Firstly let me say I am not doing this for any commercial reasons, I have no motive other than to let fellow gardeners benefit from our knowledge based on years of experience and mistakes.
I have talked about soils in my last Blog entry, we now get our soil from ‘Capalaba Landscapes’ it is a ‘premium mix’ with about 80% soil and does not shrink.
We get our water plants Lotus, Water Lily’s from ‘Francois’ at Capalaba 0404151149.
A lot of our Heliconias Gingers and Costus come from James and Jenny Munro at ‘Cooloola Heliconias’ 54853316.
If you don’t want to travel too far from Brisbane, Greg Smith at ‘Palms for Brisbane’ always has a good selection of Tropical plants.
Neville from ‘Wellington Point Nursery’ and Brendan from ‘Rainforest Seclusion’ at Thornlands are both nursery owners who are not afraid to get a new and unusual plants in and ‘Timbara’ Nursery also at Thornlands is great for water feature ideas and general garden gear.
We also purchase some great plants from the Chandler ‘Sunday Markets’ Ian and Helen Wicks have great selection and knows their plants backwards.
The best seaweed product we have found is ‘Natrakelp’ we know it is made purely from Tasmanian kelp which incidently is the fastest growing plant in the world.
We use lots of ‘Sugar Cane Mulch’ we get ours delivered from Win and Andrew Currant on 55462303 or 0414458175, they are farmers from Jacobs Well.
Stump Grinding; ‘grumpy’ on 0421878236 will do a good job for a low price.
Last but not least is our very favourite nursery ‘The Palm Place’ at Wappa Falls Road, Yandina. This is run by Jean and Leo Gamble and they have a selection of great plants and are great people.
Bromeliads, well just come to our ‘Open Garden’ where Judy will have a great selection of named varieties.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
October 2006 Garden News
.jpg)
Well the big news is that the TV show ‘Garden Guru’s want to film in our Garden. I consider this to be quite an honour, just hope they can leave it a few weeks until there is a bit more colour in the garden. Just had a phone call and they are on a tight schedule and want to film this Sunday and the segment will be on Channel 9 on Saturday 21 October 2006. How much of my garden will be on I don’t know as the segment will be on water features in pots, I have a few but like all our garden it’s been done on a budget, hope they are not too disappointed.
Well the ‘Garden Guru’ team have been and gone, it’s quite interesting to see the production team at work and how many takes they have to do before the producer is satisfied. Of course the show is very commercial and heavily sponsored, that’s ok as without that we would not have a gardening show of this calibre. Probably the four hours spent filming will be condensed into a five minute segment. I am now starting to think seriously about our ‘Open Garden’ weekend, getting flyers to garden clubs, letters to newspapers and buying bits and pieces that we need for the opening. I bought a 40 kg bag of ‘Crop King 88’ for the lawns and a couple of 25 kg bags of ‘Nitrophoska Blue’ for the plants, this should bring the plants and lawn on to look the best (depending on rain). Still buying more plants every weekend, returned from the Chandler markets with two Cycads and a Tree Begonia, still need a couple more Begonias to fill the dreaded gaps. More wind and more Heliconias down, this has been a bad period for the taller varieties of Heliconias. What luck, my project for 2007 was going to be a water lily pond, I have been looking at poly ponds and they are about $500, I was lucky enough to find one in the ‘weekend shopper’ for $200. So that’s now here and sitting waiting for 2007. I will just enjoy the refurbished pool area for now.
