Is cheaper better? - Jun 24, 2016
Dear Gardening Friends,
The shortest day of the year has passed so you will have more time for gardening from now on. I've been eating home grown Broccoli and Kale out of the veggie garden this week and you still have time to plant seedlings in your garden. Kale is the new wonder food so it's worth growing and it looks a bit arty too.
I had friends over for dinner recently and when I took the home grown Broccoli out of the micro wave I discovered that it had been covered in green caterpillars. They were lying dead in the bottom of the dish. Dilemma? Do I serve it up or own up? If you don't want this dilemma then don't forget to dust your veggies with Yates Tomato and Vegetable dust. You only need a light dusting and it protects your plants from caterpillars for at least 3 weeks.
My favourite climbing rose has arrived at the nursery this week. "Crepuscule" is an heirloom variety that has these amazing highly perfumed apricot/yellow flowers for at least 9 months! I took a photo of this one still flowering in winter in Sydney's Botanic Gardens. The flowers are a richer apricot colour in the warmer months.
This fast growing disease resistant variety has almost no thorns so it's kid and soccer ball friendly. If you have a fence or a pergola in a sunny spot then grow one of theses climbing roses over it and make your nose happy! All roses are 25% off at the moment.
Please don't fertilise your newly planted roses with rose food or you will kill them.
One of my favourite roses is an old variety called "Blue Moon". This hardy disease resistant variety has long stemmed roses with that amazing sweet rose perfume that we all love. It's not really blue so it should be called Mauve Moon but that just didn't sound as good. You can buy one of these for under $16.00 after discount this weekend.
My mothers favourite rose of all time is "Double Delight". This poor rose bush was growing in our garden behind the imaginary goals when I was growing up in Rydalmere so it never stood a chance. With a bit more love, Double Delight has long stemmed red and cream coloured blooms with great fragrance. It will be one of your favourites too. Our new release roses have arrived this week if you're wanting something new.
I had a sales rep in from one of the potting mix companies this week wanting to sell me a product they call "Composted Cow Manure". Other nurseries and chain stores are selling it 4 bags for $20.00 she was telling me and you can make a fortune. "How much cow manure is in this product I asked her?"
It's 25% Cow Manure and 75% recycled green waste was her reply.
We sell real cow manure at Tim's Garden Centre and I'd rather go broke than mislead gardeners with inferior gardening products. Our Cow Manure is 4 bags for $26.00.
You would have to buy 16 bags of Composted Cow Manure to get 4 bags of real cow manure so how can that be cheaper? This is happening all the time in our industry with potting mixes and now Cow manure and its just another reason why gardeners are failing to have success.
Some sad news for all our gardening friends. Ryan who is one of our most loved horticulturists is leaving us for greener pastures. He's going to work at a Wholesale nursery for a new experience and so he can have the weekends off to spend more time with his children. He's leaving next Friday so come in and say farewell. Ryan has been the editor of this newsletter and he has been a great friend and we wish him great success.
One day I hope his twin boys will be playing for The Tigers!
Talking about football? Pig has been in the spot light this week after word got out that he has been responsible for teaching "The Icelanders" how to play soccer. If you haven't been watching The Euro Cup then you won't know that Iceland has reached the quarter finals! That's like Jamaica winning the Bobsled at the Winter Olympics. Proud moment for Pig!
Happy Gardening
Tim