Happy Diwali - Oct 23, 2014
Dear Gardening Friends,
I am feeling very relaxed after spending 3 days standing in The Eucumbene river trout fishing. Only caught one Rainbow trout (catch and release) but I did see a Platypus, hundreds of Kangaroos and one very angry Brown snake.
We stopped in Cooma on the way and I fell in love with the beautiful spring blossom trees. Cooma is at least 4 weeks behind us so spring is only just starting to happen.
The Crab Apples were amazing so were the Snowball Trees and the Lilacs. I even saw a Laburnum in full flower. These spectacular trees get bright yellow flowers that hang down like Wisteria.
They are almost impossible to grow in the Macarthur area so we don’t stock them. But if you love those old world granny gardens head to Cooma this weekend.
I have fallen in love with Japanese Maples this week. I spotted a beautiful red leaf Japanese maple growing in a garden in Menangle Rd Camden.
This is the best street in Camden because the old world houses have the most beautiful gardens. Japanese maples are small growing trees that are ideally suited to our modern courtyard sized gardens.
They grow best with protection from the late afternoon sun. They can be under pruned so they look more like a tree than a shrub. We have them in green or red leaf forms.
We also have grafted Weeping Maples. These can be grown in big pots if you have run out of room in your garden. They are grafted onto a Japanese maple and they are available at different heights.
Kenny has a huge collection in his home garden so if you want to know which is the best variety talk to him. There are subtle changes in leaf form and leaf colour.
If you are growing it in a pot then the pot will need to be big enough to hold at least 3 bags of Tim’s Best potting mix.
As these trees grow out into an umbrella shape they can be worth thousands of dollars. Ours start at $95.00, Simon has ordered some smaller plants that will be around $59.99.
If you are not a good waterer then this is not the plant for you.
Have you noticed how you mulch your vegetable garden and flower gardens with Sugar Cane but we almost always forget to mulch our pots?
Pots dry out quicker than gardens so it is even more important to mulch. Sugar Cane can stop up to 80% of the water in the potting mix from evaporating so it just makes sense that your plants will grow better if you use mulch.
Sugar cane also breaks down to add organic matter to the potting mix so it holds even more water.
Christmas is not that far away so if you want your gardens to look pretty for the festive season then you need to plant colour now. We have planted up the hanging baskets along our Queen St fence with “Big Red” Geraniums and they are covered in bright red flowers now.
We have planted “Bubblegum Petunias” in the hanging baskets at the front of the shop. There are so many spreading petunias available it can get confusing but when I was in New Zealand recently all the nurseries were raving about “Bubblegum Petunias”. They seem to flower much faster than the Oasis Spreading Petunias that’s for sure.
They come in a 150mm pot so they are already advanced and covered in flowers. We are finding that our customers are more impatient these days and they are prepared to pay more for instant colour!
Talking about Instant Colour, we have never had a better display. Ryan buys the best instant colour from our grower in Douglas Park.
The plants are grown here in Macarthur and we get them delivered twice a week so they are always fresh. Most of these varieties will flower for the next 5 months or more so they are great value. If you are taking Instant colour home dunk each plant in a bucket of water before planting.
If the root ball is dry when you plant them it will never accept water. They need to be watered every day for the first couple of weeks then twice a week is usually enough. Mulch around your instant colour with Sugar Cane.
If you are planting Instant colour in your garden then you need to improve the soil with Tim’s Planting Compost. This contains organic fertiliser, wetting agent, seaweed and compost. This is what Karyn uses in our flower gardens.
There are heaps of Aphids around at the moment so if you have rose bushes in your garden you will need to spray them with Eco oil or Pestoil.
Aphids suck nutrients out of the plant and cause the buds not to open or if they do open the flowers look terrible. These non poisonous sprays dehydrate the aphids without killing you. You are better off buying the undiluted product and mix it yourself. It is up to 50 times cheaper.
Spray your citrus trees to protect the leaves from Aphids and Citrus Leaf Miner attack. Our Citrus grower has also found that regular oil spray kills Citrus Stink Bugs in the nymph stage too.
We have 5 litre sprayers on special here for $15.99. It is a good idea to have separate sprayers for herbicides and insecticides. Write “Weed Killers” on one with a black marker.
Pig is ready to party Indian style this week.
Happy Diwali to all our Indian friends!
Happy Gardening
Tim