Author Archives: Tino Carnevale

Tino Carnevale

About Tino Carnevale

Born and bred in Tasmania, Tino’s lifelong interest in plants and gardening stems from growing up on his family’s small vineyard and olive grove. He studied landscape design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and has an Associate Diploma in Horticulture.
As well as being a presenter on Gardening Australia TV, Tino teaches gardening skills to both adults and children, is part of the The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program and patron of the Tasmanian Weed Society.

We all need our beauty sleep. Educating Tino

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My mother was a teacher but I never saw myself in that role, I suppose I always enjoyed the part of student too much.  Don’t get me wrong, I pass on information freely but it’s always been on equal terms. So it was a complete surprise when I applied for and accepted a job taking garden classes at a local Primary school. Continue reading →

Tino Carnevale tomatoes The pioneer crops – tomatoes

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Herbs are where I advise all aspiring tucker gardeners to start with because they are relatively easy to care for but are very productive and are great launching pad into the world of edible gardening. Oddly enough, nearly all of them when asked what crop they would like to grow next, answer tomatoes. Continue reading →

Russian Bananas ready for the oven, with olive oil and fresh Rosemary Pioneer crops – growing potatoes

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I saw my first year in the patch primarily as an exciting experiment rather than an exercise in conventional food production. It was more an opportunity to see what my garden could do and to see what types of crops would perform the best. It was also the perfect chance to trial different gardening techniques to my heart’s content, as well as test my budgeting skills. Because this was the very first garden which I could pretty much do anything to, I thought I could perhaps grow a bit as a gardener as well. Continue reading →

A liberal use of straw The once and future patch

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`The greatest art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land’ said George Washington. With this lofty ideal in mind I set about transforming around 280 square metres of garden into our own grocery store. Continue reading →

Garden mud map Verison higher contrast 3.1 Garden map fever

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I suppose one lesson I have learnt from gardening is that life is easier when you have the right tool for the job. For example a group of easily bribed mates with shovels and picks can do in a day what a digger can do in thirty minutes. When you construct a garden for a client all the costs are covered but when working on your own garden you can fall into the trap of wanting to do everything for free. This often involves lots of hard labour on your behalf, but one thing that I have been forced to consider as I get older is that damaged bodies can also be expensive. There comes a point in any job when you have to cut your losses and bring in the big guns. Continue reading →

Like the tardis - only it's just as small on the inside Homecoming

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I would never be so bold as to try and define what gardening means to people. Its meaning is as diverse and curious as the people who practice it. My favourite take on it is that horticulture is the science yet gardening is the art. Continue reading →