Yates Growing With You - Spring Edition 2020 by Yates Gardening

SPR

spring

vegies WH AT VEG I ES TO SOW & G ROW N OW

ING

202

lawn

Makeover Starting a new lawn & professional lawn care tips

GET INSP IRED

TERRIFIC tomatoes

Transform your deck with plants SENSATIONAL

spring flowers Rose care essentials

NAVEL

gazing

perfect

PA L M S

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

GIVE YOUR PLANTS THE BOOST THEY NEED WITH

NEW LOOK!

SAME GREAT PRODUCT! TO FIND OUT MORE, VISIT YATES.COM.AU Yates and Thrive are registered trade marks of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Letter

F R O M T H E E D I TO R Spring is a frenzy of fabulous gardening excitement! As the weather warms up, our little orchard bursts into beautiful bloom and the bees go wild in amongst all the flowers. It’s just so pretty and falling peach, pear and apple petals create a gorgeous carpet of white and pastel pink over the ground. And spring citrus flowers are heavenly scented, so walking around our orange, mandarin and lemon trees is divine. The sweet pea seeds sown back in autumn are now proving their worth and we’re able to bring the prettiest, sweetly fragrant posies of sweet pea flowers inside, as well as admire a once plain old wire paddock fence that is now smothered in a sea of pink and purple. It’s also time for me to sow more flower seeds that will continue supplying our garden and bees with blooms during the warmest months. Sunflowers, zinnias and cosmos are all reliable vibrant summer flowering staples that will fill random pockets around the garden. Early tomato seedlings that have been waiting patiently for the warm weather to arrive will go into the spring vegie patch, the first round of sweet corn will be sown (I’m going to try to fit in two crops this year) and zucchinis and cucumbers will also get a vegie bed each. We can never seem to grow enough cucumbers! Mid spring delicious finger-staining mulberries are an absolute treat and plenty of jam will be bottled to see us through until next season. I’m also hoping that the newest members of our feathery flock, four gorgeous Araucana chickens, will start laying their pretty blueshelled eggs for us. I’ll be looking in the laying boxes every morning with great anticipation.

Another exciting plan during spring is to relocate a good sized timber cubby house that our boys no longer use, down into our rear vegie patch, where it will become my ‘She Shed’. I have visions of perfectly arranged storage places for tools, tomato stakes, trowels, spades, garden forks and bags of fertiliser. It also has a pint sized veranda that I’m hoping will be big enough for a small stool, where I can rest my weary mulch-shovelling body and just survey and absorb the absolute delight that is a vegie patch. Perhaps I should install tea and coffee making facilities as well….. Have a wonderful spring in your gardens,

Angie Thomas Editor, Horticultural Consultant to Yates

For all lawns great and small . Make it Yates Weed’n’Feed® Whatever type of lawn you have, caring for it is easy with Yates Weed’n’Feed® and Yates® Buffalo PRO® Weed’n’Feed™. Scientifically formulated to do two jobs at once; eliminate broadleaf weeds, like Bindii and Clover, while at the same time giving your lawn a quick burst of nutrients to promote healthy, green growth. Yates, Yates Weed ‘n’ Feed and Buffalo Pro are registered trade marks and Weed ‘n’ Feed is a trade mark of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd

WHAT'S INSIDE

Spring gardening essentials

What vegies & herbs to sow in your area

Lavender revolution

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to get busy in the garden! Learn about some key spring gardening jobs to keep your garden looking fabulous.

Keep the fresh, home grown produce coming with lots of delicious vegies & herbs to sow & grow in spring.

Be tempted by a stunning range of lavenders.

Professional lawn care

Navel gazing

Fabulous flowers to sow & grow

Feed your lawn like a pro & all-important lawn root care.

Grow your own sweet & juicy navel oranges.

Keep the blooms coming with our handy guide to what to sow in spring in your area.

Seeds of lawn success

Key spring citrus care tips

Beneficial insect feature

How to create a fantastic brand new lawn from seed.

Controlling common citrus pests, including citrus leaf miner & dreaded bronze orange bugs.

Learn about hoverflies, your hardworking friends in the garden.

Love your lawn

Ant patrol

Beautiful Bottlebrush

Give lawn weeds the flick & control destructive curl grubs.

How to get ants under control, inside & around your house.

Bring the birds & bees into your garden with callistemons.

The roses are coming

Deck transformation

Gardening in different climates

Keeping your roses beautifully thriving & how to grow a perfect potted rose.

Inspiration for adding pizzazz to your deck with potted plants.

Handy spring gardening tips for around Australia.

Terrific tomatoes

Sensational spring flowering trees & shrubs

Tasty tomatoes to grow at your place & our top tomato growing tips.

Bring a frenzy of flowers into your garden in spring.

Caring for spring vegies

How to promote a fabulous home grown harvest of silverbeet, Asian vegies, garlic, onions & lettuce.

Interview with a horticultural traveller

Dan Austin shares some of his amazing travels throughout the world.

Perfect palms

Tips for growing lush palms at your place, inside & out.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

SPRING GARDENING s l a i t n e ss E

Robin Williams couldn’t have put it better when he said that “Spring is nature’s way of saying Let’s party!”. During spring an abundance of plants step proudly into the gardening spotlight and put on the most magnificent flower show.

Bare branches of apple, pear and stone fruit trees are smothered in bee attracting blossoms, azaleas and magnolias are dazzling and swathes of spring flowering bulbs are delighting us with their gorgeous blooms. It’s vital that plants can access enough nutrients to promote healthy leaf and stem growth, as well as support the spring flower extravaganza. The three main nutrients required by plants are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Plant foods containing these three nutrients are known as ‘complete’ fertilisers. Nitrogen is key in encouraging healthy green leaf and stem growth, phosphorus plays an important role in root development and potassium promotes flowering, fruiting and overall plant health. During spring, it’s important to feed plants regularly with a complete fertiliser. And using fertilisers that are specially formulated for different plant types are ideal, as they contain the right balance of nutrients for those plants, for example, citrus and fruit, vegies and herbs or roses and flowers. To maximise spring flowering, feed plants with a potassium-rich fertiliser such as Yates® Thrive® Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser. It’s as simple as mixing 1-2 spoonfuls into a 9L watering can and applying around the plant’s root zone every week.

Green thumb

tip!

Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit also contains trace elements such as iron, magnesium, manganese and zinc for extra plant vitality.

FRUIT PROTECTION Codling moth is a serious pest of apples and pears, their caterpillars tunnelling into and ruining fruit. Pear & cherry slugs are slug-like larvae of a sawfly that rapidly skeletonise leaves of fruit trees like pears, cherries, apples and plums. To prevent codling moth infestation, start spraying apple and pear trees with Yates® Success® Ultra during early flower bloom and fruit set. For pear & cherry slug, start spraying Yates Success Ultra over foliage as soon as the slugs or their damage are first seen.

CODLING

In fruit fly prone areas, fruit trees and fruiting vegetables, such as stone fruit and tomatoes, can be vulnerable to attack by fruit flies, even from when the fruit are still small and green. It’s important to control the adult fruit flies before they get a chance to lay eggs, which turn into destructive maggots. Apply Yates Nature’s Way® Fruit Fly Control as a band or spot spray onto the trunk or lower foliage of trees or plants while the fruit are still small and before they have changed colour. There is no need to spray the actual fruit. To maintain effective protection, it’s important to re-spray the plants each week, or sooner if there has been rain, right up until harvest.

