Knowing how to plant vegetable seeds is one of the first lessons a newbie gardener should have. Whether the seeds are for vegetable or flower production there are some processes that help maximise your success and help you achieve incredible results.

Most people have had some experience with seeds even before they start planting them in their own gardens. Science lessons at school often incorporate some activity that involves raising seeds and usually includes a piece of cotton wool, a plate and a sunlit ledge. And here are the very basics: seeds need a growing medium, sunlight and moisture - with a little bit of nutrient thrown in to help them grow their best.

If a gardener wants to grow their own vegetables, where should they start? The obvious place is with the seeds themself.

Difference between organic and non-organic seeds

If you want to give your vegetable garden the very best start then opting for organic vegetable seeds over non-organic is certainly a great beginning. Organic seed, the type that's been certified by a neutral body according to stringent standards, offers the gardener some guarantees that the seed will produce and reproduce as expected.

In some cases, non-organic seeds can be sterile, contain GMO's, or just have low germination rates. Their origins may be hard to determine and you can never guarantee that they will produce as expected.

If a seed packet claims to be "organic" take the time to ensure that it carries a certification logo and is listed as an organic product on the standards list.

You can check these out here;

• Australia - Australia Certified Organic


• Canada - Canadian Organic Growers


• UK - The Soil Association this site doesn't offer a directory of seed producers but hosts a great deal of very useful information for UK residents


• USA - Agricultural Marketing Service this site, like the UK option, doesn't offer a directory of seed producers but has some very helpful organic information.

Direct sowing vegetable seeds vs seed-raising

Now that you have your organic vegetable seeds, the idea is to get them planted and growing. However, should you plant them directly in the soil or raise them in seedling trays?

The only reason you wouldn't plant seeds directly in the soil is due to the current season and warmth of the soil. Raising seeds in seedling trays give you the option to pre-grow your seeds ready for the seasonal change. It means you can give your seeds a head-start before the soil begins to warm.

Many vegetable seeds such as tomatoes, capsicums (peppers), eggplant, lettuces, cabbages, and even alliums (onions, leeks etc) can be started this way.

How do you plant vegetable seeds directly into the soil?

Planting seeds directly into the soil is a very easy process and once your soil has been prepared and ready to accept the seeds, it's quite simply to get them in and growing. Here's some steps to get them started;

1. Create the drill or holes - seeds such as carrots, parsnips and lettuces are best grown in drills. A drill can be created simply by placing a hoe handle in the soil and pushing down to create an indent deep enough to accomodate the seeds. Others, like beans or garlic cloves, require a hole to be placed in the soil where each of the seeds can be placed.
2. Mix the seed with some dry river sand in a glass jar - this is a great tip for sowing vegetable seeds. Half fill a small glass jar with river sand and then add the seeds. Shake until the two are mixed together well and then drill a hole in the lid. Then this can be poured out along the drill to give an even distribution of seed and means than you don't have to waste as much when it comes to thinning them out.
3. Fill the drill or hole - once the drill is filled with the seeds use two fingers to run along the side of the drill forcing the soil to cover the seeds without disturbing them. In the case of seeds planted inside a hole these can just simply be covered with soil.
4. Apply some bonemeal fertiliser - be generous in your application of some blood 'n bone (bonemeal) as this will offer many of the nutrients needed for these seeds as they start their life.
5. Water well - once the seeds are in and fertilised they can be watered in to give them a good start and the moisture they require.

Once the seeds begin to germinate and grow

Now that your vegetable seeds have successfully germinated the focus turns its attention on keeping these plants growing well and eventually producing bountiful yields.

There are many factors that will try to stop you achieving this namely pests, lack of nutrient, care and moisture. To get the most out of your vegetable seeds you will need to continually care for them. They will need regular feedings of fertiliser (preferably a foliar spray every 2-4 weeks), daily watering and the occasional spray of an organic pesticide.

And there you have it, now you know the basics of planting vegetable seeds.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

It seems that Scotts Miracle-Gro has finally made the foray into the social community. They've begun popping up on Facebook and just recently entered the Twitter-sphere using the Miracle-Gro brand name. Which makes you wonder, is Scotts really looking for friends?

Curiosity got the better of me as to who would follow a company that most organic gardeners would rather fell than follow. Surely it was just backyard gardeners, those who thought compost came in a can and fertilisers were always chemical compounds. Instead the list of who's who includes;

• Eric Rochow
• Joe Lamp'l - from Joe Gardener®
• and even Marie Iannotti - from About Gardening

Their Facebook profile doesn't seem to offer that many key names - unless you're including Scott's employees, of course.

So, the question is what are they doing here? And what are they hoping to achieve?

Well, their strategy seems simple enough at present. They Retweet other bloggers good Tweets, offer some helpful links and appear to be palling up with some key Twits. But this all seems like it's going to end in tears, from a cynical viewpoint that is.

How does Following them in a social capacity affect these companies? Basically, it gives them 'street cred'. If Joe, or Marie or even Eric are showing their support then newbie gardeners are more likely to get on board and be influenced by their communication messages.

It works the same as getting Tiger Woods to show off your golf clubs. He may never use them, not even on a Putt-Putt course, but if he's been seen with them then fellow golfers are going to think more highly of your product.

If the goal is to help newbie gardeners think more organically than reaching for a powder or chemical solution, then why are these guys helping their social credibility. What's next? Are we all going to follow @Monsanto as well?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (12)

They're the gardens that don't grow on trees but they do grow on walls. We're talking, of course, about the emerging shape of vertical gardens.

Vertical gardens are certainly growing in popularity with more and more gardeners willing to experiment with spaces that were only ever furnished with creepers and climbers. They have become the inspiration for gardeners to think laterally - or at least, vertically.

While this new frontier has predominantly been the domain of outdoor gardens it beckons trials for gardeners to take this concept indoors. And, why not? Many of the plants that have proved their worth in outdoor situations - plants like succulents, ferns and epiphytics - are likely to perform equally as well indoors.

The reason is simple: most vertical gardens don't grow on walls that are drenched in sunlight. If they were, many of the plants would suffer so instead they are often kept in the dark - or with very minimal sunshine.

However, the obvious issue with bringing a vertical garden indoors is that gravity has a nasty habit of doing something awkward with the liquid nutrients. In most indoor plant containers, gardeners catch the runoff with a drip plate but with vertical gardens the idea requires a very LARGE drip-tray.

Essentially this is what is needed. But, to take it one step further, the drip tray has two other issues to contend with. Firstly, it needs to remain out of view. Hiding this practical component is aesthetically desirable but creates other problems because the only place to hide it is behind the wall.

Which brings us to the second issue - removing the liquid once it has been spent. The best option, and by far the most aesthetically pleasing, is to re-cycle the nutrient back through the vertical garden. This can be achieved either through pumps or gravity fed suction and makes the whole project more manageable and less intensive.

Another point worth considering if you plan to introduce an indoor vertical garden into your living room is the issue of moisture. Keeping constant liquid running down the inside of your walls can only produce one thing - mold. So it pays to prepare the wall well with a mold-resistant paint or covering.

Once you've taken all the precautions there's no reason to start working on your indoor project and as wall gardens go, vertical gardens are such a delight.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

We have now finished the final year of a three-year trial period of daylight savings. At three public referendums that have happened every decade since the 1970's the 'NO' vote has always prevailed - but only ever by a slim margin. So our government, in its wisdom, decided that we needed to 'experience' daylight savings for ourselves and legislated a three year trial period that finally ended on Sunday.

I say finally because for us 'NO' is definitely on the agenda. We HATE daylight savings.

It's not that we're against daylight savings per se, but for our state it makes no sense at all. Western Australia is so wide that for us living on the far west coast already enjoy extended daylight hours - naturally. Residents living on the eastern border, however, have only to cross the state divide and be forced to wind their clocks forward.

During the height of summer, sunset does not occur until about 9:30pm (with daylight savings in effect) and we usually don't see it rise until about 7am. Without DS we already enjoy longer days because naturally the sun doesn't go down until 8:30pm.

This is ludicrous especially for those like me who prefer to enjoy their pastimes in the early hours of the morning. Plus, our kids struggle to get the sleep they need because "it's still light outside".

My garden suffers due to daylight savings. It's not that the plants are affected in any way, shape or form but my gardening schedule is thrown out of kilter. Watering, which could normally be done at 6pm in summer, has to wait until 7pm but by then all the kids are having their showers and it actually doesn't happen until 8pm. By then I'm too knackered because the day has been extended that all I feel like doing is sitting down and quenching the heat with a cold beer.

Now, we're not talking about 'curtains that fade' or 'milking cows becoming disorientated', we're just OVER daylight savings. It doesn't fit our state and on May 16 I'm hoping that voters will bury this issue once and for all.

A recent TV poll - not that you can take these too seriously, but it was interesting anyway - had the NO vote out at 80% ahead of the YES option carrying the remainder 20%. And while our politicians would have us believe that the public is equally divided I can vouch from the people that I associate with that the TV poll is very close to the mark.

Regardless, the pessimist inside me thinks that even if this were almost a unanimous NO, some politician in the future is going to raise this issue again. The only time the referendums will stop is if the YES vote gets across the line. I know, I'm a cynic.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

The joy of gardening can only be savoured after many years of hard work - gardens don't work on MacTime. Years of sweat, heavy digging, lifting, designing, reshaping and grieving over plants that didn't last or failed to grow as expected can take its toll on a gardener. But we expect it...it's all part of the enjoyment and satisfaction associated with this great hobby.

Yet, what if watering restrictions were placed upon you that limited the amount of scheme water that you could use to grow your plants? I can hear you already commenting under your breath, "Why not install some rain barrels?" Which makes perfect common sense, except when you're in the middle of a drought that's continued over the past 3 years.

In Adelaide, where this scenario is definitely no hypothetical, gardeners are abandoning their gardens in droves. Those who haven't left are abiding by the watering restrictions and have opted for gardens that better reflect the climate in which Adelaideans find themselves in. And, the exotics which many gardeners would have grown up cultivating are now being tossed by the wayside.

It's perfectly normal to expect that people raising gardens in temperate climates should be more mindful of their water consumption and grow plants accordingly. But, many of these gardeners have been in the same garden for 20+ years assuming that their water provision was always going to be there.

I mean, imagine if your local authority decided to impose watering restrictions on your garden this year. Instead of using reticulation or a garden sprinkler you were limited to a hose, or worse still, a watering can. And, you couldn't do this every day but were restricted to a day or two per week based on your house number. How would your current garden survive?

My guess is that most gardens would struggle to deal with such tight watering restrictions. In fact, most of our gardens would either die within the first summer or, at least, be crippled beyond its former glory.

It's quite alarming how dependent we are upon this very precious resource. In the past we've never had to concern ourselves with limiting our water consumption but with changing weather patterns associated with an earth that's warming up it may not be too long before we're all dealing with a similar restrictive watering regime.

Fortunately there is amazing growth in the range of drought-tolerant plants available. And while this gives us younger gardeners (at 36 I'm lumping myself in with this age category) some wonderful freedoms to be different to our predecessors, it does make you wonder whether we are about to lose some of the incredible plants that have shaped our heritage.

Watering restrictions are necessary for humans need to drink more than plants do but imposed upon gardeners year after year it's of little wonder than many are departing from this hobby.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

It doesn't take much to keep a gardener in the garden, but it also doesn't take much to drag us back out, either. Life's little inconveniences can often easily distract our gardening efforts and force us to "down tools" and answer its beckoning call. Even the most well-intentioned interruptions can leave us wondering when we will get that time back again.

So, rather than give you tips on how to say NO to your well-meaning friends who've dropped over to show you their houseplans here are 8 tips that only take a little preparation.

"By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail." -- Ben Franklin

1. Leave the phone indoors - the most obvious interrupter is the phone because it always seems so urgent. I've never had the compulsion to open my mail as soon as it arrives nor read emails as soon as they hit the inbox. Yet the phone comes with a noise - a very disturbing, and urging noise - that needs to be quietened immediately. So, to resist the urge either turn it off or leave it indoors where you can't hear it.
2. Organise an activity for the kids - gardening with kids is always a fun activity but when you want some time on your own the best thing you can do is organise an activity that will keep the kids amused for a while. Catching butterflies, or snails, usually keeps them occupied for an half hour and won't require your dedicated attention. If you're hoping to get a solid weekend in the garden then farming them out to grandparents or friends may be an even better idea.
3. Lock your front door - I don't know about your friends but if mine can't contact me on the phone then they're very likely to drop over and see if I'm home. While this is wonderful, when it comes to trying to stay out in the garden it can be a tad annoying. So, it pays to lock your front door and the side gates as well - just to give the allusion that you're out.
4. Pre-warn your friends - better still is the idea of pre-warning your friends that you plan to spend a day or two of solitude in the garden. Pre-warning may be a little extreme if you're trying to get just 20 minutes alone but if you're wanting the weekend then slipping it into conversations prior to the date may help your friends understand why your phone is not being answered and the front door is locked.
5. Turn up your iPod - obviously turning them up too loud is going to impair your hearing but I find that when I have mine on I can easily dismiss everything else that's going on in my mind and focus solely on gardening.
6. Pre-arrange your resources - the number 1 cause that takes me out of the garden is realising that I don't have the supplies that I need to finish a gardening job. I'm either short a plant or two, or missing a garden stake, or the garden hose just disintegrated in three places. This is where the Boy Scout motto "be prepared" should be your anthem. Consider what tasks you are likely to perform during your gardening solace and ensure that you have the resources on hand to achieve it.
7. Focus on a particular task - I get a bit ditsy when I enter the garden for an extended spell.One minute I'm deadheading the roses and the next I'm edging the lawn. Then it's back to some more deadheading before turning the compost. At the end of the day I walk inside to put my feet up and realise the one job I needed to do was the very one I completely forgot. I find it much easier to focus on a list of tasks and worth through that then flitter around from one spontaneous activity to another - although it is much more fun.
8. Organise others to help - gardening with a friend, or a group of friends, can be very helpful in keeping you out in the garden. At least this way they won't be bugging you to come and fix their problems. While you may prefer the solitude of gardening alone it is sometimes quite refreshing spending time with friends engaged in gardening activity.

So, there you have it. You now have no reason to spend that planned weekend soaking up some rays and enjoying a spot of gardening without the interruptions. Happy gardening...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink

Ok...it's actually the third day of Autumn as I missed the first - water-skiing around the estuary in Mandurah. And, in true autumnal moodiness the weather has already begun bouncing around like a highly-tensioned rubber ball. Sunday, the first day of autumn, was a balmy mid 30°C's yet yesterday was in the low 20°'s, blowing a gale and threatening to rain at any opportunity.

That's the stark reality of this irrational season. While we often expect that autumn brings milder weather somewhere between the extremes of summer and winter, the truth is this is only experienced by statisticians who plot the season's averages over the long run. For the rest of us, autumn is that time period that fights between summer and winter trying desperately to hold onto the warmer months yet finally succumbing to the inevitable and producing weather that reflects the season ahead.

