Tim's Garden Centre - 2 Queen Street Campbelltown, NSW, 2560 - Ph: 46267022
Autumn Fun In The Garden
We have to agree with Don Burke who say's Autumn is the best season to plant trees and shrubs in your garden.
The soil is still moist after Summer rain and the soil is still warm so plants roots will develop quickly if you plant now.
It has been the best growing season in 10 years so it makes sense to make hay while the sun shines.
Autumn is traditionally the best time to choose deciduous trees. Our trees are starting to show those beautiful Autumn colours. We still have a great supply of the new varieties of Manchurian Pears. 'Chanticleer' and ' Capital' are the best for small gardens.
These spectacular Autumn foliage trees keep their leaves well into winter. In Spring they are covered with small white flowers.
We have trees around 2 metres tall for just $50.00.
Crepe Myrtles are also excellent autumn foliage small trees that are supper drought hardy once established. The problem is most growers cut the tops out of them when young so they become bushy shrubs rather than single trunk trees. This really annoys me . We have finally found a grower of the Indian Summer range of Crepe Myrtles who is growing them with a single leader.
These will be fantastic shade trees in your garden. You can prune the lower branches off as they grow so you can see that beautiful smooth bark. We have 3 colours available and they are nice tall plants about 1.2 metres high for just $21.00
These Crepe Myrtles are resistant to powdery mildew so they flower every year even when it's wet. We only have about 20 left so don't delay or you will miss out.
Autumn is a great time to plant flowering shrubs in your garden too. Tibouchinas or Lasiandra's as they used to be known as are flowering now. Tibouchina Alstonville is the most spectacular looking variety. It can grow into a small tree up to 5 metres high but just chop it back every Spring if you want it to stay around 2 Metres high. A dwarf growing variety called ' Jules ' grows about one metre high. Tibouchinas need lots of water in Summer or the leaves start to dry up and look terrible. When it rains a lot they really put on a great show in Autumn.
Although rose bushes are in short supply variety wise at this time of year they always look good in Autumn. We have some great looking plants that are covered in flowers. A new variety of Flower carpet rose has just been released. It's an apricot colour called Amber and I am so impressed with this new colour I have planted some in our garden. Flower carpet roses flower for 10 months of the year. You must prune them every 6 weeks if you want them to be covered in flowers. They only flower off new growth so the bushier you can grow them the more flowers you will have. Feed them with Organic Life or Sudden Impact every 6 weeks.
Fertilise your lawn early in Autumn while the grass is still growing. We use ' Tim's Rapid Results' on our lawn and it is lovely and green with hardly any weeds. We never water our lawn but it still looks green . The secret is to throw away your grass catcher.We mow every week and the grass clipping go back into the soil. The soil has become so rich in nutrients and when it rains it holds so much more water . I get cranky when I see people taking grass clippings to the tip.
Lots of weeds will be appearing in your gardens now. This means that the mulch on your garden is getting too thin . If you can see bare earth it's time to remulch. For flower or vegi gardens use Sugar cane mulch. For other gardens use our ' Termite Resistant Mulch'. I prefer the fine mulch rather than the chip. It holds more water in the soil. We have it in bags at the nursery but we can also deliver in bulk.
Happy gardening and come and visit us if you need help.
Best wishes
Tim