PEAR

MOTH

CHERRY

SLUG

FRUIT

FLY

Water saving As the weather warms up and we start to use more water in the garden, it’s important to make the most of every drop. Greywater, from the laundry or shower, can be collected and used to water the lawn and garden. Yates Greywater Fertiliser can be added to greywater to help neutralise the alkaline effect of soaps and detergents on soil pH, help kill unwanted microbes in the greywater and reduce the potential negative effects of greywater on soil quality. Yates Greywater Fertiliser also contains the nutrients nitrogen and potassium to feed plants and lawns, plus chelated iron to promote deep green plant foliage on plants and lawns. Add 20–40mL to every 10L of greywater and apply around non-edible plants every 2 to 4 weeks. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Professional LAWN CARE

Have you ever admired the rich green grass in golf course fairways or sports stadiums, or driven through a suburb and dreamt about having the same beautiful lawn as the Smiths at number six? How you feed your lawn plays a significant role in its health and appearance. Lawn grasses are constantly growing throughout the warmer months and require regular nutrition and root care to keep them looking good.

To achieve a professional looking lawn at your place, here are our top spring lawn care tips: FEEDING A luxurious emerald green lawn is wonderful to look at and creates a magnificent foreground for garden beds and your house. To create a deep green lawn, Munns® Professional Green Dominator™ Lawn Fertiliser is formulated with four key lawn greening nutrients, nitrogen, magnesium, iron and manganese, to improve lawn colour and presentation. It can be used on all lawn types and is easy and quick to apply via a pressure sprayer or hose-on applicator. Munns Professional Green Dominator works rapidly via leaf absorption and it will begin to green up an actively growing lawn within just four hours. ROOT

CARE

What happens below the surface of your lawn is an important part of complete lawn health. A lawn’s root system enables uptake of nutrients as well as allowing the lawn to access moisture. Munns Professional Root Regenerator™ Soil Improver combines a range of soil improvers, including

seaweed and humates, as well as microbes, to assist nutrient uptake and stimulate deeper root development. Stronger roots help achieve a healthier lawn, including during periods of drought. Munns Professional Root Regenerator can be used all year round on all lawn types and is applied over the lawn via a pressure sprayer or hose-on applicator and then watered in to move the root regenerating ingredients down into the root zone. SOIL

WETTER

Making sure moisture is getting down to the lawn’s root system is vital in keeping the lawn healthy. Sometimes the soil underneath the lawn can become water repellent (hydrophobic) and moisture doesn’t penetrate evenly or effectively into the root zone. Munns Professional Smart Wetter™ Lawn Wetter contains a combination of two professional grade wetting agents, plus seaweed. It alleviates water repellency and increases water availability in the soil, helping to keep water in the root zone for longer. Easily apply Munns Professional Smart Wetter Lawn Wetter over the lawn using a pressure sprayer or hose-on applicator and then water in well. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

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TAKE YOUR LAWN TO THE NEXT LEVEL Look no further than Munns Professional Concentrates to help you get the best out of your lawn. ÂŽ

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The MunnsÂŽ Professional Concentrates range has professional grade technology to give fast results.

Learn more at munns.com.au 4

Munns and M it must be Munns logo are registered trade marks and Green Dominator, Smart Wetter, Lift Off and Root Regenerator are trade marks of Munns Lawn & Garden Company.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Starting a new lawn from seed SEEDS OF SUCCESS

4.SOW

Lawn seed is an economical way to start a fresh new lawn, helping to create a lush green space that will be an area of enjoyment and fun for years to come. Spring is a great time to start a new lawn from seed, as the temperature is mild and the grass seed can germinate and establish before the heat of summer arrives.

Rake the soil surface in straight lines to create shallow furrows. Mixing lawn seed with Munns® Professional Buffalo & All Lawns Starter Fertiliser makes sowing lawn seed much easier and encourages better germination and root development as well as providing the grass seedlings with nutrients as they establish. Broadcast the seed and Munns® Professional Buffalo & All Lawns Starter Fertiliser mix evenly over the area. It helps to halve the seed mix and sow half in an east west direction and the other half in a north south direction. After sowing, lightly cross rake the area to mix the seed into the topsoil.

Here’s how to start a new lawn from seed and some extra tips to keep your lawn looking great.

1.WEED CONTROL Weeds will compete with the new lawn so should be controlled 2 weeks before sowing lawn seed, which allows the weeds to die completely. Yates® Zero® Weedkiller can be used as a general spray over the area to kill any weeds and existing grasses.

2.SOIL PREPARATION Lawn seed should be sown into well drained, firm but not compacted soil that is rich in organic matter. Give the lawn seed the best possible start by mixing some Yates Dynamic Lifter® Turf Starter into the topsoil. It’s a concentrated blend of composted manure and Waterwise® water storage crystals and has been specially formulated to aid the rapid establishment of new turf. An application of lawn top dressing can also benefit lawn establishment where the existing soil is heavy clay, poor and sandy or the surface is uneven.

3.MEASURE Measure the area and calculate the correct amount of lawn seed.

5.WATER Water the area with a fine mist spray. It is very important that the top soil remains moist for the first 14–21 days to complete germination. This may require watering several times a day if the weather is hot or windy. As the grass establishes, the number of waterings can be reduced but increase the volume of water at each watering.

6.MOW Mow the grass when it is 5-6cm high, so you just cut the top 1cm off the top. This will help to encourage root growth. As the lawn matures, lower the blades of the mower on successive cuts.

TURF TIP: If you’re starting a new lawn with rolls of turf, before laying rolls mix Yates Dynamic Lifter Turf Starter into the topsoil, which will promote root growth and encourage the new turf to establish.

Choosing the right lawn seed There are so many kinds of front and back lawns all around Australia, including tiny or sprawling lawns, lawns in sun or shade and areas that are a playground for pets and kids. People also have their own preferences for the type of lawn they want, including soft and upright grasses to tough and running varieties. To help you choose which lawn seed to use, here are some details about Munns® most popular lawn seeds: » Munns Professional Sun & Shade Premium Seed Blend – a hard-wearing and evergreen blend of upright ‘cool season’ grasses that will grow from full sun to 85% shade. These fine textured grasses stay a rich green colour, do not require edge trimming and won’t invade garden beds as they are non-running. Suitable for all soil types and contains self-repairing tall fescue which makes it ideal for children and pets » Munns Professional Pure Kikuyu Premium Seed Blend – this Emerald kikuyu turf type lawn seed creates a beautiful, dense green lawn. It’s a drought tolerant and hard wearing warm season running grass that has a darker green colour, finer leaf texture, is less invasive and remains greener in winter than other varieties of kikuyu. » Munns Professional Couch Lawn Seed – couch is a fine textured, hard wearing rich green lawn that is ideal for high wear areas often associated with pets and children. It’s a warm season running grass that is drought tolerant and self-repairing and is suited to most areas around Australia. Munns Professional Couch is a blend of turf type perennial ryegrass and couch. The ryegrass germinates first, acting as a protective cover while the slower couch germinates and establishes. Over time, the couch will become the dominant grass type. All Munns Professional lawn seeds are coated in an advanced multi-purpose coating to boost germination, deter birds and allow you to see where you’ve sown seed. They also contain a professional grade soil wetting agent and premium slow release fertiliser, to provide nutrients to the establishing grass seedlings.

After your new lawn seed starts to germinate, apply Munns Professional Lift Off™ Lawn Fertiliser over the area. It is rich in phosphorus and seaweed to stimulate root growth in new grass seedlings and supplies fast acting nutrients to the grass as it establishes. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Controlling

lawn weeds As the weather warms up in spring and we start enjoying more time in our backyards, it’s time to eliminate the last of the cool season broadleaf weeds like bindii and clover. It’s very important for these weeds to be controlled before they have a chance to flower, set seed (which in the case of bindii, the seed is their nasty prickles) and spread.

