Should I subscribe to ABC Gardening Australia magazine, and what do I get?

If you already use gardeningaustraliamag.com.au for planting guides, the plant index and general advice, a subscription is mainly worth it for the monthly magazine itself: the current issue's plant profiles, seasonal features, reader competitions and event listings. The site's core reference tools — planting guide, garden planner, plant index and most advice articles — are browsable without subscribing, so treat the magazine as the paid layer rather than the whole product. The site shows a "Subscribe" entry point and a "Back issues" section, but it does not publish prices or payment details on the pages available here, so check the Subscribe page directly before deciding.

What the website gives you for free

The homepage navigation is effectively a map of what you can read without a subscription:

• Planting guide and garden planner — build a planting calendar for your climate zone.
• Plant index — reference pages grouped by type: roses, citrus, native plants, edible gardens, groundcovers, shrubs and trees, grasses and strappy-leaf plants, indoor plants.
• Advice — edible gardening, pruning, composting and mulching, soil, propagating, pests and diseases, lawn care, supporting wildlife.
• Gardens & people — feature gardens, "meet the gardener", small gardens, travel.
• What's on — events, snippets, competitions.
• Marketplace — product showcase and buyer's guides.

If your goal is "look up how to prune X" or "find plants for my zone", the free sections already cover it. A subscription is not required to use the planner or the plant index.

What the magazine adds

The homepage's "In This Issue" blocks show the kind of content that sits behind the magazine rather than the site:

• Seasonal plant round-ups, e.g. a November issue profiling 10 top-performing cottage plants for all climates.
• Wildlife gardening features, e.g. building a layered garden — ground level up to canopy — so birds can feed, shelter and nest.
• Native plant profiles, e.g. growing correas as backbone shrubs, and grevilleas.
• Practical mistake lists, e.g. a feature by Chloe Foster on 20 common gardening mistakes and how to avoid them.
• Native bee content — Australian native bees as backyard visitors.
• Lawn care — reviving a lawn.
• Competitions and event coverage, including MIFGS (Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show).
• Sponsored content, such as a free spring e-book, which is labelled as sponsored.

The pattern: the site answers specific how-to questions, while the magazine bundles them into a themed monthly package with photography, reader competitions and event tie-ins.

Decide by what you actually want

Before you subscribe

1. Open the Subscribe link in the site navigation and confirm the current price, term and delivery format — none of this is stated in the pages available here.
2. Check Back issues if you only want one specific issue (for example the November cottage-plants or native-bees issue) rather than an ongoing subscription.
3. Read a few free articles in the categories you care about most — native plants, edible gardening, lawn care — to judge whether the writing style and depth suit you.
4. If wildlife gardening is your main interest, note that the layered-garden and native-bee material appears both as site articles and as magazine features, so check which is which before paying.

Common sticking points

• Assuming the planner is subscriber-only. It is listed in the main navigation alongside free advice sections; the site does not present it as gated.
• Expecting prices on the homepage. The pricing signals here are limited to the word "subscribe" — no amounts, no payment platforms listed. Verify on the Subscribe page.
• Confusing sponsored content with editorial. The spring e-book is explicitly marked "Sponsored content"; treat it accordingly.
• Buying a subscription for content you can already read. If you only use the plant index and advice articles, the free site covers that need.