Do you think Campbelltown needs more trees? - Apr 21, 2023

What's the secret to growing Cyclamen?

Dear gardening friends
It's beautiful gardening weather.
Plants are bursting into bloom, autumn is the best time to garden. You don't even need to own a garden. Keep reading to find out why?

One of my customers asked me for help a few months ago. Her Magnolia Teddy Bear had lost vigour, the leaves were getting burnt. What should she do?

I gave her my advice, the plant has come back to life, with fresh new growth. It made me smile when she sent me the before and after photos.

So what was the advice?
Move it away from the wall, where it was covered by the eves, Top up the pot with Tim's Best Potting Mix.

Fill up the pot with water until the bubbles stop. This rehydrates the potting mix, so it can absorb water again. The results have been spectacular!!!!!

Tim's Best Potting Mix is worth the drive.
No you can't get it anywhere else.
It's $13.99 or 2 for $26.00.
30 litre bag, not 25 like the others.
That's 20% more potting mix.

So many people are renting these days, and they don't bother to garden, because they might have to leave.

But I'm having great success growing vegetables and herbs in big pots. I grow my own Cos Lettuce, and they look so arty, and you can eat them. You can just pick the outer leaves instead of pulling out the plants. This keeps your pot looking great, right through winter.

I've also grown Fresh Mint successfully in a big pot. This is the best way to grow it, because it can become a weed in your garden. I use it in salads, and to add flavour to my curries.

Anzac Day is coming up, and it always makes me think about Rosemary. I use Rosemary almost everyday in my cooking, so I couldn't live without it.

I've had this plant for at least 10 years. I just strip the leaves off the stems. It just smells so nice. It makes me smell my fingers!!!!

I've used Tim's Best Potting mix to grow all these plants. When the season finishes, I just top up the pots with fresh Tim's Best Potting mix. It has everything in it, to grow plants. You don't need to add anything for 6 months.

If you ever have to leave, you can take your potted garden to the next house. Gardening does make you feel good, and potted plants are much easier to grow, in the cooler months, because they don't dry out so fast.

Come and see us today, and walk around our nursery. We only stock vegetable and flower seedlings that are in season now.

Pick up a few bags of Tim's Best Potting mix to get started. You might find suitable pots in a pot recycling bin in the car park.

It's autumn. It's a great time to garden and we do have beautiful Rosemary Plants today.

Just wanted to show you my Red Cyclamen again. It made me smile so much this morning, with the autumn leaves in the background, it really popped.

Cyclamen have got a bad name with gardeners, because when you put them inside, they drop dead.
They aren't indoor plants!!!!

They are outside plants that love the cold. They grow best, where they get morning sun for a couple of hours, and then shade. If you find the right spot, that can flower all year round for 10 years or more.

Put them inside, and within a few weeks the heater has made them go into dormancy mode. The leaves droop, turn yellow, the corm rots due to too much water, and you chuck it in the bin. "I'm never buying another one" you declare out loud.

But it's not their fault. They have been sold as indoor plants. They love the cold, they dream about running nude through your garden!!!!
Yes.

Give them one more try!!!
But repot it into a bigger pot using Tim's Best Potting Mix. It will double, if not triple in size. It will sprout flowers like you've never seen before.

Put it outside in the cold.
Water once or twice a week.
If the leaves droop, water it again.

Mine has been outside for a couple of weeks. It's starting to take off.
I could hear it singing this morning.
"What a beautiful world".
We have Cyclamen.
Come get one!!!!!

Now I'm cranky with you guys.
I wrote a post about how Campbelltown Council is finally thinking about planting more trees yesterday on Facebook and hardly anyone cared.

You don't have to live in Campbelltown, to do the survey.

It made me so sad, "what am I doing, people are stupid", I told my family at the dinner table.
Please fill in the survey.
It's in my last post.
Let's get this place looking like it's loved, let's improve mental health, let's live with more nature around us.
Let's live longer, because heat kills older people. bit.ly/3mouz6V
Help me.
Please.

I made the most amazing Prawn Soup last night. I was shopping in Woolies and when I asked for 20 Green Tiger Prawns please, the lady wanted to know, how I was going to cook them, and would I post it on Facebook?
That made me smile.

I spent the morning at my parents place doing some gardening. When I arrived, the front door was wide open, and when I walked in, my parents were both asleep, with their mouths wide open. I smiled, they are both in their 90s.

When my mum woke up, she told me to stop posting photos of my Curries, because they look like Poo!!!! I laughed.

But she showed me a photo of Prawn soup. I think it's in the Coles mag, but I didn't follow it. Here's my recipe.

20 Green Tiger prawns.
1x Leek, 1x Onion, 2x sticks Celery, Garlic, 1x Capsicum, 1x Bunch of Coriander, 4x Mushrooms, 1 litre Chicken stock, 1x Anchovie, Fish sauce, Soy sauce, Juice from 1/2 lemon, Sour cream, glass of white wine.
Drink rest.

Fry down Onion, Celery, Anchovie and Garlic in Olive oil. Then add chopped, Leek, Capsicum, Mushrooms, Wine and sauces.
Add Chicken stock and cracked pepper, and cook for 15 minutes, with lid on.

Now add salted Green Prawns and Coriander. Stir in Sour cream. Cook until Prawns turn red. Serve up.

It's so healthy, light and delicious. It's a bit sour, which I love. You could add Vermicelli noodles to make it go further.
Enjoy.

P.S I ate it crunchy, cook longer if you'd prefer it soft.

I grow my own Leeks. You should too. So easy to grow and fresh is so much better.
I use the entire plant.

Come and see us, walk through our nursery in autumn, it will make you feel good.
It will make me feel good too.
Happy gardening
Tim