Ryans got Cherries! - Nov 22, 2012
Dear gardening friends
The weather has been fantastic again this week. A little bit of rain and then cloudy days with cooler temperatures means your plants will be happier.
I am still in love with Jacaranda trees and my family is getting sick of hearing me say “Look at these beautiful trees” as we drive down the main Street of Camden.
The Chronicle is featuring Jacaranda trees in next weeks paper because this year they look so good.
When you have dry weather plants think they are going to die so they produce more flowers and therefore more seeds. A lemon tree will often drop dead after its best cropping season.
We have had several gardeners who are having problems with their mature conifers. The pines are going brown on the inside and the outer foliage goes yellow.
Conifers are less drought tolerant than other plants and once they get sick other insects like borers move in to finish them off. When we tell people that the plants just need more water they get all defensive and say “if that’s the problem why aren’t all the plants in the row dieing?”
Have you noticed when it gets dry you start to get grey patches in your lawn? If you don’t water these patches eventually the grass goes yellow and then it dies.
The grass only dies in patches. Well your garden gets these dry patches too and that’s why only some of the conifers die. If we get 100mms of rain the problem will be fixed. The other solution is to Wettasoil your lawns and gardens and to start using your sprinkler.
Ryan has been picking fresh Cherries off his tree this week making us all green with envy. Karyn and I have Cherry trees growing in our gardens too but we both got no cherries this year. Ryan and Karyn have the self pollinating variety called Starkrimson. I have a variety called Stella. Ryan sent me a photo of a bowl of Cherries so he really is showing off.(see photo) My tree is in a very exposed position so the flowers probably got blown off during that windy weather in August. I was talking to a local orchardist and his fruit trees are bearing fewer fruit this season due to the wind.
Yvonne’s husband is in the good books this week because he has finally made her a veggie garden. Check out the photos, this really is going to be the best vegetable garden in Grassmere. Lee has used timber to make raised garden beds. He will fill these with Tim’s Magic Mix and the veggies will go crazy. If you are making a vegetable garden make sure it gets full sun all day. The closer you make it to your house the more likely you will look after it and the more likely you will eat what you grow. A vegetable garden doesn’t have to look ugly. Grow a Buxus hedge around it and it will become a feature.
If you don’t have a garden, grow your veggies in pots.
I have been harvesting my home grown Garlic this week. The foliage has turned yellow so it’s time to dig them up and hang them up to dry. My breath may be a bit garlicky in the next couple of weeks. (“Nothing a tic tac wouldn’t fix”)
Karyn is out in the garden today preparing the garden beds in the carpark. Her gardens around the perimeter are starting to look good again. She has planted that new Petunia Hotlips bordered with White Allysum. Check out the photos, it is looking so Christmassy! We have also planted Petunia Hotlips in our hanging baskets on the fence. Some of them have reverted back to the original colour so they don’t have the white fleck. There is nothing you can do to stop this but I think they still look great.
The Raspberry Blast Petunias are looking fantastic in the hanging baskets on our front veranda. We only planted these up a few weeks ago but look how fast they have grown in our Tim’s Best Potting Mix. These Yates Tuscan self watering baskets really do help you grow the best plants. There is still time for you to add some colour around your house for Christmas. Come and see us.
Oasis nursery released “Spreading Petunias” a few years ago. You may have seen these in the nursery. You only get 3 plants in a punnet and they cost $5.99 so this often puts gardeners off. Well about 6 weeks ago I took a punnet home and planted one plant only into each terracotta pot. The results are sensational!
Oasis Spreading Petunias come in several colours and my favourite is Bright Purple.
Purple Fountain Grass is looking sensational in our nursery gardens. Karyn cuts these back to ground level at the start of spring. This encourages them to grow lovely fresh new purple growth and more of those fluffy grey flowers. If you don’t cut them back they get all leggy and start to fall over in windy weather.
There is a dwarf growing variety but it isn’t as spectacular. We have both varieties in the nursery.
Tony Sexton was in during the week buying more Grevillea’s for his famous native garden in Camden. Tony has a mature Grevillea called “Honey bird yellow” growing in his garden. When he opens his garden in spring we always get asked for this plant because his one looks so fantastic. It only grows 1m x 1m and it flowers all year round. Simon has finally found some, so if you have admired Tony’s plant come and get one. Simon also has the latest release in this series called “Honey bird Amber”. These Grevillea’s will bring honey eating birds into your garden.
Our Fresh cut Christmas trees will be available from Saturday the 1st of December. If you had a cut Christmas tree as a child you will remember how nice they made your house smell. They make your house smell like Christmas. I was speaking to Rob during the week and he says his trees are looking great this year. They have had heaps of rain in the Southern Highlands so the trees are bigger and bushier than last year. They cost $55.00. Last year we were cheaper than woolies and our trees are much fresher!
Happy gardening
Tim