Phil Dudman

New South Wales

Horticultural Editor at ABC Organic Gardener

Broadcaster at Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)

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Articles

ABC Organic Gardener Magazine

1 month ago | organicgardener.com.au | Phil Dudman |Leanne Croker

new issue on salenow! HomeWhat to plantVegetablesGrow: pumpkins Homegrown pumpkins are an urban commodity – you can swap them with the neighbours for fresh eggs or a handful of lemons, and with a bit of TLC, they’ll store for months. Pumpkins are a part of our gardening and culinary DNA. You can swap with neighbours, make winter soups and with a bit of care, you’ll have a supply that will last a couple of months.
Pumpkin power: Store your harvest and save seeds

1 month ago | organicgardener.com.au | Phil Dudman |Leanne Croker

Make the most of your pumpkin harvest with these storage and seed saving tips. When conditions are spot on for growing pumpkins, there’s potential to be overwhelmed by your harvest. You can swap with neighbours and share with friends, but follow these storage tips and you’ll have pumpkins ready to cook up for months to come. After harvesting your pumpkins, inspect each one carefully and set aside any with nicks or damage. These won’t store well, so plan to eat them first.
Planting in punnets

2 months ago | organicgardener.com.au | Phil Dudman |Leanne Croker

new issue on salenow! HomeBuild your gardenBasicsPlanting in punnets Starting vegies in punnets will mean you have crops ready to plant out, no matter the season or conditions. Here's how. I like to always have a few punnets of vegetable seedlings on the go. That way, as soon as a gap opens up in the patch, I’ve got healthy, established seedlings ready to plant.
Autumn citrus care

2 months ago | gardeningaustraliamag.com.au | Phil Dudman |Loren Desbruslais

HomeGardening adviceEdible gardeningAutumn citrus care Now’s the time to give your citrus trees some extra TLC to ensure they bear delicious fruit in the coming months. Horticulturist Judy Horton shares some helpful autumn care tips. Citrus are great survivors but will always perform better if given good care. This is especially true in autumn when the trees are developing fruit while still coping with pests that built up over summer and facing the coming winter.
Join the no-dig revolution

Jan 15, 2025 | organicgardener.com.au | Phil Dudman

You don’t have to dig and turn the soil to grow good vegies – you can choose to adopt the no-dig approach. I garden this way, and vegies thrive in my untilled soil. I’ve also found that my yields are as good or higher than they were when I was digging. Benefits of no digThe most obvious benefit is that no dig requires less effort. Let’s face it, digging soil is hard work, and bad for your back! Spreading a few buckets of compost over a bed is a breeze. You get fewer weeds, too.
Grow chillies in pots

Dec 11, 2024 | gardeningaustraliamag.com.au | Phil Dudman |Loren Desbruslais

Learn how to grow chillies in pots, perfect for a balcony or patio garden! Chillies are perfect edibles for containers. Many varieties are compact and incredibly productive – just one plant can give you hundreds of chillies. They are forgiving when you forget to water them and look fabulous when covered in colourful fruit.
ABC Gardening Australia magazine

Nov 13, 2024 | gardeningaustraliamag.com.au | Phil Dudman |Loren Desbruslais

Ever stepped out into the patch in the morning to find your seedlings cleanly cut off at the base, as if by a pair of sharp scissors, with the freshly snipped tops lying nearby? “It couldn’t be the neighbours, could it? We’ve been getting on so well lately, even after that pruning debacle!”There’s a more likely cause: cutworm. Cutworms are the caterpillars or larvae of certain types of moths.
Cabbage white butterfly

Nov 13, 2024 | gardeningaustraliamag.com.au | Phil Dudman |Loren Desbruslais

Keep an eye out for these very hungry caterpillars that will quickly decimate your crops. If you’ve grown cabbages, or a host of other plants in the cabbage family (broccoli, cauliflower, pak choy, kale and more), you’ll most likely have come across cabbage white butterfly. The butterflies don’t do any damage – it’s their babies that make a mess of things.
Manage codling moth

Nov 13, 2024 | gardeningaustraliamag.com.au | Phil Dudman |Loren Desbruslais

Regular inspections and organic remedies are key to minimising damage by this unwanted visitor. If you have an apple tree, crabapple, pear or quince, it’s highly likely that you’ve come across codling moth (it may also affect walnut and stone fruit trees). It’s a serious pest that can potentially destroy all your fruit. The adult codling moth lays its eggs on or near the fruit. When the larvae hatch, they chew a channel into the fruit core.
Whitefly control

Nov 13, 2024 | gardeningaustraliamag.com.au | Phil Dudman |Loren Desbruslais

Early detection and decisive action is the best defence against whitefly. If you’ve ever brushed past a bunch of plants in your patch and noticed a cloud of tiny white insects appear out of the blue, it’s likely you have a growing population of whitefly. You don’t normally notice them because they are mostly hidden under the leaves, where they feed and breed at their leisure. Whiteflies are not actually flies; they’re more closely related to aphids and scale.