You can easily control the most common broadleaf weeds in lawns, before they take over, in only a few minutes by using hose-on applicators. If you have a couch or kikuyu lawn, apply easy to use hose-on Yates® Weed’n’Feed®. If you have a buffalo lawn, it’s important to choose weed killers that are safe for buffalo. Yates Buffalo PRO® Weed’n’Feed has been specially designed for buffalo lawns. Both Yates Weed’n’Feed and Yates Buffalo PRO Weed’n’Feed will also give the lawn a quick burst of nutrients to promote healthy rich green growth. Yates Weed’n’Feed and Yates Buffalo PRO Weed’n’Feed are also available in fast acting

granules, which are applied over the lawn by hand. These granules are ideal for treating small patches of weeds or places where hose access is difficult. Apply the granules onto moist grass when the weather is fine and still. Leave on for 2 days then water thoroughly. The lawn will turn black for a few days but will recover. Yates Weed’n’Feed and Yates Buffalo PRO Weed’n’Feed granules are also both rich in nitrogen to promote rapid greening of the lawn. Prefer using a pressure sprayer? Dilute Yates Bindii & Clover Weeder Concentrate or Yates Buffalo PRO Weed Killer Concentrate in a sprayer and apply over bindii and clover affected lawn areas.

BINDII

Handy

weeding tip

When applying weedkillers in a pressure sprayer, mix in some Yates Easy See Spray Dye. It temporarily turns sprayed areas deep blue, making it easy to see where you’ve sprayed, so you can identify missed areas and avoid over application. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Lawn pest control

AFRICAN

BLACK

BEETLE

Lawn insect pests are usually hidden below the surface, going unnoticed until the damage they cause appears as dead and dying patches of lawn. Curl grubs are a significant pest of lawns during spring. They are creamy white or grey grubs, around 2â&#x20AC;&#x201C;3 cm long, with a brown head and a dark grey to black bottom. When disturbed they curl into a C shape. Curl grubs are the larvae of beetles like African black beetle, which are small, shiny black beetles around 1.5cm long.

CURL

GRUB

Adult African black beetles can start laying their eggs, which turn into curl grubs, in late winter and early spring and as the curl grubs mature, they do progressively more damage to the lawn. They eat the lawn roots, just below the soil surface, and symptoms of curl grub infestation include brown and dead patches in the lawn and the lawn being able to be lifted up like a carpet. Yates Grub Kill & Protect provides excellent control of curl grubs in all types of lawns, and by using a higher residual rate, can also remain effective against curl grubs for up to 6 months. Yates Grub Kill & Protect granules can be applied over the lawn using a spreader or by hand.

Yates Grub Kill & Protect will also control lawn armyworm, a destructive lawn pest during summer and autumn. Yates Grub Kill & Protect controls the most common lawn pests, helping to take the guess work out of which lawn pest you have. Product will be available from late September 2020.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Here’s your easy spring rose care plan: APHID CONTROL

roses are coming

During early spring, roses are awakening from their winter slumber and preparing for a spectacular floral display. Whether you’ve just planted a new rose during winter or have had a favourite rose (or two) in your garden for years, spring is the time to set roses up for a fantastic season of healthy growth and masses of flowers.

Aphids are one of the main pests to look out for on young rose leaf growth and flower buds. Aphids can occur in their dozens (or hundreds!) and feast on the delicious sweet rose sap. Left unchecked, aphids deplete roses of valuable nutrients and plant sugars as well as causing new leaves to deform. Aphids can also transmit plant viruses. So, it’s important to control aphids in spring before they cause damage. Applying Yates® Rose Gun® over new rose foliage and flower buds every two weeks will help keep aphids under control and your roses protected.

SPRING FEEDING To promote healthy leaf and stem growth and encourage lots of blooms in garden and potted roses, sprinkle some Yates Thrive® Natural Roses & Flowers Organic Based Pelletised Plant Food around each rose. It contains a blend of 50% organic rich Yates Dynamic Lifter®, boosted with fast acting nutrients, including potassium, for abundant flowers. To help retain soil moisture, apply a layer of mulch, such as bark chips, over the root zone, keeping the mulch a few centimetres away from the stem to allow for good air flow.

CATERPILLAR CONTROL The fabulous rose blooms that you’ve been waiting patiently for are also being eagerly anticipated by some very hungry caterpillars. Caterpillars can chew through and into rose buds as well as eating leaves. Control these destructive caterpillars by spraying roses thoroughly every 2 weeks, including the undersides of foliage where caterpillars often hide, with Yates Rose Gun.

Begiennneerrs gard

N E W TO R O S E S ? In addition to controlling aphids and caterpillars, Yates Rose Gun will also control other common pests of roses, such as thrips, whitefly and twospotted mites, as well as dreaded rose diseases like black spot, powdery mildew and rust. So, with Yates Rose Gun, you don’t need to be a rose expert to know how to protect your roses!

Possums eating your roses? Possums love nibbling on new rose shoots and buds. Protect your roses from possum damage by regularly spraying the plants with Yates Possum Repellent.

Growing the perfect potted rose You don’t need a large space to have your very own rose garden. Many roses are perfectly suited to growing in pots, where they can be beautifully displayed on a veranda, courtyard or balcony. One of the many benefits of growing roses in pots is that they can be moved into the spotlight while they’re in full bloom. If you missed out on planting a bare rooted rose during winter, many gorgeous rose varieties are available in pots from garden centres during spring.

HERE’S HOW TO START YOUR OWN POTTED ROSE: » Half fill a 30-40 cm diameter well-drained pot with a good quality potting mix, such as Yates® Premium Potting Mix. A lightweight Yates Tuscan® Pot makes a fantastic home for a potted rose. » Gently remove the rose from its plain plastic pot. If the roots are dense or tangled, gently tease out the outer layer. » Place the rose in the new pot and backfill around the roots with potting mix. Ensure that the level of new potting mix is at the same height as the existing mix around the rose. The graft (the bump on the stem) should sit around 5cm above the potting mix.

» Water the pot gently to settle the potting mix around the rose’s roots. » After a fortnight, the rose can then be fed each week with Yates Thrive® Rose & Flower Liquid Plant Food. It’s specially designed to both encourage healthy leaf growth as well as promote lots of beautiful flowers. » Potted roses can dry out rapidly in warm weather, so make sure to water them regularly. » Watch out for pests and diseases, such as aphids, caterpillars and black spot, which can ruin both leaves and flowers. Yates Rose Gun is a handy ready to use spray that will control the most common pests and diseases on roses.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

terrific

tomatoes

Harvesting your very own tasty tomatoes is one of life’s joys. They can be picked at their sun-ripened and sweetest best and go from garden to plate in a matter of minutes.

It’s time to sow tomato seed and get your tomato patch or pot off to a flying start. There are lots of delicious tomato varieties to choose from, including flavour packed bite sized cherry tomatoes, large juicy beefsteak tomatoes and Italian tomatoes that are perfect for cooking and sun-drying.

HERE ARE SOME TERRIFIC TOMATOES FOR YOU TO GROW AT YOUR PLACE: » Yates® Tomato ‘Tommy Toe’ has medium apricotsized bright red tomatoes which are renowned for their excellent flavour and are ideal for salads. It’s a tall grower that must be staked and is best grown in a vegie patch in full sun. » Perfect for pots and small spaces, Yates Tomato ‘Patio’ produces delicious small round fruit that weigh around 100g each. It’s a compact variety that doesn’t require staking and is quick to grow, with fruit maturing after around 10 weeks from sowing. » Yates Tomato ‘Roma’ tomatoes have deep red, medium sized pear shaped fruit that are ideal for cooking, bottling, sauces, soups and sun drying. This variety doesn’t need staking and can be grown in pots or in the vegie patch.

