A Cyclamen lives for 30 years - May 09, 2013
Dear gardening friends
We are getting ready for Mothers Day madness here at the nursery. It seems everybody leaves buying mum a flowering house plant to the last minute.
After 26 years in the business we are used to this. We will have someone gift wrapping full time on the weekend so you can get away quickly.
If you love flowers come and have a look at our shop, it is so colourful with all the Mothers Day flowers. Remember we don't sell cut flowers all our flowers have roots so they will out live a bunch of flowers any day and they probably cost the same.
Also check out our new range of Elho pots from Holland. The Dutch lead the world in pot design and manufacturing. These new pots are super colourful and they have a waterwell at the base so your plants will grow better using less water. The biggest pots in the range also have wheels on the bottom so you can move the pots around when you are cleaning. If you have ever been to Holland you will know that the Dutch love indoor plants. There is a Kentia Palm or a Norfolk Island pine in almost every room.
Do you remember when houses in Australia were full of indoor plants? Well there is new research that proves indoor plants make you feel good. A study was under taken in an office situation by Ambius. Workers had increased productivity, less absenteeism and generally felt better in an office environment that was improved through indoor plantscaping. They don't call Happy Plants happy for nothing! We generally see an increase in indoor plant sales in winter when people are stuck inside. Come and see us if you need help with indoor plants. There are certain varieties that are almost death proof!
I was telling you how to grow Cyclamen outside in the cold last week. I mentioned something about putting it outside at night with the cat! Well my mum rang to tell me you shouldn't be telling people to put their cat out because they kill all the wild life. So keep your cat inside but keep your Cyclamen outside. They love the morning sun. I was speaking at the Oaks Garden Club on Sunday and one lady said she has had a Cyclamen in a pot for 30 years. That has to be a world record! I gave one to my next door neighbour about 5 years ago and hers is still looking fantastic on the front verandah.
I went out in the garden this morning to pick the boys some Mandarins. Our Emperor Mandarin tree has at least 200 ripe fruit at the moment. Bailey loves Mandarins; he can eat them 5 at a time. I heard our back door opening in the middle of the night during the week only to discover Bailey had snuck outside to get a mandarin!
This morning I noticed the caterpillars are eating holes in the broccoli and cabbage plants. I will have to spray these with Yates Success in the next couple of days. This natural spray controls caterpillars safely. I also noticed that my Goodbye Neighbours hedge is being attacked by Woolly Aphids. These sap sucking insects can really make your plants get sick if you don't get on top of it quickly. I have found if I give it a spray with eco oil a couple of times it soon cleans it up. It is getting dry again so I will need to water this hedge more often so the plants are not stressed.
Simons Garden Wall that he planted up a few weeks ago has grown so much its crazy. We will be eating these vegetables in the next few weeks. We have these Garden Wall troughs in stock now so if you have a bare wall at home you could turn it into a veggie garden. Come and see Simons wall for inspiration.
Karyn has been busy planting up the car park garden with pansies. It is always difficult to get flowers to grow under trees so Karyn has to do a lot of soil preparation first. She digs the soil over and pulls out as many roots as possible. Then she digs in Greengold Planting Compost and some cow manure. She also waters the soil with Wettasoil to make the soil accept water again. She then sprinkles Tim's Fast Food over the top and covers this with fresh Sugar Cane. The pansies are planted through the mulch and watered daily for the first week. The results are always spectacular because Karyn has got the greenest thumbs in Campbelltown.
The New Blueberry "Burst" have arrived in the nursery. The plants are ex stock plants which means that they are HUGE. The plants are flowering now so come in and grab one to get fruit the size of dollar coins this august
Another beautiful autumn day today. Come and see us if you need some help in the garden. Don't forget your mum on Sunday.
Happy gardening
Tim