Gardening Australia
MARCH EDITION
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Editor’s Letter It’s all in the timing... So, the slothful period is over. The weather is becoming more amiable (or will be soon), and we’re looking at our gardens, ravaged variously by the heat, drought, fires, floods and wild winds of summer, and we’re setting about pruning, weeding and preparing plots for autumn. Suddenly, there’s so much to do, and we actually even feel like doing it.
There’s a good time and a bad time to do most things, and our gardens have a way of reminding us of this when we try to work against nature. I laid a new lawn in January, and you know that saying, T d rather watch grass grow”? Well, I’d rather not. Standing out there with a hose at 9pm after arriving home late on blistering days to find the lawn turned to straw and resembling a tray of Anzac biscuits that have flattened out during baking to form one giant biscuit, was definitely one of the most boring things I’ve done in the garden, and it proved why the time to lay lawn is now, not midsummer.
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Another thing that’s all about timing is bulbs. If you want a spring bulb display this year, you need to be poring over catalogues now, and either placing your orders or getting on down to the garden centre. I love bulbs - really love them. It’s partly the surprise element. I forget every year, despite my ‘notes to self’ not to forget, what I have planted where, so each time they pop up, I am delighted all over again as though I’ve never seen them before. I also love how easy they are to care for, I love that some multiply themselveswithout me doing anything, and I love that so many make outstanding cut flowers. On page 24,Jennifer Stackhouse suggests ways to use bulbs in the garden, and offers a few ideas for rare bulbs, for those of us looking for something more unusual. Also in this issue, we feature a terrific kitchen garden attached to a two-hatted restaurant in rural Victoria (page 18); Phil Dudman shares more of his Lazy Sod tips (page 38); Ally Jackson goes off on a beekeeping workshop (page 32); and Sophie Thomson profiles beautiful buddleja (page 14). Finally, a note for your diary: we will be at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show this year (March 16 to 20). Look out for our stall, and come and meet some of the team. See you there!
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ON THE COVER 14 Sophie Thomson: buddlejas for flowers and butterflies. 24 Bulbs: the promise of things to come. 30 Bonus pack of bulbs 32 Bees in the ‘burbs: is it for you? 38 Lazy ways to improve your soil 44 Designing great steps 58 Tino Carnevale: how to grow healthy crops of cauliflower 60 How does liquid seaweed work?
FEATURES
18 On the menu 24 Beautiful ways with the bulbs 32 Bees in the ‘burbs’ 38 Great soil, no worries 44 Stepping out in style
KITCHEN GARDEN 57 The harvest 58 Growing guide 60 Kelp me in you can 62 Cooking with macadamiav
ACTION PLANNER
64 What to plant, prune, feed, weed and care for this month
WHAT’S HAPPENING 10 On the grapevine 12 Out and about 56 Instore 84 TV and radio guide
AT YOUR PLACE 72 Backyard visitors 74 Feathers and fur 76 Your say 80 Your questions
REGULARS
14 Sweet scent-sation 42 At home with Jackie 48 Old crafts 52 Hard gardening 85 The directory 98 The big picture
Contents...
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Gardening Australia EDITOR Jenny Baldwin HORTICULTURAL EDITOR Phil Dudman ART DIRECTOR Lili Zhan ASSISTANT HORTICULTURAL EDITOR Ally Jackson CHIEF SUBEDITOR Jac Taylor SUBEDITOR Gina Hetherington ABC TV HOST Costa Georgiadis PRESENTERS Josh Byrne. Tina Carnevale, Jerry Coleby-Williams. Jane Edmanson, John Patrick. Clarence Slockee. Angus Stewart. Sophie Thomson CONTRIBUTORS Kathy Bafile, Steve Ball, AB Bishop. Noel Burdette. Leonard Cronin. Sandra Eterovic, Jackie French. Arno K1ng. Dr Peter Kirkpatrick. Michael McCoy. Martyn Robinson, Jennifer Stackhouse. Wayne Turville. Carotin Wun ADVERTISING SALES GROUP ADVERTISING MANAGER Lynette Rochford. lrochfordtanextmedia.com.au Phone (02) 9901 6371
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SUBSCRIPTIONS gardeningaustralia.com.au
Hyacinths offer intense fragrance and colour to the spring garden, and make good indoor potted specimens. For information on buying and planting your bulbs this autumn, turn to page 24. Photo: iStock
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Planning Your Garden Key Planning Tips...