Gale force winds over the last two days, really hate the wind. Had an email from a Sydney production company who have seen my ‘photo bucket’ album and who are doing a TV series next year on ‘Best Backyards’. The next day there was a phone call from the ABCs ‘Gardening Australia’ who want to visit on 24th and 25th and film for 1.5 days, all this time for a five minute segment. It’s all happening. I am happy about all this attention because Judy and I have worked really hard these past few years, so it’s nice to get a bit of recognition for all the hard yakka. Found a rare plant ‘Mexican Mist’ at ‘Wellington Point Nursery’ Neville the owner is always willing to get in something new and interesting, the new plant should be a stunning addition to our garden. The garden is just so very dry, the strong winds we have been having have really taken all the moisture out of the ground. September’s early rain has all but been forgotten. If there’s one thing that gets me down it is the frustration of seeing the lawns turn brown and the continual fight to keep our plants alive, no wonder farming is such a stressful occupation. This spring has been bad because of the strong winds and lack of rain. It could be worse; we could be living in Brisbane which has much stricter watering regulations. I must admit I always get stressed out this time of year and it has always rained prior to our opening, just hope the rain doesn’t decide to hold off until 18, 19th November. On Saturday we had a few miniscule drops of rain followed on Sunday by real gale force winds which lasted all day. Just what we needed I don’t think. Well ‘Gardening Australia’ have come and gone and the segment will be shown on 25 November 2006 at 6:30pm on of course the ABC.
A very professional team should be a great segment. The ‘Garden Gurus’ have also been back and will show a segment on 18th November featuring our garden and how it evolved, should be good for the Sunday’s ‘Open Garden’. It’s such a busy time of the year, not enough spare hours in the day.
Well the ‘Garden Guru’ team have been and gone, it’s quite interesting to see the production team at work and how many takes they have to do before the producer is satisfied. Of course the show is very commercial and heavily sponsored, that’s ok as without that we would not have a gardening show of this calibre. Probably the four hours spent filming will be condensed into a five minute segment. I am now starting to think seriously about our ‘Open Garden’ weekend, getting flyers to garden clubs, letters to newspapers and buying bits and pieces that we need for the opening. I bought a 40 kg bag of ‘Crop King 88’ for the lawns and a couple of 25 kg bags of ‘Nitrophoska Blue’ for the plants, this should bring the plants and lawn on to look the best (depending on rain). Still buying more plants every weekend, returned from the Chandler markets with two Cycads and a Tree Begonia, still need a couple more Begonias to fill the dreaded gaps. More wind and more Heliconias down, this has been a bad period for the taller varieties of Heliconias. What luck, my project for 2007 was going to be a water lily pond, I have been looking at poly ponds and they are about $500, I was lucky enough to find one in the ‘weekend shopper’ for $200. So that’s now here and sitting waiting for 2007. I will just enjoy the refurbished pool area for now.
Gale force winds over the last two days, really hate the wind. Had an email from a Sydney production company who have seen my ‘photo bucket’ album and who are doing a TV series next year on ‘Best Backyards’. The next day there was a phone call from the ABCs ‘Gardening Australia’ who want to visit on 24th and 25th and film for 1.5 days, all this time for a five minute segment. It’s all happening. I am happy about all this attention because Judy and I have worked really hard these past few years, so it’s nice to get a bit of recognition for all the hard yakka. Found a rare plant ‘Mexican Mist’ at ‘Wellington Point Nursery’ Neville the owner is always willing to get in something new and interesting, the new plant should be a stunning addition to our garden. The garden is just so very dry, the strong winds we have been having have really taken all the moisture out of the ground. September’s early rain has all but been forgotten. If there’s one thing that gets me down it is the frustration of seeing the lawns turn brown and the continual fight to keep our plants alive, no wonder farming is such a stressful occupation. This spring has been bad because of the strong winds and lack of rain. It could be worse; we could be living in Brisbane which has much stricter watering regulations. I must admit I always get stressed out this time of year and it has always rained prior to our opening, just hope the rain doesn’t decide to hold off until 18, 19th November. On Saturday we had a few miniscule drops of rain followed on Sunday by real gale force winds which lasted all day. Just what we needed I don’t think. Well ‘Gardening Australia’ have come and gone and the segment will be shown on 25 November 2006 at 6:30pm on of course the ABC.
A very professional team should be a great segment. The ‘Garden Gurus’ have also been back and will show a segment on 18th November featuring our garden and how it evolved, should be good for the Sunday’s ‘Open Garden’. It’s such a busy time of the year, not enough spare hours in the day.
