Help your garden survive the heat! - Sep 22, 2017
Get your kids gardening too.
Dear gardening friends
Wisterias are bursting into bloom around Macarthur. There are so many Wisterias planted in our suburbs and they all seem to be thriving in this hot dry weather. Some gardeners have just let them grow wild, while others have pruned them and shaped them, so they look neat and tidy. Wisterias can even be pruned as Bonsai.
Clever gardeners have even grown them as Standards, so they look more like a spring blossom tree than a climber. If you want to make a standard, all you need is some galvanised water pipe and an old bicycle wheel. Grow the Wisteria up the pole and the wheel will support the foliage. Eventually you won't be able to see the pole or the wheel.
We have a great range of Wisterias and they are all bursting into bloom now. If you buy one of our plants they will flower next year too. If you purchase a non flowering plant it may not flower for many years!
Pig has been celebrating "Wisteria Week". There is no such thing as Wisteria Week. Pig just invented it so he could wear a Wisteria coloured scarf all week.
But doesn't Pig look amazing!!!!!!!
"Princess Lavender" plants are flowering in the nursery, so if you love pink, and that lovely Lavender fragrance, this could be the perfect plant for you? The Princess Lavender was born and bred in Australia so it's almost Australian native! That's a stretch, but this plant will survive on rainwater only once it becomes established in your garden. But take one home, and forget to water it for just a couple of days, and not even "mouth to mouth" will bring it back.
Lavenders are hopeless pot plants unless you are a good gardener and remember to water them everyday in the warmer months.
I had a customer in during the week who was buying native plants to grow in pots because "you don't have to water native plants". Native plants in their natural habitat will grow in the ground and survive on rainwater only once established, but put this plant in a pot and it will drop dead within days if you don't water it almost daily.
A lot of native plants come from Western Australia where the soils are sand based. The plants send roots down into the sand until they find bore water. It may look dry on top but it's wet down deep.
Plant these same plants in your garden and because the soils are clay based, they may never be able to send roots down to find water, so they rely on you for survival.
Kangaroo Paws thrive in WA but they drop dead here. WA Flowering Eucalyptus need to be hand watered in Macarthur to survive too.
Who ever started the rumour that native plants don't need to be watered was an idiot. It could have been a politician. Somebody called Frank rings a bell?
It's so dry at the moment, so make sure your gardens are mulched. Mulch stops up to 80% of the ground water from evaporating, so if you have mulch on your gardens your plants are more likely to survive. Mulch around your potted plants too.
Sugar Cane is the best gardeners mulch because it breaks down quickly to add organic matter to your soil. Organic matter holds the water, so the more you have, the better your plants will grow. Gardening is that simple!
If you don't like Sugar Cane use our Tim's Termite Resistant Mulch. This is made from Australia Cypress. Termites don't eat Australian Cypress so it's safe to use around your house. We have this in Chip or Fine Mulch. Choose the flavour you like best.
Before planting any plants dunk the pots in a bucket of water for a minute or so until all the bubbles stop. This ensures the Potting mix is wet. Dry Potting mix repels water.
Water plants daily until we get rain.
If you add Wettasoil to the water they will grow even better!
We have so much colour in the nursery this week. If you are on Facebook, go to Tim's Garden Centre page and watch the video.
You can see all the beautiful flowering plants that have arrived this week.
Dan helped me dig up the veggie patch on Saturday. It was so nice to have my son helping me with the digging. Teaching him how to grow vegetables will be so useful for him, all his life.
We had no Curl grubs this time. Usually I have to pick these out of the soil as I'm digging. Curl Grubs eat the roots off your plants.
We dug Manure into the soil and then Dan fertilised with Tim's Fast Food. We covered the soil with Sugar Cane and watered it well. Dan has planted climbing Bean Seeds. His Omar gave him these seeds a couple of years ago.
Dan has always been fascinated with seeds. When he was a little boy, he would bring them home in his pockets. He has planted Jacaranda seeds this week too. Usually he finds them growing in the mulch in parks and gardens but with the weather being so dry, they won't have survived.
Arthur's Famous Big Greek Tomatoes should be available from "next" weekend. Arthur, from Kings Charcoal Chicken Shop in Queen Street, has been growing this Giant Greek tomato for years and now you can grow it too. Plants will cost $5.00 and all money raised is donated to The African Aides Foundation in Camden. We have raised nearly $5,000 with your help.
The plants are too small this week but we are growing them in Tim's Best Potting Mix so they will take off this week.
We have given plants to Graham Ross of Better Homes and Gardens this year so we hope he has great success with this heirloom Greek variety too.
The tomatoes can weigh up to one kilo. They are enormous. They are full of flesh with hardly any seeds. You will think you are eating tomatoes in Greece. It's cheaper than a holiday!!!!!
Come and see us this weekend. You will need some Wettasoil and Seasol to help your garden survive this heat.
Happy gardening
Tim