Have you ever tried expressing yourself to another person in a language that's not quite natural for you?

You try to tell them that 'you enjoy their friendship' but it comes out as though 'you want to pick their nose with a gigantic pitchfork' - or worse! Often the meaning gets lost in translation.

It's exactly the same with flowers. Each flower has its own meaning and communicates a different message when being given as a gift. You certainly wouldn't take a red rose to a funeral or give a black tulip to the mother-of-the-bride - though she may give you one. So while a flower given as a gift can mean the world to the person receiving it, it can also mean end of yours if it's taken the wrong way.

Rather than take the risk, I've compiled a little list of more than 300 flowers and their meanings. [If I've missed any, email me and I'll update it immediately].

Disclaimer: As there are many of these lists residing in cyberspace I haven't referenced any particular one that I have accessed these meanings from. Each of these lists seem to carry a few of each others and there is no referencing in place. If I have inadvertently taken a meaning from your site and your are the original owner please don't hesitate to contact me and shall append the referencing.

Posted by Stuart at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There is nothing more delicious than gardening vegetables in your own plot of soil. As soon as you harvest your vegies you can be eating them without any concern for pesticides, herbicides and any other 'cides' that may have come in contact with your fresh produce.

Not only that, they are dead simple to plant and grow and anybody can do it and achieve a good level of success. Gardening your own vegetables is even a great way to get the kids involved and introducing them to the soil, seeds and enjoying the harvest.

Mother Earth Living [Link since removed] has come up with a list of 10 best crops to grow for beginners. They're not all vegetables but we can live with that. So, while it's a great list there are a couple I thought that should have made it.

Here's Mother Earth Living's list;

1. Radishes.
2. Salad greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula and corn salad).
3. Green beans.
4. Onions.
5. Strawberries.
6. Peppers.
7. Bush zucchini.
8. Tomatoes.
9. Basil.
10. Potatoes.

and to add to this;

11. Carrots. What vegetable garden would be complete without carrots? They are extremely easy to sow and cultivate. The best tip I've seen for sowing carrots is to mix the seed with some coarse river sand in a small jar. Shake until they're well mixed and then poke a hole the size of your index finger in the lid. Slowly pour this mix along the drills that you've prepared and cover over. Too easy.

12. Sweet Potatoes If you're going to grow potatoes, then sweet potatoes aren't any harder. Cut a chunk off a shop-bought variety - ensuring that the chunk exhibits a few eyes - and plant below the surface the same as a potato. They are such a bountiful crop that you will be rewarded well for planting these.

13. Pumpkins I can't believe this list missed out pumpkins. One of the easiest crops to grow and with such a large seed it's a piece of cake to try and sow. You can even collect the seed from your own pumpkin, dry them out and plant in early spring to late summer.

14. Aubergine/ Eggplant Aubergines can be picked up as seedlings at most nurseries and planted as soon as the soil warms up. With 8-12 weeks you'll have a prolific harvest of eggplants that look great in the garden but are far better grilled and on your plate.

15. Squash Not a big favourite with most vegetable gardeners, it is still a great crop to grow - even if you end up giving the produce to your neighbours. There are so many varieties of squash available now that trying a few new ones might even change your mind about them. Plant out as seedlings at the start of spring and you'll be picking within 6-8 weeks.

Gardening vegetables can be so rewarding. Knowing how they grow and what you did to produce them is extremely satisfying. And, it should reduce your food bill.

Posted by Stuart at 3:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I always have a chuckle when I hear the joke, "What's the difference between broccoli and snot?" No ideas? Answer: "It's harder to get kids to eat broccoli." Boom, boom.

In actual fact, it may be more aligned to your genetic makeup than we've possibly ever considered.

Susan Bowerman, from the LA Times, tells us however, that this may not excuse kids from turning their nose up at vegetables. It seems that being a super-taster takes some time to evolve.

So if you're not into strong tasting-coffee, soy products or grapefruit juice you can thank your genes for making you the super-taster that you are.

Interesting to note that more women than men are super-tasters and so are most chefs!

Posted by Stuart at 5:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hours and hours of back-breaking, blister-inducing, sweat-covered work have finally culminated in the garden that you have always dreamed about. The garden structures are completed, the plants are melding beautifully and the piece d'resistance (a tacky $29.95 concrete garden ornament) is in place.

Whoa! Roll back the video...Is this another B-grade horror movie?

Unfortunately not. It seems to happen more often than not as gardeners succumb to making bad choices on garden ornaments.

Consider choosing a garden sculpture or ornament the same way a painter considers a frame. Or, with the same creative eye that a chef uses to garnish an extraordinary meal. These professionals would never choose 'tacky'.

It appears to me that gardeners choose garden ornaments based on a few selective criteria; price, purchasing convenience, and fads. Yet, all three have nothing to do with gardening. Even less they don't take into account your specific garden and how you can enhance it to give it the WOW factor.

So here are the criteria I use to choose garden ornaments for my garden;

• Originality - The question I ask myself is, "Will someone point to my garden ornaments and say, 'Did you pick them up at Bunnings?'" Of course you can't stop the person completely devoid of any gardening acumen asking this question but most gardeners should be able to spot that it's an original piece.

  And, by 'original' I don't mean expensive one-offs that were hand-sculptured by Alexandros of Antioch.

  Originality usually means a garden ornament that you won't find in every second backyard. It needs to show that I've really thought about this ornament and it enhances my garden more with it than without it.



• Continues the story... Let me give an example here to better explain this point. One of my 'garden rooms' is planted entirely with Australian natives - correas, grevilleas, banksias etc. If I were to put a concrete garden ornament in the shape of a lion amidst my wattles this would look completely stupid. Why? Because the last time a lion was seen hiding in Australian flora was when the last one escaped from the circus.

  It goes without saying. If you have a japanese garden then use japanese garden ornaments - and I don't mean that they're made in Japan.

  Find garden ornaments that continue the story that you're trying to portray based on your landscaping features and plantings.



• Made from materials that continue the story... Not all garden ornaments are made alike. If most of your garden has been landscaped using wrought iron or rusting copper then using a concrete urn may border on the sublime.

  For the same reason, if you've landscaped a Mediterranean garden with terracotta everything, then using a sculpture constructed from aluminum or stainless steel is going to look a little out of place.

  Try using garden ornaments made from materials that fit in with their surroundings. This will make them less obvious and they won't stand out like the proverbial 'pimple on a naked bum'.

Obviously price is still an important factor and you wouldn't pay a fortune for one if it's likely to be vandalised or broken by your children. Many of our garden ornaments have been sourced for free or quite inexpensively because we've taken the time to look around or be creative.

Your garden ornaments could be the special thing that creates the WOW factor or they could let the side down and make your garden look cheap and tacky. Choose wisely.

Posted by Stuart at 4:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Jordan (aka Fred), our eldest son, turns 11 on Wednesday and already he's begun his own blog. He's a Lego freak and combined with his Star Wars obsession he's rolled the two passions into creating his own online presence.

He's so cool and I really like enjoy his posts. He's currently working on a little slideshow cartoon involving some of his Lego men. It's not finished yet but should be up on his blog very soon.

Head over to his blog Fred's Lego Creations and say hello...