Soils are Soils
Having solid clay from the surface to about 80 feet deep has made gardening in our estate very hard work.
We have not forgotten that clay is a soil and that plants will grow in it, but if you want a really nice garden then you must put a lot of hard work into improving the soil.
We have had to bring in all the soil for the garden beds.
We have tried various organic mixes with only fair success and the shrinkage with some of these soils was just too much, which meant that the beds had to be done over and over again.
Some of the soil mixes were 90% sawdust or crusher dust and absolutely useless.
I am now very particular and look for a pure 80% soil mixed with coal and manure.
When establishing a new garden I usually put a layer of animal manure as a base then add the new soil and cover with compost, then cover again with sugar cane mulch. I am a mad keen composter, nothing in our garden goes to waste ‘what comes out goes back in’.
I have a Greenfield 6hp shredder which I use a lot, I put all the soft wood, leaves ect through it, then straight to the compost heap.
I also put a lot of liquid kelp into the soil, as I believe this is a great stimulant for healthy plant growth.
It does not happen overnight, it will take years to get the soil good but the end result is well worth it.
We have not forgotten that clay is a soil and that plants will grow in it, but if you want a really nice garden then you must put a lot of hard work into improving the soil.
We have had to bring in all the soil for the garden beds.
We have tried various organic mixes with only fair success and the shrinkage with some of these soils was just too much, which meant that the beds had to be done over and over again.
Some of the soil mixes were 90% sawdust or crusher dust and absolutely useless.
I am now very particular and look for a pure 80% soil mixed with coal and manure.
When establishing a new garden I usually put a layer of animal manure as a base then add the new soil and cover with compost, then cover again with sugar cane mulch. I am a mad keen composter, nothing in our garden goes to waste ‘what comes out goes back in’.
I have a Greenfield 6hp shredder which I use a lot, I put all the soft wood, leaves ect through it, then straight to the compost heap.
I also put a lot of liquid kelp into the soil, as I believe this is a great stimulant for healthy plant growth.
It does not happen overnight, it will take years to get the soil good but the end result is well worth it.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Some hints and Ideas
1.When hanging a few hanging baskets use barbed wire as this will stop the pots from moving.
2.Use Sugar Cane mulch, if you buy by the bale it will last longer, the coarser it the better it will let the water through. Lay to a depth of 60 to 100 mm deep. We use about 180 bales a year. Also helps prevent weeds and helps the soil.
3.Buy a shredder and recycle all or most of your garden waste, do not waste your money on an electric toy, go for a 6 to 8 hp petrol shredder. I use a 6hp Greenfield and this handles most of our garden waste.
4.All garden waste is composted including lawn clippings, I use Urea, blood and bone and mushroom compost with some crushed granite dust. This breaks down to great compost. The animal manure seems to accelerate the process.
5.We use Kelp liquid when planting all new plants into the ground and dip cuttings into a rooting compound plus water them with a kelp liquid We are great believers in Kelp.
6.If you want a cheap Water feature get a half 44 gallon plastic drum from your local produce center and place in hole and surround with rocks.
7.Second hand pavers make a great mowing strip, just a small amount of cement in a trench, a rubber mallet and line level and away you go.
2.Use Sugar Cane mulch, if you buy by the bale it will last longer, the coarser it the better it will let the water through. Lay to a depth of 60 to 100 mm deep. We use about 180 bales a year. Also helps prevent weeds and helps the soil.
3.Buy a shredder and recycle all or most of your garden waste, do not waste your money on an electric toy, go for a 6 to 8 hp petrol shredder. I use a 6hp Greenfield and this handles most of our garden waste.
4.All garden waste is composted including lawn clippings, I use Urea, blood and bone and mushroom compost with some crushed granite dust. This breaks down to great compost. The animal manure seems to accelerate the process.
