Time to prune! - Nov 11, 2011
Dear gardening friends
We have been busy at the nursery this week pruning plants. When you get hot weather and water plants just seem to triple in size. Ryan has been busy pruning roses and spacing them further apart. This allows the sun and air into the plants and helps to prevent black spot. You can't move your roses at home so if they are getting over grown cut them back by 25% and then fertilise with Organic Life or Sudden Impact. They will send out new shoots within days and beautiful flowers will soon follow.
We have also been pruning all our ground covers and shrubs. If we don't prune them they just get all over grown and look terrible. If you have plants at home that have finished flowering give them a prune now. Pruning actually helps to keep plants healthy. It also makes them grow faster so if you are growing a hedge the more often you lightly prune it the faster it will grow.
The new black flowering petunias have not been as successful as we expected. It seems everyone prefers colour in their gardens. We got all excited about white flowering Jacarandas when they were first released and nobody wanted to buy them either. We have reduced the black petunias to $4.50, come in and grab yourself a bargain - they do look great in a pot.
Talking about Jacarandas don't they look sensational. They are flowering on the hills all around Macarthur heralding the start of summer. They can take up to 5 years to flower when you buy one but once they start they will reward you every November.
It won't be long before Crepe Myrtles start to flower too.
Simon got an early delivery of Frangipanis in this week. We have found a grower from Northern NSW who just grows the best Frangipani plants. Frangipanis are so popular and they can be grown in large pots if you don't have room in the garden.
They just love a hot sunny position. They look great around swimming pools and the perfumed flowers are divine.
You will need to start mowing your lawn every week. This will keep it looking good and it will also help prevent fungus diseases and grass fleas. Long grass creates humidity and this is the ideal conditions for fungus. I had a few phone calls this week from customers who had patchy lawns caused by fungal attacks. The disease can be controlled by spraying it with Mancozeb but prevention is always better.
We've had computer problems this week so our poor cashiers have been getting very frustrated. Our customer service may have been compromised during this period. Simon the jack of all trades was able to replace the part that was causing the melt down. We have a terrible work environment for computers with so much dust and dirt around so we kill them pretty quickly.
My lunch challenge is over with Yvonne who just started to take things too seriously. Her meals started to come in on a ceramic plate all beautifully arranged followed by desert served in a ramekin? OK so I don't like loosing!
Poor pig was sweating like a pig during the week . He could smell his own crackle?
He did get into the Fisher's Ghost festival spirit by wearing a white sheet.
We have had lots of calls about cut Christmas trees. We usually get a few the first weekend in December but you are better to wait until the second weekend so your tree is still fresh on Christmas day.
You still have time to give your garden a Christmas make over. A few petunias planted in pots and in any bare patches will get your garden smiling again.
Happy gardening
Tim