Tomato seeds can be sown direct where they are to grow, or seedlings raised in punnets of Yates Seed Raising Mix and transplanted when they’re around 5cm high. Only transplant seedlings into the vegie patch once the risk of frost has passed. For best results, dig some Yates Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser into the soil before sowing seed or transplanting seedlings. This adds valuable organic matter to the soil, improves soil structure and attracts earthworms and beneficial soil microorganisms. Once the seedlings are established, each week apply a tomato specific plant food, like Yates Thrive® Tomato Liquid Plant Food, to help promote healthy leaf growth as well as lots of flowers that will turn into delicious, juicy tomatoes.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Top tomato growing tips Keep your tomatoes healthy and productive by controlling some key pests and diseases during spring: »

To quickly and easily protect tomatoes from the most common pests and diseases, lightly dust Yates® Tomato & Vegetable Dust over the plants every week. Yates Tomato & Vegetable Dust contains an effective combination of insecticides and fungicides to control insect pests like caterpillars and aphids as well as diseases like powdery mildew and leaf spots. Tomatoes can be destroyed by fruit fly, which often goes unnoticed until the fruit is sliced open to reveal a mass of squirming fruit fly maggots. Adult female fruit flies lay their eggs just underneath the skin of developing tomatoes (you may notice a small ‘sting’ mark on the skin). The eggs then hatch into maggots, which ruin the fruit. Tomatoes need to be protected from fruit fly from when the fruit is still small and before it starts to change colour. Fruit fly can be prevented by baiting with Yates Nature’s Way® Fruit Fly Control. It is applied onto the tomato foliage, rather than the fruit itself, and attracts the fruit fly which then ingests a combination of the sugar and protein bait and an insecticide derived from soil bacteria (spinosad).

Yates Nature’s Way Fruit Fly Control can also be applied onto a 30cm square of plywood which is hung at mid height in the vegie patch. Re-apply the bait onto the foliage or plywood every 7 days. It’s important to re-spray the plants or the plywood each week, or sooner if there has been rain, to maintain effective protection.

Yates Nature’s Way Fruit Fly Control is certified for use in organic gardening by Australian Certified Organic, so is ideal for gardeners wanting to use organic methods of insect pest control.

SUCCESSFUL PLANTS START WITH YATES® DYNAMIC LIFTER® Safe to use at time of planting

+ GET FERTILISING & GROWING IN SPRING Spring is a fantastic time to plant new trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables. IMPORTANCE OF DYNAMIC® GOOD SOIL Just like a house needs a solid foundation, plants need the right environment to be able to grow – and that is what good soil provides. For Dynamic® improvement of soil, add Yates® Dynamic Lifter® , which helps create nutrient rich soil for healthy, productive plants. THE SECRETS OF YATES® DYNAMIC LIFTER® Yates® Dynamic Lifter® contains chicken manure, fishmeal, blood & bone and seaweed to organically enrich and improve the soil. Yates® Dynamic Lifter® releases nutrients slowly to gently feed plants and is suitable for all plants, including natives.

G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Spring

vegie care If you caught the gardening bug during the COVID-19 lockdowns or have had a green thumb for years, here are some spring vegie care hints to keep your home grown harvests wonderfully productive.

SILVERBEET »

Sometimes known as chard, silverbeet is a versatile vegie that can be used in pasta dishes, soups, salads, savoury muffins, pastries and quiches as well as pizza toppings. Yates® Silverbeet ‘Fordhook Giant’ is a large, easy to grow variety that produces an abundant harvest of large crinkly, highly nutritious leaves with long, sturdy white stems. For smaller spaces and pots, Yates Silverbeet Compact Deep Green has rich green leaves on shorter stems.

Silverbeet does best in a full sun spot in the vegie garden or pots and to keep the plants productive and flourishing, feed each week with Yates Thrive® Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food.

A fantastic benefit of silverbeet is that you can pick individual stalks as you need them. Pick outer stalks regularly to promote fresh new growth.

Watch out for snails and slugs, which like to hide in amongst the stalks and devour the leaves. Control them by lightly sprinkling Yates Blitzem® Snail & Slug Pellets around the base of the plants.

ASIAN VEGIES »

Tatsoi, Chinese cabbage and buk choy are just some of the deliciously healthy Asian leafy greens that can be grown during spring. Promote lots of leaf growth by feeding each week with nitrogen rich Yates Thrive Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food.

» Leaves of Asian greens such as tatsoi and buk choy can be picked individually, providing a continuous harvest over many weeks. » Caterpillars, which can come in a range of sizes and colours, can rapidly chew through lots of leaves, so it’s important to regularly monitor for caterpillars themselves or signs of their damage or droppings. Spray plants every 5–7 days with Yates Nature’s Way® Caterpillar Killer (Dipel) to control caterpillars. It’s based on a naturally occurring soil bacterium and is approved for use in organic gardening.

ONIONS »

Onions that were sown during autumn should be growing well during spring. To promote plump tasty bulb development, apply Yates Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser around the rows of onions every 6 weeks.

Aphids and thrips are two significant sap feeding pests that can infest onions. They can cause leaves to mottle and yellow and in large numbers can reduce the size of the onion bulb. It’s easy to control aphids and thrips by spraying the plants every 5–7 days with Yates Nature’s Way Vegie & Herb Spray Natrasoap. It’s a soap based spray made from natural vegetable oils and is approved for use in organic gardening.

It takes up to 7 months for onions to mature. You can start harvesting onions once the leaves start to yellow and droop, or earlier if you simply can’t wait (onions can be eaten at any time). Hang harvested onions, complete with their leaves still attached, in a warm, protected spot for a week or two to allow their skins to dry. Then the leaves and roots can be cut off and the onions stored in a cool, airy dry spot until you need them.

GARLIC »

Garlic bulbs planted in autumn will be lovely and leafy during spring and developing their delicious cloves.

Keep the soil moist and feed every fortnight with Yates Thrive® All Purpose Soluble Fertiliser. It’s a complete plant food that’s high in nitrogen to promote healthy leaf growth as well as phosphorus and potassium to encourage development of good sized garlic bulbs.

Around 8 months after planting, or when a few of the leaves start to die back, it’s time to harvest. Hang harvested plants (with the leaves still attached) in an airy sheltered spot for about a month to dry and cure, then it’s ready to use.

LETTUCE »

Lettuce is always fantastic to have on hand throughout the year, to create a healthy salad, quick side dish or add to a sandwich or wrap. Home grown lettuce is not only convenient but also you can pick it at its most tender and sweet and forget buying bagged salad that quickly goes slimy in the fridge.

Yates® Lettuce Baby Combo is a selection of popular, colourful and easy to grow lettuce varieties, and leaves can be picked individually as you need them, leaving the rest of the plant to grow. Baby Combo is ideal for growing in both pots and the vegie patch.

To encourage lots of rapid green growth, once the seedlings are established feed each week with Yates Thrive® Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food. It’s rich in nitrogen to encourage lots of delicious tender leaves.

Lettuce can be susceptible to attack by aphids, which feed on the sugary plant sap. Aphids are tiny black, brown, green or grey insects that can cause leaves to curl and distort and plant health to suffer. It’s easy to control aphids on lettuce by spraying the plants every 5–7 days with an insecticidal soap like Yates Nature’s Way Vegie & Herb Spray Natrasoap.

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vegies & herbs TO S OW I N S P R I N G

As the weather warms up and the garden springs to life, there’s a fabulous range of vegies and herbs to sow, that will help keep your kitchen well stocked with delicious and fresh home grown ingredients.