5.We use Kelp liquid when planting all new plants into the ground and dip cuttings into a rooting compound plus water them with a kelp liquid We are great believers in Kelp.
6.If you want a cheap Water feature get a half 44 gallon plastic drum from your local produce center and place in hole and surround with rocks.
7.Second hand pavers make a great mowing strip, just a small amount of cement in a trench, a rubber mallet and line level and away you go.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Creating a Pot Water Feature
Obviously you must have a large enough clay pot that will keep the water cool enough during our hot summer so the fish do not boil.
My smallest pot contains about 150 litres of water.
The first job is to hose out the inside to get rid of loose particles.
Then the pot must be sealed, I use water based bitumen paint, two coats within two days then leave for a minimum of 10 to 14 days.
Use tap water not rain water as tap water contains more mineral content, then use a chlorine neutralizer and a pond conditioner.
I lay a besser block on the base and place the water plant pot on this block (the besser block gives fish a place to shelter).
Cover the dirt in the pot with loose gravel this will stop the dirt from making the water cloudy.
Do not use organic soil, use pure dirt.
Put your fish in and a bit of waterweed then feed the fish once a week.
If you are in Queensland depending on height of pot you may need to make it cane toad proof.
My smallest pot contains about 150 litres of water.
The first job is to hose out the inside to get rid of loose particles.
Then the pot must be sealed, I use water based bitumen paint, two coats within two days then leave for a minimum of 10 to 14 days.
Use tap water not rain water as tap water contains more mineral content, then use a chlorine neutralizer and a pond conditioner.
I lay a besser block on the base and place the water plant pot on this block (the besser block gives fish a place to shelter).
Cover the dirt in the pot with loose gravel this will stop the dirt from making the water cloudy.
Do not use organic soil, use pure dirt.
Put your fish in and a bit of waterweed then feed the fish once a week.
If you are in Queensland depending on height of pot you may need to make it cane toad proof.
Monday, September 25, 2006
September 2006 Garden News
Well we had 25 mm of rain last night and what a blessing it was to parched gardens and lawns, more please.
Very sore today, lots of aches and pains today after cutting back six Custard Apple trees and then putting the waste through the Greenfield shredder.
It’s the last day of winter and we have had just over 90mm of rain this week. What a great way to go into spring, I am looking forward to squishing into the moist lawn as I walk around the garden.
I bought a few bags of Mushroom compost, supposed to be spent but in the last few weeks we, friends and workmates have had many kilos of beautiful mushrooms.
I have ordered a native bee hive hopefully it will all be set up in the next month.
Planted a couple of tree ferns and large birds nest anthurium’s around the garden, no matter how much I seem to plant there is always room for more.
We had a day of 70 k winds, of course from the west and this is the second worst possible thing for Heliconias other than a frost as the leaves just rip to shreds and some of the larger plants that were about to flower have been knocked down.
Have to do some repair work around the pool fence as the foxtail palms have pushed the fence posts out at an angle and to me it looks untidy, I will fix this up and put sleepers in behind the fence and fill up with soil.
This has turned out to be a bigger job (isn’t this always the case) than I thought as the Foxtail Palm roots had entwined themselves around the cement base holding the posts in and I ruined two posts trying to get the posts out, plus a few blisters.
The job is now completed and looks much better, some people would not notice but I am happy with end product.
Another big month on ‘photo bucket’ with nearly 5000 hits on my album, have to renew my yearly subscription this month, costs $25 U.S but by sending a bank cheque it ends up costing about $48 Aust. It’s worth it to see so many people enjoying our garden.
The Hippeastrums are all coming out and are quite a sight.
Everything now is so many weeks to the ‘Open Garden’ this garden opening has turned out to be the biggest event of our year.
Had a phone call from a north Brisbane garden club who want to visit our garden on a bus trip just prior to our opening, that’s ok as they will not be too much trouble.
I actually bought myself a new fishing rod this week, one of these days I will get to use it, hopefully next year I will be able to go part time to three or four days a week at my work. Working full time five days a week plus doing a seven day weekend in the garden is getting a bit too much.