As a child I always assumed that once autumn turned up, changes were immediate: leaves would instantly discolour and fall from the trees, blue skies would start to host fluffy white clouds and sun-showers would be a frequent part of the season. In reality the season doesn't alter that quickly. Changes are far less instant than one might expect, or even hope for.

In fact, the first day of autumn can really be a complete let-down if you're expecting such sudden changes. The effects of this time period are, indeed, incredibly gradual. One day you notice a leaf has changed colour, then another, and yet another. A few weeks later there's no green left and a few more weeks after that, there's no leaves left. And then it's winter.

This sublimely cruel season tricks you into thinking that summer hasn't yet departed but reminds you that winter is already knocking on the door.

For gardeners, the first day of autumn is a welcome retreat. The physical changes may not have started but the gardener's headspace is already being consumed with tasks that need to be crammed into the next three months. Spring-flowering bulbs need to be ordered and planted, outdoor containers may need to be prepared for being winterized and vegetable crops will change tact over the ensuing months.

The blessings of autumn are that mowing and watering will slowly decrease. Even the plants that you thought were finally winning the war and taking over your garden will slow down their growth rate making summer pruning a redundant activity.

On the flip-side, the first day of autumn heralds the re-introduction of the leaf rake. Leaves, leaves and more leaves start accumulating on that lawn that you spent all summer manicuring reminding us that some of our activities are completely banal. Our climate and seasonal changes have a way of reducing our efforts to a mere passing of the time.

But, for me, the first day of any season clearly defines a marker in my garden's progress. Did I achieve everything that I set out to over our spring and summer months? Has the garden improved on this first day of autumn than it did at the same time last year? Did it survive summer better?

While I understand that the northern hemisphere doesn't recognise autumn until the Autumnal Equinox, here in Australia we mark it off from the first of March. Technically, we're probably wrong but seeing as we've adopted the current calendar that doesn't use equinoxes and solstices as it's gauge we're happy to continue our current practice.

So while we are celebrating the start of a new season, northern hemisphereans are still entrenched in their winter. Spring is still another 19 days away...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

A few days ago my online friend, Sylvia, asked whether I found much time to actually garden at the moment. The pressures of life including a demanding job, family of four kids, this blog, writing a regular column for a local newspaper and administering Blotanical can certainly take an exhaustive amount of time.

The answer to the question, honestly, is not as much as I would like. But then the reason isn't totally related to the pressures that I've already mentioned. For starters, it's summer here in sunny Busselton. That means scorching days of 35-40°C have mainly kept me indoors or lolling around in the shade during my free time. Getting into the garden is a luxury because I'm restricted to the evening hours when the sun has started falling in the sky and lost some of its fire.

And then, when I finally do get into the garden, it's mainly to perform chores such as mowing, watering and deadheading just to maintain its appearance.

However, I started planning for my summer garden this time last year. While I still have to mow the grass we've removed almost half of it since last summer, and it's the half that took the most time. Lots of edges, poky corners and high traffic areas have now been replaced with much more suited natives, low-maintenance pathways and all ridiculously mulched to retain moisture and keep the garden weed-free. And it all seems to be working.

This is the key to creating a summer garden - prior planning. For once the onslaught of hot weather pervades your world - and you know it's coming - you become very restricted with the garden that you have. In the past, I've made it half-way through summer but then garden finally beats me. It's either growing (or dying) too quick and the task of keeping it looking good becomes overwhelming.

So, here are some tips to prepare yourself, and your garden, for summer;

• Calculate how much time you're going to have available to spend in your garden during the summer months. Summer may mean more time as other commitments slow down, or stop completely for the hot season, but logically it also means it's going to be too hot to spend all day in the garden.
• Think about the tasks that you NEED to do to keep your garden looking good and also consider the gardening activities that you WANT to do to enjoy your garden. Are there choices that you could be making now that will swing the pendulum more to the WANTS rather than the NEEDS?
• Take a stroll through your garden and consider some of the maintenance tasks that you currently undertake. Are they worth the effort or are there better ways to achieve a similar outcome. For instance, removing some of our lawn meant that edging was eradicated from my TO-DO list. Now plants grow there and require far less of my time to keep them looking neat and tidy.
• Consider your reticulation plan. Can it be streamlined in any way? We went from 9 irrigation channels down to 6 this summer and I'm still planning on losing another two at some stage. Less retic stations means less time to water and less hassles with sprinklers, solenoids and their accompanying blockages and failures.
• Replace flowering shrubs with foliage plants. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into the maintenance-free ideology that many home-owners have succumbed to. But, I do realise that some flowering plants are more trouble than they're worth so I've opted for some to be replaced with foliage alternatives or, at the very least, flowering plants that don't require a heap of maintenance time.
• Buy a garden shredder. A summer garden spells growth so expect that your plants are going to double in size overnight (well it sometimes feels that way). This means that you're going to have to do some summer pruning in order to keep your plants growing well. Until we bought our garden shredder it was always a matter of taking the prunings to the waste facility which meant loading the trailer and leaving the unsightly refuse until we had a spare moment to take it away. Now, it all goes into the compost saving us time from removing it but also time in going off-site to source mulches and soil conditioners.

In summary, the best time to plan your summer garden is in winter and vice versa. Once you're there it's too late.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (5)

Most gardens, on the surface at least, look nice and inviting. At first glance they can appear to have all the characteristics that under-gird a healthy garden but start digging a little and your presumptions can be quickly proved wrong.

Often many gardens have the appearance of health and robustness. Yet, if you took away all the chemicals that prop them up and the excess water that's poured onto them they would soon reveal the facade that they've been hiding behind.

So, how do you gauge whether your garden is healthy or not? Well, here are eight characteristics of a healthy garden. Most gardens will exhibit one or two of these while a truly healthy garden will exhibit all eight.

1. Foliage Growth & Colour
   Two years ago I wrote this post, What a plant leaf can tell you about its health, exposing some of the common ailments that plant's exhibit through their foliage. A plant's foliage is the best indicator of what's happening with the plant. They can tell you whether they're suffering from lack of water, overwatering, too much fertliser, not enough fertiliser, lack of micronutrients in the soil, not enough sun, too much sun and a myriad of other variables. It's the first place to start when you're trying to diagnose whether your garden is healthy or if it needs some serious attention.


2. Water soaks into the soil immediately
   Fill a glass full of water and pour it onto the soil around your plants. If it takes longer than 5 seconds to soak in then chances are you have a problem with your soil. And a problem with your soil is a problem with the health of your garden. If the soil can't soak up that amount of water then it's going to struggle when the temperatures begin to soar.

   A long term fix for this problem is to increase the levels of compost in your soil. This will break up the hydrophobic layer that exists and allow water to filter through to the roots of your plants more quickly and effectively. In the short term, or in cases where you don't have any compost readily available, try using some soil wetting agents.



3. Frogs
   Many gardeners are starting to realise the importance of frogs and the contribution they make to our gardens. These amphibious critters offer so much that to not have them in your garden can create many future problems. The main benefit of frogs is keeping mosquito and other insect larvae under control. This is one of their favourite food sources and as they share similar resources these insect populations fail to get much air-time in the garden. Without frogs you're more likely to have issues with insects that create a nuisance factor, and also those that enjoy eating the foliage of many of your vegetables and leafy plants. Here's a link to help attract them to your garden if they're not already there.


4. Birds, Bees and Butterflies
   While frogs may be the bastions guarding our yards against objectionable insects, the three B's - birds, bees and butterflies are the air-force helping our gardens achieve their very best. These little workers put in an amazing effort at trying to help pollinate our plants and even to keep air-borne pests to a minimum. If birds are non-existent in your garden then you will soon notice growing populations of locusts and grasshoppers and other critters that may devour your plants and fruit.

   Attracting them to your garden is not a tough chore either. Bringing birds into your garden can take as little as offering a bird bath to making a bird feeder suitable for their needs. And, both bees and butterflies can be encouraged into your yard by planting suitable plants. Here's some tips to attract butterflies.



5. Flowers
   The absence of birds, bees and butterflies can only suggest one thing - the lack of flowers, or at the very least nectar and pollen producing flowers. Without flowers your garden cannot continue to procreate and it makes for a fairly dismal outlook. While many people are now growing low maintenance grasses, succulents and other minimalist plants they fail to offer any habitat to desirable birds and critters. This in turn creates many future problems for gardeners where those with blooms will not struggle with.


6. Bushiness of Perennials
   The growing habit of most perennial shrubs is fairly compact. Where their stems sometimes become leggy and bare is often sign that something is wrong. It could be the lack of light that the plant receives forcing it to put all its growing energy to reach some ultraviolet rays. It may even highlight problems with nutrients in the soil where nitrogen is lacking. Whatever the case, if your shrubs are supposed to grow in a compact form and don't they may need some diagnosis and attention.


7. Worms in the soil
   A lot of attention has to been given to worms recently, and rightly so. These workers of the soil offer so much benefit to the growing mediums of our plants. A good test to see if they are operating in your garden is to turn over a spade-full of soil. You should be able to count at least six earthworms wriggling around in this sod. If not, then you need to improve the soil by amending it with compost and other organic matter. Simply adding worms to your soil won't fix this problem as they will soon retreat to soil where their food stuffs are in bountiful supply.


8. Minimal Weeds
   Any gardener can rid their yard of weeds with a ton of glyphosate but eradicating them from the soil by means of mulch or planting groundcovers is the best way to keep these under control. Minimal weeds means less problems with them - less seeding and taking control of your garden. So, it makes sense to keep them out of your soil as much as is possible.

As I mentioned earlier, any one of these signs in isolation can give the allusion of a healthy garden. It's not until all eight are prevalent that you can really sit back and brag about your garden health.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (5)

Buying seeds online can be a daunting experience likened only to grasping oil with your hands. You stumble across the perfect site only to find that it doesn't deliver to your area, or have the particular seed variety you're after, or they're too expensive, or they've just run out, or they're a subsidiary of Monsanto, or...the list goes on.

If only seeds could all be found in the one spot where guarantees came with every packet and delivery was faster than a speeding bullet - I'm sure more people would buy their seeds online. Instead, we often fall back into our comfort zone purchasing the same seeds that we bought last year, and the year before that from stores that we frequent only because they're convenient.

There are a myriad of online sources for buying seeds but here a few that offer organic or heirloom varieties and can be purchased via an online checkout.

Australian Gardeners

Eden Seeds

Our seeds are the old traditional open pollinated non-hybrid varieties and have no chemical treatment, and no genetic engineering.

USA Gardeners

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

We only offer open-pollinated seeds: pure, natural and non-GMO! We offer heirloom seeds from 70 countries, including many that we collected ourselves.

GreenPeople.org

GreenPeople.org claims to be the "World's largest directory of eco-friendly and holistic health products". They don't sell seeds directly but they list more than 160 companies that do.

Whatcom Seed Company

Whatcom Seed Company is a leading online supplier of rare and unusual seeds for home gardeners and retail growers worldwide. The company is located in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

UK Gardeners

Gogrow.co.uk

Go Grow based in Louth, Lincolnshire are suppliers of quality Flower, Vegetable & Herb seeds packed for the home gardener.

Canadian Gardeners

Upper Canada Seeds

These guys specialise in tomato seeds only having found it difficult to source good quality organic seeds.

If you know of any others that are reputable and offer organic, heirloom seeds then I'm happy to add them to the list as well.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (12)

Since the 'financial crisis' has been weaving it's magic throughout the world economies many pundits have been talking up the virtues of gardening. By the term "gardening", they mean growing fruit and vegetables in a self-sufficient way to save valuable dollars. And many have followed their lead.

While for most of us gardeners, this is a great outcome of a very depressing situation. Here is the world getting back to grass roots and starting to see the earth from a whole new vantage point. People are starting to interact with the soil again and they want to know how to compost, fertilise, propagate and harvest their own organic foodstuffs.

However, one can't help but wonder whether there is a dark side to this situation.

The impetus for many people to renew their gardening heritage is all about the money. Planting some seeds and harvesting your groceries is a very easy way to save on your shopping bill. But what I find disconcerting is that people aren't necessarily falling in love with plants and flowers in the same way.

Well, they are...so long as they're fake or artificial.

In a recent article, LA Times writer Barbara Thornburg visits talent agent Adam Isaacs' apartment and here is what she saw;

True, the staghorn fern on the wall and the bromeliad below, as well as the fountain grass and short green yucca ferns that surround his serene Balinese Buddha, look particularly perky. And his timber bamboo, split-leaf philodendron and red banana tree are full and lush-looking. Ditto the red variegated succulents that are bursting the confines of their low-slung ceramic planter. "It's all fake," the Century City resident says, proud of his manicured garden, where every plant is always in its prime.

Fake flowers are nothing new. They've been around since Adam (not Isaacs) was a boy yet they're becoming far more advanced and detailed that unless you're up-close-and-personal with them you would fail to identify them as artificial copies.

Fake plants, on the other hand, are a fairly recent development. The Christmas tree was probably the first example of such a plant but the industry has come a long way since we exchanged the traditional fir for some glittery tinsel. Now, the focus is on REAL looks, REAL touch and one day we may even be encountering fake plants that even smell like their natural predecessors.

All this is a roundabout way of asking the question, are our gardens in jeopardy of becoming as fake as a microwave dinner?

Already many people, some gardeners included, are replacing their indoor plants with fake replicas. Balconies and indoor courtyards are receiving the same treatment and our offices, cafes and local stores have been doing it for years.

The question on everybody's lips is, when will our neighbours begin ripping out their outdoor garden and replacing it with fake alternatives? Years ago, I would have said that it was never going to happen. Artificial plants are just too expensive and they wouldn't be able to handle the extremes of our climatic conditions. Today, I'm not so sure.

It only takes a quick walk around your local nursery to realise that plants aren't a cheap item. Add into the cost the risk that they may not last in your garden: predatory pests, disease and a myriad of other problems may beset them, and suddenly those artificial plants are looking a cheap alternative.

But, can they 'weather' the weather? Take a look at any artificial turf that's been laid for a few years and it's quite conceivable that a fake garden could do just as well as a natural one, maybe even better. They're becoming more UV-resistant, more adept to handling frosts and snow-cover and they still look good in the middle of a drought. Plus, you don't need someone to water them while you're away on vacation.

I only wonder whether our native bird-life are going to buy into it? And, will a rose blooming in the middle of winter look completely ridiculous? On the other hand, doesn't our stumpy rose bushes already look ridiculous in the middle of winter!

Food for thought...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (4)

In most garden activities there is rarely a "RIGHT" or "WRONG" way to perform it. Yet, when it comes to applying plant stakes it pays to do it correctly. At best, a poorly applied plant stake may fail to do it's job, while at it's worst your maligned stake could injure, maim or even fatally wound the plant it was trying to help.

The way some gardeners use plant stakes you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was more out of a sense of obligation than for the betterment of the plant. Often they're poorly positioned, offering the plant little assistance, or they're located so close to the plant that they almost smother it to death.

