Something for Free! - Sep 13, 2012
Dear gardening friends,
Welcome to all our new garden club members!
We love all your old regulars but at this time of year we get new gardeners coming into the nursery who have been bitten by the gardening bug.
This bug makes you want to go out in the garden and plant something. If you read our news letter we will try and help you have more success with your plants.
I often see customers pushing a trolley load of plants to the register but they have no soil improvement products. If we try and sell you something you may think we are just trying to make more money. The truth is, when we plant trees and shrubs in our gardens, we would never just dig a hole in the clay and expect our plants to grow. When Karyn plants new seedlings in our garden out the front of the nursery she always digs Green Gold Planting Compost into the soil first. It's the compost that holds the water. So if you want to have success this spring spend a little less on plants and more on the planting compost and mulch. These products keep the water in the soil longer so your plants grow better.
During the drought we introduced a new slogan called "Dunk before you plant". When we are not getting much rain the plants you buy at our nursery may only be about 60% wet. If you plant this shrub in your garden then the potting mix may become hydrophobic and repel any water that you give it.
That's why we recommend that you dunk all your plants in a bucket full of water prior to planting. Hold the pot under the water until all the bubbles stop. This means all the air in the potting mix gets replaced by water. Water your plants daily for the first 3 weeks then twice a week with a bucket of water. Once the plants are established a bucket of water once a week will make them thrive.
The Macarthur Chronicle is doing a story about Karyn in coming weeks. The photographer was here recently taking photos of Karyn out in the garden. How many cities in Australia have a garden that looks this good? Check out the Delphiniums in the photo. Karyn works in our shop during the week so ask her for some gardening tips next time you visit.
If you want to keep your grass greener this spring, then throw away the grass catcher! We use a Victa Mastercut 460 to mow our lawn at Tim's and it doesn't have a grass catcher. This mower is just a modern version of the first Victa ever built. It throws the grass clippings to the right and you keep mowing over them. Eventually the grass clippings just disappear!
The clippings shade the soil to help prevent evaporation. They also break down over time and add organics to the soil so it holds more water. It then releases nutrients to the soil so your grass stays greener. Check out how green our lawn is and we never water it.
The only negative of using one of these mowers is you have to mow every week. The positive to this is, you get lots of exercise and you will loose weight! The mower is easier to push because it doesn't have a catcher full of grass. You will also get fewer weeds in your lawn because weekly mowing means they never get a chance to flower and seed.
Rain is expected next week so come and get a bag of Tim's Rapid Results Lawn Food. This product doesn't release unless it rains or you water it so it can't burn your lawn.
Its turbo charged so the small 4kg bag will fertilise 260 square metres of grass. It is safe for all types of grass including buffalo. Buy 2 bags for $40.00 or $23.99 each.
More plants are coming into flower throughout Macarthur. Wisterias are putting on a floral show. We have a beautiful Chinese Wisteria flowering in the car yard next door. This plant never gets watered so they must be tough. We have small plants of this variety and they are already in flower,
If you are looking for something to grow under a tree then you can't beat Cliveas. I took a great photo of Cliveas growing under a tree in Bradbury. How fantastic does this look?
Cliveas are as easy to grow as Agapanthus. The most spectacular variety is one called Belgium Hybrid. The leaves are much wider and greener and the flowers are bright orange!
We have a great display of these flowering in the nursery.
Our Fler SC55 chairs in the shop are proving to be a real winner for the non gardening partner. They are so comfortable several people have fallen asleep.
Sit in them if you dare but I will be sneaking up to take your photo. If this photo is you, come in for a free Tim's Taurus Tomato plant on us.
We have a special offer this week for our garden club members. We have 36 tickets to Better Homes and Gardens LIVE at Sydney Olympic Park this weekend. We are giving one ticket per member. When you get the ticket you have to go online and register the ticket to make it valid. The tickets are worth $20.00. Ask at the counter to get your ticket. We only have 36 to give away.
Please don't ring us, it's first in best dressed.
Pig has fallen in love with a new pink flowering Lavender plant called The Princess Lavender. Pig can be a bit of a Princess!
This new variety gets smothered in flowers.
Happy gardening
Tim