of soil microbes, and the solution is simple as. Read through my very simple, tomato growing

Radio+ Podcasts

Kath and Kim Hill Audio: On Apple picking and Autumn

From Saturday Morning, 11:35 am on 19 March 2022 Organic gardener Kath Irvine returns to share some autumn gardening tips and to answer your questions. This is a time in the garden for both harvesting and preparing for winter. Kath shares some advice on apple picking and storing, and

Radio+ Podcasts

Radio Interview: Homegrown Fruit: A Practical Guide

Jason and I have a fun chat with Catherine Scullin on Books Aloud about our new book, Homegrown Fruit: A Practical Guide. How we met, why we made this book, and why we're so excited to get it out into the world.

All my favs: seeds, plants, books...

My Fav Books + Gurus

Carol Deppe "The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Resilience in Uncertain Times" David Holmgren - Retrosuburbia a must read! Eliot Coleman "Four Seasons Harvest" A classic, and a pivotal book for me that led me to realise I to feed my fam year round. Gene Logsdon "

Compost + Wormfarms

Easy peasy compost #1: Reduce your compost needs

Homemade compost is the ultimate soil food - safe from herbicide/ pesticide/ fungicide residue and full of life! It may seem daunting to make all your own, but with a good setup you totally can. The trick is to incorporate fertility into your garden design. Team that with a good compost

Compost + Wormfarms

Easy peasy compost #2: A good setup

The trick to easily made composts is to have all the ingredients on hand, the bins close by the vegie patch and a hose near by. Easy peasy! 2 types of compost bin  * A simple, 3 sided bin A couple of pallets slid over stakes do the job perfectly, or

Compost + Wormfarms

Easy Peasy Compost #3: Lets make compost!

Homemade compost is the very best fertility for your vegie garden because its alive, minerally rich and stable. Your plants reflect this by growing steadily + strongly, and the reduction in pests and disease is quite something. Homemade looks and smells nothing like bought - it really is far superior. And though

Soil health

How To Revive Soil: 3 Simple Ways

In an ideal world, our soils don't end up hungry and tired. We take care of them in a little and often way so they stay juicy + wormy in order to sustain the demands of production. But - hey, it happens.... life happens! And when it does, here'

Compost + Wormfarms

The Ins and Outs of Choosing Bought Compost

Compost is the heart and soul of your garden. Does it matter which compost you buy? Damn straight it does! Well made compost is all our soil needs to grow abundant crops with minimal disease. But rubbish in, rubbish out - compost made with toxic, sub-standard ingredients will wreck your

Vegies + Herbs

How to Grow Basil

Basil is a queen, and needs to be treated just so - her tolerance for anything other than perfect is low and if you dish it out she'll let you know with fungus-y foliage, black streaks, pale leaves, tough leaves, poor growth or by rushing off to seed.

Start a garden

My 3 Fav Ways to Start a Vegie Patch

Here are my three favourite ways to begin a vegie patch. All are variations of no-dig, and all grow brilliant vegies with no bought fertiliser. The only buy ins are greencrop seeds and perhaps compost, if need be. The first method, and my all time favourite is - "No

Compost + Wormfarms

Recycle Foodscraps: Make a Bucket Worm-farm

A home-made bucket worm-farm costs next to nothing to set-up, takes next to no time to run and yet it turns your food-scraps into gold, aka worm-castings. Worm-castings are good-for-everything! For sick plants, for strong seedlings, for tired soil - it’s no

Garden Care

How to Water

When you water brilliantly, your garden performs brilliantly. The right amount of water, delivered at the right time makes for way less disease, less pests and improves cropping no end. This is no empty promise, my friends! Watering has as big of an impact on your gardens wellness as soil

Chickens

Natural Remedies for Worms in Chickens

Sweetie (chook on the left) has a dirty behind - a possible sign of worms. If I get in quick, I can save the day with herbs! Chickens go downhill fast, so it pays to be aware. Since spring is worm o'clock, lets be prepared with some natural solutions.

Compost + Wormfarms

Turn Your Plastic Compost Bin into a Wormfarm

Worm-castings (worm poops), are the good-for-everything, by-product of your worm farm. It's no exaggeration to say that they have super powers. Team them with your homemade compost (your gardening dynamic duo), and your vegie garden will never look better. There are plenty of ways

Pests + diseases

Help! Our Garden is Full of Grass Grubs

Grass grubs are bronze beetle babies, and as far as pests go, a relatively easy one to balance in the home garden with natural practises such as I champion below. Mostly they reside in lawn - these are grass grubs after all!, but they can also make their way into your

Seeds + Seedlings

The Perfect Soil Temperature for Seeds + Seedlings

What a difference when we sow seeds, and transplant seedlings, into soil that’s at the perfect temp for each crop - seedlings boost away with strong growth! Use your trusty soil thermometer along with my chart below that shows the ideal temperature range. Most crops will germinate outside this range