Find Happiness In Your Garden! - Apr 17, 2026
Dear gardening friends
Just drove home and I started to smile when I saw how beautiful the autumn leaves look, with the sun shining on them. The colours are amazing.
These leaves have fallen from my Manchurian Pear trees. They are edible for Cows and other animals. When the leaves blow into my neighbours paddock I watch his cows devour them with delight.
I mow them on the lawn and they turn into amazing organic matter, that then goes into the soil. They compost and add nutrients to my soils, they also help break down the clay and turn it into organic enriched soil over time. It feeds the earth worms.
If you're raking up the autumn leaves and chucking them out, stop, you're crazy. These amazing soil improvers can be used to mulch gardens. You can put them in a pile and they will quickly turn into compost. Add Tim's Cow manure to make them compost even quicker.
There's so much to love about autumn leaves. Accept them as a gift from your neighbours trees. Look on the bright side of life.
It's nature, not mess.
Happy Plants have special meaning for me. A Happy Plant was the first Indoor plant I ever grew. I bought it as a stick, without roots, and grew it hydroponically for about 5 years.
That's how Happy Plants were originally sold. It was around 1978. That plant flowered eventually, and it had the most amazing sweet smelling flower. It was too sweet, you could smell it throughout the house.
When I left the last nursery I ever worked at in about 1986 the Director John Sammut gave me a mature Happy plant, that my mother still has today.
So I've chosen a Happy Plant to give to a friend this weekend, for his house warming party. I've repotted it today, into a bigger pot using Tim's Best Potting mix.
They grow beautifully in bright rooms with big windows. They can last at least 40 years.
They are easy to grow from cuttings.
They make you happy.
They make me happy.
I've got the Slow Cooker out, my wife tried to buy one as a house warming gift last week and could only find one in Big W. So I'm wondering if I've had something to do with the shortage?
A customer asked me if I use it to heat the house? I laughed at that, but it possibly does warm the house and it makes the house smell nice too.
Today I'm making a Casserole, I could have added Curry powder but today it's just something simple.
Cut up Eggplant, Onions, Mushrooms, Leeks, Garlic, 4x Lamb Grillers, 2x Chorizo sausages, Chickpeas, Mung beans, 3x Anchovies, Worcestershire sauce, Soy sauce and 2x Chillies. One big can of Tomatoes. Rosemary.
One lemon cut in half. Pink salt and pepper.
I'll serve this tonight with Brown Rice and Greek Yogurt. I think I might be Greek?
I cook on low heat all day.
When you come home the house smells so nice. This feeds about 8 people. Costs about $40 to make. It helps if you've got the Eggplants and Leeks out of your garden.
You should be planting Garlic now. We have beautiful Spanish Garlic on the counter.
So easy to grow.
We have a fabulous new double flowering Camellia sasanqua, called "Exotic Jewel". It's has these fragrant, large double flowers, that change from dark pink to crimson red, as they age.
This Australian bred Camellia thrives in our conditions. It can grow in full sun or semi shade. In pots or gardens.
It's perfect for hedging and it can be pruned at any height or width. It will grow in that narrow space between you and your neighbours house.
It will give you privacy all year round.
We have larger plants that are covered in buds, about to burst into bloom. This really is a beautiful Camellia and it's hard to find in nurseries and it's fragrant!!!!
Improve your soil by digging in Tim's Best Potting mix. This lifts your plants out of the clay and gives the roots a chance to grow. Mulch around the base to keep the soil moist and stop the weeds from growing.
We have limited supply of "Exotic Jewel". Plants cost $39.99. They will make your garden smile.
Zoom zoom.
It's time to plant Broccoli and other winter vegetables. The nights have turned cooler now, so that means it time to plant Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, Broccoli, Broccolini, Brussel sprouts, Peas, Sugar Snap peas, Celery, Carrots, Chives, Leeks, Spring Onions, Lettuce, Kale, Garlic, Strawberries, Silverbeet, Spinach etc.
You need to improve your soil with Tim's Cow manure. Dig one bag for every 2m2. Cover soil with Sugar cane and water well. Plant your seedlings through the mulch. Don't forget the snail pellets or they will get eaten over night.
To stop Caterpillars eating your leaves dust with Yates Tomato and Vegetable dust every 4-6 weeks. This product is amazing.
We have lots of new plants for autumn planting, come and see us this weekend. There's lots of rain around to help your plants grow.
Happy gardening
Tim