According to The National Library, Garden and Home started life in 1946 as The South African Home Gardener and Poultry Keeper. It was printed in black and white with the only colour on the cover and was described as a monthly magazine devoted to gardening and food production In those post-war years, when many ex-servicemen were moving out of the cities into homes in newly-established suburbs, this unassuming magazine provided the practical information that the public needed with features such as ‘Turning a piece of veld into a garden’ and ‘Gardening with a tractor’. The magazine cost a shilling and a reader wrote in to say: “In these days of dear books, you certainly give us a shilling’s worth of information.” Charles W. Smith wrote in one of his early editor’s letters: “Now we have more time to devote to our new baby and we find, to our joy and surprise, that it is already on its feet and has attracted not only thousands of readers and hundreds of regular subscribers but a band of photographers and writers any magazine would be proud of.” South African Garden and Home: In May 1950 the magazine dropped the poultry side and became known as South African Garden and Home. It concentrated on gardening, with Colonel Jeff’s monthly column ‘Over the Garden Gate’ so popular that when he retired in the mid-1960s, hundreds of reader tributes poured in. House features included useful housekeeping tips such as keeping moths away and organising the home.