Posted by Stuart at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Only one week out from autumn and our plants are already gearing up for a break. And who would blame them? They've been flowering their little heads off and deserve a well-earned rest...

Feel free to make suggestions or comment on what you've seen.

Posted by Stuart at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

• Patrick from Bifurcated Carrots (Bifurcated means forked or tongued as in what happens to a carrot when it collides with a rock as it's growing) has written a helpful post on understanding the Latin terms used for plants.


• John Curtin, the star behind Spade Work: From Plot to Plate gives some dates for those UK gardeners who want to volunteer for Thrive. Thrive are an organisation that help physically and mentally challenged people find joy in gardening and are certainly a very worthwhile cause to invest some time into.


• Concrete and Calendula's, Christa demonstrates how not to grow rosemary.


• Andrea, from California's Heavy Petal shows off a new product that might just be the answer for those wanting to grow some hydroponic plants indoors - and have too much money laying around and don't know what to do with it.


• Nelumbo from the Garden Blog (of a gal growing Southern) reviews some of the great gardening TV shows that are around at the moment. Great tips for those who are cuddled in front of the fire while the snow falls around them.


• and finally, Maggie Wang from You Grow Girl has compiled this great MS Excel spreadsheet appropriately named The lazy gardener's automatic seed starting chart. Very easy to use and she even has an option if you don't possess Excel software.

Posted by Stuart at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most gardeners don't build fences for the sake of it. There is always a reason. Some erect a barrier between neighbours, others try to block out unwanted views while some may build a fence merely as a decorative ornament. Whatever the cause, the garden fence has been as much a part of gardening as compost and earthworms.

I'm not sure how it works in other countries but in Australia the boundary garden fence is owned by both sets of neighbours. The installation, upkeep and maintenance and any legal obligations are shared by both parties. This can be good but it also has it's down sides too.

For instance, our home was the last to be built in the street so our neighbours had already erected fences around their properties. With four bordering lots we found ourselves with four different garden fences. All similar style but each one was a different colour. Then we received four bills asking for our half share for the cost of materials and installation. Nice...

Yet, while these fences have kept our home and garden private we still manage to interact with the neighbours and sustain healthy relationships with them.

But for some, this isn't always the case. The garden fence can actually become the common denominator in "neighbourhood rage".

Most councils allow home owners to remove any part of a plant or tree that oversteps its boundary and invades your garden. Which is all helpful unless you have a crotchety gardener next door abusing you when you try to prune that invasive hardenbergia.

Or, worse still the neighbours next door have no intention or desire to garden and their unkempt yard produces more seeds than Yates. It's worth checking your local council bylaws to understand your neighbourly rights on your side of the fence.

It's not all bad though. In Britain it's been reported that more than 50% of neigbours enjoy a gossip over the garden fence. Considering that our lives are becoming more reclusive and introverted this is an encouraging statistic.

Maybe we might consider building lower fences and be better neighbours in the future. But not too low just in case we see things we may not want to see.

Posted by Stuart at 4:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man is a tool-using Animal. Nowhere do you find him without tools; without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.
Thomas Carlyle - BrainyQuote

When you begin gardening as a hobby, getting all the garden tools can be insanely expensive if you're planning to buy them straight off the shelf at your local Bunnings or Home Depot. Yet there are far cheaper ways to stock your garden shed without buying brand name equipment.

Without sharing those juicy tips too early, you may want to ponder firstly what is needed. There's no use buying a trench-digger if you're never planning to dig trenches. And, a range of hoes for every possible occasion may border on overkill.

Remembering that you're on a tight budget, limiting your tool selection is a necessary evil.

But, how do you go about getting cheap, yet reliable, garden tools. Here's some tips 'n' ideas;

• Visit estate auctions - usually when a loved one dies their estate including any personal effects is handed over to an auctioneer to sell. The funds raised are then split between the legal recipients and the estate is wound up.

  Usually their personal effects are sold at severely discounted prices because there is no other market for them. Further more, they are usually good quality items because they were looked after by a previous gardener.



• Bankruptcy or closing-down auctions - unfortunately, from time to time, small hardware businesses will hit the wall - mainly because they couldn't compete with the likes of Lowes, Home Depot and Bunnings. While it may seem that you're picking the carcass off a dying animal, the realisation is that the animal is dead and the meat is going to go to waste anyway.


• Shire or Council Sales - shires and local councils often update their equipment and therefore may offload some of the gardening tools that in your opinion are fine. Keep abreast of your local newspaper and these will pop up on occasions.


• Hire some of your tools - some tools are just too expensive and you will probably only use them once or twice. Don't fork out a small fortune for them. Instead, seek out hire businesses where you can rent them for the period of time needed.


• Borrow them from friends - if you're organised enough you could create a group of friends who all pitch in and buy a share of a garden tool or you each buy a different garden tool and swap it between each other.
  

These are just a few options and I'm sure there are others. How have you resourced your gardening hobby when on a limited budget?

Posted by Stuart at 5:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Olympic Games - this insane festival of sport aimed at forcing countries into logistical nightmares and higher levels of debt - is approaching the UK for 2012. All fine if you can sit in front of the TV and watch the highlights oblivious to the destruction that was caused for your viewing pleasure.

Our governments purport environmental change; sign the Kyoto agreement and barrage those that don't; espouse the goodness of "An Inconvenient Truth" and talk up decisions to improve the world's worsening climate. Yet, when it all comes down to it - money is still the winner.

And it will win again to the detriment of some 100 year old garden allotments at Manor Garden.

See, the problem is that Manor Garden lies smack-bang in the middle of an already congested Olympic Village design. Fortunately for the designers and landscape architects it has very little effect. A few bulldozers and other earth moving equipment and the problem...well, it's no longer a problem.

Look on the bright side. After the four weeks of Olympic hysteria the allotments will be returned to their rightful owners and they can continue as if nothing happened. Albeit their 100-year old plum trees will no longer exist. The soil will be severely compacted and the micro-climate that's taken more than a century to create and maintain will no longer be present.

Apart from that there should be no problems.

According to lifeisland.org this is not where the rot will end;

The fundamental flaw in the Olympic masterplan is that it responds to the Lords of the Olympics rather than to the opportunities that the site offers as a legacy for London.. In other words, the failure of landscape planning taking the lead role to respond to the existing legacy and providing for its upgrading to the benefits of East London. The scale of the opportunity has not been realised and there is a distinct danger that it will suffer, like Sydney, with the difficulty of trying to find a legacy and the finance after the damage has been done. Few Olympic Cities have cash left after the event to invest in this. The morning after the night before is generally a depressing moment.

Money wins again. And the moment it runs out the problems will continue to fester.

Fortunately that's not my problem. London's more than 14,000km away from Busselton so it's not in my backyard. Plus, I only plan to watching the opening and closing ceremonies and a few of the basketball matches. You probably need to tell someone who cares...

Well it may be time to care?

Take some time to read what others are saying about this debacle here and here. And then go and sign the petition... [Note: You must be a British citizen to sign it]

But for those who can't sign, use your blogging voice to create a groundswell throughout the blogosphere. This hypocritical environmental destruction needs to end.

Posted by Stuart at 4:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The moment someone mentions the word "frangipani" my nostrils begin to seek that aroma as if it were a natural physical attraction. For once you've breathed in the fragrance of these flowers there's no going back - it will become indelibly stamped upon your senses.

