Have you got one foot in the grave? - Aug 22, 2025
Dear gardening friends
Just arrived in the rain, the most beautiful African Violets. We've never had plants with this many flowers, it's crazy. We have 60 plants to choose from and they are amazing value at $18.99.
We have some beautiful colours, you can grow more from leaf cuttings and share them with friends.
African Violets use to be old people plants, you had to have one foot in the grave, but now they have been discovered by the hip and happening, African Violets are back in fashion!!!!
I can't believe how cheap they are to buy, they have been less than $20 forever. You can't buy a bunch of flowers for that. They make great gifts, they come already gift wrapped.
If you buy an African violet pot we will repot it for you using Tim's Best Potting mix. They love it.
Grow your African Violets in your kitchen near the window. They like morning sun, they will take northerly sun too. Not afternoon sun.
They can outlive you, the kids will be fighting over them. Zoom zoom. These always sell out fast!!!!
OMG, I just thought about taking an African Violet home. I can picture it near the toaster!!!!
I posted a story this week about Brian Samuel's garden in St Andrew's? This is what it looks like on Google earth. You should be able to find his house.
It's the only house with trees.
Brian and his wife have created a native forest around their house in St Andrews. Crushed granite paths lead you into the garden, it's all native plants, there's a canopy of trees above, you can hear the birds, Brian and his wife love the birds.
It's a different way of thinking, all the windows inside the house look out onto foliage. There's a pond with fish, the birds come to drink from here too. It's an oasis.
What's so upsetting for me is the lack of street trees. This suburb is over 30 years old and Council has never planted street trees. The tree canopy cover is around 10% here, you need 30% for good mental health outcomes.
Brian isn't waiting, he's surrounded his house with trees, the birds are attracted to his garden, it's an oasis. The sounds of nature makes us feel good.
He has lucky neighbours.
We had our lawn cored this week so this beautiful rain is now soaking into our soil rather than running off.
Josh mowed the lawn with our Utility Lawn mower, and it's spread the cores over the top, and they have disappeared.
We had terrible clay soil here when the nursery was built. But over time the Utility Lawn mower has cut the grass clippings so fine, they go into the soil. They compost, and help breakdown the clay.
They also add Organics, and this is what holds the water.
When soil is nutritious, grass grows, when it's not nutritious, weeds grow. Weeds have tap roots, so they are able to thrive in poor soils.
When you have good soil, your grass grows better, and you have less weeds. It's so simple isn't it.
Don't throw your clippings in the bin, mulch them back into your soil.
You will also notice that your trees and shrubs will grow better too. There's just more moisture in the soil.
If you'd like to get your lawn cored contact Alan direct on 0424829061. He's a nice guy.
Chrissy is here from Mr Fothergill's seeds, we have asked her to remove all the seeds that are out of season, and replace them with seeds, that are in season.
This used to be standard practise in the nursery industry. It's not anymore.
It's interesting, during Covid we discovered that most people had no idea about what grows when, you can buy vegetables all year round in Woolies and Coles, so people just expect to grow everything when they feel like it.
Gardeners know that there are seasons when you can grow vegetables and flowers, if you plant seeds in the right season they grow, if you don't, they often don't.
All this info is on the packets, but it does get confusing when you don't know which zone you're in, or if you can't read English or you just don't read instructions.
We like to help you have success, yes it means we sell less seeds than the big green box. We want you to grow beautiful flowers and vegetables, we want you to become great gardeners. It's better for the planet, it's better for your mental heath.
It's better for us too. "People who catch fish, go fishing more often". We want you to catch fish!
When you get your seeds, make sure you use Tim's Best Potting mix, yes it's great for seed raising too. It makes your plants happy!
Chrissy told me she has to get 2x bags of Tims Best Potting mix for her father in law, who lives in Wollongong. "He'll kill me if I forget".
That made me smile.
Happy gardening
Tim