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Photo credit: Google Images
Start Small. If you decide to plant up some new areas this year, start small so that you can test for success and appearance. You can always make it bigger next year. Consider water access. If you are planting an area far from a water source, figure out how you are going to get water there. If a long hose isn’t practical, you may have to carry water there, or plan on carrying the plants (assuming they are in containers) to the water source. Try something new each year. If something in a seed catalog or in the garden center captures your imagination – try it. Starting on a small scale and a new spot, you can test the plant without a lot of expense or disappointment if it doesn’t please or doesn’t succeed. Go for variety. Even within the confines of a color family you can achieve a pleasing mixture of different flower forms, heights and textures. While large displays of a single flower can be awesome, too much of a good thing can be boring. Keep a “cookbook.” In a notebook, write down which classes and varieties you planted where. Often you can just tape a plant label to a page and write “front door,” or “patio tubs” next to it. At the end of the season you can write down how it performed and whether you want to plant those again, try them somewhere else, or try something new. To be sure you take advantage of all your growing areas, get a piece of paper and a pencil and make a rough “bird’s eye” sketch of your lot, including marking out where your house is. Indicate which areas are the sunny, partially sunny, and shady areas. Be as detailed or as rough as you want. The idea is to identify all potential growing spots and then decide what to put where.
Once you have your sketch made, think about each area and where you would like the color and texture of plants. If you have a deck or patio, baskets or tubs of flowers can add a lot to the appearance. If there is a spot in your yard that you look at all the time from the kitchen window or that guests in your yard naturally tend to look at, brighten it up with flowers. And there is no rule that says you have to shove your garden back against the fence or property line – a garden spot in the middle of a yard can become a focal point and attractively break up boring expanses of grass. If you already have a focal point such as a fountain, a brick barbecue, or even a tree, you can make it more attractive by planting flowers around it to draw even more attention to it. This idea also works for storage sheds or objects that you may consider as less than attractive focal points. Chances are these aren’t going to go away, so dress them up and make them worthwhile to look at. Choose a Color Theme For a really sophisticated look, choose a family of colors for all your flowers. If you choose red, for example, you can select flowers in pink, rose and bright red. You will still be able to get a variety of flowers and plants, but the look will be more unified if you have an overall color theme. Sun and Shade Most yards have a mix of full sun and some shade, so you should have plantings for both. If you are planning a vegetable garden it should get the prime sunny spot whenever possible. Even if the sun shines only on your deck or patio you can grow vegetables. Many can be successfully grown in containers, letting you “move” the garden into the sun.
Many people get discouraged over getting any color into shady areas. However, prudent planning can get color just about anywhere. There are a number of colorful plants that will do well in all but the deepest shade. Impatiens are outstanding for brightening up shady spots, as are coleus and begonias. These also have the advantage of a wide variety of colors for your overall theme. If the shady area also has the problem of poor soil conditions, a raised garden bed or different size pots and containers can overcome that problem without a lot of work. Baskets hung from tree limbs can draw attention to the beauty and position of the tree in the garden. Key Areas In addition to the yard areas where you are most likely to want an attractive display of flowers and plants, consider the impression your house makes on passersby and visitors. Baskets, pots or a small flower bed near the front door can say “welcome” and give your home a well-cared for appearance. The driveway and garage area is another often overlooked opportunity for gardening. Lining the driveway or putting some baskets or pots in a few selected areas can make an otherwise utilitarian area come alive. Getting Started One of the ways to get your garden into bloom or fruit as early as possible is to start plants indoors. Basically, a good sunny location for the started plants is all that is needed, or grow lights if you don’t have a sunny location. You can buy “seed starter kits” at most garden retailers, or do your own seed starting in containers as simple as egg cartons. Books on the subject can be found at your library and at garden retailers, and a wealth of information is available on the web.
Within reason, the earlier you start, the more mature and established your plants will be when transplanted outdoors to the garden or to containers. If you start too early, your plants will become overgrown and you may have to cut them back and start with a funny-looking garden. Six weeks or so before the last frost date or normal planting time in your area is a good rule of thumb for starting indoors. If you don’t have the time or confidence to start plants from seed, there are a rainbow of colorful bedding plant flowers and vegetables at your local garden centers or retailers. Depending on the weather and how soon you can get outdoors, it is a good idea to prepare your garden bed by digging it up, turning it over, adding amendments such as compost or fertilizer. Your local County Extension Agent can tell you how to have a soil test performed, or soil test kits can be purchased. Soil preparation is one of those areas that often gets ignored, yet is vitally important to your garden’s success. SUMMARY To create a garden with beauty and balance, begin with planning, not digging. A way to start a plan is by drawing a sketch of all garden areas. This sketch will help identify all of the outside areas to be decorated with flowers or vegetables. Adding a color theme to your garden will help unify it. To record successful plans, or even failures, keep a simple ‘cookbook’ of plants and their performance. This “Cookbook” can be the start of next year’s garden.
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A Variety of Eatable Masterpiece... Originally published April 1993
Exotic ingredients
One of the self-satisfying things about growing your own vegetables is the knowledge that you are providing healthy food for you and your family. Many claims have been made for various classes of vegetables, from helping to lower cholesterol to reducing the risks of certain types of cancer. We make no particular health claims for vegetables, but they have been recognized as being good sources of vitamins and minerals, and have long been thought of as “health” foods.