But then for the remainder of the year the plant looks like a naked twig taking up space that could be occupied by something far more productive.

It's this love/hate relationship I have frangipani's. When it's flowering there is no competitor. When it's not you could try to hide the stems with aluminum foil and it would still gain more respect.

I'm yet to plant one in my garden for that very reason - and for the reason that most people plant them awkwardly in their gardens. I'm over the idea that they should reside next to a bed of roses or competing against a rampant plumbago. Or worse still, they protrude from their lonely position in a bed of sand (not soil) by some gardener who thought they got lucky with the "plant-of-the-century."

No folks, the frangipani needs to be grown as an architectural plant. Or, at the very last within a tropical grouping surrounded by flowering canna lillies, bromeliads or tillandsias.

In it's natural environment the frangipani grows wild in Central and South America - picture the climate! Warm tropical days where frost is never present. Frangipani would grow well in most coastal areas around Australia and the lower third of the US. If kept indoors it may even be grown quite successfully in most other parts as well.

Plumeria rubra, it's scientific name, are available as evergreens - although you rarely see them growing - as most specimens are deciduous. They can grow to nearly 8m (26ft) or more and span 3-4m(13ft), resembling a phallic sculpture during their dormant season.

Their gorgeously fragranted flowers aren't just limited to the common white with yellow centres either. They range from dusted apricots through coral pinks and even extend the palette through to dark reds which makes their desirability even greater.

How to propagate frangipani

Frangipani are one of the easiest plants to propagate and grow, which is why so many would-be-gardeners have stuck them in the ground.

During the winter months, when the plant is dormant, take a cutting about half the length of your arm and leave it in the sun to dry. When the wounded end has calloused over plant this part into a free-draining potting mix and leave in a warm, sunny spot. Come spring, the propagated frangipani shall begin to produce foliage, but may not display any flowers for the first year or two.

Where to grow frangipani

Be creative. Remembering that for most of the year it has no foliage or flowers, the stems can seem quite ugly and unattractive if planted in the wrong place.

As mentioned previously, mix them with some other flowering tropicals or palms that can accentuate their design qualities. You could even display your frangipani against a feature wall by contrasting the bare branches against a bold colour.

But, whatever you do don't just stick it in the middle or some flowering ornamentals. They look stupid.

Posted by Stuart at 4:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)

Your garden, if it's anything like mine, is a powerful source of downtime. It's a place where one can hermit-ize themselves from the outdoor world and refuel, taking time to reflect and refocus my thoughts.

There have been many times when life has countered some body blows and I've found that an hour sitting in my garden has completely altered my perspective on the situation.

And as I've reflected on what parts of the garden aid this meditative process I've since found that there are a number of design elements that work for me, and you may find work for you and your garden as well.

Before I disclose them, it might be worth mentioning that I'm not talking about zen gardens, feng shui or creating your garden as some shrine to a little known god. I'm talking more about designing a garden that helps you to stop and 'smell the roses' - so to speak - and being able to collect your thoughts in a safe refuge.

So how do you go about creating it? Here are some elements that I find work really well;

1. Shade - perhaps it's just because I'm a gloomy person that I prefer to sit in darkness. Not really. It's the dappled shade and the way a tree canopy can filter light and dynamically alter it via its movement that seems to work.


2. No visible fences - its not possible for most gardeners to remove their boundaries and cast their eyes over the rolling hills. However, it is possible to completely cover your fences with living plants so that they can't be seen. I find this is a big part of being able to reflect in your garden is to feel that there are no limitations to your refuge world.


3. Running water - in a meditative garden one of the key elements is to have the sound of water running in the background. This is why many people now include water features in their landscape. It shouldn't be a gushing waterfall but just a gentle trickle.


4. Wind chimes - now these are not my idea of a meditative element. In fact, if wind chimes were in my garden I would have throttled them with a hammer within half an hour. But, some people find them very relaxing and enjoy hearing the breeze orchestrate a small symphony in their gardens.


5. Relaxing chairs - adding some relaxation chairs such as the ever comfortable Adirondack chairs, a banana lounge or a rope hammock can really set the mood and put you in a meditative frame of mind - that is, if you don't fall asleep.


6. Add some birds to the setting - you don't have to create your own aviary to enjoy birds in your garden. Many gardeners choose to tempt the native birdlife by erecting a bird feeder or locating a bird bath for them to preen themselves in. However, their gentleness and unflustered lifestyle can be a real boost for a meditation garden.

So there are a few design elements I've known to work for me. There may be others that you find helpful as well and I'd love to hear what other elements you would put in a meditation garden.

Whatever they are the purpose of the garden is to be a mediative refuge where you can escape the hustle and bustle of the outside world and reflect on the things that are wonderful.

Posted by Stuart at 4:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Colleen from In the Garden Online has just posted a great article on 10 vegetables you can grow in the shade.

Now we all know that vegetables need sunlight to produce energy via photosynthesis. But as Colleen quite rightly points out, not all vegetables near full-sun for 24 hours (ok, I'm exaggerating!)

The list including radishes, cauliflower, broccoli and beans can all survive on less than 5 hours sun per day. So all you gardeners who have vegie patches that never see the light of day (metaphorically speaking, of course) have no excuses for tossing something in the ground and growing your own produce.

Posted by Stuart at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When you're totally consumed with a pastime you think that everyone else enjoys it just as much. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I tell people that I love to garden and find their reaction is anything but positive. In fact, many of them try to dissuade me from wasting my time or tell me horror stories about their gardening endeavours - some which haunt me in my worst nightmares.

So, I've always wondered how popular gardening is. Am I a freak of nature or is this a bona fide pastime that I need to be reassured with?

There are two ways of assessing any theory so I set out to try and justify my hobby firstly by observation.

Yesterday, we drove (annoyingly slowly - to some drivers who have no respect for Sunday drivers) around some of the homes here in Busselton. And while some are just beach houses, and many more are rental properties, there was always the odd few that appeared to show some pride in their gardening achievements.

Seeing these homes and their beautifully landscaped gardens (the ones that have obviously completed most of it themselves), I began to feel a little more comfortable knowing that I wasn't the only one who enjoyed gardening. Actually it seemed there were more than a few who also enjoyed gardening as a hobby.

Which led me on in my quest to understand the popularity of this pastime by taking it to the next level of research. Quantitative analysis. Numbers and stuff...

And who better to give a picture of this than Harris Interactive? Since 1995 they've been tracking people's leisure time and what they choose to do with it and reporting some very interesting results.

FAVORITE LEISURE-TIME ACTIVITIES

Sourced from Harris Interactive

Gardening is still one of the most popular hobbies.

Actually - according to their last study in 1994 - gardening was listed in equal 7th place alongside renting movies, walking and listening to music. In fact, more people like to garden than do the housework! You never would have guessed that one would you?

However, while I feel secure that gardening isn't a nerd hobby the results over the course of the nine years are a little alarming. Gardening is slowly losing its place in the upper echelons of pastime activities.

I'm not too worried though, as people become greener and more concerned with the environment I think this trend will be reversed and we'll start gardening more. And who wouldn't want to be gardening more than socialising with friends (placed 16th) anyway?

