Table of contents for Issue #56 2022 in Backyard and Outdoor Living

Summer is well and truly here, so it’s time to entertain outdoors (even if it’s just the people in your house) and get out into the garden to really make the most of it. In Fave 5, Angie Thomas shares with us her five favourite summer salad ingredients that you can plant in your own backyard. Then in Best Of, we take a squiz at some truly impressive succulent and cacti spaces. Want to create a flourishing garden but don’t know where to start? In our seeds and planting feature, we give you the lowdown on creating the perfect edible and ornamental garden, from planting seeds to harvesting — including the products to buy to make it happen. Our outdoor entertaining feature covers everything you need to know to keep…

01. ASCOT ANGLE Designed by its owner, award-winning Brisbane architect Joe Adsett, Ascot Angle was featured in Grand Designs Australia season 9, episode 7. Two enormous long wings hug the garden, providing a sense of connectivity to it. And there is no doubt the garden itself is an absolute showstopper. In keeping with the heart of the home — the curved staircase inside — the outdoor area features a dramatic curved path that creates further interest, with pavers of differing shapes that have been laid in an irregular pattern. Mounds of grass and garden add a lush outlook. A rustic firepit and smooth cylindrical sculpture contrast each other but somehow work together to finish off the look. Photo by Rhiannon Slatter. joeadsett.com.au; graya.com.au 02. ST. PAULS ROAD The brief was…

When you have the beauty of nature just footsteps away from your home, you want to harness that magic for yourself. That is exactly what these homeowners did after they built their contemporary grand design, with architects Allied Office, across from the iconic Centennial Park. “The clients were seeking a design that complemented the extensive natural bushland directly across the road in Centennial Park, while also visually softening the architecture of the new build and creating an inviting garden space,” says Mark Bell, creative director at Bell Landscapes. Entering through the home’s front gate, the lush front garden is abundant, featuring a wide assortment of native shrubs, grasses, ground covers and feature trees, all connecting to the natural landscape but also attracting native birds and wildlife from the park. Yet…

with more and more of us staying closer to home these days, a neighbourhood party is a great way to entertain at home in your own backyard. Your guests don’t have to travel, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to get to know your neighbours and build relationships. Maybe you’ve just moved into the street, or you want to get to know the people three doors down you’ve lived near for years. Building connections with neighbours creates a sense of belonging, develops trust, and can make us feel safer in this ever-changing world. But of course, even the most causal get-together needs planning. What sort of event will you host? How will you cater food and drinks? Will it be an evening event or a daytime gathering? What do you need…

Define your garden and create a visually stunning centrepiece with quick and easy-to-install steel edging. Whether it’s large-scale feature terracing or raised planters, steel edging is a simple solution to a variety of outdoor projects. All you need is a weekend and some sunscreen. FormBoss metal garden edging is made locally in Melbourne from high-quality Australian BlueScope steel that is structurally guaranteed for 10 years. One of the company’s steel finishes, and one that is growing in popularity, is Redcor. Boasting a long life expectancy, the subtle colour variations within the steel make each piece unique. Redcor’s protective layer develops over time as it is exposed to the elements, revealing a rich patina bound to constantly delight the viewer. Once exposed, it will take between four and 16 weeks to…

CROSSRAY® barbecues redefine the outdoor cooking experience. Like cooking over a bed of red-hot coals, they provide even heat while reducing flare-ups to produce tastier and juicier food. This is achieved using patented infrared cooking technology and includes both gas and electric versions, in portable, in-built and outdoor kitchen options. Setting the benchmark for outdoor kitchens is the new CROSSRAY® 4B-S Series. Offering a high-end outdoor cooking experience without the hefty price tag, upgraded corrosion-resistant cabinets provide the perfect platform for the new sintered stone benchtop. Designed to perfectly match the award winning four-burner CROSSRAY® in-built infrared gas barbecue, it is ideal if you love cooking and entertaining outdoors in style. CROSSRAY® gas barbecues are the only barbecues that can provide controllable, even heat from 140°C to 350°C+ while using…

THE ABUNDANT GARDEN Niva Kay and Yotam Kay, Allen & Unwin, $45 Embrace home gardening the natural way with this practical guide to growing a regenerative home garden. The Abundant Garden has simple, reliable strategies and techniques to help maximise your ability to feed yourself and share the abundance with those around you. W With information on growing a wide variety of vegetables, there are also helpful charts to help you plan and plant your garden year-round. There are also details on how to grow microgreens and great recipes for ferments, preserves and pickles to stock the pantry with your garden’s bounty. GARDENING FOR MINDFULNESS Holly Farrell, Mitchell Beazley, $29.99 A practical, inspirational guide to improving mental wellbeing through gardening, this book is now available in a gift-friendly…

INDOOR/OUTDOOR LIVING More often than not, the best covered outdoor rooms are those you can access directly from the home. Case in point: this modern space that spills out from the interior open-plan living room. Essentially a covered deck, this set-up has it all, including dining and lounging zones, as well as a charming built-in bench running along the side wall. Photo courtesy of Bunnings Warehouse. bunnings.com.au NATURAL BEAUTY Blessed with an adorable arched window, recessed ceiling details and a natural material palette of stone, timber and rattan, this covered outdoor room is earthy and inviting. Black accents break up the neutral scheme and add a sense of drama. Of particular note are the linear lanterns by Chapman & Myers for Visual Comfort and available from The Montauk Lighting Co.…