Whether you're staking tomato plants, a prize-winning dahlia or a recently bought sapling there are some guidelines that will help you support your plants the most effectively. The reason we stake our plants are multi-faceted but here are the two key reasons;

1. Support: - a well-positioned stake can offer a plant strength against harsh winds, heavily fruiting branches or even some assistance until the plant's stem is strong enough to support its own weight.


2. Training: - gardeners often like to stake plants in order to train them to grow certain ways. Multiple-trunked trees are often the benefactors of such staking forcing the stems to grow in predetermined directions that naturally they wouldn't achieve.

While there may only be a couple of reasons for using plant stakes there are certainly a ton of different materials that you can use;

• Bamboo


• Rough-dressed garden stakes


• Star-Pickets


• Kopper logs


• Bush poles or Dried straight branches


• Steel reinforcing "Reo" bars


• PVC tubing

... just to name a few.

How to offer Support with plant stakes

The main purpose of using plant stakes is to offer support to the plant. There are a few considerations that need to be taken into account such as; (1) the growth rate of the plant, (2) the time that the plant will require staking, and (3) the extreme conditions that the plant must weather as it begins to grow.

• Plant's Growth Rate: - this is an important factor for it will determine the size of the stakes needed. The last thing you want to be doing with your plants is re-staking them every few months because the plant has out-grown their effectiveness. Consider how large your plant should be in the next 12 months - 2 years and size the stakes accordingly.


• Time Required for Staking: - this factor will determine the material required to stake your plant. If you have a slow-growing specimen that may need 5-10 years before the stakes can removed it pays to consider materials that will last this time period. Obviously, those plants that only require a short period of time can safely be staked with more lightweight, and usually less expensive, materials. A slow-growing tree may require star-pickets or kopper logs while staking tomato plants can be achieved with some nimble bamboo sticks or garden stakes.


• Weather or Growing Conditions: - the prevailing conditions the plant will have to face in its attempt to grow on your property will determine the number of plant stakes required. If your location doesn't suffer from constant strong winds then 1-2 stakes may be all that is needed while areas that are regularly battered by prevailing gusts should opt for up to 3 stakes to protect and support their plants.

How to apply Plant Stakes
Now that you know the required size of your stakes, the material to use and how many are needed for your plant, it's time to get them into the ground to offer some support.

For a New Plant.

• 1 Stake: strike this into the ground using a hammer or mallet. It's best to place it on an angle rather than directly vertical as it offers far more support to the plant. Then, place the plant into the ground back-filling, fertilising and watering in as normal. When the plant is correctly situated then you can tie it to the garden stake by using non-wired plant ties, nylon stockings or strong wool. The best way to fasten the plant is by using a Figure-8 loop that allows the plant some movement without rubbing or scratching into the plant's stem.

2 Stakes: strike these two vertically into the ground at opposing sides of the plant and fasten using similar tie materials as above and apply using the Figure-8 loop.

• 3 Stakes: using three stakes gives the plant the most protection but can be overkill for some. Use this method for plants that will require a long period of staking. Locate these in a triangular form around the outside of the plant's location and tie off as mentioned with the 1 Stake. This is the best method for keeping a plant or tree growing perpendicular.

For an Established Plant
The problem that you will face trying to stake an established plant is trying to miss any roots as you strike the stake into the ground. Failure to do so may eventually kill your plant, or certainly injure it in any case.

If your plant needs staking after it has been established for some time, then try and locate the stakes as far away from the stem as possible. It may even pay to try and uncover some of the roots to see where the main ones are located and steer clear of them.

Once your plant stakes are in position you can tie them off as mentioned above.

How to Train with plant stakes

This is quite simple provided you follow the directions as mentioned for staking an Established Plant. The idea of training is similar to supporting a plant although in this case you are trying to direct future growth instead of just keeping the plant supported.

The main difference in supporting plants via staking versus training is that training plants, especially trees, doesn't always require the stakes to have one end located in the ground. Often training a tree with stakes can be attempted utilising stakes that push branches apart or hold them close together. In this process, the plant stakes will require some form of cushioning between the stake and the plant so that they don't lance, or inflict injury upon, the plant's outer layer.

In conclusion

Plant stakes are an ingenious way to help your plants grow and support them against the many pressures to grow properly. If you use them correctly your plants will appreciate your efforts and reward you accordingly but mess it up and it could just end up killing your plant.

Trial and error is a great teacher but if you can glean some basics from above it can save you a heap of frustration and possibly some dollars as well.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

I'm not sure whether my garden could resist deer or not. They're hardly over-populous in my neck of the woods and I'm more likely to encounter kangaroo problems than run-ins with Bambi.

But, it does seem that I have a Dear-Resistant Garden - the type of garden that seems impervious to any plant that has a high price tag. If it's free, found on the bargain counter or less than a couple of bucks it seems to grow well in my yard yet if I bring home something that costs a small fortune, it's as if it can smell fear and cowers accordingly.

I'm not sure whether my garden has its own class system going on where the expensive exotics are jeered and ridiculed like the new foreign boy in the school yard. Maybe my plants are working-class socialists that don't approve of the upper-crust aristocracy? They've taken on the unionist mentality, rallying the mob to pressure those they dislike.

Which makes me wonder whether the soil isn't party to this melee as well. But then, how can it be? That would be like the tail wagging the dog, wouldn't it? Maybe my blue-collar plants have brought it to its knees as successfully as the grasshoppers achieved in Antz. The soil is now just a glorified whore to the plant mob and whimpers in obedience at their beck and call.

It seems the only way forward is to route out the gang-leaders making examples of them to the rest of the plant community. But how many would it take? If I successfully identify and punish the "Godfather of the garden" will another rise to take its place? Or, will it subdue the other plants into submission?

Maybe there's more than one Boss? It's quite possible that they share the leadership and use their stand-over tactics disparately. Perhaps I may to have to re-design my whole garden taking into consideration these societal ills. Revamping plant locations to better harmonise their political worldviews.

Or, maybe I can just keep buying native plants and leave others to their exotic folly!

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

Before I start sharing about hand watering your garden I need to make this disclaimer: my garden is almost full reticulated. And, I'm certainly glad that it is. It frees me up from a garden chore that can be quite laborious and very time consuming.

Having said that, last night - one of those balmy summer evenings when it feels like the sun is never going to fully set - I picked up the hose and began watering my garden. I could have easily chosen to flick the switch and allow the automatic reticulation do its thing, but it was one of those "rose-smelling" moments. Time was on my side and no deadlines were invading my headspace.

This is when watering your garden by hand is a pleasure.

It allows you to see your garden from angles that you normally wouldn't experience. You begin to find plants that have been languishing beneath their water-hogging neighbours: summer growth being the culprit. Plants that are busy preparing their blooms suddenly grab your attention demanding a response of awe.

Then there are the plants that have self-seeded popping their first few leaves above the soil's surface. Others have grown from roots that were left in the ground and conquered the environment to survive and stand on their own. Not to mention the new buds that are forming on old stock where aphids have ravaged and you were sure that plant was destined for the compost heap.

Thirty minutes later I was recharged and energised purely from the fact that I forced myself to slow down. Hand watering is not a task that you undertake if you're on a tight time schedule. It's a slow gardening method that I have somehow forgotten and regrettably shown disdain for.

Fortunately, it re-educated me.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (8)

Earlier this month I read Seth Godin's When newspapers are gone, what will you miss? post. In it he questioned what we would actually lose when, not if, newspapers go out of business.

It reminded me of a discussion that I have constantly with a colleague centering around the "paperless office". My peer argues vehemently for the continuation of the norm and the ever-increasing use of paper. In his future paper will become cheaper, printers more compact and mobile and recycling of paper waste more economical.

In my future, I see less paper, no printers and no wastage.

I have a printer here in my home office but I honestly can't remember the last time I used it. The dust is settling on the cartridges now and I'm concerned that they may not work anymore - well, not that concerned! For my reality has very little to do with printing paper.

Which made me ponder the question, "How will gardening magazines fair in a world that is becoming more reliant on electronic media?" And then, lo and behold, Amazon send me an email informing me that their magazine subscriptions have been reduced substantially.

In past years a 10-15% discount was enormous and worth hanging out for but now they're offering 75%. What's with that? And especially as the northern hemisphere's gardening season is almost upon us! Could our gardening magazines be heading in the same direction as our national newspapers?

And, if they did, would you miss them? Where would you source your gardening ideas, inspiration, know-how and anecdotes from if our beloved magazines disappeared from the shelves altogether?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

For those who haven't yet heard, the Pantone Color Institute have chosen Mimosa, a champagne-meets-orange-juice yellow, as it's colour of the year for 2009. For those in the colour industry, it's a big deal but will it have any affect on us gardeners and the choices we make when we plan our plantings this year.

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of Pantone, said "Yellow is the color of change, of hopefulness, of warmth and of good cheer." And First Lady Michelle Obama must agree, wearing a yellow dress to her husband's inauguration earlier in the week.

You may not be able to match it accurately but there are a ton of yellow flowers that could be making an appearance this year. For example;

So, will the 2009 Colour of the Year be making a splash in your garden?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

While most new gardeners easily grasp the concepts of planting, watering and raising seeds it is without fail that questions and doubts arise regarding when is the best time to prune. Pruning, apart from fertilising, is probably the most queried activity because plant requirements in the pruning department differ so wildly.

One style of pruning may work for one type of plant but may literally kill another. With prices of perennials constantly on the increase it's of little wonder that newbie gardeners aren't prepared to make mistakes. So, how does a novice gardener ensure that their plants are being correctly maintained? Let's take a look at some of the basics.

Pruning Tip #1 - Get yourself a good quality pair of secateurs.
Most of the pruning that you will do in your home garden will only require the use of some garden shears. While a pruning saw, pair of loppers and even a telescopic pruner may be needed from time to time I could safely assume that 90% of your pruning activity will be done with your secateurs.

Pruning Tip #2 - Know the difference between Pruning and Deadheading
Pruning is most commonly relegated to perennial plants, those that last in our garden longer than one season. Annuals, on the other hand, don't need to be pruned but may require deadheading (the removal of spent blooms to encourage another flourish within the same season). Having made that distinction, I think it would be helpful to confuse your current understanding by stating that perennials such as hebes, amongst others, also enjoy a mid-season deadhead.

Pruning Tip #3 - Understanding the concept of 'dormancy'
Most perennial plants enter a period of dormancy (plant hibernation) when they stop growing and no longer produce fruit. This happens, in most cases, on an annual basis and is usually within the winter months. For deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves), their dormant period is easily recognisable wile some evergreens - especially citrus - are sometimes difficult to ascertain.

A plant's dormant period is usually the best time to prune. The reason for this is because the plant has already started shutting down and begun conserving it's energy. While the plant is growing it works hard to source enough water and nutrient to produce blooms or fruit so struggling to cope with a prune can almost kill it.

Pruning Tip #4 - Pruning myths
One of the common misconceptions that many new gardeners face is the concept of "how" to prune and every gardening guru seems to have their own prescribed techniques. For the most part, many of these techniques are myths that try to overwhelm new gardeners and create a zen-like appearance for those who have "all" the knowledge. Most plants respond well to any type of gentle pruning and will fail only when extreme pruning has taken place. The angle of your tongue at the time of the pruning cut is of little relevance!

Pruning Tip #5 - When NOT to prune
Obviously, as mentioned earlier, the times when plants shouldn't be pruned is during their growth cycle. Also, adverse weather conditions - whether it be hot or cold - can be disastrous for plants and should also be avoided. Which leaves autumn (fall) and late winter as the best times to prune.

Pruning Tip #6 - When to prune certain types of plants

• Fruit Trees - best pruned in late autumn to early winter. If you leave these until the end of winter you will find that flowering may be sabotaged.


• Citrus Trees - best pruned in late-winter. While most citrus will still be fruiting all year round, their growth cycle is similar to other plants so a light prune before spring will encourage more fruit and better structure.


• Roses - another plant that is best pruned in late-winter/early spring. Roses are very appreciative of mid-season deadheading and should flower 3-4 times during a common season.


• Conifers - these plants rarely need pruning apart for some shaping and structure maintenance. This can be done anytime but if your area is prone to frost/snow then it might be best to leave it until the weather warms up a little.


• Palms - don't need pruning, although, like grasses, their spent fronds may need removing.

So there you have it, you've completed Pruning 101. The best rule-of-thumb that I can offer is that the best time to prune is when your plant isn't hell-bent on growing.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (8)

You know it's time to concede defeat with a plant when no matter how much TLC you give it, its leaves continue to shrivel and brown. Unfortunately, it's not just one plant but three of the suckers - all African Box.

Mid spring we decided to move our struggling box hedge, that lined the driveway, into our recently landscaped front yard. Part of the reason for their past struggles was to do with the soil sand that they had to grow in. It was hydrophobic, leeched any nutrient immediately and I'm sure was directly imported from the Sahara. Combine that with an irreverent postman who enjoyed the thrill of trying to dodge them on his way to the neighbours and it was plainly obvious that they had to move.

So move them, we did. While most of the transplanting went fine, three of these box plants couldn't retain any of the soil around their roots. I dotted them amongst the others - just in case they didn't survive - and poured the TLC on big-time.

I've since come to learn that when a plant has a death wish there's no amount of resuscitation that's going to improve the outcome. Regardless of the constant watering, fertilising, mulching and cajoling there comes a time when every gardener needs to face the inevitable reality - palliative care is the only response.

I haven't brought myself to dig them out yet, somehow secretly hoping that a miracle might occur and they will begin the path to recovery. But, I'm a realist and I understand the knowing glances of passersby "Yes, their dead!" I shout back in my mind.

Maybe I'll give them another week...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

Woodlouse, wood lice, sowbugs, slaters - it doesn't matter what you call them we're all talking about the same bug. Lift a piece of rotting wood and 10,000 of them scurry off to the safety of another dark abode. Yet their reason for existence is not widely known and some gardeners will reach for the spray-can to rid themselves of this seemingly tyrannical pest quicker that you can say "I think they may beneficial".

My 5yo daughter is enamoured with them, befriending any that she can catch and always asking the question "Can I keep it, Daddy?" As a bug, woodlice are peculiarly un-buggish. They don't slime like snails, nor nip like millipedes. They're not hairy, nor slithery and they don't look frightening like spiders. They just scoot around on their tiny legs with antennae waving about at a million miles a second.

Do they have a place in our gardens?

Regardless of whether we like them or not, if your garden is healthy - that is, it contains composts, leaf litter, mulch and any other rotting natural ingredient - then chances are that a few million have taken up residence. Wherever you find worms you're likely to find woodlice and even where you don't find worms, you'll find woodlice.

Woodlice are an important bug for our gardens. Their favoured habitat is one where it's dark, full of decaying material and usually very moist. Often when I turn the compost pile I find millions of them scurrying back into the dark recesses of the heap. They remain in the pile churning through all the refuse and turning it into rich humus, a readily prepared resource for my plants.

So why the different names? I'm unsure as to how they came to be called "slaters" but the other two names are easy to understand. Woodlice are as the name assumes - lice-like bugs that are often found in rotting wood. Woodlice that roll themselves into a ball when frightened are part of the Armadillidiidae family while those that don't belong to the Porcellionidae family - (porcelli = little pig; sow = female pig, hence sowbugs). Make sense? I knew it would.