Seeds by All Around Australia you can sow: » Beetroot – Baby Beets, Derwent Globe, Super King » Cabbage - Red Mini » Capsicum - Giant Bell » Carrot – All Seasons, Baby, Manchester Table, Topweight

» Radish - French Breakfast, Gentle Giant, Salad Crunch, White Icicle, Radish Confetti Mix » Rocket – Large Leaf, Wild » Rockmelon – Hales Best » Silverbeet - Compact Deep Green, Fordhook Giant, Perpetual Green, Rainbow Chard

» Cauliflower - All Year Round Hybrid

» Spinach – Baby Leaf, Summer Supreme, Winter Queen

» Cucumber – Apple, Burpless, Continental, Gherkin Pickling, Lebanese, Long Green

» Spring Onion

» Dwarf beans – Borlotti, Bountiful Butter, Brown Beauty, Gourmet’s Delight, Hawkesbury Wonder, Stringless Pioneer, Tricolour Mix » Climbing Beans – Purple King, Stringless Blue Lake » Eggplant - Blacknite » Lettuce – Baby Combo, Buttercrunch, Frilly Mix, Great Lakes Iceberg, Green Mignonette » Parsnip – Hollow Crown » Pumpkin - Butternut, Hybrid Grey Crown, Queensland Blue

» Sweetcorn – Early Chief, Honeysweet, Sun’n’Snow » Tomato - Big Beef, Heirloom, Grosse Lisse, Patio, Roma, Sweet Bite, Tommy Toe, Tiny Tim » Zucchini- Blackjack, Lebanese, Solar Flare » Watermelon – Candy Red, Country Sweet, Sugar Baby » Herbs – Chives, Garlic Chives, Coriander, Dill, Italian Parsley, Curled Parsley, Sweet Basil, Gourmet Mix Basil, Purple Basil, Thai Basil Consult seed packs for the best sowing months in your area.

Here are the three easy steps to sowing & growing delicious vegies & herbs in spring:

step 1

Choose a sunny spot in the garden that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day. There are some vegies and herbs, such as Yates Silverbeet Rainbow Chard and Yates Sweet Basil that can be grown in part shade. Many vegies and herbs are also perfect for growing in pots, so you don’t need a big backyard to grow some of your own produce. Consider delicious options like Yates Dwarf Bean Tricolour Mix and Yates Parsley Italian Plain Leaf. Seed packets include helpful information about how much sunlight your chosen vegie or herb needs and whether it’s suitable for growing in pots.

step 2

Follow the directions on the seed packet and either sow seeds direct where the plants are to grow or sow into trays of Yates Seed Raising Mix. Water gently and keep the soil or potting mix moist. For beans, limit watering until seedlings emerge as seeds can rot before germinating if the soil is too wet. For seedlings grown in trays, transplant them into their final home once they’re large enough to handle.

step 3

Once the seedlings are established, encourage lots of healthy growth by feeding each week with Yates Thrive Vegie & Herb Liquid Plant Food.

Growing

Navel Oranges Navel oranges are so named because they have what looks like a strange little belly-button on the base of the fruit. There are a few varieties of navel oranges, including Washington, Lane’s Late, Cara and Navelina, and different varieties ripen during different months, predominantly in winter and spring.

Navel Gazing Brightly coloured Washington Navel oranges are dripping from trees during winter, Lane’s Late Navel from late winter to early spring and Navelina is an early variety that is ready from mid to late May. By growing a few different varieties of navel oranges you can be harvesting for many months. They’re sweet and juicy, most navels are seedless, and they are a fantastic orange to grow at home. Dwarf varieties of navels grow to around 1.5m tall, so they’re easy to maintain (and you don’t need a ladder to harvest!) as well as being perfect for growing in a container. To get the best out of home grown navel oranges, find a sunny spot that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day with well-drained soil. Navel oranges prefer growing in a temperate or sub-tropical climate, though will also handle cooler locations.

If you’re growing a navel orange in a container, choose a dwarf variety, use a pot that’s at least 40cm in diameter, such as a Yates® Tuscan pot, and fill with good quality potting mix like Yates Premium Potting Mix. Feeding citrus regularly is the key to promoting the best possible harvest. Citrus are very hungry plants! Yates Thrive® Citrus & Fruit Liquid Plant Food is a complete plant food that has been specially formulated to provide citrus with the nutrients they need. Apply Yates Thrive® Citrus & Fruit Liquid Plant Food every one to two weeks during spring while citrus trees are busy growing new foliage and flowering.

Planting Tip: When planting a new navel orange tree into the ground, mix some Yates® Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser into the bottom of the planting hole. Yates Dynamic Lifter improves the quality of the soil and supplies the newly planted orange with gentle, organic nutrients as it establishes.

Spring

citrus care

CITRUS

Fixing distorted and curled citrus leaves is one of the most common questions about citrus trees. Unfortunately, once the leaves are twisted the damage is permanent, until the leaves naturally fall from the tree. So, prevention is the key! The insect pest that causes these deformed leaves is the citrus leaf miner. It’s a small moth that lays its eggs on tender new foliage. These eggs hatch into larvae that tunnel into the leaves, creating silvery trails and causing the leaves to distort. It ruins the look of a tree and in severe cases affects plant health by reducing the potential for photosynthesis (capturing energy from the sun). Citrus trees start growing their flush of new foliage in early spring. New growth needs to be protected from citrus leaf miner attack by spraying the leaves with Yates® Nature’s Way® Citrus & Ornamental Spray. It deters the citrus leaf miner moth from laying her eggs on the foliage, thus preventing the damage caused by the tunnelling larvae. To protect citrus from leaf miner, spray leaves every 5-14 days from when the new foliage is around 4cm long. Yates Nature’s Way Citrus & Ornamental Spray will also control aphids, which are attracted to tender new citrus leaves. Aphids are small sap sucking insects that can be green, brown or black and can cause leaves to curl under and twist. Like citrus leaf miner, the damage caused on new leaves by aphids is permanent. It’s easy to control aphids on citrus by spraying the foliage with Yates Nature’s Way Citrus & Ornamental Spray, including on the undersides of leaves where aphids often hide, every 5–14 days.

APHIDS

LEAF MINER

Bronze orange bug by Denis Crawford

Bronze orange bug (Musgraveia sulciventris) is a native insect which has made a literal tree-change from native food plants like finger lime to cultivated citrus. Once limited to coastal SE Queensland and northern NSW, it has spread to the south coast of NSW, as well as some inland citrus growing areas of Queensland and NSW. Adult bronze orange bugs are 25mm long, shield-shaped and bronze to nearly black in colour. Early stage juveniles (nymphs) are more circular in shape and are green, but the final juvenile stage is orange/salmon coloured. The bugs attack all varieties of citrus, particularly oranges and lemons. Bugs suck sap from young shoots, and from fruit and flower stalks, causing shoots to wilt and flower and fruit to drop. The worst damage is caused by late stage juveniles and adults in spring and early summer. There is only one generation per year.

Bronze orange bugs are notorious for their chemical defence system, which involves spraying a pungent liquid, which can burn skin and sting eyes. Because of this defence liquid, colonies of bronze orange bug have a strong, unpleasant smell. You can pick bronze orange bugs off and drown them in a bucket of soapy water, but you will need to wear gloves and eye protection. Try spraying with Yates® Nature's Way® Citrus & Ornamental Spray – it’s a contact spray so you must hit the bugs for it to work.

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ANT PATROL Are ants invading your house and outdoor areas? They can be a real nuisance in the kitchen, in potted plants on patios and in between paving. Some ants can also give you a painful bite or sting. Yates® Home Pest Ant & Nest Killer Gel Bait is a ready to use bait that can be used indoors and outdoors, to destroy ants in the nest as well as kill the queen. Using the handy syringe applicator, apply the gel around the nest entrance, along ant trails and where ants are most active. In outdoor areas, apply the gel in protected cracks and crevices and indoors where it won’t be disturbed or contaminated by cleaning or work activities. In each syringe there’s enough bait for up to 100 placements and the bait will remain active for at least fourteen days.

If you would prefer using a spray to control and prevent ants, Yates Home Pest Long Term Control Barrier Spray will kill ants, together with cockroaches, spiders, flies, cat fleas, silverfish and mosquitoes for up to twelve months indoors and up to three months outdoors. This ready to use barrier spray should be applied evenly over ant-prone surfaces, such as door entrances, window sills, cracks, crevices and around foundations, until moist.

