Sabrina Hahn on her top gardening tips and new book How To Do It In the Garden

Most West Australians know her from her high-profile radio and newspaper roles, but more than a few may also recognise Sabrina Hahn as that woman who likes to garden in her pyjamas.

As the Perth horticultural personality admits, even after more than three decades she simply can’t get enough of gardening.

“I would spend at least 24 hours a week in the garden when I’m not travelling,” she tells PLAY.

“I’ve been caught many times in my PJs on the front verge when popping out for five minutes that turned into an hour.”

The West Australian’s gardening editor and long-time ABC Radio presenter has more than 35 years experience in the horticultural industry, her no-nonsense approach, encyclopaedic knowledge, passion for sustainability and trademark sense of humour helping establish her as the local authority on all things gardening.

Now, the 68-year-old has distilled her decades of wisdom into a new book, How To Do It In The Garden. Written in Hahn’s typically fuss-free, practical and at times cheeky style, it’s designed to help even the novice green thumb “get hooked on gardening”.

“This book will help people to understand the first basic steps to creating a green sanctuary by avoiding making major mistakes from the start of their journey,” she says.

“I want all readers to create a garden that’s a shared space for all visitors to come and feed, breed and play.”

Hahn says she was inspired to write this, her fourth book, in part because of people’s evolving attitudes towards their outdoor spaces.

“I witnessed a major shift in people’s responses to nature during COVID and understood that we all have a need for nature in our lives,” she says. “Being in a garden or even having indoor plants is a simple way to connect with nature.”

She adds: “People are much more aware of the environment and the importance of giving back to nature. We all know being outdoors is good for our mental and physical health and a healthy place for kids to play. Our gardens cool the city down and increase biodiversity in a country that places little value on the environment.

“People are ready to learn and give gardening a go, even if it’s just to grow fresh herbs for cooking or add one more shade tree to a street.”

The book features chapters on everything from growing your own food to responding to our changing climate. Hahn says what’s particularly valuable to local readers is the fact that the information is 100 per cent tailored to WA.

“Nearly all the gardening books I’ve read in the past 10 years are more focused on Eastern States conditions, particularly when referring to soil types and climate,” she says.

“Our conditions are so vastly different here in WA and rarely addressed in most publications. There are many challenges to gardening here, but we have some of the best gardeners because of these challenges.”

Hahn studied horticulture at Bentley TAFE then completed a bachelor of applied science at WA Institute of Technology (now Curtin University), followed by a bachelor of social science at Edith Cowan University.

“I grew up in remote areas and Mum always grew our food,” she says. “Both her and my grandmother were avid gardeners so I always wanted to be in a garden.”

In addition to her media work, Hahn runs her own business, Hort With Heart, which she established in 2018. The business, where she works alongside her daughter Jess Cullen (saying “it wouldn’t run without her”), specialises in landscape design and consulting for local government, sells garden products created by Hahn, and runs horticultural travel tours.

All of which doesn’t leave much time for Hahn to tend to her own southern suburbs garden.

“To say it’s packed is an understatement,” she says of the garden, which is on a 930sqm block.

“It is predominantly native and the main focus is on creating habitat for biodiversity, but I also have a large veggie garden and 17 different fruit trees. I have many other trees for shade, birds, bats, lizards and insects.”

Sabrina Hahn’s top 10 all-time gardening tips

1. Embrace your successes and failures in the garden. We all started somewhere!
2. Think beyond what your garden can do for you — think of all the birds, insects, frogs, spiders and critters who will make your garden their home (and clean up unwanted pests in the process).
3. Get to know your soil type — and treat your soil with the utmost respect (feeding it with nutrients and beneficial organisms, instead of chemicals, is a good start).
4. Don’t be shy about getting to know the experts at your local nursery — they are there to help!
5. Composting worms can be your best friends in the garden.
6. Try not to use insecticides if you can help it — they kill the good bugs (predators) as well as the bad ones (pests).
7. If you are going to plant fruit trees, you absolutely must control for fruit flies. No ifs, ands or buts.
8. Protection is paramount — make good use of your sunscreen, sun hat and gloves.
9. Including native plant species in your green space is beneficial in so many ways — they increase biodiversity, are sustainable, and are just darn gorgeous when they flower.
10. Plant more trees! With the loss of so many trees in our urban centres, the urban heat island effect is getting worse every year. We desperately need to increase the upper-tree canopy to help reduce rising temperatures. If you do nothing else, plant more trees!

How To Do It In The Garden (Fremantle Press, $49.99) is out now. The book will be launched on November 29 at 6pm at Fremantle Arts Centre. See fremantlepress.com.au.