So before you reach for the Baygon® when you next see a small population of these, consider whether you would do the same if you came across a bunch of earthworms? They may look different, but they primarily do the same task in your garden. Consider them a friend.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (8)

Since the advent of the digital camera, garden photos have never been so prolific. Images of plants, flowers and garden landscapes abound. You can taken them with your DSLR, high mega-pixel digital camera or, even more mobile, your very versatile camera phone.

But garden photos are just another image unless you take the time, and effort, to craft them into something wonderful. Here are a few resources and tips to help make yours the standout success that you desire.

Freep.com have a great article titled "How to blossom into a pro when shooting photos in your garden" [link since removed]. Rob Cardillo, introduced to us by GardenRant, offers us a few tips to enhance our garden photos.

• Take care with lighting: "It will enable you to make an extraordinary picture out of an ordinary subject"


• Think three, five and other odd numbers: Three or five flowers are easier on the eye, which likes triangles inside square frames.


• Use a tripod: It will keep things steady and create background and depth.


• "Wander without purpose" around your subjects: If you shoot in a public garden or at a flower show, lose the crowd and look for an unexpected view.


• Consider your garden a sculpture: In other words, something to be admired from every angle.


• Be patient and flexible: you still have to shoot 10,000 pictures before you understand what makes a great photograph.

If you're interested in taking landscape photos then this post I wrote earlier may hold some keys for you as well.

Dean Fosdick, from WTOP.com, gives us some practical uses for the garden photos we take.

• Record-keeping. A picture really is worth a thousand words, especially if you're keeping a journal or diary tracking the gardening changes you've made season by season.


• Landscape ideas. Visit public gardens or tour well-tended neighborhoods to record designs, colors, patterns or plant combinations you like.


• Identification. Document changes in plant maturity as you would a child's growth spurts


• Memory prompt. Collect images of your garden through the seasons to identify empty spaces and perennial sites.


• Photograph the plants that worked well and those that didn't. Build on your successes and avoid repeating the failures.


• Succession planting. It can help you design your garden a different way each year.


• Inventories. A photographic record of your tools, implements, garden furniture, yard art and outbuildings


• Wildlife pictures. Photographers often pursue images of plants and critters at the same time.


• Fine art. Look at published garden pictures. Study (the) paintings of classic artists. Then try to make something similar.

Once you have these awesome garden photos, what do you do with them? Apart from the obvious print them out and then scrapbook them for posterity there are some online tools that may help you organize them an even give you a place to show them off. Some sites worth looking at are;

• Flickr - almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world


• SmugMug - A company that backs up your photos to three data centers across the U.S.


• DropShots - Next Generation Photo and Video Sharing

For those with cameras built into their mobile phones there are new technologies that are clamouring to make it possible to upload your photos. One such app is the Eye-Fi created for Apple's iPhone.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

I would never have bought a collapsible garden container myself so I'm very thankful that my daughter surprised me with one for Christmas. To me, this product seemed as useful as a keg at a teetotalers party.

My normal gardening activity sees me move around the garden deadheading, pruning and weeding leaving little piles of refuse everywhere. Sometimes I cart around my wheelbarrow but more often than not it's full of compost or soil or some other project resource. So the little piles grow and remain until I can be bothered returning to pick them up - or my wife gently nudges me with "When are those rubbish piles going to move, Stuart?"

So, I took my new collapsible container for a test run in the garden yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. Not only was it easy to maneouvre and carry it was also incredibly sturdy and strong enough to carry my edgings and summer prunings. At the end of my gardening tasks it was just as easy to carry the container over to the compost bins and empty - a vast improvement on trying to lift it out of the wheelbarrow with a garden fork.

As I was testing it out, I contemplated the features that impressed me most about this new garden tool. Obviously the "collapsible" thing was a standout winner. Being able to collapse the container when storing it makes it ideal for my limited garden shed. Plus, another neat bonus was that as I was kneeling on the ground picking out weeds, reaching into the bag was effortless - it just collapsed and folded down and then instantly sprang back.

What would I look for if I were going to buy one of these?

1. A handle at the bottom - this is such a helpful addition when you're trying to discard the waste into your compost bins.
2. Solid woven spring - it's the quality of the springed wire woven into the side of the bag that makes it the useful container that it is.
3. Buy one without a lid - I honestly can't see the purpose of this tool having a lid. It would make it too easy to zip up and leave laying around without emptying it, which kind of defeats the purpose - right?
4. Colour - very, very important! Presently, they only seem to come in khaki or black but I'm hoping that some manufacturers may produce these in fashionable prints or at least some more individual colours. Is that too much to expect?
5. Solid base - mine only has a canvas base which should be more than adequate for how I plan to use it. However, if you wanted to get more from your container then I would suggest that a solid base might be a good idea.
6. Canvas/Woven sides - if you're hoping to get a few years out of this garden tool then I would steer clear of the cheap plastic options. Woven sides should last the distance and if looked after may even give you 5 - 10 years at a minimum.

If you don't have a collapsible container for your garden yet then I would seriously suggest you consider it. It is probably the best tool to emerge in the garden over the past few years and will come in very handy for years to come.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (9)

Imagine, for a minute or two, that you lost your job and had to take a much lower-paying one for the next 12 months. While your new job pays the bills and keeps the proverbial "wolf from the door" there is nothing left to fritter away on your favourite pastime. Instead you must make do with what you already have and continue to cultivate your garden without spending another cent.

Could you do it?

At this point you're probably thinking that it's a relatively easy assignment. You've got last year's bulbs in storage, you managed to keep a few of your favourite seeds and the garden tool rack, while modest, allows you to achieve most gardening tasks.

But I want you to think deeper than that. Skimming the surface may help you for the first month or two but it won't sustain your garden over a whole year.

So, to start off with this challenge you need to think back over the past 12 months and assess your purchases. Let's make a list;

• Fertiliser
• Pesticides (organic or chemical)
• Fuel and oil for your lawn mower
• Cord for your line trimmer
• Stakes for your vegetables and plants - and the string as well
• Potted annuals, vegetable seeds and new spring bulbs
• Mulch
• Manures
• Replacement tools
• Soluble minerals
• Gardening books and/or magazines
• Garden club membership fees
• Entry fees to open gardens or botanical gardens
• Garden whimsy
• Potting soil and containers

How did you fare? Is it still an achievable task? For me, the glaringly obvious one was fuel for my mower. While I've reduced my lawn size by about 50% over the past year I still have some that I manicure and enjoy. Without fuel, my lawn would become unwieldy.

I find this an interesting hypothetical because if we were to embrace it it would force us to problem solve outside of ourselves. We would begin to depend on other gardeners for tools, seed-exchanges, and bartering of other resources. Our own natural resources (composts etc) would become much more important and perhaps we could visit the big-box outlets a little less this year.

So, would you be able to do it? Could 2009 be a year where not a single cent could be spent to sustain your garden?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (19)

Most of us have spent at least some time renting a house where the landlord expected regular rental inspections. The closer the date came the more our throats would become parched, knees begin to knock wilder than a deserted saloon door and our bodies tighten stiffer than a stick insect resigned to rigor mortis. It drove fear into the heart of every member in the family.

I would get the outdoors assignment, which suited me fine, but looking after a rental garden is hardly a dream come true - if you know what I mean. I didn't want to spend a fortune keeping someone else's asset ship-shape but then again I did want to leave our rental having improved it somehow.

So I devised a mental checklist that assisted me in the garden before our rental inspection became due. Here are some things that I put in place;

1. Mow the lawns 2 days prior - if you mow it on the day, or even a day before, brown spots will show because where you cut it probably hasn't seen the light of day for a few weeks. Mow it two days before will give you a chance to water it twice (each day) before the inspection and allow some green to come back.

   If you mow it out of its growing season, raise the height of the blades so that you are only cutting the very tips of the lawn.

2. Effortlessly rid the garden beds of weeds - RoundUp™ will become your new best friend, especially if couch grass has invaded the beds. Spray the weeds one week out from your inspection and they should have started to die back in time.
3. Then mulch your garden beds - mulch is the perfect weed suppressant for most weeds. It won't halt couch but most of your other insidious plants will be stopped dead in their tracks. Plus, landscape mulch can often be sourced for free, or very cheaply.
4. Plant some cheap annuals - landlords always like to see renters who take a little initiative when looking after the gardens. For $20 you could easily add some colour into the garden without too much effort. Snapdragons, pansies, petunias are great colour additions that will brighten the most drab garden beds.
5. Invest in some containers and hanging baskets - mobile gardening is the mantra of gardeners who rent. You can instantly increase your garden without having to spend money on someone else's property. Start gardening in containers and hanging baskets and you will be able to enhance the owner's property while you rent but take it all with you when you leave.
6. Buy yourself a garden vacuum - keeping paths and driveways neat and tidy is one expectation that a landlord will have upon inspection. You could manually sweep it with a broom, show your eco ignorance by hosing it down with precious water, or vacuum them with one of the many power blower vacs available. On vacuum setting, you could even keep the plant materials - leaves and twigs - for composting.
7. Prune some of your bigger plants - for the renter who does gardening out of necessity rather than has a passion for it, this task may seem really daunting. The rule of thumb is this;

   If it's flowering, leave it alone. If it's dead, rip it out. Otherwise, prune it back by a third.

   If you stick to this you shouldn't have too many problems and your plants will love you for it.

This checklist should keep you in good stead with the landlord and make your rental inspection a breeze. Here's to passing it with flying colours...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (4)

Before I try and answer this question, grab a pen and pad of paper and head outdoors for a quick look-see. Count the number of trees that you have, the number of plants and the landscape features that occupy your garden. Now try and calculate the cost of replacing it all.

$300. $3000. Or perhaps $30,000. Sure, it's priceless because you can't add your blood, sweat and tears to the mix nor are 30-year-old trees readily available from your local nursery. And garden insurance can't insure you for any of that.

Yet consider what would happen to your garden should a bushfire, hurricane or other natural disaster reduce your gardening efforts to a glorified junk pile. The sheer devastation and angst would be unbearable knowing that you would have to rebuild it and you possibly wouldn't have the money on hand for a timely fix.

Now, let me ask the question again, "Is garden insurance worth it?"

Possibly these thoughts have been entertained in your mind before and you've reconciled yourself that in such an event you will just have to rebuild...regardless of the time frame and cost. But, it's conceivable that you've never considered such an outcome and this post has now got put this item on your Top Ten Fears list just above Global Terrorism.

Before you panic and start ringing every insurer looking for the cheapest plan you may want to check your current home policy. Some companies already include your yard and garden items (including tools, sheds, plants, trees and even garden ornaments) in your home insurance with minimal excess rates. They may even cover vandalism and theft by those well-meaning party guests who decided your prized garden gnome (now there's an oxymoron) was indeed a prize.

If it doesn't then you might want to resume your first response and panic and start ringing every insurer looking for the cheapest plan.

Before you do though, there are a couple of items you need to consider before signing up;

1. Does the insurance plan cover natural disasters? If it doesn't then you're probably wasting your time and money as this is the biggest cause of garden damage.
2. Is the excess greater than the risk of losing a few plants? For instance, if a storm came through your property and felled your large 30+-year-old tree would a replacement be cheaper than the policy excess? If so, keep your money.
3. Does the policy include debris removal costs? No? Find one that does because this is going to be a huge cost by the time you employ tree loppers, earth-movers etc.
4. Will your garden insurance cover theft and vandalism? As sad as it may sound this is 'up there' with the top reasons people claim on insurance policies. Grass trees have become the fashion accessory here in Oz and at $500 per tree are also becoming the folly of garden thieves.

I guess the point of this post is not to scare-monger but to at least get you thinking about possible disasters and how you may handle them. Taking out garden insurance is one option but it's not the only path to take.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (4)

After yesterday's post - Gifts Gardeners DONT want - it was only fitting that Santa leave me a lump of coal in my stocking this year. However, I must have done some good things in the past 12 months because my wife surprised me with an early Christmas present when I arrived home from work yesterday.

This very elegant chair has replaced a broken wooden contraption, circa "the cave period", and is just delightful. It even has wheels...!

This is a little insight into the Blotanical, GTNI headquarters as well. While it's certainly no Google or Facebook HQ, it's very workable.

I must admit, I'm a little unsure as to Deb's rationale for buying me such a beautiful chair. Obviously, I'm very comfortable with it, but I can foresee that getting away from the PC is going to be a much harder proposition.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (7)

That time of the year has come again when gifts for the gardener seem to be the post of the month. We're overwhelmed with choice and a myriad of choices upon choices. Everything from stainless steel gardening tools to garden ornaments, plant holders to power tools, it is all available and all very enticing.

But really? Is this what gardeners want or is it what gardener retailers want to sell us?

While I enjoy receiving gifts as much as anyone there has been the odd doozy that's forced a grimaced "thank you" while contemplating who to regift it to. Some presents just aren't appropriate because our gardens are an expression of ourselves. It would be the same as asking Da Vinci if you could just add a splash of colour to the Mona Lisa.

So, here's a list of things not to get me when you're doing your Christmas shopping...

• Don't buy me rose bushes - I can appreciate them, enjoy them, love them and even desire them...in someone else's garden. While I have nothing against them, and even have a few in my yard, I'm not looking to add anymore blooming in the garden.


• Don't buy me cheap gardening tools - especially if you expect me to still have them next time you visit. If I want cheap gardening tools I can always afford them myself.


• Don't buy me discount bulbs - chances are they're discounted for a reason, and if they are actually good then I've probably already bought the ones I like.


• Don't buy me trendy plants - lucky bamboo, Crazy succulents and other fashionable plants are for people who don't like gardening but feel the need to connect with nature in some small way. I'm not one of those people.


• Don't buy me garden ornaments - oh, please, please refrain from buying garden ornaments. Unless you can unequivocally attest that the gardener in question wants THAT gardening ornament, take a step back from the counter, please. I've had so many tacky garden ornaments over the years that it's getting harder to feign approval.


• Don't buy me books on "Outdoor Rooms" - they're not gardening books just because they have a smattering of plants throughout the over-architectured landscapes.

Alright, now that I've got that off my chest, what are some of the things that as a gardener I would truly love for Christmas?

• Gardening books - about gardening, plants, methods, design tips... yada yada. Love them though it's probably getting harder to find ones that I don't have.


• A voucher to spend at my favourite nursery - this present says "I understand your gardening OCD issues" like no other. You get me, and I sooooo appreciate that.


• Plants that I've been drooling over for months - you've obviously been listening...


• Gardening tools that don't have GMC or BudgetBrand stamped all over them


• An annual subscription to my favourite gardening mags


• A paid subscription to a gardening course in an area that I'd love to further my knowledge or skills


• A signed card by every gardener who has a blog on Blotanical - that just says you're prepared to go above and beyond

But that's me. You may have appreciated some of the things that I didn't and couldn't care for the items I do desire. That's okay - that's why we're different. Let us know your wishes below - I promise to pass them on to Santa before the big day...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (8)

I do.

