Flowers make you happy! - Sep 06, 2012
Dear gardening friends,
We are getting judged for the best garden centre in Australia competition this week.
Pig has got all dressed up for the occasion hoping to get us a few brownie points.
If you're in the nursery and you see a lady with a clip board could you please just mention how wonderful we are.
It's getting dry again so you will need to water your garden more often. There are no water restrictions so you can use all types of watering systems.
I had a customer during the week wanting to buy a lawn sprinkler. It's been a life time since we sold one of these. We still stock the Dome Sprinkler ($15.99). This is that little round metal sprinkler that you could run over with the car. It has no moving parts so it will last forever.
The best time to water your lawn and garden is late in the afternoon. This gives it time to be absorbed by the soil before the sun comes up.
It's time to remulch all your gardens. This acts like a blanket and helps stop evaporation. Remember the more water you can keep in the soil the better your plants will grow.
If you are watering your garden with one of those orange and grey adjustable nozzles throw it in the bin. These were designed for hosing cars and paths, not for watering plants. If you don't believe me, time how many seconds it takes to fill a bucket.
A better alternative is an adjustable trigger sprayer ($5.99). These have 9 settings so you can still wash your car but the best setting for gardens, is "shower". This will fill a bucket much faster than the previous one mentioned and the water is softer so the soil can absorb it faster. Lisa and Karyn use one these in the nursery every day. It also has a nice comfortable rubber handle.
But the Rolls Royce of hand held sprinklers is still the Dramm Rain Wand. The shower head is on a long handle so you can reach up or down to water hanging baskets or veggie gardens.
The shower head on this is so good you can have your hose on full ball and it gently waters your plants properly. This one fills a bucket in half the time so your plants get twice as much water.
You will have to part with $55.99 but Rolls Royce's don't come cheap! We use this one to water our incoming plants everyday
I spoke about using Greengold Planting Compost recently to topdress all your pot plants. If you took my advice then your tired old pot bound plants should be starting to sprout fresh new growth.
The reason why this product works so well is it makes your plants get more water. There is a similar product available that you can use on your lawn. It's called Tim's Topdressing and it is available in bags or bulk.
You simply spread Tim's Topdressing over your lawn so the tips of the grass show through. The compost in this product absorbs the water and releases it slowly to the plants roots.
The organic fertiliser feeds the grass and turns it bright green. The river sand helps fill in any dips in the lawn and helps improve drainage.
Spring is the best time to topdress your lawn. If you want us to deliver in bulk it costs $48.00 a cubic metre plus delivery. One cubic metre will topdress 80 square metres of lawn. Our trucks are very busy at this time of year so you need to give us plenty of notice. The day before is best. Once you topdress your lawn you will need to water it often. If you don't, then the organic matter will become hydrophobic and repel the water. If you don't have the energy or desire to topdress yourself then our Gardening Service Guys can do it for you. 46267022.
Spring is also a great time to fertilise your lawn with our Rapid Results lawn food. This product doesn't release until it rains or you water it. This is great news because it can't burn your lawn. It is safe for all types of grass especially Buffalo. I like to have a bag handy so if rain is falling you can run out quickly and spread it. Rapid Results works so quickly because it contains 21% Nitrogen. (Shirleys No17 only contains 8%)
The 4kg bag will fertilise 260 square metres of grass. It costs $23.99 or buy 2 for $40.00.
If you are planting trees and shrubs this weekend don't forget to remove the labels. I rescued a tree during the week that had a piece of rope tied around the trunk. The poor tree was getting ring barked. What a terrible death? ( See pictures) The plant labels will ring bark your trees too if you don't remove them.
Petunias have arrived in potted colour. These plants are great value because they will flower all spring and summer. That's 6 months of non stop colour! Use them in pots and gardens to put some colour in your life.
They have discovered that flowers make you happy so swap some money for some happiness. Potted colour needs to be watered daily for the first 10 days until the roots establish. Mix a little Seasol with the water and they will grow roots faster.
Remember if you are buying potting mix this spring don't go for the cheap stuff. We are running potting mix trials and have yet to find a potting mix with black ticks ( Australian Standard Regular) that plants will grow in. The potting mix with red ticks ( Australian Standards Premium) costs more but your plants will grow. Come and see our trial if you need convincing.
Our new purple jumpers have finally arrived just as winter finished. We all look like Lavender bushes now so we should be easier to find. Russell even wore his today but I noticed he took it off to catch the train home?
Lots of exciting new plants are arriving every day so come and see us.
Happy gardening
Tim