ANTS IN YOUR PLANTS? If you notice ants crawling up and down the stems of garden or potted plants, such as citrus, gardenias, native frangipani and bottlebrush, it’s likely the plant is infested with a sap feeding insect like scale or aphids. Sap feeders excrete a sugary sweet substance called honeydew, which ants love to eat. If you control the sap feeding insects, with Yates Nature’s Way® Citrus & Ornamental Spray, the ants will also disappear. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

deck

TRANSFORMATION We love spending time in the outdoor spaces around our homes, whether it’s on a deck, veranda, balcony or patio. We want them to be a weekend or after-work haven, to relax and entertain in. It’s time to give your outdoor space an easy spring facelift by including a variety of leafy, edible or colourful potted plants. You won’t need a builder – just some gardening gloves!

Choose a plant theme for your transformation: TROPICAL RESORT STYLE

COLOURFUL FLOWERS

Leafy foliage plants and fragrant and vibrant flowers can bring back memories of your favourite tropical holiday destination. Lush palms, colourful bromeliads and cordylines, dwarf bougainvilleas, frangipanis, climbing mandevilla and clumping bamboo can all be grown in pots and positioned around outdoor areas. Place taller growing plants towards the back, smaller plants at the front, to create a layered effect that gives the impression of a larger space.

Create an inviting outdoor oasis by growing lots of beautiful potted flowers. Colourful petunias and calibrachoa, impatiens, marigolds, geraniums and daisies can bring quick and easy colour into outdoor areas. Perhaps go the extra insta-worthy mile and coordinate flower colours with table setting plates, drinkware and serviettes.

DELICIOUS EDIBLES If you love cooking on your BBQ and serving meals outdoors, then growing a range of potted vegies and herbs within easy reach will help add gourmet flair and taste to your menu. Grow graceful lemon grass and use the stems for basting or kebab skewers, fragrant sweet basil for mouth-watering bruschetta and loose leaf lettuces and cherry tomatoes for fresh and healthy salads. Convenient and delicious!

MEDITERRANEAN You may not be able to travel to Mediterranean countries at the moment, however you can bring a touch of Tuscany to your deck or outdoor space by growing pots of fragrant rosemary, olives, dwarf citrus, pretty purple lavender and bay trees.

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Yates® Tuscan® pots make perfect homes for your potted outdoor plants. They have a beautiful classic look that suits a wide range of exterior space design styles. They are made from UV stabilised plastic to withstand harsh conditions and help keep the pot looking great and are light weight, which makes them easier to move around than traditional concrete or terracotta pots. Yates Tuscan Pots have been designed by horticulturists to provide plants with the best growing conditions. They have vertical ridges on

the inside wall which encourages the roots to grown downwards, rather than circling around the pot, and the ridges also add strength to the pot. These pots are well drained, having a large number of drainage holes in the base, helping to reduce problems with overwatering, and are available with matching saucers. Colours in the Yates Tuscan Pot range include on trend Colorbond® Monument® and Dulux® Timeless Grey and traditional terracotta.

And to refresh your deck, so it’s ready to enjoy with friends and family, here are two simple steps from Cabot’s®:

STEP 1 Clean your deck using Cabot’s Deck Clean. Using a mix of Cabot’s Deck Clean and water in your Cabot’s Deck Hand® Bucket, scrub your timber with a Cabot’s Deck Prep scrubbing broom to remove degraded/grey timber fibres and dirt. By eliminating the impurities and surface contaminants you ensure a smooth finish when you apply your decking oil. Once dry…

STEP 2 Apply Cabot’s Aquadeck to your timber. Apply Aquadeck liberally to the entire length of the timber board using the Cabot’s Deck Coat lambswool applicator, approximately 2-3 boards at a time. Cabot’s Aquadeck is a water based decking oil that will enhance the look of your timber without drastically changing the colour. If your deck is exposed to heavy traffic and the elements, we recommend a second coat for added durability. When you’re done, wash your tools thoroughly in water. Wait at least eight hours before replacing furniture on your revitalised deck. Please note: Preparing your deck correctly is dependent on the current condition of your timber. If your deck has an old coating that has deteriorated unevenly or is peeling/flaking, we recommend sanding back to bare timber to ensure your decking oil adheres. For advice on preparing different conditions of timber correctly please visit cabots.com.au. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

sensational spring

F LOW E RI N G TR E E S & S H RU BS

Trees and shrubs add wonderful permanence and structure to gardens, as well as shade and privacy. Spring is when many trees and shrubs are covered in masses of beautiful blooms, adding a colourful or sometimes fragrant dimension to outdoor spaces.

If you have room for a spring flowering tree at your place, here are some wonderful ideas:

For smaller spaces, consider these spectacular spring flowering shrubs:

» Crab apples (Malus spp.) are a frenzy of

» Loropetalum ‘Plum Gorgeous’ has year-round deep

bee-attracting flowers in early spring and come in a range of beautiful colours including deep pink, white, scarlet red and pastel pink. Different varieties range from 3 to 6m tall and some have attractive autumn foliage or small edible fruit. Crab apples are ideal for small to medium sized gardens in cool and temperate climates, providing summer shade and being deciduous, allowing in winter sun.

» Jacarandas (Jacaranda mimosifolia) are at their spectacular flowering best in mid to late October and November, creating a haze of purple in many places across the country. Not only are jacarandas gorgeous when in flower, they are fabulous shade trees for large gardens, growing up to 15 m tall. The leaves fall in mid spring followed by their glorious floral display. Jacarandas grow best in temperate and tropical climates, however in cooler areas will tolerate light frosts once established (help protect the tree from frost while it’s young by spraying Yates® Waterwise™ DroughtShield™ over the foliage).

purple foliage and intriguing pink tasselled flowers in spring and autumn. Growing to around 1.5m tall and 2m wide, it maintains a naturally dense domed habit and can be used in mixed garden beds, grown as an informal hedge or makes a stunning feature plant in full or part shade.

» Port wine magnolia (Magnolia figo) is a large dense evergreen shrub, growing to around 3m tall, that has divinely scented mauve and cream cup shaped flowers in spring. They smell like bubble gum! It’s an ideal screening plant or to grow near a window and allow the fragrance to waft inside.

» Blueberry ash (Elaeocarpus reticulatus) is an Australian native evergreen rainforest tree that grows up to 5m tall. They produce frilled white flowers in spring and then bird-attracting colourful blue berries. Blueberry ash makes a great screening or hedge tree and will tolerate light shade.

» Azaleas range from petite bushes to large shrubs and come in almost every colour from white through to bright pink and also yellow and salmon as well as two toned and double flowers. Happiest in a garden bed or pot that receives morning sun and afternoon shade, they’ll bring beautiful colour into the garden.

During spring you can choose a new flowering tree or shrub at your local nursery, while they’re displaying their gorgeous flowers. Here are some planting tips to give them the best possible start: »

Most trees and shrubs prefer a well-drained soil that’s rich in organic matter. You can improve the quality of the soil in the planting hole by mixing in some Yates Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. Yates Dynamic Lifter will also provide the new tree or shrub with slow release organic nutrients as it establishes. It’s important to water the new plant in well and continue to water regularly for several months, particularly as the weather warms up in late spring. Apply an organic mulch, such as bark chips, around the root zone to reduce moisture loss from the soil.

Control any weeds or grasses that creep into the root zone with careful spot sprays of Yates Nature’s Way® Organic Weed Killer. In addition to looking untidy, weeds steal valuable water and nutrients from trees and shrubs and can harbour pests and diseases.

Once the new tree or shrub has established, promote healthy leaf growth and a fabulous flower show next spring by regularly applying Yates Thrive® Natural Roses & Flowers Organic Based Pelletised Plant Food around the root zone. It contains a special combination of more than 50% natural ingredients, boosted with fast acting fertilisers, including flower-promoting potassium.

Greywater your garden!

Greywater is a valuable source of water to use in the garden. Make the most of your greywater with Yates Greywater Fertiliser. It is specially formulated to add missing nutrients to laundry, bath & shower greywater so that it can be used to feed your home garden plants and lawns.

