Men Only Know 5 Colours!

Dear Gardening
My car beeped this morning, at the top of the street, warning me it was 2 degrees, and there might be ice on the road. Later it beeped again to warn me it was 1 degree on Burragorang road just past the Dairy.

I had a customer ask me, where our Tomato seedlings were yesterday, and they got upset when I told them it was too early to plant Tomato seedlings, best to wait a few weeks until it warms up I said.

Gardeners get upset when we don’t have what they want and they don’t realise that we are just trying to help them. Get one frost and your seedlings will be dead.

Yes some gardeners bring the seedlings inside at night to protect them from the cold, they put them back outside again when the day warms up.

But there’s no hurry to plant Tomatoes, they will just sit and sulk until spring arrives, so save your money. You can get your garden ready for planting now. Soil preparation is the most important thing to do.

Pull spent vegetables out, put them in your compost bin. Turn your soil over with a long handled shovel. Remove any white Curl Grubs, as you break up the soil.

Then you can add Tim’s Cow and Chicken manure. Dress the soil with Garden Lime and Tim’s FAST FOOD. Dig the soil over again, and rake level. Cover the soil with Sugarcane and water well. Leave your garden to rest until spring arrives.

Spring is coming but it’s not here yet. One sunny day doesn’t mean winter is over, 1 degree this morning. That’s so cold. Stay in bed.

I asked Hayden to plant Flanders Poppies in our garden. It’s been controversial because we’ve grown them before and they just kept growing before they finally flowered.

But this batch has burst into bloom, and this colour is one of my favourite colours ever.

You know men only know about 5 colours, we only wear 5 colours too, it just makes it easier to get dressed.

But I ask Sonja at work, what colour is this flower and she’ll rattle off five colours that it could be. I’m calling this red, what colour are you calling it?

I saw these growing wild in fields in Italy once, and I’ve always wanted to grow them. They will flower for the next four weeks or so, then they will get pulled out.

Gardeners are less likely to pull plants out now, they want flowers that last forever. They don’t have time anymore for seasonal plantings. We are changing the style of our gardens to match that need.

But we will keep a few patches where we can plant flowers. I love these flowers, they glow in the after hours. They glow.

The Pottie Family just turned up from Gerringong. They are on the way to Parramatta today to pick up Grandchildren. They got up early this morning, they’ve already picked up a Wetsuit from Mt Annan, that they saw on Market place, and some Honey, then they called in here to pick up 3 bags of Tim’s Best Potting mix.

They had a bit of a laugh when I told them that this happens all the time, we’ve become “Gardeners Mecca” because of our Tim’s Best Potting mix.

Campbelltown is on the way to everywhere when you really think about it. I love how Stephen is wearing a Gerringong hat today, he loves Gerringong so he puts the hat on to promote his home town whenever he travels.

Margaret was full of life and she quickly decided 3 bags might be better than two, which made a lot of sense to me. Stephen was still recovering from having to pick up a jar of honey.

Any way they went away smiling and I just might need to do a road trip to Gerringong, it’s not far from Berry.
Might be a nice day trip, I’d have to get the donuts.
It’s almost on the way.

You might remember the story I wrote about Some Cafe in Collector. They had a beautiful Climbing Rose that couldn’t be identified, possibly Rose ‘Leonardo Da Vinci’.

But a mate contacted me who grows Roses and Citrus for a living, and he said the best Climbing Rose was “Nahema”. I’d never heard of it ,so I was a bit dubious, but then I did some research.

“Nahema” is regarded as one of the finest fragrant climbing roses available. It was bred by the French rose breeder Delbard and combines old-fashioned beauty, with modern repeat flowering.

The flowers are Soft shell pink to deeper pink in the centre, fading slightly as the blooms age. Very full, quartered, old-fashioned rosette blooms, often 10–12 cm across.

Fragrance: Outstanding. It has a rich perfume with notes of rose, citrus, peach and apricot. Many rose enthusiasts rate it among the most fragrant climbers in the world!!!!!

Flowering: Repeats well from spring through autumn, with the biggest flush in spring. Typically reaches 2.5–3.5 metres in Sydney, although it can grow taller in ideal conditions.

Disease resistance: Good overall, though like most roses it benefits from good airflow and preventative care during humid weather.

Less thorns than other Roses, yes it has less thorns so if you’ve got old skin like me you won’t be bleeding so often.

We now have Climbing Rose “Nahema” in stock. It’s such a vigorous rose it has big thick stems. Can’t wait to smell those amazing flowers. We have 10 plants,

I drive up streets all the time and I’m amazed how suburbs can be over 30 years old and they still don’t have street trees. How could this happen?

In those days the developers weren’t made to plant street trees as part of the development. It was left to councils to plant the trees, and it just didn’t happen.

In some suburbs Councils are going back to these older suburbs and finally planting the trees. But it’s not happening fast enough and every year more shade gets removed than what is getting planted.

You could wait for Councils to plant your trees but you just might die before that happens, or you can plant them yourself.

One of the trees that’s on Councils planting list is this one that’s growing beautifully in Queen Street Campbelltown. It’s called Waterhousia floribunda.

The new growth is coppery coloured before it turns green. When it’s covered in new growth during the warmer months it looks spectacular!!!!

In late spring/early summer the tree gets covered in small white flowers that have a light sweet fragrance. These flowers attract birds, bees and pollinators into your garden.

In Sydney’s South West they grow about 6-10 metre high. They grow bigger in Queensland, where it’s warmer all year round, and it rains more often.

But in South Western Sydney they grow into a beautiful weeping shade tree. You’ll be able to park your car in its shade. The extra shade will help cool your house and garden.

You’ll hear the birds in your street, nature just turns up when you provide protection, food and shade. The birds turn up to serenade you, the sounds of nature makes us feel good.

Trees attract people, all day people will be sitting under these trees in Queen street. These shady spots become meeting places for birds and people.

It just doesn’t make sense to me why we’re not in a hurry to plant street trees. I didn’t wait for council to plant my trees. I couldn’t wait, we can’t wait.

Happy gardening
Tim