We fix bald patches! Find out how? - Sep 11, 2015
Dear Gardening Friends,
We fertilised our lawn with Tim's Rapid Results about 10 days ago and it has already turned bright green. We never water our lawn so how does it stay so green?
We mow our lawn with Utility Lawn Mower (similar to a mulching mower but easier to push) This mower has no grass catcher. It chops up the grass nice and fine then puts it back into the soil. The clippings shade the soil from the sun which helps prevent evaporation. Over time it turns into worm attracting compost. This compost breaks down the clay, adds nutrients to the soil, and makes the soil hold more water.
Grass grows better than weeds in moist, fertile soil, so over time you end up with a fantastic lawn. You have to mow every week though or the lawn mower will leave big clumps of grass clippings. If you have big trees then you will still need to water during the dry periods.
If you have bare patches in your lawn do something about it now. Kikuyu doesn't grow in shady areas so if your lawn has died over winter plant Matilda Buffalo. This grass grows in up to 80% shade. It looks like Kikuyu so in time you will have a great lawn.
When planting turf in patches dig out the soil the same size and depth as the turf. If you just sit it on top the air gets underneath and it often dies. You also ruin it when you mow.
Use the excess soil as a dressing over the top and water daily. We sell rolls of Buffalo and Kikuyu over the weekend.
Buffalo is not drought tolerant as advertised and it doesn't stay green in winter either.
But it does grow in shady areas where other types of grasses fail. If you have a sunny garden just plant Kikuyu. It's half the price and you have to mow it just as often during the warmer months.
All our spring vegetables have now arrived and here is list of the ones I can remember.
Cucumbers, capsicum, celery, chilies, egg plant, lettuce, tomatoes, silver beet, spinach, coriander (best grown in shade), zucchini, squash, watermelons, pumpkins, strawberries to name but a few.
I don't understand the desire to have chillies that will burn your bum but we are meeting the demand here at Tim's. Lisa has The Ghost Chilli available this week. It has a heat rating of 10/10. We have more friendly varieties available too. We will also have the Butch T variety that has a 15/10 heat rating in a couple of weeks.
We have so much colour in the nursery at the moment. If you have some empty pots around your house plant them up now and enjoy the spring colour! Calibrachoas are amazing ground cover plants that flower from now until the end of May. That's 9 moths of colour. We grew one in a pot last year here at the nursery with great success.
Check it out. We always use Tim's Best Potting Mix.
Petunia Raspberry Blast is back in stock too. This low spreading Petunia has pink flowers with s raspberry edge. It flowers non stop for 9 months! Again a great plant for pots or hanging baskets in the sun.
Out Tim's Big Black Passionfruit vine is selling like crazy. It seems everyone is sick of those grafted varieties that pop up everywhere and become weeds. This new seedling grown variety has huge sweet tasting Passionfruit without the work.
Plants cost just $9.99. Plant them on a mound of Planting Compost improved soil for best results and water twice weekly.
It's time to fertilise your Citrus trees but please remember you can't use Citrus Food on potted Citrus trees. It burns the roots and makes all the leaves fall off! Mulch around the base of potted trees with our Planting Compost instead. You will be amazed by the results.
Pig was helping out this week to promote RU OK Day? We had s great response to this call for help from all our Facebook followers. I hope you found time to check on your friends who might suffer from depression at times.
Great to see so many of you out gardening and enjoying this beautiful spring weather.
Happy Gardening
Tim