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Palms for sunny garden spots include: » Golden cane palm (Dypsis lutescens) » Bangalow palm (Archonontophoenix cunninghamiana) » Chinese fan palm (Livistona chinensis)

perfect

palms If you’re after a tropical look for your garden, then palms are a must and their long arching and graceful foliage adds a vertical dimension to garden designs or creates a tall leafy backdrop or dappled shade for smaller plants growing underneath. There is a wide variety of palms to choose from, whether you have a large sunny garden or a small shady spot that needs some tropical pizzazz.

Palms for shaded gardens include: » Lady palm (Rhapis excelsa) » Cascade palm (Chamaedorea cataractarum) » Walking stick palm (Linospadix monostachya)

Here are the key steps to help keep your palms lush and healthy: » Plant into well drained soil or a pot with good drainage holes filled with a good quality potting mix like Yates® Premium Potting Mix. » When planting a new palm into the garden, enrich the soil first by mixing in some Yates Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. Palms don’t like having their roots disturbed, so when planting, don’t be tempted to tease out the root ball, even if it looks compacted. » During the warmer months keep the soil or potting mix moist and feed outdoor palms each fortnight with Yates Dynamic Lifter Liquid Concentrate. » Yellowing palm leaves can be a sign of magnesium deficiency. Applied as a foliar spray, Yates Leaf Greener Magnesium Chelate is a fast acting source of magnesium to help green up palm foliage. » Regularly remove any brown palm fronds, to keep the plant looking tidy.

Indoor parlour palms Parlour palms (Chamaedorea elegans) make fantastic indoor plants. Young plants don’t take up too much space and a potted parlour palm is a lovely leafy addition to a work space or humid bathroom. Multiple plants are often grown together in the one pot and their small fronds are lined with lots of green leaflets, creating a lush miniature rainforest effect. Parlour palms prefer a moderately to well-lit spot indoors that is protected from direct sunlight. They can grow up to 1.5m tall, though grow slowly and will take several years to reach this height.

Parlour palm growing tips: »

Choose a pot with good drainage holes and use a good quality potting mix like Yates® Specialty Potting Mix Indoor Plants & Ferns.

Don’t disturb the palm’s root system when planting it into a new container.

Parlour palms like the potting mix to be kept only slightly moist. They don’t like wet feet! You can check the moisture level in the potting mix by gently digging around in the top few centimetres with your finger.

To promote lush healthy foliage growth, from spring to autumn feed every 2 months month with Yates Thrive® Plant Food Spikes Plants & Ferns. It’s as simple as pushing a spike into the potting mix towards the edge of the pot. The spike is out of sight and there’s no mixing or measuring required.

During hot dry weather, to help create a more humid environment the parlour palm foliage can be misted with water.

Monitor for signs of sap feeding scale, which can infest palm stems and leaves and look like small raised white, grey, brown or black bumps. Control by spraying the scale with Yates Nature’s Way® Citrus & Ornamental Spray.

Remove any dead fronds to keep the palm looking tidy and gently wipe the leaves regularly to remove any dust.

If fungus gnats (annoying tiny winged insects that fly around the house) are a problem in your indoor palm, apply a layer of Yates Gnat Barrier granules over the surface of the potting mix. This deters the female fungus gnat from laying her eggs and helps break the fungus gnat life cycle. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

Lavender Revolution

Lavender evokes a sense of cottage charm and classic fragrance and they remain one of the most popular and lovely plants to include in your garden. More than 25 years of world-class lavender breeding in Australia has been combined to create the revolutionary Lavinnova® range of lavenders. It contains an extensive selection of gorgeous lavenders with stunning flower and foliage colours, including ‘Ruffles’, ‘Fairy Wings’, ‘Lace’ and ‘The Princess’ lavenders.

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There are so many attractive varieties to choose from. Here are just a few to tempt you. The Lavender ‘Ruffles’ Collection is a very popular range of beautiful lavenders. ‘Razzleberry Ruffles’ has large deep pink ruffled flower wings which sit just above the greyish green foliage and ‘Pinkberry Ruffles’ has delicate pale pink ruffled flower wings and grey green foliage. They are both neat compact plants, growing to around 70cm tall and wide. Their main flowering period is from late winter through spring and they look fantastic when grown as an informal border or hedge, as a garden bed feature plant or planted into containers to bring fragrance and colour to entertaining areas. The Lavender ‘Lace’ Collection is a series of early flowering forms of lavender, bearing a range of gorgeous winged flower heads throughout winter and into early spring. The flowers are borne on stems that sit proudly above the plant, forming tight domes of bright colour and an impressive display for any landscape. ‘Violet Lace’ has intense deep purple flowers on a plant that grows to around 70cm high and wide. Beautiful silver foliage and aromatic pink flower heads are features of Lavender ‘Ghostly Princess’. It’s neat and compact, growing to around 70cm tall and wide, with the main flowering flush from late winter through spring. It makes a stunning hedge, feature or container plant and works wonderfully when planted in mixed shrub and floral borders, including in coastal areas. Lavender images courtesy of Plant Growers Australia (www.pga.com.au).

Lavender Care Lavenders prefer a full sun position in well drained soil or a good quality potting mix like Yates® Premium Potting Mix. In areas with acidic soil, apply some fast acting Yates® Hydrangea Pinking Liquid Lime & Dolomite to raise the soil pH, as lavenders prefer a slightly alkaline soil. Lavenders are tolerant of dry conditions once established, needing an occasional deep watering during hot weather. Plants should be pruned by up to a third each year after flowering, to keep them bushy and promote fresh new growth. Lavender foliage releases a delightful fragrance when brushed against, so hedging a pathway with lavender provides a lovely aroma as well as beautiful flowers. Lavenders also work well

when planted repeatedly throughout border gardens and potted displays. Lavenders attract pollinating insects, so are ideal to include near vegie patches and fruit trees to improve pollination. To encourage healthy growth and lots of flowers, feed lavender plants every 6–8 weeks with Yates® Thrive® Natural Roses & Flowers Organic Based Pelletised Plant Food. Spread the pellets around the root zone of both in-ground and potted plants. Yates Thrive Natural Roses & Flowers contains a special combination of more than 50% natural ingredients, boosted with fast acting fertilisers, including flower-promoting potassium, to encourage both vigorous green leaf growth and lots of beautiful lavender flowers. 30 G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

FLOWER S to sow

IN SP R I N G It’s time to sow a fabulous range of flower seeds, to bring glorious floral colour into your garden over the coming months. And it’s very important for us all to grow lots of flowers, to provide food for insects such as bees, butterflies and other beneficial pollinators.

Seeds by All around Australia you can sow: » Accents on Blue, Accents on Pink, Accents on White

» Impatiens Busy Lizzie

» Alyssum Cameo Mixture

» Marigold - Cupid Mix, Petite Yellow, Safari Mixture

» Aster Colour Carpet

» Nasturtium - Cherry Rose, Jewel Mixed

» Bee Pasture

» Pink Paper Daisy

» Butterfly Field

» Portulaca Sun Dancer

» Calendula Pacific Beauty

» Salvia - Blue Bedder, Dwarf Scarlet

» Carnation Fragrance

» Snapdragon Tom Thumb

» Chrysanthemum Snowlands » Coleus Pots of Beauty

» Sunflower - Bronze Shades, Dwarf Sensation, Yellow Empress

» Colonial Garden Collection

» Wildflowers of the World

» Cosmos Sensation and Bright Eyes

» Zinna Gold

» Cottage Garden Mix

Consult seed packs for the best sowing months in your area.

» Echinacea » Gerbera Colour Mix

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Here are the easy steps to starting a fabulous flower patch:

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STEP ONE Choose a sunny spot in a garden that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day. If there are any weeds or grasses in the area, spray with Yates Zero® Weed Killer and let them die back completely (usually around 2 weeks).

