Kevin Carl Heinze was a pioneering presenter of gardening on television in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. He hosted a gardening program for ABC Television

ABC Television

ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....

 entitled 'Sow What', which was mostly shot on location at his one hectare home garden in Montrose

Montrose, Victoria

Montrose is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 33 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges. At the 2006 Census, Montrose had a population of 6464....

, an outer suburb of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, from 1967 to 1988. He also presented for ABC Radio

774 ABC Melbourne

774 ABC Melbourne is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. Originally known by its callsign 3LO, it began transmission on 13 October 1924 – Melbourne's second radio station after 3AR.-History:...

 in Melbourne between 1967 and 2004. He was known for his "cheerio" sign off at the end of his programs. Heinze was an advocate for gardening in schools and initiated the School Garden Awards scheme in Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

.

Following the death of his eight year old daughter Kim in 1974, an open day, attended by 50,000 people, was held at his garden to raise money for cancer research. He and his wife Jill eventually raised over half a million dollars for cancer research. He later became patron of the Kevin Heinze Garden Centre in Doncaster

Doncaster, Victoria

Doncaster is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 15 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Manningham. At the 2006 Census, Doncaster had a population of 17,879....

 which provides gardening activities for people with disabilities.

Following a heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

, Heinze died on 1 September 2008, aged 80.
Most of his garden was donated to the local shire council to enable the public to visit in the future.