Meet Mr Seasol - Feb 27, 2014
Dear Gardening Friends
We had more rain again last night so if you took my advice and fertilised your lawn and garden last week then you will be watching everything turn green.
You can water all you like but this just keeps plants alive. But when it rains, that’s when plants spring back to life. The best time to fertilise is when your plants are actively growing.
Come and see us this weekend to get “Rapid Raiser” for your garden and a bag of Tim’s “Rapid Results” for your lawn.
Now is also the best time to spray weeds. When weeds are actively growing they suck up the poison and it kills them quicker.
There are weed killers for your lawn and weed killers for your garden. Don’t get these mixed up or you will kill your lawn. Come and talk to our horticulturists and we will make sure you are buying the right product. Remember that story from last year? One of our older customers called into the green shed because it was close to his house. He asked for a weed killer. They sold him one so he went home and sprayed his lawn, and his neighbours. The problem was the weed killer was non selective which means it killed everything! His neighbour was spewing.
I had a couple of gardeners in this week returning plants. In both cases the plants had been repotted into bigger pots. When I asked them what potting mix they used they say “a good quality one they had at home”. We have just done another potting mix trial on two potting mixes being sold in chain stores and the plants haven’t grown a leaf in 2 months! Check out the photos. Sure if we added a fertiliser and a wetting agent they would grow better but the average Joe just expects plants to grow in these mixes. We have added nothing to the Tim’s Best Potting Mix and you can see the difference. The problem with this is, the customer blames the nursery who sold them the plants rather than the chain store who sold them the potting mix.
We love Ryan and so do our customers. We get more letters and emails about great customer service from Ryan’s friends than anyone else. Lisa has been away this week so Ryan has been looking after the seedlings. Ryan is secretly known as Mr Seasol here at Tim’s because he is always spraying the roses with this fantastic plant tonic. Yesterday I caught Ryan spraying the vegetable seedlings with Seasol too. Never turn your back on Ryan or you could leave us smelling like composted seaweed. We love Ryan, and so do our plants.
If you are planting seedlings or shrubs in your garden they will grow better if you water them with Seasol twice a week. Talk to Ryan for more Seasol stories.
Autumn starts next week so this is the best time to plant just about everything in your garden. It is also the best time to prune shrubs and to repot plants. Your hedges will grow faster and bushier if you prune them now. I never pick up the pruning. I leave these to mulch the ground and then as they breakdown they add organic matter to the soil. Organic matter is what holds the water in your soil. The more organic matter, the more water, the faster your plants grow. When you make your gardens choose mulch that still looks good when leaves fall on it. Pebbles are a nightmare! Sugar cane or Termite Resistant mulch is perfect.
I was cutting the flower spikes off my Agapanthus on the weekend to stop the seeds from spreading. Agapanthus can become a weed if you let them seed. While I was doing this I noticed hundreds of green tree frogs were living in amongst the Agapanthus leaves. They are the same colour as the leaves so this gives them a great place to hide. Check out your Agapanthus and see if you have frogs too!
I have a pot plant at home that hasn’t stopped flowering for 20 years! It is called a Euphorbia milii and it has to be one of the toughest plants ever. It tolerates full hot sun and it is very forgiving if you forget to water it. Simon has found some beauties this week and they are covered in flowers. Pot them up into a bigger pot and they will flower for the next 20 years for you too. Plants cost $10.99 so they are a bargain. We can gift wrap them too. Pink and white flowering varieties are available sometimes too.
Pig has been a sensation this week having found himself on the front page of the Macarthur Chronicle. “Pork of the town” is the headline and more details of pigs brush with death can be found on page 5. Pig might be famous but he was just happy to be out on the milkcrate this week watching the grass grow. I would like to thank Sid Jackson who brought pig in an orange vest yesterday. Pig might be mistaken as a council worker next week as he sports his new outfit. If you want to follow pigs adventures like us on facebook.
Come and see us if you need help in the garden.
Happy gardening
Tim