At first I adored it - which is why it made it to my garden. Then I embraced it and cherished it year after year. Each winter it would die down only to resurrect itself at the start of spring and my affections grew for it beyond compare.

As I was so enamoured with it, I would take cuttings and plant it in other parts of my garden too. True to form, it flourished in these spots as well, blooming with ease.

Then, the relationship soured. I started to notice that this plant wasn't being faithful to the garden beds in which I had planted it in. Under the secrecy of night it would spring up in places where I never expected it could grow. First, it was the lawn. Then the paving. Could this plant be stopped?

The time called for drastic measures. It was a do-or-die situation and I wasn't prepared to lose my garden for the sake of one plant. So, out it came. I was victorious. A conqueror. I had achieved what I had set out to do and won the battle against my garden's enemy.

Until it came back.

And it's still coming back. The lawn, different garden beds, paving, my dry creek bed; is there nowhere this plant won't grow? So, now I'm vigilantly picking them out - root, by vicious root.

And I will NEVER plant evening primrose again.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (24)

Maybe this should be the SunStick® vs SunCalc showdown at high noon? Two sunlight calculators battling it out for world domination. The SunCalc was designed for the left-brained thinker while the SunStick is for the visually adept.

Whatever the case, there's a new sun test tool available that can help you discern where your optimum gardening sites are. While most gardeners can recognise the path of the sun and the affect it has on their garden beds, it usually takes years for this level of experience to be honed and perfected.

Which is where these sun test tools come into their own. They take the guesswork out of deciphering nature's moods and report it without favour.

The SunStick works by placing the artificial flower in any spot within the garden. Leave it there until the end of the day and then compare the inner shade with the colour chart. Could it be any easier? The chart will then inform you whether your growing area is Full Sun, Part Sun, Part Shade or Full Shade and you can start planting accordingly - or chop down that tree that holds your garden back.

Admittedly, I've never used such a product but there was a time when I first started gardening that I wish they were available. It seemed like I kept placing my plants in the wrong location and losing them more often than not. Yet, after years of making stupid decisions I finally learned and now have much more success in getting the growing spot just right.

I can understand then if new gardeners are interested in products like these, which cost less than an average plant. Experience can be an expensive teacher.

And for those gardeners who like to grow inside, the makers of the SunStick have also produced an indoor version as well. It helps you gauge which areas of the room get light during the day and where are the best planting positions within your house.

Where can you get them from? It appears that the manufacturers are also the retailers - possibly the reason why they're cheaper than the SunCalc, so you have to buy them online here.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

Fact or fallacy? Judy Lowe from Diggin' it blog would have us believe that our gender plays an important part in how we garden. In fact, she even makes a startling observation;

Still, in my long experience, more men than women seem to be interested in growing dahlias the size of dinner plates, and more women than men love herbs.

Upon reflection, after quite a few years of reading through gardening blogs - most by women but a few of us blokes give it a go too - it appears that this revelation may actually have some merit. And, reading garden blogs written by both sexes, the different focus drawn by each is quite apparent.

For women, pictures of flowers seem to adorn their online journals while guys are more happier discussing gardening issues such as GM crops, eradication of pests and their beloved veggie patch with the optimistic giant pumpkin sheltered in the background. Please don't hear me wrong, I'm not making a statement as to which is better or right, merely observing a practice.

This is not a new discussion but one that I've mentioned a few times here on GTNI. For example, I wrote a post two years ago asking "Is gardening with a spouse a chore?" highlighting a few of our different approaches to the garden and then last year I wrote a 'tongue-in-cheek' post discussing "Are men better gardeners than women?".

While our genetic makeup is quite different we have probably always assumed that when it comes to gardening, our focus and attention is the same. I mean, we're not debating whether guys would rather do macrame or rock climbing we're just discussing gardening. Surely the hobby is defined enough to keep us all on the same page?

If it were then we would be sadly missing the point. Regardless of gender, some people 'garden' by collecting orchids or training bonsai. Others focus their activity on wholistic gardening (from veggies to flowers, composting to mowing lawn) and still others live for propagating and hybridization of plants.

Gardening, as a hobby, is incredibly diverse and I'm not sure that generalizations can be made based on set variables - even gender. Or can they? What do you think?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

I just stumbled upon a blog post from Jedda at Olliphants where she has started a gardening experiment with her kids.

To set the scene, this is no gardening blog. It's just a personal journal of a mum in Geelong, Victoria.

The post shows how Jedda, and her kids, are trialling a hydroponics arrangement, including none other than styrofoam cups, after seeing a Gardening Australia episode. She even links to another blogger in Melbourne who shares her own garden experiments.

Why am I telling you all this?

Primarily because I'm a curious sod who gets a little excited and jittery when I see people - who don't profess to be gardeners - start to experiment with the plant kingdom. While all us hard-core gardeners love to slang off at so-called "gardening TV shows" it seems that they have some benefit after all, if nothing else but to entice normal folk into the realms of gardening. That's got to be a good thing, doesn't it?

Where can all this experimentation lead? Who knows. Perhaps they will enjoy some incredible success and go on to becoming a Master Gardener. Maybe they won't. I'm not sure it really matters but I always hold out hope that when people begin to get their hands soiled their appetite for nature will grow.

On a side tangent, but closely related, it seems that Jamie Durie's "Outdoor Rooms" will be axed fairly soon. Not that I'm too disappointed, it was basically the-garden-you-create-when-you-have-tons-of-mullah-type-show that didn't have much in the way of gardening in it - unless you count using a pole-digger to drop hundreds of foliage plants into the ground as gardening. C'est la vie.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

Did somebody say the "R" word? I hope not...who knows what financial catastrophe it may invoke. Oh, we're already in a financial catastrophe! Well I guess we better not be the one they point out for causing this mess...let's slip away quietly and not use the "R' word again, shall we?

Nah, stuff it! Let's face facts. The economists don't want us to get all miserly and start saving money or turn from our credit spending ways. Otherwise banks will have to drop their credit rates even lower and fat-cat CEO's will miss out on their multi-million dollar bonuses. And we can't have that, can we?

Maybe we can! Maybe us resilient gardeners can actually enjoy our hobby WITHOUT the glossy catalogues, big-box sales and over-priced PBR new releases.

So, I've put together a few posts, from here and others, on ways to keep gardening without having to fork out big dollars. Check these out;

• Gardening tools - obtaining cheap garden tools can be an exercise in humility for some of us, but once you've found yourself an incredible bargain you'll balk at paying top dollar again. And, in most cases I've found that finding older garden tools are much better quality than their brand new upstarts.
• Or, how about starting a flower garden for less than $5? It doesn't get much cheaper than that and with a little frugality and creative thought you could create a wonderful garden without a heap of mullah.
• For those gardeners who live in confined quarters, here's a post from Fern at Life on the Balcony titled 10 Dirt Cheap Ways To Have a Gorgeous Balcony Garden. These should have your apartment brimming with life quicker than you can say "Will this be another Great Depression?"
• Then there are ways to save money by making your own greenhouse, installing a cheap garden fence, and even making seed-starters out of newspaper.
• With Christmas just around the corner, finding gifts for your friends without having to dive into your purse or wallet for the plastic is a welcome relief. Gayla, from YouGrowGirl has come up with some great Cheap n' Easy Plant-related gifts that you can either source from your own garden or buy inexpensively.
• Cheap gardening books? Sure, Margaret Roach from a Way to Garden has a few tips on bargain garden books to keep you enthused and energised in your gardening endeavours.
• And, if that's not enough to stimulate the frugal juices within, here's another 49 tips to save money in the garden that will surely pique your interest.

In fact, when it pertains to gardening, saving money is not an arduous task. Sure, we can enjoy it when we have it but when the belt needs to be tightened a little it doesn't make our hobby any less enjoyable - it just makes us more creative.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

Arguably the most beautiful genus of tropical plants would have to be the bromeliads and it's close relatives, tillandsias, guzmanias and billbergias. Commonly known as the 'pineapple plant' these adorable plants are responsible for adding vivacious colour to tropical gardens where green foliage is the order of the day.

One reader emailed me yesterday asking for some info and growing tips on the bromeliad plant. I was bemused that I hadn't written on these tropical stalwarts before but after checking my archives realised that it was a plant that had been sorely missing. Not that it should have been for I have three different bromeliad plants in my garden and one tillandsia. Don't ask me their scientific names though as they were all given to me by my green thumb mother without id labels and I haven't taken the time to wade through the possible 2400 species and more derivatives. If you want to try and id yours here's a good place to start - The Bromeliad Society of Australia - and begin with the Photo Gallery.

How to grow a Bromeliad
Bromeliads are as diverse in their growing needs and requirements as they are in their structure, foliage and flower colours. Some, like many tillandsias are epiphytic - that is they can grow without soil - while others are trichomes (receive their water and nutrient needs through their leaves) and others grow just like normal plants. Due to their very different growing needs it pays to know which type of bromeliad you have unless you have already been informed how to grow and care for it.

Most bromeliads, although tropical, can grow well in milder climates provided they're not subjected to frosts. They can handle the occasional one but if your area is prone to a few each year you may want to limit their outdoor activity to a minimum. Don't let that stop you though as bromeliads make great indoor plants provided they can get enough sunlight each day they will grow just as well, and in some cases better, than those left to their own devices outdoors.

• Epiphytic tillandsias - as these don't need soil the best place to grow them is on a wall or in the limbs or trunk of a large tree. In most cases they will need to be supported by wire to keep them attached to their host and this is just a matter of keeping them in place rather than binding them completely.
• Trichome bromeliads - the obvious problem with growing trichome bromeliads is planting them in your garden and expecting that your reticulation will keep them watered. Due to most bromeliads height and structure they could easily avoid getting any water at all. For this type you're better off hand watering them and making sure that that each plant is supplied within their cupped foliage.
• Normal bromeliads - these are usually bottom-dwelling plants within a tropical rainforest and need to source their moisture and nutrients from the soil. Caring for this type of bromeliad should take little to no extra effort than most of the plants that already reside in your garden.

Taking care of your bromeliad plant

Most bromeliads are very hardy plants and can usually survive without too much maintenance. They are susceptible to some pests, especially scale - which should never be treated with white oil or any other chemical, but merely cut out of the plant - but in most cases bromeliads have few predators.

One of the major problems for the bromeliad plant is it's ability to clump, rot and die. It propagates itself by sending up pups alongside the mother plant. These can be cut off once they've reached a third of the size of the original plant and transplanted. If they're not, they will eventually grow up and take over the plant and the mother will die. This isn't completely problematic and it's not always necessary to remove the pups but if you have problems with your older bromeliads surviving then this may be the cause.

The bromeliad plant can often become a home for garden snails and it's not uncommon to find them within the safety of their foliage. This shouldn't be a concern as they won't harm your bromeliads but it may alarm you that this army of pests is snoozing in your garden.

Pictures of Bromeliads

Apart from the great collection of images stored at the Bromeliad Society of Australia (linked above) there are some other gardeners who have great photos of their own collections. Here's some of Rusty's fantastic collection of bromeliads and here's one of my bromeliads in bloom last year.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

Every gardener has experienced this at some stage in their gardening journey. You buy a plant from your local nursery, big box or weekend market, get it home, put it straight into the ground and a week later it's dead - or at the very least needs some high-powered defibrillators to shock some life back into it.

You're left scratching your head as to where you went wrong. Was it the plant? Too much TLC? Not enough of something else? The possible causes seem endless and you feel out of your depth as much as when you tried diagnosing a child's sniffle.

Never fear, here is a list of 10 reasons why new plants die and how to avoid making the same mistakes again;

1. Incorrect planting - this would have to be the number one cause for most plant failures. Burying the root-ball too high or too low, not giving the plant's tender roots enough room to grow out and driving stakes through the tap-root are all common plant murder methods.

   Here's some links on How to plant a tree and How to plant shrubs that should give you some of the basics.



2. Too much or too little water - obviously the next culprit is the amount of water you gave your plant. I tend to soak the root-ball, while it is still in its pot, in a bucket of water before transplanting until all the air-bubbles have dissipated. I follow this up with watering them in so that no air-bubbles exist between the roots and soil after planting. Then it's a good watering every day for the first week and then I start to back it off to the plants needs. More than this and you will drown your plant and less will obviously starve it.


3. Soil is wrong for your plant - this can be compensated for with most plants. The best way to do it is to increase the width of the hole that you are going to plant into and then backfill the roots with the preferred soil type - ie, sand, clay or rich loam. This helps the plant get started and in most cases will be enough to acclimatise the plant to your natural soil conditions for the rest of its life.


4. Your climate is all wrong - while you may be able to fool a plant with the soil conditions it's very hard to deceive it with the climate - unless you have a greenhouse. Assuming you don't, or that you want your plants to grow in the ground year-round, it pays to buy plants that are suited for your climate - tulips won't work in the tropics and most palms won't grow in cold climates. Face it...and move on.


5. Over-fertilising - most plants don't appreciate fertiliser around their roots, especially fast acting fertilisers such as blood 'n bone (bonemeal). You' will do much better by providing the plant with an organic slow release fertiliser around it's drip-line and a foliar spray to get it going. Anything more than that and you will injure your plant.


6. Wrong Season to Plant - buying plants and trying to put them in the ground in the wrong season is just daft but the problem is knowing which season is appropriate. This will obviously depend on your climate and how mild/harsh each season is. As a safety tip you're most likely to successfully transplant at the end of winter/ early spring and then again in late summer/ early autumn. Definitely don't plant at the extreme pinnacles of summer and winter - it can only end in tears.


7. Lack of Protection - this is another common cause for plants dying. Harsh winds are the main problem when trying to successfully transplant and unless you protect your plant by providing some type of barrier they will struggle against this element.


8. Pests - annuals always struggle in my garden if I plant them as seedlings. The following morning they are riddled with slaters devouring everything but the stem. Snails are just as vigorous and unless you provide a barrier against these creatures you will lose your plants.


9. Sick when you bought them - sometimes it's not your fault at all and the plant may have already been sick, diseased or failing before you even bought it. Root bound plants are common and need some extra TLC if they are going to successfully grow in your garden. However, those with diseases are usually best avoided rather than try and remedy once they come into your yard.


10. Transplant Shock - the last of our 10 reasons is the age-old transplant shock where a plant goes into shutdown mode because it's detected that its environment has changed significantly from the comfortable pot it once lived in. A foliar fertiliser of fish or seaweed emulsion or even some liquid worm castings will help it overcome this problem but it's best to apply when you first plant rather than when your plant is struggling.

Even if you follow or avoid all these remedies and mistakes your plant still may die, and that's just life. Hopefully you will be able to treat most of the problems and as your experience grows your success at transplanting will increase allowing you to enjoy a wonderful garden.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (4)

Traversing the blogosphere I often come across posts that bear titles such as "Garden Expert claims...." or "Plants chosen by Garden Experts". Enticed, I begin reading to find that the so-called 'Expert' is some guy who could spruik that he was the Messiah, and his claims would be equally daft.

