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GARDENSHOP’S MAGAZINE
Spring 2012
Spring it on!
Contacting us Contact us on 0861 G-A-R-D-E-N (427336) Queries: To provide you with excellent service, we have a team of dedicated and passionate gardening experts and there are several ways of directing your gardening queries to us: Online: www.gardenshop.co.za Call 0861 G-A-R-D-E-N (427336) Email us on info@gardenshop.co.za Connect with GardenShop! Daily gardening posts, updates on new plants, trending gardening ideas and seasonal pictures from our garden centres.
Editor’s Letter
Spring it on! Stand by for a glorious, magical spring at GardenShop A chance to add zest and energy after a cold and long winter. Introduce new colour schemes into your garden, start implementing water-saving systems, create wild meadow areas for wildlife and birds and invest in organic fertilisers that will bring health and vitality to your garden. Spring is an ideal time to encourage children to spend more time outdoors, involve them in fun activities like creating and making their own magical gardens with colourful flowering seedlings, creating teepees out of bamboo stakes and bean seedlings, or growing their own potted tomatoes. The miniatures bite -size tomatoes are delicious and are fun to watch grow! GardenShop brings you everything from glorious flowering hanging baskets, incredible selections of flowering perennials and the very latest in organic and natural fertilisers to help you make the very best of Spring.
Happy Gardening Editor: Deborah Hele
TM
Celebrate Spring
e-mail: deborah@gardenshop.co.za Publisher & Ad Sales: First Wave Media cc e-mail: gardentalk@firstwavemedia.co.za
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with all the added benefi ts of being a GardenRewards member
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• It’s free – you pay absolutely nothing to join. • A 5% Cash Back Reward for every Rand you spend (excluding promotional items).
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GardenShop proudly supports BirdLife South Africa. www.birdlife.org.za Giving Conservation Wings.
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fi rst wave media GardenTalk is published on behalf of GardenShop (Pty) Ltd by: First Wave Media cc Tel: 011 640 7354 Web: www. firstwavemedia.co.za Postal: PO Box 28845, Sandringham, Johannesburg, 2192
featured
GardenShop is a proud partner of MySchool. www.myschool.co.za
Spring! It is time to garden It’s time to spring start your garden and it’s incredibly easy with our handy hints and tips.
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Sassy Spring Must Have’s A bold, beautiful, exciting and enticing range of plants, garden products and essentials from GardenShop.
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Children’s Gardens Let your child discover and experience the joys of gardening, nature and outdoor play with our Spring Children’s Garden Workshop.
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Spring! It is time to garden
Follow our tips to spring start your garden into shape
Flowers and Bulbs • Plant flowering seedlings like alyssum, begonia, celosia, cosmos, chrysanthemum palidosum, dahlia (bedding), dianthus, lobelia, marigold, impatiens, pansy, petunia and vinca. • Continue watering and fertilising annuals and bulbs ideally with liquid fertilisers like Hadeco Bulb Food, Margaret Roberts Supercharger or Multifeed Flowegro. • Start feeding your roses, fruit trees and citrus with Sudden Impact for Roses, Wonder 6:1:5 (22) Flowers and Fruit or Ludwig’s Vigorosa. • Watch out for the lily borer on clivias and lily bulbs. • Sow flower seeds like ageratum, alyssum, aster, candytuft, Canterbury bells, cleome, cosmos, dianthus, impatiens, lavatera, lobelia, marigold, petunia, salivia, schizanthus, sweet william, verbena, vinca and viola. • Plant summer bulbs like amaryllis, arum, begonia, cannas, crocosmia, dahlia, eucomis, galtonia, gladiolus, spider lily, nerine, tigridia and zephyranthus.
Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit • Mulch Raspberry canes with compost or manure • Sow vegetable seeds like runner beans, bush beans, beetroot, broccoli, chillies, cabbage, carrot, celery, cucumber, eggfruit, green pepper, leeks, lettuce, melon, onion, parsley, peas, parsnip, pumpkin, rhubarb, spinach, radish, squash, sweetcorn, tomato, turnip and watermelon • Plant vegetable seedlings like celery, lettuce, parsley, spinach and tomatoes.
