Pig Gets Stolen! - Dec 08, 2011
Dear gardening friends
We had terrible news last weekend. During the early morning Cut Christmas frenzy Pig and his famous milk crate were pigknapped from the car park. The incident happened between 8.30am and 9am on Saturday morning. We have been expecting a ransom note made up from newspaper clippings to arrive any minute.
The good news is, that pig, like many famous people has a stunt double who fills in for him when he needs to go down to Queen St to get a coffee. The real pig is now back at work sporting a new blue milk crate. Pig thinks "It's a little bit fancy".
The Christmas trees are sensational this year. All the staff have taken one home and the trees have been decorated. I have attached a photo to help inspire you. If you have a beautifully decorated cut Christmas tree then email us a photo. If you still need a tree come and see us. We have the Christmas tree tent set up in the carpark and the trees are all standing in water so they stay fresh. Russell has become our Christmas tree expert so he can help you choose the perfect tree.
We have another 100 being delivered this Saturday and Sunday so come early in the morning to get the best tree. The new Christmas tree stands that Simon sourced from Holland are working well. They take less than 3 minutes to set up so that makes life easy.
I snuck into Campbelltown Hospital this week and planted jacaranda trees along the entrance driveway. These will make a real difference to this once tree less environment as they mature. The over night rain will help settle them in. The Manchurian Pears we planted in winter have survived and they are starting to grow. We are relying on natural rainfall to water them. It has been a great growing season so far. I have applied Wettasoil around each tree to make the surrounding soil absorb more water. I sprayed the weeds with Zero so there is less competition for water. The thick layer of cypress woodchip will help keep the roots cool and moist.
We had our staff Christmas party at Enzo's Restaurant in Camden last Friday. The food was fantastic and we all had a good laugh. This restaurant has won so many awards over the years and the meals are always good. Try the seafood casserole if you are a big eater it's my favourite.
I picked 4 ripe cherries from my Cherry tree last week and they were a taste sensation. Just lucky I am not growing cherries for a living or I would be broke. I have the Stella cherry tree which is self pollinating. It is a beautiful looking tree that gets spectacular white spring blossom. Unfortunately we got a late frost this year that made most of the flowers drop off.
Customers can be funny things, I had a lady yesterday tell me I had garlic breath. Yes I said I have just had a plate of spaghetti for lunch. "It's nothing a tic tac wouldn't fix" she said.
Our Hydrangeas have been selling well as Christmas gifts. They are covered in flowers and they look so good when we gift wrap them and they only cost $19.99. That's the cheapest bunch of flowers ever! Come and see us if you need a flowering gift.
Watch out for Grass Fleas, these leg biting insects love long grass and hot humid weather. Keep your lawn mowed short to deter them. If you already have them we have a spray called Baythroid that will control them.
Happy gardening
Tim