In a world where your voice is only as loud as the size of the audience you're speaking to, becoming an expert appears quite easy. In years gone by, an expert was someone credited because of their knowledge, reputation and experience. Their deftness at sharing and utilising their accrued acumen made us sit in awe whenever they spoke. Any recommendation they made became folklore overnight.

Where are these sages of wisdom? Alas, they've been replaced by Paris-Hilton-styled-wannabes. People who have very little to offer other than what the masses want to hear are becoming the new gurus. They don't have experience, they don't have the knowledge and they couldn't troubleshoot themselves out of a paper bag.

This year, Peter Cundall - my gardening hero - is retiring from my favourite garden show, "Gardening Australia". It's not a real surprise, he is 83 year's old - I hope I can still do at 53 what he can do at his age.

The problem, however, is who can take his place. Sure the program can still continue and I will watch it religiously. But, who will I be able to look up to and revere for their gardening acumen? Who will stand out as the new "garden expert"?

I'm not sure, really.There aren't too many others who enthuse me the way Cundall does. He makes gardening seem like it's the best pastime in the world and almost level pegs it with any extreme sport you care to name.

So, who are the "garden experts" that you admire? Who can I clutch on to in my time of need?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ask any gardener and I'm sure they can vouch that their initial interest in gardening began in their childhood. From planting radishes with Mum to seed experiments in school we became fascinated with the plant kingdom and wanted to satisfy this new found curiosity. Yet over the years,our interest level has ebbed and flowed like the tides across a sandy beach.

Why doesn't our level of excitement and involvement just continue to grow? My hunch is that life has a way of keeping us balanced and gardening, like any activity in life, cannot be exponential all the time. Check out his timeline to see what I mean.

DISCLAIMER: Now as this is just a hunch, and definitely not a proven theory, I'm open to discussion as to whether these events actually have any effect at all on our gardening activity. If not, then you can just humour me by reading my observations and then shooting me down in flames in the comment section.

The 6 Stages of Gardening Activity

CHILDHOOD - obviously the first stage occurs in your childhood. Whether it be your mum, dad or grandpa, someone introduces you to this new world - the Plant Kingdom. This is an extraordinary passage of time when you begin to discover seeds become vegetables, or flowers, and butterflies, bees and messy worms all play a part in the cycle of life.

As you grow, your interest level increases until you hit the dreaded 'teen years'. Unfortunately gardening takes second place to boys/girls, music and parties. Gardening is then relegated to the "squids" who don't have a life and spend their weekends teasing apart a bunch of seeds as though they were trying to split the atom. It becomes very 'uncool' to stay home and garden.

NEW HOME - but, even teenagers grow up at some stage and somewhere between 18-25 you find you're moving into your own place - a rental, a dormitory, or if you're one of the lucky ones - your own house. Suddenly gardening hits the agenda again because this new place needs some 'life' in it.

You start dabbling in container plants, transplants, buying plants and any plant you can get your hands on. Some work - some fail. But you're enjoying yourself again and your gardening interest increases.

FAMILY - and the life cycle repeats itself but this time you're the one popping out children and then exposing them to this adventurous hobby. That is until they start growing up and then you're running them to soccer, or ballet, or sleepovers and that time you enjoyed previously gets eaten up by the ankle-biters.

Gardening is still a desire but you just feel too tired to get out there and dig over a new garden bed like you did before you got married. Just when you thought you could spare an hour to repot some orchids your 5 year old son has an altercation with the floor - little boys should never try and fly!

PRODUCE - then those little boys turn into voracious eating-machines that can mow the insides of a fridge within seconds. The answer: we need to grow our own veggies! So, rather than just being a fun hobby, gardening now takes on a purpose. Instead of reading through bulb catalogues you're now flicking the pages of seed magazines eagerly searching for the spuds with the highest yield per hectare.

All that activity lasts for a period until you realise that the neighbourhood insects enjoy your veggies more than your teenage children - didn't see that one coming! Then it's off to the local nursery for some insecticides, pesticides, herbicides and any other chemical that can deal with the grubby little grubs.

Then you stop and wonder why you're bothering to grow all these veggies when the only ones who eat them are the pests and they're now more covered in chemicals than shop bought produce.

EMPTY NEST - finally the last of the children have left home and it's time to revisit those free teenage years again. You start wining and dining, travel becomes an option and sleep-ins on Saturday mornings stretch out past lunch - (I'm not there yet, so this is just my little fantasy!).

While you certainly have more time on your hands, gardening probably hasn't taken the spotlight like it did when you first moved. It still happens but less intensely.

RETIRE - but after a while, even ME-time can get a little boring. You're now ready to leave your career and start pottering around that garden again. You may even be young and fit enough to take on a new project like buy some acreage and start afresh.

Or maybe you now have time to join that gardening group you dreamt about just before you had a family. Or, you could start to enter those orchids in gardening competitions. The world is your oyster and you have every freedom to now enjoy your hobby as you always hoped you could. Until your hip displaces and your health wanes, that is...

I often find myself dreaming of the future and how my garden could be when such and such is just right. I have to remind myself that there is no time like the present to enjoy the season I'm in.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (8)

Interesting post over at Beautiful Grace - I stumbled upon it while researching another post - where the author, Maria Pauline, expounds the virtues of skirts for girls. As a male, I certainly don't have any desire to argue the point - my Scottish ancestry has seen me in a kilt more than once and it's not a pretty sight.

My own personal view on the "Should girls wear skirts or pants?" is purely aesthetic. They look prettier in skirts. But, I'm certainly no 'old-fart' that believes females must wear skirts. Even my own girls, while they look so cute and damn charming in a skirt, often wear pants.

So how does wearing skirts work as garden clothes?

In one of the illustrations that Maria Pauline used in her post, it depicts a doll wearing a flowery skirt with the caption "Gardening Outfit" beneath it. For me, as a man who knows nothing about such things, I would have assumed that the caption should have read "Garden Outfit" as in clothes that one may wear while in a garden. However, the caption clearly uses the verb rather than the noun which begs the question, "Are skirts appropriate garden clothes?"

My understanding of what one should wear in the garden are clothes that protect the body and can be soiled without any concern. My immediate thought about wearing a skirt while performing gardening activities is "your knees are going to get dirty" and therefore discounts my previous considerations.

Now, obviously I am completely out of my depth on this topic. As a mere male I have never had to consider wearing a skirt in the garden as an option - for me it's always a pair of jeans. And I have absolutely no desire to wear a skirt - for those who may be wondering - I'm just interested as to whether women think skirts are good active wear and if they actually wear them whilst gardening.

Or, is Maria Pauline still living in the 1950's mindset where women dressed to please men.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (7)

One of the many questions that surface via this blog is in relation to earthworms and while they appear in different formats the gist of them is this;

Q: I dug some compost, that was full of worms, into my garden beds only to discover later that they had all vanished. Where have they gone?

A: Of the more than 7200 species of earthworm that live on our planet the ones that inhabit our compost bins are predominantly Red Wrigglers, or Redworms, as they are called in the US. They thrive on the mass of matter that decomposes within our refuse and can withstand much warmer temperatures than their ground-loving counterparts.

So where did they come from initially? From the soil, believe it or not. Many times I have started a compost heap and turned it a few months later only to discover the pile is a wriggling, writhing hive of activity. Red earthworms have moved into the pile and are now consuming copious amounts of kitchen and garden waste. These weren't introduced into the heap but came of their own volition.

So where do they go when they get dug back into the soil? The first thing to understand with earthworms is their voracious appetite. If you remove the food source then they just pack up and go looking for another source to quench their hunger.

Many people think that if you dig Red Wrigglers or Redworms into the soil they will die. This is not necessarily the case, though due to many reasons (ie. acidity/alkalinity of the soil, bad drainage, ultraviolet light - to name a few) they may die before finding the next banquet. What usually happens is that they leave because the soil lacks in digestible organic matter - the compost has possibly been devoured already - and head for greener pastures.

How can you entice earthworms into your garden beds?

Organic matter. And heaps of it. Mulches, composts and leaf litter are great enticers for earthworms. While the soil is impoverished and obviously needing the assistance that worms can provide, the top of the beds need to be covered with organic matter that will encourage them to return.

Keeping them active in the garden is just as easy. As the organic matter is broken down and turned into worm castings it needs to be replenished so that your worms don't go looking elsewhere to satisfy their appetite.

How do I know if my earthworms are satisfied?

You will know if your earthworms are satisfied when you can dig a sod of soil and at least 6-10 worms are present. This shows that the life-cycle is working well and that they obviously have enough to eat and the conditions are good. More than this and you may be overfeeding your garden beds and less will demonstrate that your garden is lacking in organic matter.

How can I get them started in my compost?

You could start your own worm farm and breed them from there. Another option is to buy some Red Worms and then add them to your compost, or you could just wait until they turn up by themselves.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink

I have a friend - it's a loose term - who regularly reads my blog, not because he's interested in gardening per se, more because he's interested in finding things within my content to rib me about. In the interests of protecting the guilty we shall call my friend, Greg - mostly because that's his name.

Greg has just started his long service leave and one day into it he's already bored enough to spend time making hanging baskets, such as the one above. To most gardeners, this would be a welcome surprise, but to readers who are thinking this way, let me inform you, this is NO gift. Au contraire.

No, this is the gardener's version of a mafia "horse head." Plants that seem so innocent and ordinary from all external appearances yet are tainted with symbolism that force you to run inside, lock all the windows and doors and hide in the bath-tub.

Okay, maybe that's a little extreme but let's begin by identifying some of these plants. The tallest one in the centre (nice arranging BTW Gregory, did you get Leanne to do it for you?) is a snapdragon. Then on the edge are a few celosias with variegated spider plants dripping over the side.

Do you see it now? No? It's painfully obvious, I'm guessing you must be new to my blog. This is three of my five most hated plants, the only ones missing were amaranthus tricolor - bit hard to get that one in a hanging basket - and vincas. This is obviously a pointed attack and one that cannot go quietly under the carpet without revenge.

So, just for the record Gregory - you started it!

What shall I do with the hanging basket? Probably regift it, no doubt!

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (14)

Okay! Okay! I can here you tutting under your breath already...Maybe the head-shake is disbelief that I would consider not accepting a plant. Or, perhaps you have complete disdain for the selfish act of re-gifting. Whichever the case, it's going to make this discussion an interesting one.

Let's start with the first proposition - not accepting a plant. As this is a gardening blog one would expect that plants are the quintessential ingredient. Correct. Yet while 99.9% of plants can grab, and hold, my attention there are a few that I honestly do not like. In fact, I struggle to stop myself from gagging whenever I see them used in a garden.

So, while most plants would excite me and would certainly make their way into my garden - somewhere - a few are certain candidates as regift potentials. And the reason they are is because so many people love them, which is, sadly, why they're popular.

But the real question is whether to regift it or not? For those who may not understand the term "regift" it is the practice of passing the gift onto another person, for whom you may be obligated to give to, as though it were a present solely intended for that person. It's a socially acceptable fraudulent act where the consequence of being found out is shame and constant 'ribbing' within that circle of influence.

If you think of all those times when a 'gift' is a social obligation - Mother's Day, Thank you occasions, Housewarming parties and taking a token when visiting a family member - it makes perfect sense that a regifted plant could come in handy.

But as always, there are rules;

• Never make the major faux pas of regifting to the same person that gave you the plant initially.
• Try and remember which friends may have seen the plant when you first received it - and ensure that it's a different circle of friends when regifting.
• There is usually at least one person that you complained to about the gift - never regift it to that person.
• And, try and ensure that the original giver has very little, if indeed nothing, to do with the recipient of your regift.

And if all that sounds a little sneaky, underhanded and a little too much effort - you could always try and sell it at a local market.

But, there are rules on how you go about doing that... Another time, perhaps?

Have you ever regifted a plant or found another way of disposing of it thoughtfully? Love to hear your thoughts.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

Gardeners don't like magazine gardens - unless, of course, it's OUR garden that's splashed across the front cover. We complain that they're not REAL gardens but have been tizzed up for the camera and landscaped by some chic upstart who's just graduated from architectural school.

Gardens featured in magazines, we argue, lack the raw dynamism of a garden. Leaf litter, the occasional weed and a plant that sorely needs some TLC are not things you will find featured in the cover shots that glorify their pages. Instead manicured lawns, topiaried hedges and annual borders that flower more prolifically than the florists wholesale markets become a little...well...ho-hum after a while.

Is there any value in picking up another issue? Or, are you sadistically wired that you enjoy the de-motivating effect they have on your own gardening efforts?

Sure there is. Those pictures that seem so fake and maladjusted can actually breathe some life into your own garden - if you're willing to view them from another perspective. While we normally make comparisons between the illustrated garden and our own, in reality we will probably never achieve that glam demeanor - and honestly, who would want to?

Magazine gardens, from my vantage point, offer something incredibly unique - how NOT to design a garden. Basically, they are the antithesis to my own garden dreams and therefore provide a wealth of inspiration and an exceptional example of what a garden shouldn't look like.

Here's a little sample of what magazine gardens portray and how my own differs;

• Heavy maintenance - unless you have a team of horticulturalists on hand trying to achieve a garden that could even jockey for a middle-page snapshot, you're more than likely to produce stomach ulcers rather than that picture perfect outcome.

  I love to pour over magazine gardens and think through all that would be required to create and maintain that look. Then, if I find myself lusting after the result I ask myself the question, "Am I prepared to pay the cost to get that?" The answer is always an unequivocal "NO". I love to garden, but I don't live to garden.



• Magazine gardens are always easy to photograph - mine, on the other hand, is not. And I like it that way. The gardens that feature in magazines are usually quite open, well-spread and fairly minimalist in design.

  My garden hugs me every time I enter it and it feels like I'm walking the red carpet towards the Oscars. My personal space becomes invaded by the crowd of plants and shrubbery jostling for me to stop and adore the new growth or flower that's just bloomed.

  It's very hard to photograph that...



• Minimal specimens - you'll notice that most of these gardens have only a few specimens on display. Large drifts of the same plant, symmetrical positioning that catches the eye and mono -coloured bulbs that consume vast regions of the garden. It's as if the whole garden has been designed purely for show purposes much like your local wildflower exhibition.

  Indeed, my garden is more about the plants than the style - not that it's devoid of landscaping eye-candy. But, to just grow one type of plant over a large area seems like an immoral waste of garden. These gardens inspire me to use plants more effectively than to go with contemporary thinking.

I'm sure there are many other ways that these gardens inspire me to be different and perhaps I'll share some more in future posts. In the meantime, how do magazine gardens affect your choices and garden style?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

Hypothetically, if your local newspaper advertised an upcoming gardening class what would it have to offer to pique your interest?

Just curious - that's all.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

Keyhole gardens are a mix between square-foot gardening and herb spirals, blending the best of both practices to create something far more practical. In a word, the keyhole garden could be distilled down to 'accessibility'. It allows gardeners to access their garden bed from within a small radius located in the centre of the plot.