Another 14mm of rain this week but followed again by some very strong westerly winds which knocked down a lot more Heliconias especially the ‘Purpurea’ which was a pity because it should of flowered this year, and I haven’t seen it in flower yet.
I picked up my hive of native bees and placed them next to a Lychee in full flower, are they ever happy little bee’s.
I am very pleased the way this blog is turning out I will make improvements as I go along, having the time to do all this is my biggest hurdle.
We are going through the ‘kitchen renovation’ phase at the moment, Judy is about to get a nice new timber kitchen with all new appliances, as I want a say, compromise is the word of this month (both of us).
Very sore today, lots of aches and pains today after cutting back six Custard Apple trees and then putting the waste through the Greenfield shredder.
It’s the last day of winter and we have had just over 90mm of rain this week. What a great way to go into spring, I am looking forward to squishing into the moist lawn as I walk around the garden.
I bought a few bags of Mushroom compost, supposed to be spent but in the last few weeks we, friends and workmates have had many kilos of beautiful mushrooms.
I have ordered a native bee hive hopefully it will all be set up in the next month.
Planted a couple of tree ferns and large birds nest anthurium’s around the garden, no matter how much I seem to plant there is always room for more.
We had a day of 70 k winds, of course from the west and this is the second worst possible thing for Heliconias other than a frost as the leaves just rip to shreds and some of the larger plants that were about to flower have been knocked down.
Have to do some repair work around the pool fence as the foxtail palms have pushed the fence posts out at an angle and to me it looks untidy, I will fix this up and put sleepers in behind the fence and fill up with soil.
This has turned out to be a bigger job (isn’t this always the case) than I thought as the Foxtail Palm roots had entwined themselves around the cement base holding the posts in and I ruined two posts trying to get the posts out, plus a few blisters.
The job is now completed and looks much better, some people would not notice but I am happy with end product.
Another big month on ‘photo bucket’ with nearly 5000 hits on my album, have to renew my yearly subscription this month, costs $25 U.S but by sending a bank cheque it ends up costing about $48 Aust. It’s worth it to see so many people enjoying our garden.
The Hippeastrums are all coming out and are quite a sight.
Everything now is so many weeks to the ‘Open Garden’ this garden opening has turned out to be the biggest event of our year.
Had a phone call from a north Brisbane garden club who want to visit our garden on a bus trip just prior to our opening, that’s ok as they will not be too much trouble.
I actually bought myself a new fishing rod this week, one of these days I will get to use it, hopefully next year I will be able to go part time to three or four days a week at my work. Working full time five days a week plus doing a seven day weekend in the garden is getting a bit too much.
Another 14mm of rain this week but followed again by some very strong westerly winds which knocked down a lot more Heliconias especially the ‘Purpurea’ which was a pity because it should of flowered this year, and I haven’t seen it in flower yet.
I picked up my hive of native bees and placed them next to a Lychee in full flower, are they ever happy little bee’s.
I am very pleased the way this blog is turning out I will make improvements as I go along, having the time to do all this is my biggest hurdle.
We are going through the ‘kitchen renovation’ phase at the moment, Judy is about to get a nice new timber kitchen with all new appliances, as I want a say, compromise is the word of this month (both of us).
Sunday, September 17, 2006
the Drought and how we cope
How have we coped?
It seems that the drought started about 4.5 years ago, about the time we joined the ‘Open Garden’ Scheme.
Up then I can remember just how hard it was to get a dry weekend where I could spray the weeds.
So, since then each progressive year has got worse, the saviour used to be the summer rain but this year even that failed.
Our first attempt to beat the drought was to sink a bore, we had high expectations and with three diviners saying we had fresh water we were very excited and confidant.
Well, the bore went down through 70 feet of solid clay, then struck basalt rock which the driller said was good news, then finally at 80 feet up the water gushed, boy was I happy.