Posted by Stuart at 5:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our regular home garden update. Enjoy...

Posted by Stuart at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You may have noticed that there is some advertising on this blog. Or maybe you didn't?

I've been chastised about it from a few readers, some claiming they will no longer visit my blog. Its even been suggested that I donate the proceeds to charities because obviously I'm a capitalist pig who likes nothing more that to enjoy the fruits of the western world while I see others starve!!! And then, some readers have obviously found it helpful.

While I'm not the only one who allows advertising - as probably a large percentage of garden blogs nowadays offer some form - I've noticed it spreading into other areas. Namely being paid for posting certain articles.

While I can't sit on some pious dais and point any fingers for trying to earn a few quid off what you already do, I'm perplexed at some of the articles I see coming from other gardening blogs. One would expect that if you're writing a gardening blog you would intentionally talk about your garden and things pertaining to the gardening arena.

So, I'm at a loss as to why some bloggers see fit to write about payday loans, or store discount vouchers etc on a gardening blog. Surely these things have nothing to do with gardening. Or am I missing something here?

For what it's worth, I find myself automatically switching away from bloggers that seemed to have compromised their genre. What do you think? Am I just being banal?

Posted by Stuart at 6:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wash out the bottle using the same water you washed your dishes in.

1. Make a garden scoop.
This probably won't be strong enough to dig your soil but it can be used to meter out potting mix or fertiliser etc. You could make on for each medium so that they don't contaminate each other.

2. Make a plant self-watering container
There are only so many garden scoops you will need so rather than waste this bit turn it into a cheap plant self-waterer.

Put less holes in the lid if you want it to come out slowly.

Invert the bottle in your container and fill with water.

3. Make some seed trays

Mark out the bottom 1/4 to create a small seed tray.

Put some holes in the bottom for drainage, add your seed-raising potting mix (using your scoop, of course) and then sow your seeds. Leave them on the window sill to germinate.

4. Make some labels for your new plants or seed trays

There is still some scrap left over from the other projects so these can be turned into plant labels.

5. What to do with the ring seal?

This still remains and I have not idea how it could be used. Any suggestions?

Posted by Stuart at 4:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

Every child's dream is encapsulated in the imagery behind Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Dare I say it, there maybe a few of us adults who wouldn't pass up the idea either. To walk through your garden picking sugared roses, bubblegum toadstools and water your plants from the chocolate river sounds a little far-fetched, but still delicious, for even the most imaginative.

Fortunately, it is possible to have a chocolate garden that won't melt on a hot day and will still tempt you beyond your wildest dreams. And, you won't even add a scrap of cellulose to those trimmed Weight-Watcher thighs.

In fact, anyone can have a chocolate garden. All it takes is a bunch of plants and flowers with their rich chocolate hues to turn your landscape into one beautiful taste extravaganza. Here's a few to whet your tastebuds;

• Chocolate Mint
• Chocolate Delphiniums
• Chocolate Zantedeschia ('Hot Chocolate' Calla)
• Chocolate Cherry Sunflower
• Chocolate Cosmos Flower
• Phormium "Chocolate Fingers"
• Akebia Quinata Chocolate vine
• Delphinium Curiosities
• Chocolate Lily
• Chocolate Echeveria
• Ajuga Chocolate Chip Bugleweed
• Heucheria Chocolate Ruffles
• Snakeroot Eupatorium rugosm 'Chocolate'

• Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes
• Chocolate Capsicum
• Chocolate Sapote

But if you're looking for a way to pull all this together and have a complete chocolate garden you might find some inspiration from the Chocolate Flower Farm. The farm is closed during the winter but open to the public for the other three seasons.

Posted by Stuart at 4:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm a keen fan of Guerrilla Gardening and the effort these volunteer gardeners put into re-scaping their urban environments. So, when I stumbled upon this blog, Guerrila Gardening.org I was excited to see that someone was now doing this more than an ad hoc feel-good affair.

These guys are true guerrilla's: working under the cover of darkness, being supplied by supporters and groupies and spending weekends trying to create fund raising ideas to keep the cause moving.

Sporting secret identities as agents would in the cult TV series "Get Smart" these revolutionaries hail from the UK. This doesn't stop them from Guerrilla-ttacking [that's my word - I made it up but you can use it] other places in the world. Steve (007) - [I'm sure I've seen that number being used before somewhere] and Mike (054) even performed a little makeover on a recent trip to Libya.

So, if you haven't checked out this green terrorists before now head on over and support their cause...

Posted by Stuart at 4:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you've been keeping up with my blog you would have read my post on how devastating it would be if bees no longer existed. Well it seems that the chance of that ever happening may become an increasing reality.

Just recently the Washington Post reported that a mystery ailment was sweeping through bee colonies in more than 22 US states. Beekeepers are reporting losing tens of thousands of bees with some stating more than half of their hives were dying due this illness.

As if the varroa mite wasn't enough- destroying more than half the population's honey bees and devastating native bee colonies - this mystery ailment could threaten bee stocks beyond the unimaginable.

Researchers are still conducting tests with no answers bearing any light yet.

It will be interesting to see how the bee industry recovers and manages this latest upset to an already embattled market.

Posted by Stuart at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As gardeners, we're all happy to start with a blank canvas or at least a well-groomed garden. But where do you start with an overgrown garden?

Do you simply order a bulldozer or bobcat for the day and stand back? And as the dust settles reassess what's left and start again? Or, can some good come from a garden that's been neglected?

In many ways I think I would rather start with an overgrown garden that with a complete blank canvas. Sure, it takes more effort to get it back to some sense of way forward but just think of the discoveries you might make along the way.

Trees that have been strangled by rampant creepers. Shrubs that haven't flowered since Adam was a boy. And, possibly even a few bulbs springing into action now that they're not competing with an overgrown lawn.

So, where exactly should one start in revamping an overgrown garden?

• Step One - Hire a mini-skip, a mulcher and invite some friends over for a "Garden Party."

  The mini-skip is to collect any broken, rusted and derelict features and any junk that can't be recycled into the new landscape. However, don't be too hasty in getting rid of these as you may find some will work really well in your new garden. Be creative.

  The mulcher is to regenerate all your overgrown prunings into mulch, or the very least - the beginnings of a compost heap.

  And the friends: as the saying goes, "Many hands make light work." This is where your hospitality gift will shine as volunteers always love to be pampered with wonderful food and beverages. Tip: steer clear of the homebrew until the end of the day!



• Step Two - Choose a section of garden to start working on. The proverbial elephant can only be consumed by one bite at a time, so don't try and chew through all the garden at once.

  Find a corner of overgrown garden and start by ripping out anything that's climbing through the rest of the foliage. Overgrown ivy, clematis, honeysuckle - whatever is winding its way through the hidden trees and shrubs.

  If you can find the source of the creeper, even better! Prune it back to a small plant if you plan to keep it or just dig the whole rootball out and put it through the mulcher.

  Next dig out any overgrown lawn and all the weeds that constrict the garden. This should bring you back to a blank soil canvas with just the shrubs, perennials and trees left.



• Step Three - If you can now distinguish between your plants you can begin to prune them back to some semblance of shape.