Square-foot gardening has as its premise the ability to carve up garden plots into...well...square feet. This can be done on an individual square-foot size thereby forcing the gardener to navigate the perimeter of each bed. The alternative method is to mark beds into square-foot dimensions of the whole which means gardeners need to bend down to cultivate, tend or harvest their plots.

So, while square-foot gardening has come a long way in reducing the amount of effort required to tend our garden beds it falls short of keyhole gardens by a long shot.

A keyhole garden offers as its main advantages the ability to tend your beds from the one position. You literally work from within the bed and rotate to access every inch of it. Plus, the bed is raised so you don't need to get on your knees when conducting your gardening tasks.

For people with physical disabilities, and the elderly, the keyhole garden is the ultimate way to enjoy this recreational hobby.

How do you build a keyhole garden?

Start by driving a stake into the ground as your pivot point. Then attach a piece of string to the stake with a marker measured out at 50cm(20") and draw your inner circle. This is where you will stand while performing your gardening tasks.

Then, move the marker 1.5m (5') away from the stake along the piece of string and draw another circle on the ground. This will become the outer perimeter of your garden bed and will allow you to reach all areas from your inner pivot position.

You will need to allow an access point of at least 50cm (20") to get into the centre of the garden once it's been built.

Once this has been done then it's time to build the raised bed. You could use rocks, bricks, sleepers or any other material that can retain the soil within the beds. The height required will be at least 1m (3' 3") so it will need to be constructed well enough to hold all that soil.

Finally, once the bed has been built fill it with soil, compost and animal manures to create your gardening plot.

Why would I bother building one of these?

The ultimate answer, apart from the accessibility features mentioned earlier, is the efficient use of space. Consider creating a square, raised garden bed that you could access from every angle. It could only be 1m x 1m (3.3ft x 3.3ft) but would take up a space measuring 2m x 2m for access. Therefore, this one garden bed would require 4sq. mtrs but only provide 1sq. m of gardening plot. The arable portion of this plot is only 25%.

A keyhole garden, on the other hand - with the measurements quoted earlier, would take up an area totaling 9 sq.ms and provide a plot size of 5.78 sq.ms. The arable portion of this plot is a whopping 64%.

Even if you were to try and maximise the space used for the square garden beds the best percentage of arable land that you would get would still only be 36%, almost half that of the keyhole garden.

So, it makes complete sense to build these rather than waste valuable space constructing their square counterparts.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (10)

Spring and Autumn (Fall) are traditionally the seasons for planting out seedlings, potted plants and bulbs. Yet all the creative work doesn't need to be relegated to these two times - summer and winter plantings can be just as successful.

Most gardeners fail to establish plants in the hotter months because they employ the same methods they would use in the more temperate periods. While it may seem logical to protect winter installations with a warm cloche, preparing and protecting summer plantings from the extreme climate is often undervalued.

So, to debunk a few gardening myths, planting in the heat of summer is possible provided you take a few extra steps.

• Plant after dawn or before dusk - obviously the coolest times of the day are the most likely periods for your plant's success. Neither dawn nor dusk are better than the other but both have their own liabilities.

  For instance, if you plant in the morning your seedlings have to face a whole day of beating the heat before getting any respite. Dusk plantings, however, must contend with their first night in the ground fending off snails, slaters and other garden pests bent on devouring their tasty leaves. Both problems can be overcome but for your plant's success you need to be aware of the obstacles.

• Water well - just as the cloche provides protection against the winter elements, water is the friend of summer plantings. For the first week, water your plant at least twice a day before the sun gets to its peak or towards dusk. Then for the next month, keep watering it on a daily basis until it's showing signs of becoming established with new growth.
• Soak before transplanting - one method I often use is to soak seedling punnets or pot plants in a bucket of water before planting out. Hold them under the water until all the air bubbles subside and the pot or punnet now has some weight to it. This ensures that the roots will have a readily available water source to help cope with transplant shock.
• Save the ice for the martini - one of the big myths of summer plantings is to surround your plant with ice cubes. The rationale behind this is that the heat will eventually melt the ice providing a slow water source for the plant. The reasoning sounds good but in essence it would be the same as observing your plant piled with snow in the winter - it will inevitably freeze the soil, or the plant, or both.
• Use slow-release water gels - if watering your new plant sounds too onerous then provide it with a water bulb or some slow-release water gels. Gels come in handy recyclable packaging and give your plants just the amount they need.

  A word of warning with these products is that if your plants are in full-sun all day then the likelihood of them heating up could be disastrous for your plants. Restrict your use of these to container plants or shade-lovers.

• Protect with shade cloth - while plastic has the ability to contain and employ heat, shade cloth has the opposite effect. Many of our exotic trees are encased with a shade cloth sleeve to filter the amount of light they get during the hottest months but also to protect them against summer winds. This gives them a much better chance of survival by shielding them from the elements.

As you can see, planting in the heat is not impossible and can be very successful provided you take steps to ensure your plant's well-being. Happy gardening.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

The sheer fact that this title prompted you to read this post is a small window exposing that you probably do care what your neighbours think about your post - or maybe you had nothing else better to do. I'll assume the former and try to answer how it is that we can petition our neighbours to respect us, as gardeners, and our gardens.

If you're an approval addict, like me, then getting the respect of your neighbourhood for your gardening achievements is possibly a deep-seated motivation. You long for people to take you seriously in this hobby and casually hope to overhear whispers where your name, your garden, and the phrase "I wish my garden was like hers" are mentioned in the same conversation.

And it's not an atrocious desire to have, yet if it's your only motivation for gardening then you may want to book yourself in for a few counseling sessions.

So, in this post I'm going to assume that you have a healthy appetite for earned respect. While you garden for yourself and the sheer enjoyment of it you also hold a desire for others within your location to appreciate your art - and as a garden artist, I think it was Kim who I first read coining the term, we love our masterpieces to be admired.

How do you earn the respect of those around you?

These days it seems like a border of spring/summer flowering bulbs and annuals won't "cut the mustard" as it did in previous decades. People are more in tune with the environment and taking steps to ensure its well-being. So, watching someone pour chemical fertiliser and pet-harming snail pellets over their garden is likely to evoke feelings of angst rather than admiration.

The longer I garden the more of an education I receive and in some ways I'd like for my garden to be educational to those around me. I desire to always be on the cutting edge of making my yard sustainable, yet comfortable, and still a canvas of colour and beauty. If those who view it were to capture any part of that then I would feel that my efforts were rewarded.

And part of being respected is found in respecting others. Am I willing to learn from the lady down the street? Or do I diss her garden because it doesn't fit my preferred gardening style? I think most people who tend their gardens, whether they call themselves gardeners or not, have something to offer and I believe that I will only earn their respect when I take time to consider, and accept, some of the tips and suggestions they propose.

But the big question isn't whether the non-gardening fraternity will accept our artwork but instead those who have some garden acumen are possibly the people we most likely seek for some kudos. Admittedly, who wouldn't want some gardening celeb to phone you requesting an interview? Or, the head of Kew Blotanical Gardens to seek you out requesting your opinion on some garden-related matter? We all would.

I've come to the point in my gardening journey where enjoyment of the small things ensures others' admiration of the big things. And usually it's only the big things they see - the micro is often overlooked. Therefore, my attention to detail in making my compost, as an example, has become the basis of my garden. If I can get that right then the rest will follow: my soil will be productive, my plants - healthy and my flowers - abundant.

The activities that others don't see will become the reason why they will respect me as a gardener and, hopefully, my garden.

But I could be wrong. What are the factors that you think gain respect for you as a gardener? I'd love to hear your thoughts and continue the conversation.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (9)

One plant that fails to get much 'air-time' these days is the dependable hibiscus. Maybe as gardeners we've moved on from these characteristically oversized flowers condemning them to the novices and non-gardeners because they're too easy to grow? Or, perhaps we just found other plants that stole our attention and they've been relegated to the yesteryear plants (aka "Grandma plants").

Whatever the reason, hibiscus and their deliciously tropical flowers have disappeared from mainstream garden discussions. Yet if you reside in an area where these grow it's quite obvious that their proliferation hasn't subsided. They continue to blossom underneath the public radar and seem quite content to remain hidden from the limelight.

I don't have one growing in my garden currently, unless of course you count my lavatera (a member of the Malavaceae family) but my mum had a few of these lining the driveway and I became a fan of their long flowering periods.

It seemed that hibiscus plants would flower as often as they could and the only thing to deter their blooming spells was to prune them hard. This would stop them in their tracks but only for a month or two, and then their foliage would cover their bare limbs and flower buds would burst open as quickly as they could.

How to Care for a Hibiscus Plant

If you read the opening paragraph you may have picked up that growing a hibiscus plant is anything but hard. In fact, from propagation to maturity you'll have more of a struggle trying to keep it in line than to get it to cultivate and flower.

But, like most plants, they do have their likes and dislikes with the most obvious being climate. Hailing from the Hawaiian islands, the hibiscus is a tropical plant and while it will do well among the coastlines of much of the world trying to get it to grow in colder climes will be a challenge. Unless, of course, you're happy to grow it in a garden greenhouse bringing it outdoors only when summer is in full swing.

Clay soil is also not high on a hibiscus plant's list of desirable growing conditions. They aren't real fussy when it comes to soil types and provided moisture is readily available they have been known to survive in extremely impoverished soils before - take note that 'survive' is the key word here.

Fertilising should be limited to an annual slow-release fertiliser and any more applications may send this plant into a foliage growing frenzy and prohibit its flowering potential.

Once your hibiscus is nearing maturity you will need to prune it back - at least 1/3 - 1/2 of its current size - once the summer flourish has subsided. This will help it produce new flowers for the following season but also keep it down in size and neaten its shape.

Propagating a Hibiscus plant

Much like the rest of this plant, propagation is a fairly simple task with the main methods being;

• Softwood Cutting


• Malcotting - (Air-layering)


• Grafting

Grafting is possibly the most involved method while the other two can be quite straight-forward and easily achievable. Results will depend on the species of hibiscus (yes...there is more than one) and the season in which you commence your propagation. The best time is the start of autumn (Fall) after you've given it a decent prune. Use some of the softwood cuttings that have begun to emerge.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (4)

Rainbird®, one of the world's leading water irrigation manufacturers, has been running a competition to reward those peoples who having been taking steps to manage water more efficiently. The five finalists, with their short bios, can be found here - but be warned that it reads like a press release (probably because it is a press release).

While all five finalists seem worthy recipients of the honour and accolades, as a gardener my vote would head to Glendale's Demonstration Garden. It's a no-brainer for me as gardens are one of the highest consumers of our liquid resources - nearly 25% of domestic water is used for this purpose alone. That being the case, any effort to re-educate gardeners about their water consumption could potentially save millions of gigalitres annually.

What I like most about this garden is it's ability to make it a garden. Unfortunately many nurseries and gardening shows - the prime sources of most home gardeners information - fail to educate their audiences on how to create xeriscape (dry) gardens. They may sell or discuss low-water-requiring plants but making them work in a garden setting is left for speculation.

The garden at Glendale is an interactive demonstration garden where the public can see how these plants work together. Apart from the audio technology they've implemented in the park they have also put together a short virtual tour as well.

Kudos Glendale. You're a very deserving recipient of this award.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (1)

So much has happened over the past 12 months that I needed to perform some maintenance checks here on GTNI when I stumbled across my posts from August 2007. It was like finding a box of old photos that had been stored beneath a layer of dust in the attic. Each image producing a collage of memories of how life was just one year ago.

A kaleidoscope of posts, links and photos rejuvenating my optimism for the garden and the hope of spring on the horizon. Even my Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post had a few pictures of flowers (pre my new Olympus purchase). Would you like to pull up a seat and flick through a few with me? Why not, the kettle's on too.

The Fun Ones

• Which Super-Hero Would You Like to Employ in Your Garden
• Origami Flowers: Phosphate-free blooms
• Exciting Colour Combo's for your garden

The How-To's

• What is a Rain Garden?
• Make your own Rain Water Barrels
• Make your own Straw Bale Cold Frame
• DIY Rubbermaid Worm Farm

Gardening Tips

• Designing a Japanese Garden using Australian Natives
• Garden Must-Have Features...If you plan to sell your home
• Picture a composting toilet in your yard
• How to buy plants online

It's so much fun reminiscing isn't it?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

On the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics what better time to start discussing the inclusion of gardening as an Olympic sport. How it has been overlooked all these years is anybody's guess but the hour is near where gardener's must unite to represent their countries for coveted gold.

Certainly its inclusion for the London games in 2012 couldn't be timed any better as a follow-on from the Chelsea Flower Show. On the world's stage, gardeners have been pitting their skills against each other for eons, competing at a level that would bring tears to any male gymnast caught in an awkward splits routine.

Yet, recognition for gardening as a world class sport has been sorely, yet noticeably, omitted.

The pain runs deep as other sports such as Handball, BMX and Synchronized Swimming are pushed ahead of our hobby while gardening has been observed for millenia and involves far more participants. Conspiracy theories abound but in the cold, hard, light of day one can't escape that Olympics organisers have snubbed this pastime one too many times.

I understand that some readers will struggle with calling gardening a 'sport' but as Princeton defines the term: an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition I feel that our hobby bids well. The competition usually comes from the weeds and pests and the physical exertion is the moment one picks up a spade or garden fork.

Personally, I would love to see gardening operated as a hexathlon with a number of different disciplines combining to produce a result. Activities such as;

• Wheelbarrow races
• Potato Sack Races
• Free-Range Egg and Recyclable Spoon Races
• Fencing
• Potting Mix Weightlifting
• Weed Wrestling, and
• Equestrian manure spreading

Am I lone voice crying in the wilderness? Does anybody else share my passion to see gardening recognised as an Olympic sport? I'm considering starting a petition....Any takers?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (3)

For a while now I've been contemplating a regular video spot on GTNI but there have been a few factors holding me back. Primarily - time. But I've kept trying to source faster ways to do it and below is the result. It's not completely polished and the sound is a little ordinary but I think I'm getting there.

Take a look and feel free to leave a response in the comments especially if you would like to see more of these and also what topics etc you would like to see.

Here goes ...

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (9)

The unassuming palm tree is one of the bastions of 1980's garden design. It was in this decade that to find a garden without one could be likened to discovering a teenage girl, in the same era, without a boofy hairdo - it was a near-on impossibility.

Their sudden uptake, especially here in Oz, was attributed to a number of factors but the most common desirable feature was caused by diminishing block sizes. That's right, as the average yard became smaller home owners wanted plants that weren't going to produce a heap of problems in the future - something a native eucalypt wasn't going to guarantee. It appeared that everyone had simultaneously woken to the idea that coastal living might suit coastal plants - duh!

As a garden fashion accessory, the palm tree was without competition. They were cheap, accessible and available in plague proportion. Three decades later the mission brown paint may have disappeared but palm trees seemed to have survived the rigours of a fad-driven culture.

The reason: their benefits are timeless and endearing.

1. Non-Raker's Delight - if I'd earned a dollar for every time I'd heard a gardener whinging about raking leaves, I'm sure I'd be a very wealthy man by now. The beauty of the palm tree is it doesn't have leaves to be raked. Instead their foliage is made up of fronds which are discarded, usually on a seasonal basis, to make way for new growth.