After recently renovating their Brighton home, the owners wanted their property to reflect that of their modern and minimalist chateau. The brief stipulated that the north-facing garden was to complement the bold aesthetics of the newly built wing, and the entryway was to be striking and functional, without drawing attention to the two separate front doors of the home. Although the homeowners were looking for a timeless and sophisticated landscape for their family to enjoy, they also wanted it to remain practical and complement the architecture of the home. “We were careful to create a garden that had a good scale of proportion that enhanced the size of the space and didn’t conflict with the exterior decor,” says Steve Taylor, director of COS Design. “The other main focus was to…

One of the great joys of growing your own fruit and vegetables is that you can guarantee they are free of any nasty chemicals. Why pay a premium for organic produce at the shops when you can make your own free organic fertiliser from your kitchen scraps, spent cut flowers and garden clippings and grow your own fresh fruit and vegetables that taste so much better because you can harvest them at peak ripeness? Whether you have a compost bin or worm farm, now is the time to be recycling all those precious nutrients that would otherwise go to landfill. The most important principle to understand is that before you harvest any compost to put on your garden, the compost must be mature. In other words, your compost needs to…

Fast and super easy to grow, radishes are a reliable year-round staple that will add their inimitable peppery crunch to salads and sandwiches. Best sown directly from seed, they will be ready to harvest in as little as 35 days during warmer weather or around 6–8 weeks in winter. Choose a full-sun spot — in summer, somewhere with protection from the hottest afternoon sun is ideal — and work through some compost to make the soil friable before sowing your radish seeds. Sow the seeds in rows spaced according to the packet instructions. Seedlings can be thinned out if necessary once they have two true leaves. While the seeds are germinating, make sure the soil is kept moist. Once they’ve sprouted you can lightly sprinkle the soil along the side…

Black mulberry (Morus nigra) is a fruit not readily available at the greengrocer or supermarket. You may find these delicious berries occasionally at a farmers’ market but, to enjoy the fruit and the other benefits of this easy-to-grow tree, grow your own. Perhaps more than any other fruit tree, mulberries are a wonderful addition to a family garden. They are reasonably fast growing, easy for kids to climb, offer summer shade, have few pests and are easy to manage. In spring or early summer, when they are full of berries, climbing the tree has even more to offer with the reward of a feed. They are also long lived. One of the world’s oldest black mulberry trees, at Syon Park in the UK, is thought to date from 1548. Mulberries…

01. WELCOME TO CACTUS COUNTRY No self-respecting list of the best cactus and succulent gardens could call itself complete without the inclusion of Cactus Country. Bursting with thousands of succulents and cacti, the 12-acre desert oasis, three hours from Melbourne deep in the Victorian Murray bushland, has never been more popular thanks to social media and its undeniably photogenic, “Insta-worthy” backdrops filled with weird and wacky plants as far as the eye can see. An elevated lookout dome is the perfect spot to enjoy a margarita or Mexican beer (or a homemade cactus ice cream for the kids) as you take in the 1000+ plant varieties that make Cactus Country their home. cactuscountry.com.au 02. FABULOUS FRONT GARDEN A delicate blend of soft and structural plants provides a striking backdrop to…

Love your garden but don’t have enough time to tend to its needs? Is a lack of rain or water restrictions drying out your daisies and hampering your use of H2 O? Overwhelmed by the vast array of products to choose from? The Earthlife team are here to simplify your gardening needs. “Nature has been looking after itself for millennia, so why not use what nature uses and restore life back to the earth?” a spokesperson for Earthlife suggests. “By returning the natural cycles back to your garden, the maintenance and effort of making your garden grow are significantly minimised.” One of the easiest ways these cycles can be restored is by using Earthlife Microbial Rock Minerals, a broad spectrum of soil microbes, minerals and humates. Every three months, simply…

The Shaderunner® Retractable Shade System is ideally suited to a range of applications around the home, from outdoor entertaining spaces and patios to swimming pools and courtyards. With a wide range of fabrics and colour options available, the Shaderunner® complements all architectural styles, including contemporary suburban homes, traditional country residences and everything between. The architect owners of this lovely home in Adelaide’s leafy Eastern Suburbs recently created a wonderful outdoor raised deck, perfectly complementing the modernist-style house. To provide protection from the elements and maximise use of the space, a fully retractable Shaderunner® shade system was installed, extending from the house out over the deck, with the running wires then extending to posts in the garden. While the majority of Shaderunner® systems are manufactured from a durable polyester mesh fabric…

You may have already grown chickpeas in your garden without realising. That’s because this legume is often one of several crops in mixed green manure that we grow, cut down and turn back into the soil to improve it over time. But don’t just put chickpeas in the “green manure” corner. If you’ve got the space or you’d like to experiment with a small pulse crop, they deserve a spot in your garden this coming spring and summer. Easy to plant, chickpeas thrive in hot, dry conditions and fix nitrogen back into the soil as they grow. GROWING Chickpeas are grown commercially in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland as well as parts of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Ideally suited to warm temperate climates, they prefer a…

What could be more welcoming than a pretty outdoor space? Think nice plants at the front door, dressing up your verandah or adding pops of colour to the back garden, patio or deck. A beautiful outdoor space can also add value to your home by creating function and street appeal. With a bit of creativity and a small budget, any outdoor space can be transformed. OUTDOOR ROOM STYLING TIPS: 1. Consider creating places to sit with outdoor lounges or armchairs. Use scatter cushions to finish. If you have a large garden, it’s nice to create lots of different zones for mingling and relaxing. Mix it up with some sun lounges, pod sets, or garden benches dotted in different corners to encourage use of the full yard. 2. At the front…