It Flowers Every Day Of The Year! - Jul 05, 2024

Dear gardening friends
OMG we are loving these new, very dwarf Abutilons.
They only grow 450mms high and they flower all year round. The plants we've got in the nursery are just covered in buds and flowers.

They are sold as "Lucky Lanterns" they come in orange or red flowering varieties and we've got both. We've potted 20 up into bigger pots using Tim's Best Potting mix and they have responded with more new growth and even more flowers and it's winter!!!!!!

This shrub really is a winner. It grows in full sun or half day sun. It can be grown in a pot using Tim's Best Potting mix. We've bought this plant all the way from South Australia. Plants cost $18.99.
They make beautiful floral gifts.
But get one for yourself.
Zoom zoom

Every time I walk past Shoe Talk in Camden I have to yell out "Hello Eddy". I've got a very loud voice and sometimes the shop is full of people, but I've started something, I just can't stop.

Today it's almost 5pm and it's already cold in Camden. I look into the shop and there's Eddy sweeping the floor. Eddy is amazing. I've been buying shoes from Eddy for years. He's always working.

I ask him why he's always working? "I love serving people, I've been in Camden for 32 years but I actually started my business in Tahmoor, and that was 40 years ago. My wife Maria works here too, and Marian has worked here for 23 years."

Eddy is looking great today, he's had a haircut and it's made him look 20 years younger. I tell him too. He often has a worried look on his face, but today I can only see happiness.

I know he loves serving people, you think it's just because he wants to sell you shoes, but he just wants to serve you and the shoes have to fit. He's very fussy about shoes fitting, he's got the old foot measurer that's been here for 32 years. The shoes have to fit length and width wise, they have to fit.

I'm sure we've all bought shoes online and had a horror experience, I bought shoes once, they didn't fit, it cost me $65 to send them back to America. That cured me.
I was back to Eddy the next time I needed boots.

Yes I wear boots, and the last pair I bought have taken a while to wear in. I've got arthritic feet from playing soccer. Eddy tells me to bring them back and he'll stretch them with a machine he's got out the back.

You don't get service like that.
That's why Eddy and his staff are amazing.

Eddy wants to know how my business is going.
He's always interested in others. He looks at you. He stops sweeping.

Eddy is a hard worker.
He's the hardest worker in Camden.
Eddy is Camden.

I'm making Pepper Pies tonight. That's why the Slow cooker is at low tide. The Anchovies have been washed up, the Capers are high and dry too. I'm making a meaty gravy sauce first. I've got Chuck steak in the bottom and it's been dusted with Flour.

Once it's stirred the flour will make it look like the real meat pie colour. It thickens the sauce too.

The ingredients are 1kg of Chuck steak cut up in cubes. Dust this with flour and put in the bottom. Yes I know you guys fry the meat first, I don't. I'm in a hurry.

Then I've added 1x Onion, Celery stick, 1x Leek, 1/2 an Eggplant chopped fine (it's going to disappear). Can of tomatoes 800gm, 3xAnchovies, Capers, Garlic, Pepper, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and table spoon of Peppercorn.

I'm cooking it all day on low because it's half full and I want the meat to stay chunky.

I'm buying puff pastry tonight which I'll cover the ramekins with, then bake it. Yes I'm cheating but it won't be so fattening.

Yes I've hidden some Chick peas in there.
I'm hoping Dan won't notice. Yes and 4 mushrooms!!!
Sorry Jimmy.

P.S (Dan loved the pies so much, he had one for dinner, one for breakfast and one for lunch).

We have an amazing selection of African Violets.
Plant breeding means we are getting so many new colours and variants. You could easily become a collector of these amazing plants.

A lady who lived in Ambarvale wanted to gift me a cactus, so I went to her house. She invited me in to see the cactus. We walked past her kitchen. It was like an Aladdin's cave full of African Violets. Many of them were over 20 years old, they were huge.

She'd made shelves in the kitchen to arrange her violets around the windows. African violets love north east facing windows. The sun shines in before it gets too hot. This makes the plants thrive and flower more.

Once you find the right spot African Violets are easy to grow, and once you have one, you can grow more from a leaf cutting. Simply plant them in Tim's Best Potting mix.

We have a great supply of African violets today.
They will sell out because supply always dwindles in winter. Wow what a great word "Dwindle".

African Violets cost $16.99.
That's just ridiculously cheap.

This time last year we did a potting mix trial to see which brand was the best. We choose 8 Australian Standards Premium Potting mixes. These brands are suppose to be the best, they suppose to have fertiliser added so your plants grow.

The information on the front of the bags was all so positive, words like Premium, Compost, 6 months of fertiliser, Wetting Agents etc etc. The results were spectacularly disappointing.

Tim's Best Potting mix was 100% better than the next best potting mix. We had no idea our potting mix was that good. It's been a revelation. Tims Best has secret ingredients that just makes your plants thrive.

Today we had a customer turn up just as we were opening. "Fit as many bags as you can, in my car". Just lucky they had a Pajero. Poor Hayden was sweating.

We are seeing this on a daily basis, garden lovers are travelling from all over the state. They are plant collectors so they want the best potting mix.
It's been an amazing story.
Happy gardening
Tim