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General Tasks • Finish off all your pruning, especially your roses
and fruit trees. • Once you are sure of no late frosts, you can
prune your fuchsias. • Don’t cut back frost-damaged plants until the
danger of frost has passed. • Continue watering plants in containers and
hanging baskets to prevent drying out, especially in the Highveld where gusty, August winds prevail. • Divide and replant any overcrowded perennials. • Repot pot plants and other plants that have
outgrown their containers into bigger pots. • Protect young shoots from attack by slugs and
snails. • Clean gutters in anticipation of the summer rains.
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A perfect
Spring Lawn
Countrywide rising temperatures, clear blue skies and vibrant spring colours make being in the garden almost irresistible. Kick start your lawn into action with our essential tips for a perfect spring lawn. This treatment should only apply to the creeping grasses such as Kikuyu, LM, Bayview and Skaaplaas.
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• Rake the lawn vigorously with a metal tooth rake to remove the old grass and to loosen the soil. • Your lawn should be cut as short as possible to remove all old and dislodged grass. (The raking should only be carried out every second year.) • Feed and boost your lawn with Wonder 7:1:3 Lawns and Leaf Fertiliser, Neutrog’s Upsurge or an organic alternative like Vita-Green 5:1:5 (16). • Water well after fertiliser application. • Lawn dressing should also be applied every second year. A bag of lawn dressing will cover 4m2. Lawn dressing will not help to level the soil. In order to level the soil, topsoil should be applied.
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Sassy Spring
must have’s
Egg shape Birdfeeder A GardenShop Exclusive! And many more feeders in store.
This season, ‘Spring it On’ with GardenShop’s new and exciting range of superb plants, gardening products and essentials that will make others quite literally, green with envy!
IDEAL for POTS IDEA L for POTS
Angelonias Improved old-time favourite. Free flowering, various colours.
imenii Plectranthus ch ring to Flowers from sp ! m ge Indigenous n. su l ful r autumn. Ideal fo
Essential Organics book A comprehensive South African book on how to garden organically.
Seamungus Health tonic for plants. Seaweed and fish acids ensure your plants stay strong and healthy. 10kg.
IDEAL for POTS ‘Tara Blue’ A Felicia with compact growth and an abundance of flowers. It is indigenous and waterwise too.
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Premium Potting Soil Now with enhanced water retention. 30dm.
Proven Winner Petunia Vista Varieties Vigorous, mounding plants that are perfect landscape fillers. Bloom all year, low maintenance.
Hozelock Hosereels Trusted European quality now available in SA. Various hosereels and hosepipes available.
WATER WISE
Snail-Gone Environmentally friendly and longer-lasting pellets to control snails. 500g.
Flour Dust Plant Pink flowers in spring. Lowgrowing succulent, ideal for mass planting or pots.
Kumulus Protect your plants against mites, thrips and fungi. 250g.
Red’, ‘Amythest’, Calibrachoa ‘Dark t Pink’ ‘Ho d an a’ ‘Nostalgi rtment of new and so As Pretty beautiful! ts. od in baskets and po double varieties, go
IDEAL for POTS GardenShop Suet Cakes, Peanut Blocks and Seed Bells Your garden birds deserve nothing less than the best quality bird feeds available.
Reel Gardening Kids Seeds for kids. Easy, great fun and fool-proof!
Wax ore! Geraldton w back in st favourite, no e tim dol n A urs available. Various colo
Paris Garden range Urban farming on your window sill. Various types to choose from.
Perfect
GIFT
Vita 6.3.4
‘Kilimanjaro’ Dainty yes, but hardy too! Showers of white flowers all year.
Petunia Phantom Hanging Baskets Bring the opera to your garden! Sun-loving annuals.
Petunia Suncatcher Lemonade Hanging Baskets Trailing Petunia with masses of flowers all year. Good for pots and hanging baskets.
Petunia Black Velvet/ Alyssum Hanging Basket Black is beautiful! Sun-loving.
A certifie Vegetables do your herb rganic, slow rele ase and vege table gard food for en. 2kg.
IDE f AL POoTr S
Double Osteos Indigenous, waterwise AND pretty! Howz that! Ideal for mass planting. GardenTalk
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Top GardeningTrends from the
Chelsea Flower Show
Orange Pops Water Management Different ways of managing water were found at many gardens this year. A modern version of a water garden will use rainwater to fill channels, which is filtered through the planted beds alongside the channels.
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As colours move in and out of fashion we find the same colours trending in the garden. This year, fiery pops of orange were featured in the many gardens on display at the Chelsea Flower Show. Restricting the colour palette in this way gives real visual impact, and could work well in small gardens.