  Overgrown trees can be pruned by removing any dead branches and removing any wasted boughs (those that grow directly into the neighbours fence) and those are competing for sunlight and space. Your overgrown shrubs can be pruned back fairly hard to allow new growth to start and any perennials that are left can be dressed up and pruned as needed.



• Step Four - Now it's time to start planning and organising your garden. Did you find any incredible plants that you didn't know even existed in the overgrown bushes?

  The advantage of getting to this point rather than starting with a blank canvas is that you end up with all this great mulch and a selection of plants to start building your new garden around. You can now begin to transplant some the plants you want to keep and begin filling them out over time.

  If you find some trees that you don't like, or they won't work in your new garden, try listing them in the classifieds or online. Many gardeners are willing to pay a small fortune for hard-to-get mature trees and palms.



• Step Five - All the major revamp is completed so it's time to crack open the homebrew, wipe the sweat off your brow and start dreaming.

  What started as an overgrown mess is now ready to be painted will colour and texture.

One of the benefits of renovating an overgrown garden, especially from an investment viewpoint, is that most people are not willing to pay a premium for a rampant garden. They will, however, part with more if that garden is converted back to something of beauty.

Take a second look at that overgrown garden. It might actually be worth the effort.

Posted by Stuart at 5:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If there is one thing that screams "I'm old" in the garden it's the addition of lichens. Growing on walls, tree trunks and even along paths, lichen moss can age a garden quite dramatically regardless of its true measure.

What are lichens?

Lichens are a type of fungi that survive on air rather than being a parasite of their host. In fact, if lichens are growing in your garden it's a good sign that the air quality of their environment is good.

Lichens don't grow roots and they have no need to contain reservoirs of water. They just willing spread themselves across their host and wait for moisture to present itself. And they won't hurt their host either. Most lichens just attach themselves and then continue to grow.

Removing Lichens

Some gardeners can't tolerate lichens growing in their gardens and will treat these mosses with fungicides and sprays attempting to rid them. However, the best way to remove lichen from a tree or a wall is to use a light scrubbing bush and warm water.

If you are growing ornamental trees for their bark you may find that the lichen detracts from this feature so removing it might be the best option.

How to grow Lichens

For those of us who appreciate lichens and relish the idea of being able to make our gardens look older than they are, growing lichens is quite easy. Firstly, make sure the location of your desired lichens is not in full sun. Most lichens appreciate, or at least tolerate, dappled shade but rarely do they survive in full sun unless its a really cold climate.

Second, paint the area you wish to have lichen growing with a liquid seaweed fertilizer. Another option is to use a spray bottle and mix equal parts yoghurt and water. Then spray the area quite liberally.

If this doesn't work immediately, repeat the procedure until it does.

Summer is probably the only season which is not suitable for trying this process but the other nine months are quite accommodating.

Types of Lichen Moss - Source: Wikipedia

• Crustose - these lichen resemble dobs of paint an remain quite flat against their host.


• Filamentose - as the name suggests these lichen are more hair-like resembling filaments


• Foliose - these leafy lichens are more prone to growing on tree trunks in shaded areas.


• Fruticose - resembling deer antlers this form of lichen is very showy and detailed.


• Leprose - if you've ever seen pictures of a lepar you will understand the naming of this lichen. Randomly spotty it almost looks insidiously contagious.


• Squamulose - a rarer form of lichen this one looks like it has scales

Growing lichens in your garden can have a positive effect predominantly aging it and adding another level of interest for your visitors. They're also a cheap gauge for what the air quality is like in your backyard.

Posted by Stuart at 3:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Could this be the best answer to creating a renewable energy source? Quite possibly.

Forget de-salination plants, tapping underground aquifers or recycling human effluent. There may be an invention that is soon to hit the world that is capable of producing more water than we could ever require from a source that's as close as walking outside your comfortable home.

Max Whisson, a Perth inventor, may have created the answer to our water shortage problems. His "Whisson windmill", as it's colloquially tagged, is still residing behind a 'commercial in confidence' venture but it seems it's gaining in public momentum as the idea slowly catches on.

The invention is part wind turbine and part refrigeration which cools and condenses the air until water is extracted. But it doesn't require vast wind speeds to generate water. In fact;

It can get water in wind as light as 2km/h. - Sunday Times 11/02/2007

The most exciting part of this planned technology is that while wind farms have sprung up around the nation consuming vast areas of land, these windmills may be efficient enough to reside in your own backyard. A small unit can produce 6000 litres per day, far more than the average household uses.

Another exciting point to mention is hot air holds more water than cold. Therefore, in the months when we use the most water there is more available.

And just when you thought this invention couldn't get any better consider that it also produces its own energy to extract the wind's water.

You can read more about this amazing invention here or here.

The downside of Max's windmill is that the WA Government is still not willing to bring it to the table while interest has been generated from the US, Russia and the Middle East. Instead, our state government is too busy trying to tap into our local aquifer to resource Perth's water needs.

Posted by Stuart at 4:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Week 6's instalment. Enjoy.

Posted by Stuart at 6:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Enter a new dimension in plant technology...

As if splitting genes, altering plant DNA and modifying plant structures weren't enough, the horticulture industry seems poised to take another leap forward - or is that backwards? Hard to know these days. We'll go with the assumption that 'new' is good.

Jane Berger from GardenDesignOnline identifies what the future for plants may hold.

The technology that's pioneering the paradigm shift comes via The Consortium for the Barcode of Life(pdf) who have as their mandate the desire to categorize every living thing.

The idea is that possibly, in the future, plants might be barcoded allowing anyone to correctly reference what plant it is.

My only query with where this is going is what part of the plant will be barcoded? If it's the leaves, what happens if the one that drops off is the barcoded one? Or, if all leaves are barcoded, what would occur if new ones grew without barcoding? And, if it were to be placed on the trunk, what happens to the barcode as the tree expands?

Interesting idea. While it may be helpful, I'm really keen to see how this would become a workable solution for identifying plants.

Posted by Stuart at 5:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is now a good time? Should I wait a few more weeks? Is it better in spring or autumn? What fertilizers should I use? These are the myriad of questions that come up when people discover you're a gardener.

When to fertilize is one of the most important questions to ask when you're first setting out into the gardening frontier. The answer, however, can only be given when it's been put in context. I want to fertilize ...my lawn, ...my roses, ...my blueberry shrubs, or ....my tropical orchids.

The key to knowing when to fertilize your plants and/or garden is at least understanding the growing cycle of plants. [Disclaimer: To those who haven't already guessed I'm no horticulturalist, so I can't - even if I wanted to - use big horticultural words. I have opted for more common terms and I hope that helps] First the plant goes through a growth stage. It starts as a seed or cutting and begins to grow. As it grows it transitions through to the fruiting stage where it produces something: either fruit, a flower or a seed pod. At the end of the fruiting stage it either dies (as in the case of annuals) or it goes into the dormant stage.

That's basically it. Each stage has its own requirements and they need certain chemical elements to aid their particular phase.

1. Growth Stage - When plants grow they require more nitrogen and phosphorous. Nitrogen encourages leafy growth and helps plants grow their stems and branches. It is used up readily and usually won't remain in the soil longer than 12months. On the other hand, phosphorous is needed for seed germination and root development. This chemical will remain in the soil for up to 3 years.


