Grow your own strawberries! - Jun 29, 2012
Dear gardening friends,
I was driving through Harrington Park on Saturday and saw a magnificent Orange Trumpet Vine growing over a colourbond fence. Macarthur is surrounded by cream and mint green eye sores, so it was great to see one covered with a vine. Orange Trumpet vine is smothered in bright orange flowers all through winter. It is very fast growing, so one vine could cover your fence in no time. If you have been to Campbelltown Stadium to watch Wests Tigers play then you will notice they are growing Orange trumpet vines over the wire caged retaining walls.
I remember when Don Burke did a story on Orange Trumpet vines about 25 years ago and the phone never stopped ringing the next day because everybody wanted one. Well we have them in stock now. They are botanically known as Pyrostegia venusta. Plant them in a warm north facing position then stand back quickly! If your soil is dodgy, dig in some Greengold Planting compost.
Had a nice couple in yesterday wanting to plant dwarf fruit trees in pots. We have heaps of these at the moment because all our new season fruit trees have arrived. They actually had plenty of room in their garden so I advised them to grow the fruit trees in the ground. "But, our soil is clay? "She replied.
To get fruit trees to grow in the Macarthur district you have to plant them on a mound of good soil.
Dig a nice wide hole 600mms by 450mms deep. Put this soil to the side. Tip a bag of Greengold Planting Compost on top of this, and then mix it all together. Break up any clay with the shovel. Now put this soil back in the hole. It won't all fit so make a mound one metre wide by 150mms high. Now dig the hole in this and plant your fruit tree.
Cover the soil with sugar cane or woodchip. This will stop the water evaporating and make your tree grow faster!
Never fertilise a tree when planting or it will die. (Slow release fertiliser like osmocote is OK) Tip a bucket of water around your tree twice a week.
One of the most exciting new fruit trees to look out for is one called Trixzie Pear. This midget pear tree only grows 1.5 metres high. I have one in my garden and it grows the same shape as a Christmas tree. It has lovely white spring blossom followed by large, slightly rounded, green skinned, full sized fruit. The best news is it is self pollinating so you will only need one.
This little tree is so beautiful you can grow it in your front yard.
All the dwarf fruit trees can be grown in pots but they have to be huge pots. Ones that take at least 3 bags of Tim's Best Potting Mix are perfect. We have plenty of big pots here at the nursery.
Don't forget about your Garden Club discount.
During the week our bare rooted Strawberries arrived. This is the best time to buy strawberries because you get 4 plants in a packet for just $5.95. If you buy them potted in spring they cost $3.99 each!!!! We have a sweet tasting variety called Red Gauntlet. Grow them in pots or hanging baskets if you have no room in the garden.
Rhubarb crowns have arrived. These are large bare rooted plants that will produce thick stemmed rhubarb stalks in the first season. We have a variety called "Ever Red". This has sweet tasting deep red stems. Everyone whinges about rhubarb not having red stems anymore! There is no excuse now, if you grow your own. Ever Red crowns cost $7.95 Giant Victoria crowns are $5.95. Grow them in a sunny position. Rhubarb plants love cow manure.
If you love eating Asparagus then it's time you grew your own. Asparagus crowns have arrived and these are great value at just $5.95. It takes a couple of seasons before the spears are big enough to harvest so plant them now. You are actually eating the juvenile sprout of a fern frond. Lee from Macarthur Turf grows his own Asparagus and he is always banging on about how much nicer it tastes than the stuff you buy in the shops..
The Red Hot Poker plants have finally arrived. You would have seen how great these plants can look in a garden in last weeks email. We have them now in a packet, bare rooted for just $5.95.
Mass plant these in a sunny position in your garden and they will put on a spectacular show throughout winter and early spring. They are as tough as Agapanthus!
We have 40 packets on the bulb stand inside the shop. See Karyn for more info.
Gavin Laverty has sold his Tim's Gardening Service to Guy Farrugia. Gavin and his wife Clare have been running one of our Gardening Franchises for 10 years. We loved Gavin and so did his customers. They are taking over the family business "Sugarloaf Riding School" near Menangle. We wish Gavin and Clare all the best with this exciting new venture.
The good news is we have found a great horticulturist to look after Gavins gardening friends. Guy Farrugia did his apprenticeship with a gardening service company in the eastern suburbs.
Eventually he ended up being the foreman before starting his own business. Guy lives in Kearns so when he had the chance to work close to home he grabbed it.
It will take Guy a couple of weeks to settle in to the new routine. His area includes Glen Alpine, Ambarvale, Campbelltown, Bradbury, Ruse, St Helens Park and Leumeah.
If you need a gardener at your place and you live in any of these suburbs ring Guy Farrugia on 0407900726.
Spring is only 6 weeks away. We think spring starts in the 2nd week of August. So come and see us if you are thinking about starting a new garden.
I am eating Broccoli out of my veggie garden. The broccoli heads are huge. The next lot of broccoli will be much smaller but you get heaps of these.
I need to spray them again with Yates Success because I am finding a few caterpillars.
We ate another Chinese cabbage during the week. They really should be called Chinese lettuce because they taste so sweet.
The sugar snap peas are growing tall and starting to flower. It won't be long before the kids are picking these sweet tasting peas fresh from the vine.
The beetroot are ready for picking. These are great baked or cut up in a salad.
We are turning purple this spring. We are changing our brown jumpers to bright purple. Russell is a bit disturbed that he may get bashed in the train on the way to work.
If you see Russell can you let him know that real men wear purple?
Pig has been so busy this week. He seems to be spending a lot of time in England at the moment – last week at the races, and this week - well check out the photo.
On a final note, I have been a little concerned that no one is reading our newsletters. Usually when we send the news and gossip out, we hear back from a small percentage of you each time. So I have decided I want to see if you are still all out there … is there anyone out there? I want to give away a packet of strawberries to TEN of you that have read the news and gossip. All you need to do is click on the link below and 'like' us on facebook. We will them randomly select the ten lucky 'likers' that can come in and get your free packet of strawberry crowns valued at $5.95. How easy is that!
Happy gardening
Tim