The produce in grocery stores has expanded to an international market. There are easy-to-grow salad vegetables from Europe and the Orient to add to your garden. The annual endive is native to the Orient, but was eaten by ancient Greeks. It is grown like lettuce, a cool season crop. Escarole and chicory are both essential salad greens in Europe and require little garden care. Radicchio, of Italian origin, is more difficult to grow, but the deep burgundy color is distinctive.
Salad Feasts
Under the generic heading “assorted greens” are some fast growing leafy crops. In the Mustard family, cress is probably one of the quickest salad crops, needed only 10 to 20 days until harvest. The most vigorous cress is best grown restricted to a container. The peppery flavor of cress is a “wake up call” for salads. Mustard greens are another class, and like cress, cannot be described as bland. These greens are ready to eat in about 5 weeks.
While flowers and ornamental plants may be a feast for the eyes, a salad you’ve grown in your own garden is truly a feast for the body. One of the beauties of your own salad garden is its versatility. You can make an “enthusiastic salad” – where you put everything you have into it – or keep things as simple as lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. And if you have family members that may not be the avid fans of the leafy greens and their companions that you are, getting them involved in the salad garden project will often whet their appetites. Choices Salads today go far beyond the simple fare they once were. Practically anything and everything can go in a salad. This means that you can grow what you like to eat and ignore those that you don’t. It also means that you can be adventurous in trying new things on a small scale.
Garden Culture Depending on how much salad you want, you can make the salad section of your garden as large or as small as you want. If your wants are minimal, you can even grow a salad in a large tub or other container, planting items in rows or circles. If you want to have fresh salad fixings as long as possible, plan successive sowings of radishes, carrots and lettuces about 10 to 14 days apart so that you will have different rows maturing at different times.
Basic Components At the base of most salads is a leafy green vegetable of some kind: lettuce and spinach are two of the most popular. Kids who “don’t like spinach” often like it as a fresh green – they think it’s just another kind of lettuce. Some choices for leafy greens to form the base of your salad are spinach and lettuces such as Iceberg, leaf, Romaine, and Boston. To add color to your salad, use ingredients such as carrots, red and green bell peppers or other peppers that can range from purple to green, red or yellow tomatoes, radishes, rings of sliced onions, and a little basil, thyme, dill or parsley. A salad should include a variety of colors, shapes and textures to appeal to the eye as well as to the taste buds.
Grow your own 8
SALAD BAR
Photo credit: Google Images
Photo credit: Google Images
Short Season Flower Gardening.
How to Extend the life of your
Blooming Flowers... When your frost-free season is short, the easiest way to extend the blooming season is to grow flowers that tolerate some frost. Some tolerate frost in the spring, while others tolerate autumn frost, and a few precious flowers tolerate frost at both ends of the season. Many gardeners know that spring-flowering bulbs such as snowdrops, crocus, and daffodils bloom in early spring when it can still get below freezing at night. Generally, if a biennial or a perennial is rated hardy for your zone, it will have no problem coping with frost in spring, even though it may be blooming much later in the season. However, columbine, yarrow, and Bonfire euphorbia have foliage in spring that is an attractive complement to spring-blooming bulbs. When the bulbs die down, these perennials are in their prime and hide the dying bulb foliage. Primulas and hellebores also bloom while there are still frosty nights.
Annuals that tend to self-sow, such as larkspur, poppies, and alyssum, have seedlings that tolerate frost. They won’t be blooming before frost ends, but you can sow them as soon as the snow is gone by sprinkling them on soil that was prepared the previous autumn. If conditions are favorable they will soon self-sow for you. Sweet peas have a reputation for being a cool weather plant, but the seed doesn’t like to be sown in really cold soil, so wait until frost is almost over before sowing them. Once germinated, they will thrive in a cool northern summer. There are a few plants that get a slow start in spring but happily tolerate frost in fall. The mallow family, including hollyhock mallow and lavatera, is most notable for this. Ornamental cabbage and kale, and many ornamental grasses, while not technically flowers, are used as such and both provide beauty until buried under snow. Annual alyssum and snapdragons will continue to bloom through light frosts and border phlox and repeat-blooming roses will often still be blooming as well. Violas and pansies take the prize for longest period of bloom in a cold climate. They will start blooming in early spring before frost is done, will continue blooming through a cool northern summer and on into fall, until stopped by several hard freezes. Many of the well-known annuals, such as petunias, marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, impatiens, and coleus need to be started as seeds after all danger of frost has past, and will blacken at the first touch of autumn frost. This means you can’t start them from seed outdoors and expect to get much, if any bloom. You will either have to buy them as started plants, or invest in grow lights or even a greenhouse so you can start them indoors while it is still too cold for them outside. (In most cases a windowsill will not provide sufficient light, resulting in pale and leggy plants that don’t do well.) All plants started indoors need time to adjust to outdoor conditions, a process called hardening off.
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A man doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t plant a tree for himself. He plants it for posterity.
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