2. Fruiting Stage - As a plant enters the fruiting stage it seeks out a generous dose of potassium. Potassium is needed because it helps plants produce fruit and flowers and aids resistance to disease and pests.


3. Dormant Stage - The dormant stage literally means the plants become 'dormant'. They go into hibernation much like a winterized bear. Therefore, they don't require much in the way of fertilizing.

So the question really shouldn't be, Is spring or autumn the best time to fertilize? It should be, What stage is this particular plant in and what will it need?

For example, most bulbs flower in spring but begin growing in late autumn and early winter. Roses on the other hand are dormant for most of winter and begin growing in spring to flower later in that season or in early summer. Both bulbs and roses need different fertilizers at different times.

So while most TV shows, especially the adverts of large garden stores, promote a general all-purpose fertilizer these are predominantly useless. What's the point of plowing nitrogen-rich fertilizer into the soil at the start of a plants dormant period? By the time plant needs it, most of the fertilizer will have leached away.

When to fertilize your lawn

I have already answered the question of when to fertilize lawn on my other blog. In a nutshell, it follows the same conventions as discussed previously.

Nitrogen and phosphorous at the start of spring (it's growth stage). Potassium in summer for resiliency - not for seed production. More phosphorous in autumn and winter in the form of a slow-release fertilizer.

Posted by Stuart at 4:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Peter from Backyard Organic Farming has recently started cultivating dragon fruit cactus - you know, the fruit that Andrea thought mirrored David Bowie's hairstyle.

These tree-like cacti, Hylocereus undatus, produce the most amazing fruit commonly referred to as dragon fruit. Admittedly, I have never tasted one but they are touted as the new fruit of the gods - maybe the gods were getting bored with sapotes and could no longer endure the smell of durian!

Greenhouse Girl has a great wrap-up post on how to grow these awesome fruit trees. They can even be propagated from seed!

Posted by Stuart at 5:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

If you have ever kept pets, especially your kid's pets, you will know they are notorious for dying. The cat gets hit by a truck. Your dog swallowed some snail pellets. Or, you forgot to feed the budgie.

Yet, a little while after the sobbing has subsided they perk up and longingly request "Can we give Rusty a burial?" Sure!

So you find an out of the way plot of ground - hopefully not in the vegie garden - and begin your inter ritual. You lay your pet dog or cat into the shallow grave, say a few prayers and then begin covering the sad corpse.

Then it's off to the shed to build a small wooden cross, giving it a quick coat off paint. The kids write Rusty's name on the crosspiece and then it's hammered into the head of the grave plot. Some flowers are hastily picked and the burial site becomes a shrine for the first week or two.

Then a thought pops into your head...'Is it legal to bury pets in your garden?'

Rest assured that in most cases its fine. Most council bylaws permit home owners to bury their pet cat or dog in the garden provided that the pet didn't die from some serious disease that could cause it to become hazardous waste. If that's the case you can pay for your pet to be cremated and then scatter the ashes throughout you garden or at least under your favourite tree.

We've buried a few pets in our time: budgerigars, rabbits, hermit crabs, guinea pigs, goldfish and even the odd dog or two [I wouldn't even mind burying a couple of the neighbour's cats at the moment]. Each one was given their own burial plot and painted cross.

It's quite nostalgic, almost sacred, walking through a garden where the family pet/s have been interred. You stop and pause, reflecting on the memories that were made. This is especially true for kids who having grown up will want to visit these spots and rekindle their childhood sentiments.

So, while it might be cheaper and more convenient to leave your dying pet in the hands of a vet there is no substitute for having your pet's funeral and subsequent burial in your own backyard.

Posted by Stuart at 4:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)

I HATE SPAMMERS!!

Was that loud enough? Did anyone miss the emotion and context that was emanating from my inner spoilt child?

Yesterday, as I was looking for inspiration through Technorati's list of gardening blogs I came across this list of spammy sites that Technorati has been cataloging.

Then I'm scrolling through my del.icio.us RSS feed looking for a morsel to inspire my posts this morning and it seems that fireballxl5 feels the need to bookmark every item they read in multiples of 50. So rather than read some good articles and posts I'm restricted to what fireballxl5 thinks is important - PUNK!!

Not to mention the constant barrage of promiscuous Trackbacks that await me each morning or the comments from Texas Hold-em Poker as he shares what an interesting site I have.

I know I'm not the only one who has to suffer through these juvenile delinquents but I just want to know, WHY? Why are you a menace to society fireballxl5? Why don't you contribute rather than be a nuisance to all and sundry?

Enough ranting... I might go and garden and let off some steam instead. I pity the poor shrub that needs pruning today!

Posted by Stuart at 4:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Bamboo has always had a bad rap from gardeners primarily because many home owners have planted invasive varieties. It would often be found clogging the whole side of someone's backyard as the owner viciously attacked it year after year trying to keep it under control.

So many gardeners have just walked away from it after hearing years of horror stories that it's never a consideration when buying new plants. And justifiably so. Most gardeners would view bamboo in the same way as pampas grass.

But, even though Yahoo! Answers are constantly sporting questions from concerned gardeners about how to keep a rein on their bamboo groves doesn't mean that things haven't changed.

Yet they have. Invasive varieties are being sold more rarely these days as clumping versions become the new trend in bamboo growing. These cooler climate varieties sourced from the high altitudes of the Himalayas and South America are suitable for most gardens - even small gardens.

The difference between a clumping bamboo and an invasive variety is that the clumping variety will not send up shoots outside of it's root ball while an invasive variety will. In fact, an invasive bamboo can send shoots out as far as the neighbours yard and continue growing from there.

So which varieties of bamboo can you grow without losing your garden?

Paul Whittaker, from PW Plants in Norfolk, is probably the most informative expert on the subject. He has won gold at Chelsea with his bamboo displays and has even written a book on the subject, demystifying the art of growing bamboo.

Best Clumping Bamboo Varieties

Whittaker recommends three different species of bamboo for the home garden;

1. Fargesia - a variety that hails from the highlands of China with colourful canes (great as a piece of art) and fine foliage.


2. Chusquea - this variety grows natively in the Chilean Andes. They are usually fast growing and prefer a cooler climate and high rainfall.


3. Thamnocalamus - this beauty resides in the Himalayas and prefers a cooler clime. It does better without sun and likes a sheltered position.

Most of the clumping bamboos grow much smaller than their invasive counterparts as well. These three types will usually grow no more than 4m (13ft) with a spread of around 2m (5ft). This is a bonus for home gardeners who want to add the diversity of bamboo but don't have the room to contain a large species.

Does this spell the end of seeing invasive varieties stocked in nurseries?

Not necessarily. Whittaker quite rightly points out that their are still uses for these fast growing types. If you need to quickly grow a windbreak or retain a sloping backyard, a spreading bamboo would be a very suitable choice. The problems occur when gardeners don't understand the roles these different varieties play and ignorantly plant an aggressive type.

What if you already have an aggressive bamboo species in your garden?

Don't despair. These can still be grown effectively without ongoing problems. The key to growing a spreading bamboo is 'containment'.