   While raking leaves is an ongoing task, picking up a frond or two could hardly be classed as 'work'.

2. Instant Landscape - this is by far one of the greatest benefits for growing palm trees. It only takes a few specimens but even at 1-2m high they can quickly transform bare dirt into a seductive oasis.
3. Low Maintenance - as far as many of our trees and plants go, the palm tree competes only with the conifer for the least maintenance required. They don't need regular watering nor copious amounts of nutrition and will hold up with a minimum amount of fuss. They are susceptible to very few pests and diseases and if they do happen to die, you could also pick up another one at Bunnings on the weekend.
4. Lite Feeders - unlike roses which are Light Feeders (whenever it's light they start feeding) palms are truly lite feeders. Jenny Craig devotees could learn a lot from these plants as they source their nutrition from the most unassuming places and can thrive on such minimal amounts of content.

   For those who can't help but fertilise their plants, you may want to hold back on these specimens and stick with an annual, or biennial, slow-release.

5. Hundreds of Different Types of Palm Trees - for the gardener choice is crucial which is the reason petunias are available in a myriad of colours, patterns and flowering shapes. They're still the same plant but we like to disguise it on the grounds of novelty attraction.

   Fortunately, palms come in all shapes and sizes as well. Sure, they're still palms but you couldn't say that the Kentia Palm was the same as a Sago Palm or a Windmill Palm was the same as a Parlour Palm. No sirree, Bob. Palm trees come in all shapes and sizes. Bangalow Palms, Cocos Palms, Date Palms, Needle Palms, Chinese Fan Palms...the list is endless. There are short palms, tall palms, in-between palms and palm trees we're still yet to discover for the home use. Variety, with this tree, is definitely not in short supply.

6. Storm-proof - if you've ever seen footage of a cyclone or tornado lapping a coastal district you won't have missed the palm trees being violently swayed in the gusts. Yet, despite the onslaught most manage to survive undeterred while other plants are unceremoniously plucked from their habitats and discarded miles away.

   The palm tree has an amazing root system that will hold it firmly in situ and just bend and sway against any strong winds. This means you will rarely have one falling on top of your house or crashing through your recently added pergola.

7. Survive in most climates - while many of our palms are tropical or sub-tropical and reside in coastal locations there are a few varieties that can also survive cold climates and even grow in higher altitudes. If you're looking for some varieties for your areas then check out Wikipedia's info.
8. Will Grow in Most Soil Types - palm trees can grow in most soil types as well. While their preference is for sandy soils or sandy loams they have been known to grow in clay quite well. The trick to getting them started in such a contrasting soil type is to plant them in a large hole that is backfilled will river sand. This will help them get established and then they can learn to grow the clay as they mature.
9. Mature Palms are worth BIG $$$$ - once your palm tree has matured it can become quite a valued piece of property. Depending on the type of palm, many can be transplanted quite successfully and some are always in high demand by home-owners, landscapers and sometimes even botanical gardens.
10. Fool-proof - I have yet to see a palm that couldn't be grown by just about any type of gardener, including the ultimate novices. All the benefits listed above direct themselves to this remaining point - they are not a tough plant to grow.

Makes you want to rush and buy one, doesn't it?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (2)

Butterflies are one insect we can't seem to get enough of. Their intricately patterned designs and graceful floating movement combine to amaze and endear these winged creatures. And while slaters, slugs, snails and aphids are on our hit list our fascination with butterflies motivates us to allure them into our gardens.

If you follow the myriad of blogs that exhibit this gorgeous species you will quickly notice that many gardeners go out of their way to attract them into their gardens. And how does one attract butterflies into their yard? Quite simply, with food.

The question then becomes, "What do butterflies eat?" They're obviously not carnivores and therefore can't be omnivores so they must be herbivores. Not so fast, Sherlock. Butterflies technically don't eat plants either. They're after nectar in whatever form it comes in. Which gives us some clues as to their dietary preferences.

One article titled Butterfly Bait: How-To Formula also shows us a glimpse of their taste bud delights. The formula is as follows;

INGREDIENTS

1 pound sugar
1 or 2 cans stale beer
3 mashed overripe banana
1 cup of molasses or syrup
1 cup of fruit juice
1 shot of rum

Apparently, you're meant to mix this up and then paint your tree trunks, patio posts, fences or even dangle a sponge soaked in the goop from a tree to lure butterflies into your garden. While it sounds awfully fun [sic] I can think of better things to do with my weekend.

A better option - far better IMHO - is to attract them with plants. We've already divulged that they're suckers for nectar so growing nectar producing plants is obviously a step in the right direction. But, there are some plants that are better than others so how do you find the right ones as a hook into your garden.

Some tips on finding plants that butterflies eat.

1. What do you like? - flowers that attract you, either by their colour or their scent, are similar to those that appeal to butterflies. Large, open blooms such as asters, gerberas and echinacea are obvious selections.
2. Bright Colours - pinks, purples, reds and yellows are often noted where butterflies like to dine.
3. Flowers with UltraViolet (UV) Light - while the human eye can't differentiate UV light, butterflies certainly can. In fact, they use it in a similar fashion to planes navigating a landing strip with lights guiding them to their destination. There's a great list of UV plants here.
4. Abundance - butterflies only survive between 2 - 12 months for most mature adults so they don't have a lot of time flitting from garden to garden tracking mere morsels. Instead, they will much happily reside in gardens where there are an abundance of plants and variety of selections for them to choose.

Butterflies will mainly eat during the day while moths will arrive on dusk or throughout the evening. This is worth noting because moths will most likely bypass your brights and head for your pale-coloured flowers instead.

The benefits of attracting butterflies in your garden

Apart from the overt fascination and beauty of attracting butterflies to your place they play an important part in the survival of your garden. While we can't do without bees, butterflies offer a great pollinating package as well - plus they won't sting the ankle-biters.

Instead they will help pollinate many of the plants that attracted them in the first place, providing more blooms for the future. And this can only be a good thing.

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Most gardeners who read this blog, I'm assuming, have all senses working at normal levels. Sure, as we grow older our hearing wanes and our eyesight becomes fuzzy but in general most of us don't miss out completely on any one of our senses?

But what if we did? Hypothetically, if you were told that you were going to lose one of them and you had the choice of which one to ditch, which one could you omit - and still enjoy gardening?

Before you make up your mind let's recap what it is that you would actually lose.

Sight

I take my hat off to those gardeners who have learned to enjoy their hobby without the use of their eyes. This would have to be the sense that I would struggle to do without the most because gardening is a very visual experience. It would be similar to painting without eyesight - while you may have completed a masterpiece you will never get to enjoy the finished product and this, too me, would be debilitatingly frustrating.

Without sight you would struggle to choose seeds, enjoy your garden vistas, dig, hoe, rake or do anything without the aid of some assistance.

Hearing

Surely hearing's a peripheral sense. One that we could easily omit and still enjoy our gardening experiences. Or is it?

No birds. No running water. No rustle of leaves as the wind whistles through the upper canopy. No excited giggles from children as they explore your garden. Not to mention how dangerous it would be to use power tools in the garden without this sense. You wouldn't be able to tell if the lawn-mower was on or off or if the edger was labouring and needing some attention.

It would still be quite difficult to garden without this sense.

Smell

What gardener in their right mind would give this one up? Taking time to 'smell the roses' would be as useless as making ice cubes in Antarctica and we would be completely oblivious to the scents of spring.

Fragrant blooms and perfumed herbs would be wasted in our garden and while it possibly wouldn't affect our gardening practise it would certainly limit our enjoyment.

One benefit would be that you could stick your head in a bag of rotting manure and not be affected - but that's about the only plus.

Touch

On the surface our sense of touch may seem as incidental as the sense of smell. However, probe into a day without this sense long enough and you will soon discover that it's far more essential than one might expect. Without the sense of touch planting out seedlings would be an almost impossibility and you can forget sowing seed. Picking lettuces would be a challenge and even navigating your garden beds with a hoe would prove difficult.

Touch is one of those senses that we take for granted, moreso than the others. Yet living without it would make gardening a chore more than an enjoyable pastime. It could actually be as important as our sense of hearing.

Taste

If there were one that we had to give up then surely taste will be the fall-guy! Heck, what's taste got to do with gardening anyway?

For starters, try growing vegetables without it - you'll end up enjoying turnips as much as vine-ripened tomatoes. But then you probably wouldn't bother ripening them on the bush because it wouldn't matter. In fact, you could pick them when they were still green and delight in them just as much.

And herbs would just be space fillers!

So, which one could you easily lose and have no effect on your gardening enjoyment?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (7)

If you start to discuss pruning rose bushes with another gardener, it's not long before you realise everybody's an expert! The problem with said 'experts' is they all hold conflicting views over what is, and isn't, the correct way to prune them.

Some will espouse the "rip-open-the-chainsaw" method while others discuss in intricate detail the precise angle needed to make the cut. A few will advise the use of sealing gels to protect the bushes from infection and yet there are advocates for leaving the rose bush to heal itself. Surely with all these contradicting views someone must be right - and possibly some will be wrong. Or, does it not matter? Can these very different opinions all be right?

Perhaps.

Initially we need to ask ourselves why we want to prune our roses. Shape? To encourage more blooms? Maintenance? There are a variety of reasons and each may have its own requirements.

Pruning Rose Bushes for Shape

You may have come across rose bushes in other gardens - certainly not our own - that take on a stick growing habit rather than displaying a nice shrub. At the end of the 'stick' sits one single bloom that looks more like a pom-pom on a cheerleader's hyper-extended arm than a prize-winning plant.

In this case, taking some time to find a few buds that could be encouraged for next year is worth the effort. If you were to just lop the main branch off you could find that growth only comes from that region of the plant next season.

For other bushes they may have become too ramshackle for your garden and just need a quick 'Short-Back-and-Sides' that is best done with a pair of hedging shears. If you feel inclined, the chainsaw may also be the right option. Provided that you prune the canes back evenly, your mature rose bush will relish this once-over.

Prune Roses for Increased Blooms

Another reason why gardeners prune their rose bushes is to hopefully increase blooms for the next season. I've not seen any scientific proof that pruning achieves this unless, of course, the rose bush has been left to its own devices and sports a grand supply of rose-hips. Hence, it needs some serious TLC.

Increasing the number of blooms on your rose bushes has more to do with the variety of rose, fertilising, water control, climate and soil preparation than it does with how you trim the plant. However, the more growing canes available on the bush the more likely they are to be covered with rose blooms. So, pruning a rose bush to take advantage of the number of growing canes will be advantageous.

Pruning your Rose Bush for Maintenance

If your growing region is similar to mine then Blackspot, Marssonina rosae, may be a common problem. Mid-way through the summer months the leaves start spotting with a black-coloured fungus which becomes unsightly and begins infesting the remainder of the bush.

While many gardening experts and chemical companies will advise applications of lime sulphurs there are measures that you can take, just by pruning, to keep this disease at bay.

First, when pruning make sure that the buds you prune down to are all outward facing. This allows for more air movement within the rose bush and will allow the plant to dry quicker after watering or seasonal rains. This will slow the fungus from taking hold and will slow its spread throughout your bush.

Next, if your rose bush does contract the disease then prune away any leaves showing the symptoms. These should be discarded or burnt - don't put them in your compost heap. Once your bush shows signs of blackspot there is no chemical that can rid the plant of this blight. The best defense is prevention and this is best done when the plant requires pruning.

When should you prune your rose bushes?

Most gardeners hold the view that an annual prune for rose bushes is a good thing. This is best performed while the bush is in it's dormant stage towards the end of winter. After a prune or deadhead, the next flourish of blooms will take between 6 -8 weeks to appear so you can almost time it if you have a party or open garden coming up in spring.

Deadheading your roses after the blooms have been spent is also a good practice, especially if you want more blooms. For some gardeners the allure of rose hips is too strong and so they leave their spent flowers to continue producing. But for most of us, we love to have flourish after flourish after flourish.

Therefore, if you're deadheading your rose bushes take the opportunity to prune it back a little for shape otherwise you will have blooms at the end of long, leafless canes by the end of summer.

Conclusion

Is there a right or wrong way to pruning rose bushes? IMHO - I think that most gardeners who purport the genius behind rose pruning practices are possibly a little too anal-retentive and discourage many beginner gardeners from enjoying these wonderful plants.

Roses aren't that hard to prune and they are very forgiving if you make a mistake. Trial and error is usually the best teacher and providing you don't kill your rose bush you should be able to get the best out of it without taking up the Bachelor Degree module.

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (6)

Have you ever thought how cool it would be for garden bloggers to have their own HTML tags? Sure you have, who hasn't ?

As I was contemplating this very question just the other day, it dawned on me how wonderful it would be to create your garden from your very own computer - using nothing else but HTML code! For the uninitiated who treat HTML, or any coding language for that matter, as something from the pit of hell itself allow me to cover a few basics.

Most of us would have seen the common tags that turn up in our templates yet make very little sense. Tags such as <div>, <span>, <body> etc. (I'm making the assumption that you all understand that each tag has it's own corresponding closing tag as well ie. <div> and </div>)

Well, what if we began creating our own such as <flower></flower> or maybe even <compost-heap></compost-heap>

We could then begin to design our gardens with a few well appropriated tags defining it to the nth degree.

For example, here's a garden I produced earlier;
<garden style='border:blue;border-style:picket;' class='cottage'>
<gardenbed align="right-next-to-the-fence">

<flower style='height:groundcover;color:white;'></flower>
<flower style='height:shrub;color:yellow;'></flower>
<flower style='height:tall;color:red;type:rose;'></flower>

<bench style='width:wide-enough-for-large-bottoms;height:tall-enough-to-keep-the-kids-off;
color:rustic;'></bench>

</gardenbed>
</garden>

And here it is - photo

It would certainly make life much easier for us gardeners, wouldn't it?

Posted by Stuart | Permalink | Comments (12)

Who doesn't want to save money, especially in our gardens? And in the current economic climate many of us are already feeling the pinch and have to resort to more efficient uses of the "Almighty Dollar". But that isn't just a bad thing, is it?

In most cases not, but for some gardeners it may force them to take actions that appear, on the surface at least, an incredible shift in their normal modus operandi. Check out some of these cost saving articles;

• Ten Ways To Cut Your Gardening Costs! - not a lot that's new here but there may be one or two ideas that spark your frugal imagination.
• The Low-Maintenance Yard: Save Money With These 7 Ideas For Your Garden - Admittedly, most of these options are going to be quite controversial for most gardeners - especially the ideas about no gardens altogether.
• How to save money in the garden [link since removed] - probably the best tip given here is "Going Unplugged" - leave the power tools in the shed and save money on fuel and maintenance by using traditional gardening methods.
• The Save Money Garden - recycling and re-using is the key here.
• 9 Ways To Save Money In The Garden - build your own cold-frame! Now there's a great way to save money at the nurseries.

What are some ways that you've found beneficial to saving money in your garden?