The driller then put his salinity meter in the steam and it went completely off the dial, we had found the saltiest water he had ever seen in 20 years of drilling. That was enough, we paid him his money and he packed up and left leaving me with the biggest mess you can imagine.
The back lawn was covered in fine clay mixed with salt; I couldn’t leave it there or use it in the Garden, so all I could do was to shovel it into my box trailer and take to the dump (times two). What a job, it was hard enough getting it into the trailer but worse was to come. By the time I arrived at the dump the clay had congealed like jelly and was one sticky lump that wanted to keep my shovel every time I penetrated the lump, it was almost a scene from the movie ‘The Blob’. I did it but it has to go down as one of the worst jobs ever.
We then turned to lots of sugar cane mulch putting about 100 bales each year on the Garden, we find this much lasts the longest and really does the soil good when broken down, also because it is so coarse it lets the rain in.
Water restrictions came into force and Gardeners started to be treated as criminals, so we had to look at new avenues for watering.
We already had a small 5000 litre tank which we used to refill the swimming pool so we decided put one 15,000 litre water tank in to water one of the new shade houses I built, later we put another 15,000 tank in and have made room for one more, unfortunately there is no rebate in the Redland Shire so I am hoping the State Government will ease their rebate criteria. When we get the next tank we will have 50,000 litres of water stored (providing it rains enough).
I have a hose connected to the tanks and have a small electric pump attached to a sack truck, which can be moved between tanks.
We also never plant without putting water crystals and kelp in the hole first.
Hopefully we will be as drought proof as we can.
I am just so envious of those people with dams or good underground water.
P.S: We have now put the extra tank in and the State Government will give us a $1000 rebate and all tanks are now full to the brim thanks to some wonderful spring rain.
It seems that the drought started about 4.5 years ago, about the time we joined the ‘Open Garden’ Scheme.
Up then I can remember just how hard it was to get a dry weekend where I could spray the weeds.
So, since then each progressive year has got worse, the saviour used to be the summer rain but this year even that failed.
Our first attempt to beat the drought was to sink a bore, we had high expectations and with three diviners saying we had fresh water we were very excited and confidant.
Well, the bore went down through 70 feet of solid clay, then struck basalt rock which the driller said was good news, then finally at 80 feet up the water gushed, boy was I happy.
The driller then put his salinity meter in the steam and it went completely off the dial, we had found the saltiest water he had ever seen in 20 years of drilling. That was enough, we paid him his money and he packed up and left leaving me with the biggest mess you can imagine.
The back lawn was covered in fine clay mixed with salt; I couldn’t leave it there or use it in the Garden, so all I could do was to shovel it into my box trailer and take to the dump (times two). What a job, it was hard enough getting it into the trailer but worse was to come. By the time I arrived at the dump the clay had congealed like jelly and was one sticky lump that wanted to keep my shovel every time I penetrated the lump, it was almost a scene from the movie ‘The Blob’. I did it but it has to go down as one of the worst jobs ever.
We then turned to lots of sugar cane mulch putting about 100 bales each year on the Garden, we find this much lasts the longest and really does the soil good when broken down, also because it is so coarse it lets the rain in.
Water restrictions came into force and Gardeners started to be treated as criminals, so we had to look at new avenues for watering.
We already had a small 5000 litre tank which we used to refill the swimming pool so we decided put one 15,000 litre water tank in to water one of the new shade houses I built, later we put another 15,000 tank in and have made room for one more, unfortunately there is no rebate in the Redland Shire so I am hoping the State Government will ease their rebate criteria. When we get the next tank we will have 50,000 litres of water stored (providing it rains enough).
I have a hose connected to the tanks and have a small electric pump attached to a sack truck, which can be moved between tanks.
We also never plant without putting water crystals and kelp in the hole first.
Hopefully we will be as drought proof as we can.
I am just so envious of those people with dams or good underground water.
P.S: We have now put the extra tank in and the State Government will give us a $1000 rebate and all tanks are now full to the brim thanks to some wonderful spring rain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)