If the bamboo has currently spread further than you would like then you will need to start digging it up in the areas where it shouldn't be growing. Then, create a ring around the bamboo clump using a thick plastic (minimum 1-2mm) or some galvanized sheeting. Make sure this ring is set at a depth of 40cm (15 in) and is level with the ground. This will ensure that the bamboo can't spread outside of this area.

You may have shoots return from areas where you originally cut it back. These will just need to be vigilantly removed until they stop appearing but the clump should now be safe to remain where it is.

Link

Posted by Stuart at 3:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As if gardeners aren't true romantics at heart!

Sure, we're not suckered into all the commercialism of another day for the sake of buying gifts. But, we do want to show our true love that our feelings for them have not changed - perhaps they've grown even stronger. Sappy, isn't it?

Regardless, the rose which is most often a young man's gift of choice (who lacks imagination) as he tries to woo his endeared, comes straight from the garden - or at least it should.

But the days of unimaginative gifts are over and it's time to replace the rose with something a little more...contemporary.

Try these ideas for Valetine's Day;

• A potted Yellow Gerbera Nothing says I love you more than a yellow gerbera. Trust me on this! It's happy, vibrant, ostentatious and deliriously attractive. Guys, if you want to win your true-loves heart then leave the rose at the florists and head down to the nursery to pick one of these ideas up.


• Flowery Lingerie If you're like me you wouldn't be seen dead in a lingerie shop. But, I have found another alternative, and I'm not talking online. Gift Vouchers. Phone the store ahead of time and tell them the details of what you're looking for and how much you want to pay and they'll organise it for you to swiftly pick it up at the counter.


• Patent a hand-reared plant specimen This Valentine's idea is going to knock her socks off. Discovering a plant is an incredible feat and one of the privileges of doing this is naming it. And, who better to name it after than your true-love? Sure it will take a little while to successfully invent but you've had all year!!! Do you really love this woman?


• Lavender Oil Scents It's no difficult task to purchase a bottle of lavender oil essence these days but if you truly want to impress your sweetheart this Valentines then try making your own. Steam is supposedly the best way to extract the oil but what if you took to crushing it with your manly brute strength. As if that's not going to impress?


• Take her for a walk down a garden path It's cheap. It's effective. And, it says 'I Love You' more than pound-gaining chocolates. What's more, it will keep her in shape. (Tip: Don't discard the FREE ideas).

There's enough Valentines ideas to get you started. If none of these seem appropriate then just stick to the cliche roses and chocolates. They've worked before, I'm sure they can work again!

Posted by Stuart at 4:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

For all you hard-core vegetable growers who are already pouring through seed catalogs, salivating at the thought of harvesting in spring, I have found a great online planner for you.

Plangarden is an online program that can help you organise your vegetable garden plots from the time of seeding right through harvesting. It's drag and drop functionality allows you to plan your garden plot to scale (great for allotment gardeners) and then add the vegetables that you wish to sow or transplant.

Plangarden also offer the option of making your designs available to others by providing a Cut & Paste URL that you can either add to a blog, a forum signature or include within your email stationery.

After having a quick look around the site, here's my review;

Advantages of Plangarden

1. The ability to drag and drop different size, and shape, garden plots. It is only limited to 5ha of gardening space so most home gardeners and allotmenteers will be well catered for.


2. Cheap. It only costs US$20 per annual subscription. (It might be interesting if Plangarden were to add a long term subscription option)


3. Ability to record your successes and failures and look back over this history in future years


4. URL for sharing with friends or as a blog experiment

Disadvantages of Plangarden

1. US-Based. For the other 95% of the world's population that doesn't reside in America this will have limited benefit to you. The Harvesting and Best-time to Plant features are all related to US climate and hardiness zones based on your postcode.


2. The range of vegetables is limited to the very basics. What no bok-choi?

Although it has some major disadvantages for those outside the US, it can still be a helpful guide to planting and harvesting times. I would certainly recommend that this program would be well-suited to most home vegetable gardeners.

Source: eMediaWire

Disclaimer: This is not a paid for infomercial otherwise you would see the abbreviation (aff.) after the companies name. I stumbled across this and thought that readers may find this a very useful tool to aid their vegetable gardening.

Posted by Stuart at 4:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My apologies for missing the last installment of our Weekly Garden Update. Life became a little hectic last week.

Anyway the show must go on...

If you have any suggestions or you would like me to show you particular parts of our home garden, please mention them in the comments section.

Posted by Stuart at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Many gardeners are finding it an attractive option to monitor the weather these days. But the seeming plethora of options can sometimes be confusing so I have compiled a review of some of the more popular types.

Lacrosse Wireless Weather Station

Lacrosse are synonymous with quality weather stations whether they're measuring the humidity within your house or your backyard temperature. The beauty of this wireless weather station is that the monitor can be kept indoors while the wireless receiver is placed on your patio or a sheltered outdoors position.

With most wireless weather stations the receiver is a 'dumb' receptor while this model shows the temperature and humidity. Not only will the indoor unit measure outside metrics it will constantly measure the indoor temp and humidity as well.

The Lacrosse WS-9118U is a quality piece of instrumentation but available for a middle of the road price.

Oregon Weather Station

Oregon Scientific are another quality manufacturer of home weather stations. They're not only known for weather stations but also professional weather forecasters and a load of other weather digital instrumentation.

This model weather station is for those looking for something a little simpler, and cheaper. The THT312 is a smaller model, accurate enough to gauge the outdoor temperature of your backyard but without requiring any special handling or installation.

This is the ideal solution for many home gardeners who just want a quick reference check of the current outdoor temperature.

Taylor Weather Station

Not as well-known as the other two manufacturers, Taylor Precision Instruments have been in business for more than 150 years so they know a little when it comes to weather stations.

The 1456 model is a half-way between the other two. It still doesn't offer a humidity measurement but it does offer both indoor and outdoor temperature measurements. This is beneficial for gardeners who grow indoor plants and want to know whether they require more watering or cooling off.

It comes with a wireless receiver that can be placed outdoors.

So there you have it. Three different weather stations with different options and all priced accordingly. Now it's up to your choice of which one will perform best for your situation.

If none of these options are suitable you could always try and make your own weather station.

Posted by Stuart at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the early days of starting this gardening 'obsession', trees were merely a necessary evil but certainly not to be desired. That is until it became clear that all great gardens had them in abundance.

Most of our neighbours have cleared out their trees and their stark backyards scream for shade every summer. So, rather than spend the warmer months lazing under a shady bough they're inside their houses creating more ozone gasses with their reverse-cycle airconditioners. Aaarghh!

As a rehabilitated Tree hugger I can't find enough trees to sate my incessant hunger for these amazing plants. The more I grow - the more I want!

So how does one go from a point of apathy to complete overindulgence? A: Hang with the Ench!

Here's some pointers for those who may consider planting a tree or two in their garden:

• Deciduous or Evergreen? Telling others that you have a deciduous tree sounds so arboresque doesn't it? That is until you realise that it just means it loses it's leaves in autumn (or Fall) and makes a big mess of your lawn.

  Evergreens do exactly as their name suggest - they remain evergreen. Their leaves stay on the tree all year round and not a lot happens to them. Deciduous trees, on the other hand, are art on a stick. Their leaves change colour during autumn and finally succumb to gravity during winter. Their sculptured torsos silhouette perfectly against a grey winter's sky and before you know it they're budding again and ready to shade your garden from the summer heat.



