New Gardeners

Professional advice for people who are new to gardening.

New Gardeners is designed to introduce the novice to a variety of interesting and informative facts and ideas about gardening. The content is generally focused on plants, flowers, and home produce, but can cross over into other areas such as propagation, and natural landscapes.

Tim Toucan, the author of the site, has been working in horticulture for more than 35 years. At present he works for a large garden centre in metropolitan Sydney, and propagates succulents in his back garden on a small scale. He is also the avid collector of over more than 1, 000 horticultural books - much to the disapproval of his long suffering wife.

Between 1998 and 2009 Tim lived in the UK. During this period he worked for a garden centre, and practiced as a garden consultant. Whilst abroad, Tim also became qualified to teach and train adults in further education, and was employed by The City of Bristol College as a horticultural teacher.

Tim has been back in Sydney for over 5 years now. His business offers a consultation service where he makes an assessment of all the present and potential aspects of your garden. He also advises on garden design and reconstruction. Written notes on care and maintenance are included in the service.

All of the photographs posted on the site are taken by himself, and a ceramic artist living in Sydney by the name of Denise McDonald.

Tim hopes to inspire people who feel inquisitive, yet hesitant about making a start in gardening, to take that first step into the unknown and experience the joy of communing with the fascinating green lifeforms with whom we share our planet.

The garden gnome waving to you at the top of the page is called Garthy.