Green Gardening Five Important Green Gardening tips from GardenShop. Practice composting: If you have the space to make your own compost you will be able to give back to your garden and the environment.
Recycle organic waste: Earthworm farms are one way of taking care of your organic kitchen waste. Earthworm bins are manageable for anyone who has limited space. They produce a vermicompost appropriately known as Black Gold which will produce miraculous growth in your garden.
Save water in your garden: Saving water makes good environmental and economic sense. Consider installing water storage tanks! Mulching flower beds will help the soil retain moisture and hereby decreasing watering, Reduce watering time to an absolute minimum and when choosing plants, consider their water requirements.
Grow your own food: There’s no better time to start growing your own herbs and vegetables. In a matter of weeks you’ll be enjoying your own fresh, tasty produce straight from the garden.
Feed your soil: By building up soil in spring you will be producing healthier and pest free gardens.
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Children’s Gardens
The opportunities for children to freely interact in a naturalised setting has been greatly diminished. Physical boundaries have shrunk, houses and apartments are smaller and gardens are smaller or even non-existent. Children’s lives have also become more structured, scheduled and supervised that for many, free play consists of sitting inside in front of a TV or computer.
The positive benefits associated with children experiencing natural environments and free outdoor play produces much food for thought - creative problem solving, better recalling of information, developing the imagination, reduced stress and general feelings of well being. However if children had the skills to design outdoor play areas it would be completely different to an adult’s interpretation - fully naturalised with plants, trees, flowers, water, dirt, sand, animals and insects – providing rich varieties of developmentally appropriate play and learning opportunities. “Children learn best through free play and discovery” A discovery garden offers a sensory experience which is unique and appealing to children and different standards of play apply. Creating a discovery garden offers children the chance to manipulate their environment and explore, to experiment, to pretend, to understand themselves and to interact with nature, animals and interesting insects and other children. Loose parts like sand, water and naturally found objects are essential tools for free outdoor play, nurturing curiosity and wonder.
GardenShop Spring Garden Workshop for children between the ages of 6 and 12 Price: R200 per child
Date: Saturday, 1 September 2012
Workshop activities to include:
Time:
Venue: GardenShop Bryanston
• Mr. Pot Head – painting a face on the pot and planting a funky grass as the hair. • Sensory Planter Box – planting of mints and thyme and other sensory herbs using different mulches. • Garden Picture Frame – gluing items onto a frame attaching it to a bamboo stick. Looking at nature closely through their frame.
10 – 12:30pm
Book: Call Linsay on 011 463 5773 or email her at linsay@gardenshop.co.za. Alternatively you can book online at www.gardenshop.co.za
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Happy Birthday
GardenShop Edenvale
Gardening specials will abound all Spring long and essential gardening products are available for a ship shape garden. Stoneridge Shopping Centre Cnr. Modderfontein and Hereford Rd, Edenvale Telephone: 011 524 0257 GPS Co-Ordinates: 26° 06’ 56. 88” S / 28° 08’ 42. 73” E
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WIN!
munch cafe Opening soon this spring at Bryanston! You’ll also find munch cafe at GardenShop Parktown, Corner Jan Smuts Avenue and Bolton Road, Parktown North. Telephone 011 447-9061. email: food@munchcafe.co.za or visit their web site at munchcafe.co.za
By purchasing any Hozelock product, one lucky GardenRewards member stands the chance of winning a fantastic
Ryobi 4-Stroke Self-Propelled Petrol RM-70SP lawmower! This rear wheel drive mower makes for easier and effortless mowing.
All you have do after your Hozelock product buy is email marketing@gardenshop.co.za with ‘Win A Ryobi Lawnmower’ in the subject line, along with your GardenRewards membership number and contact details. Closing date for entries is 30 September 2012. Winner will be announced in our Summer 2012 issue.
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NEW!
The ultimate easy to use hose reel When you know your garden deserves the best! With over half a century’s horticultural experience, at Hozelock we understand the rewards of gardening, and we want to help you get the most from your involvement in it.
• Automatic rewind wall mounted hose reel • Rewinds without kinks, tangles or effort • Complete with 20m of premium hose Easy to programme water timer automatically controls the water on and off up to 4 times a day
Hozelock connectors are compatible with all other brands
Water areas up to 180m2
See our gardening range online at www.hozelock.com