• Tall or Small? The first thing to consider when planting a tree is how big is it going to grow. There's no use planting a Norfolk Pine on a 400sq.m block and it would look rather sublime using a Weeping Mulberry as your only tree on a couple of hectares.

  The height of your tree should be in proportion to your garden and all the other things that make your plantings work.
  



• Decorative Bark? Apart from leaves the next thing you notice about many trees is the bark that clothes them. Depending on how you plan to use a tree in your garden will help you decide whether the look of its bark is important. If most of the tree is hidden by large shrubs or landscape features then finding a nice-looking bark will be a waste of time.

  However, if the tree is either deciduous or is likely to be a feature then choosing a nice bark will be a paramount decision.

  Trees with nicely featured bark: Birches, Plane Trees and Eucalypts.



• Water Friendly? Some trees like willows and poplars are heavy drinkers and enjoy residing next to watercourses. Using these in a xeriscape garden would be completely inappropriate.

  Whereas, eucalypts and baobab trees are able to store water resources efficiently and use them during dry spells.



• Fruit or Ornamental? Do you want to plant a tree that provides a crop of abundant fruit each year or would you like one that has all the trimmings (flowers, shape and weeping habit) but no mess?

  Most fruit trees take at least 5 - 7 years before providing a decent harvest worthy of bragging rights. And, as most people are tending to move every 5 years or so it's less likely that you will reap the bounty of your efforts. So, deciding on whether a fruit tree or an ornamental is best in your backyard may come down to your long term plans.



• Clean or Messy? Trees don't have to be fruit bearing or deciduous to be messy. Our peppermint trees neither fruit nor drop their leaves in autumn but the parrots love the small nuts that grow year round. They nip them off and before long our backyard is literally covered in brown stems of leaf material.

  If you're looking for easily maintained and clean trees opt for conifers or palms.

The trend these days is to remove trees from our gardens in order to make way for more landscaping and outdoor furniture. However, trees can co-exist in these habitats and it merely takes a little planning and thoughtful consideration to find one (or two) to adorn your yard.

Posted by Stuart at 4:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I only have to walk up the drive to agree with Kim's sentiments that gardeners are artists. A tapestry of colour, shapes and heights appear as you let yourself become engrossed with my interpretation of a garden.

It's probably the aspect of gardening that I enjoy the most. What's more, the canvas changes with each season and more dramatically with each year that passes by.

Gardeners make plantings that are more interesting, more beautiful, more understandable, more mysterious, Therefore, they are artists. -- Kim

A gardener, by design, is someone who takes segments of nature and combines them into a seamless package of aesthetic delight that's completely individual. What I choose to do with a single plant may be entirely different to my neighbour's use of the same flora.

Gardens never actually become boring because they exude a rare insight into each gardener - in much the same way a painting reveals the painter. Our gardens (shall we call them 'canvases'?) evolve as we become inspired with landscape form, plant colours and textures, shapes and even movement.

I have to agree with you Kim - gardeners are artists!

Posted by Stuart at 4:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you can't bear to be away from your garden for too long the solution is to carry it around with you.

Tokyo Microbe have created micro-gardens (individual plants, if the truth be told) that are supported within a gel-like substance. Apparently, these plants can continue growing for up to 8 months with minimal sunlight exposure.

Step aside Pikachu and Pokemon's here's the new gotta-have bling.

Link via Link

Posted by Stuart at 4:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The guys from Self Sufficient-ish have written an excellent resource showing 51 Organic Ways To Get Rid Of Slugs [since moved]. Who would have thought that two bricks could become an organic killing machine?

Here are some of my favourites;

2. (a pretty micarbe one) - collect loads and stick them in a blender then paint around the area that they are in with juice, its like vlad the impalier they don't like sensing death of their own kind.

7. Chuck 'em over the fence into the neighbour's garden (No I never!)

9. Roll 'em up in puff pastry, bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes and tell the (guests, kids, vicar etc.) that they are party sausage rolls

19. Microwave them. (please note you will need to clean your microwave afterwards)

26. Learn to love them. Understand that in the eternal cycle of life, in the endless continuum of existence, they are no less significant (or hungry) than you and I, and no less deserving of love. Embrace them. Touch nirvana together.

and finally,

32. Photograph your slugs, so that they can give up garden grazing and jet off to become international models

Great tips!

Posted by Stuart at 4:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Apart from health, happiness and world peace what gift could you actually buy for a gardener that would make their day - maybe even their year!

I'm writing this post in preparation for my birthday (which is mid-year, but I wanted to get in early) just in case my family does read this as they say they do.

So what do gardeners want? Will the $2 swinging frog ornament that you bought at Bunnings really cut it or will it find it's way to the next Trash 'n' Treasure?

If you really want to impress someone with a gardening gift then you need to understand one thing - we're all individuals, just like our gardens. No one present will cut the mustard with everyone just because they claim to be a gardener.

Observing how gardeners like to work their gardens, what they do and even what sorts of things they desire are good prompts for choosing a gardening gift that will excite.

But what can you buy a gardener that they don't already have? Apart from MORE OF THE SAME here's a list of ideas to get your creative juices flowing;

Gardening Gift Options

1. Gardening Books It doesn't always have to be the latest bestseller either - although that's a good place to start. Many gardeners are always keen to find resources that may have been published decades, maybe even centuries ago. Second-hand book stores can harbour a wealth of great gardening literature.


2. Garden Tools Is there a limit to how many pairs of secateurs one gardener can have? I think not. However, secateurs are like the no-brainer gardening gift and show that you haven't really considered the person you're buying for. There are so many good gardening tools available these days that you would be hard-pressed to find one that your gardening friend wouldn't relish.


3. Bulbs and Seeds I quite often get these gardening gifts and I love them. Especially if they're hard to find seeds or expensive bulbs [Note the emphasis on expensive - cheap tacky daffodils I can buy myself]. You need to be careful buying these for a gardener because they may be something that they would rather digest after a hangover than plant in their garden. Being observant is the key.


4. Ornaments Now here's a really tricky gardening gift. Buy the wrong ornament and you may find it on the side of the kerb waiting for the next garbage collection. If there is one area where gardeners shine as individuals it is in the area of ornaments.

   Me, I'd rather you didn't buy me an ornament - unless you're going to spend a small fortune on it and I've already told you that I would bust heaven and hell to get hold of it.

   The sad thing is that most gardening stores push these as a great garden gift but in reality most gardeners could do without them.



5. Gardening Software These days many gardeners are opting to play around with some software that aids in designing and planning their garden. The only consideration when buying your gardening friend this gift is whether they are computer literate and would enjoy using it.


6. Pots and Planters These can also make great gifts but don't assume that the ones Bunnings or Home Depot are pushing are going to be great in your friend's garden. Don't make the mistake of buying the gardener in your life a glazed Malay pot if everything else in their garden is terracotta. Complementary is the key here.

Well...that should get you started. Just remember some basic rules; observe your gardening friend and see what their likes and dislikes are. Just because it's on special doesn't mean it's good. And, when in doubt try some leading questions with your friend to see if they might shed some more light on your gift selection - before you buy it.

Posted by Stuart at 4:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)