STEP TWO Mix some Yates Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser into the soil, to enrich and improve the quality of the soil and help give the new flowers the best possible start. Follow the directions on the seed packet and either sow seed direct where the flowers are to grow or sow into trays of Yates Seed Raising Mix. Water gently and keep the soil moist. For seedlings grown in trays, transplant them into their final home once they’re large enough to handle.

STEP THREE Once the seedlings are established, encourage lots of healthy growth and promote masses of vibrant flowers by feeding each week with Yates Thrive® Roses & Flowers Liquid Plant Food. It’s as easy as adding 1–2 capfuls into a 9L watering can and applying around the plants and soil. No backyard? No worries! Many flowers are also perfect for growing in pots. Seed packets include helpful information about whether your chosen flower is suitable for growing in pots. Compact flowers that are perfect for growing in containers and window boxes include ‘Dwarf Sensation’ sunflower, ‘Dwarf Scarlet’ salvia, alyssum ‘Cameo Mixture’ and marigold ‘Petite Yellow’.

Hover flies (Syrphidae) by Denis Crawford We see hoverflies flying around gardens behaving like mini helicopters, hovering above or near flowering plants. It’s this amazing ability to hang in the air that explains the ‘hover’ part of their common name. Some species look a bit like bees or wasps, but that’s just them pretending to be a bit scary so they don’t get eaten by a predator. Hover flies are important pollinators of many plants, but they rarely attract as much attention as bees. They visit all sorts of garden plants, especially those where the pollen and nectar is easily accessible. Hover flies don’t have long tongues like bees, so they would struggle to feed on tubular shaped flowers. Alyssum, daisies, marigolds, cosmos, and flowering coriander, carrots and dill all attract hoverflies. Hoverflies need the energy they get from nectar and pollen so they can lay fertile eggs. What hatches

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@yatesgardening from those eggs makes hoverflies doubly valuable in your garden. Hover fly larvae are ferocious predators of aphids. Female hover flies lay their eggs in or near an aphid colony so the larvae don’t have far to go to get food when they hatch a few days later. Hover fly larvae may eat as many as 30 aphids per day over a period of about two weeks before pupating. Hover flies have several generations per year and will stick around throughout the warmer months if they have plenty of flowers to feed on. Image courtesy of Denis Crawford.

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beautiful bottlebrush Photo courtesy of Trevor McKinnon

Many varieties of bottlebrush (Callistemon spp.) are busy flowering during spring, producing masses of vibrant bee and bird attracting flowers. They’re available in a range of different sizes, from very compact ‘Little John’ which only grows to 1m tall, to ‘Kings Park Special’ around 3m tall and Callistemon salignus (willow bottlebrush) which can grow to 10m. Their spectacular flowers can almost completely smother the plant and be bright red, creamy white, burgundy or pink. There’s also Callistemon ‘Red Alert™’ which has vivid new red growth in spring and autumn. Once the flower show has ended, bottlebrush will start producing lots of small hard round seed pods, which remain clustered along the flowering stem. New foliage will then emerge from the end of the pod-covered stem. This can result in stems becoming woody and leafless and the plant becoming sparse over time. To help keep small to medium bottlebrush varieties looking lush and bushy, after the flowers have finished it’s time to give the plant a trim, cutting off all the most recent spent flower heads and seed pods. Prune to just below the old flower. This will encourage a fresh flush of new foliage on the stem tips and encourage denser leafy growth.

It’s important to prune as soon as possible after flowering has finished, so there’s ample time for new stems to develop during summer and autumn, that will be the source of next spring’s flowers. Callistemon will benefit from being fed after pruning with some Yates® Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. It’s certified for use in organic gardens and is ideal for feeding Australian native plants like callistemon, slowly releasing gentle organic nutrients. Regular applications of Yates Dynamic Lifter will also help to improve the levels of organic matter in the soil, which encourages earthworms and beneficial soil microorganisms as well as promoting improved soil moisture and nutrient storage.

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Sooty mould? If you’ve noticed a black ash like sticky film over stems and foliage of bottlebrush (as well as other Australian native plants like grevilleas and native frangipani), it’s most likely a fungus called sooty mould. Sooty mould occurs when sap sucking insects such as scale, aphids, whitefly or mealybug are attacking the plant. These insects secrete a sweet substance called honeydew, which the sooty mould grows on. If you control the insects, and thus the honeydew they produce, the sooty mould will slowly dry up and flake off. Sap sucking insects on native plants like bottlebrush can be controlled with regular sprays of PestOil®. It’s important to spray the plants thoroughly, including both upper and lower leaf surfaces and all sides of stems to ensure good coverage of the insects, as PestOil works by smothering the pests.

A unique blend of natural ingredienTs to enrich & improve the soil & feed plants with gentle, slow release organic nutrients

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GARDENING in different climates All around Australia, there are lots of things to keep you wonderfully busy out in the garden during spring.

IN COOL CLIMATES

it’s time to:

» Keep feeding spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils, hyacinths and tulips with a high potassium plant food, like Yates® Thrive® Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser, to promote healthy growth and a great flower show next year. Continue feeding each week until the foliage dies down in late spring. » In early spring, from the expanded bud stage until the end of flowering, prevent azalea flowers being turned to brown mush by the disease azalea petal blight by applying Yates® Zaleton® Dual Action Systemic Fungicide over the plants every two weeks. » Plant seed potatoes into a sunny, well-drained vegie patch or pot and when new foliage emerges, cover with layers of straw and a sprinkling of Yates Dynamic Lifter® Soil Improver & Plant Fertiliser. » Protect tender new azalea leaf growth from azalea lace bugs, which cause leaves to bronze and mottle. Spray plants with Baythroid® Advanced Insect Killer for Gardens, including the undersides of leaves where insects often hide.

IN TEMPERATE CLIMATES it’s time to: » Grow your very own mango or avocado tree in a warm and sunny protected spot. Look for space saving dwarf varieties of mangoes and for avocados, ensure you plant both an A and B type to promote pollination and fruit set. » Start a pizza garden with the kids! In a sunny vegie garden or a group of pots, plant fragrant basil, delicious cherry tomatoes and colourful capsicum so kids can grow and pick some of their very own healthy pizza toppings. » Apply a fresh layer of mulch in garden beds to create a nice finished look as well as help reduce weed growth and soil moisture loss. » Sow seeds of Yates Watermelon and Yates Rockmelon in early spring, so you’ll be feasting on delicious fruit during summer.

IN SUB-TROPICAL & TROPICAL CLIMATES it’s time to: » Provide long term weed control in paths and other hard surfaces with Yates Pathweeder. It contains an advanced formula which kills existing weeds and prevents new weeds from germinating for up to 12 months. » Repot vigorous indoor plants into slightly larger pots or refresh the potting mix in tired and weary plants with Yates Specialty Potting Mix Indoor Plants & Ferns. » Give sweetly fragrant gardenias some TLC with applications each week of a Yates Thrive® Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser. It contains nitrogen, magnesium and iron to promote healthy green leaves and is rich in potassium to encourage flowering. » While they’re busy growing, feed cymbidium orchids with Yates Thrive Orchid Liquid Plant Food, which contains the right balance of nutrients to promote healthy leaf growth and prepare the plant for future flowers. G R O W I N G W I T H Y O U - YA T E S

INTERVIEW WITH A

horticultural

traveller

Learning about gardeners from far flung and exotic locations around the world can be both inspirational and educational and tempt us to put these interesting destinations on our travelling bucket list. Angie Thomas interviewed passionate horticultural lecturer Dan Austin about some of the fantastic places he has visited during his horticultural travels.

What is your ‘day job’ and how did you get started in horticulture? I guess you could say gardening is in my blood. My grandparents had a small orchard in the Riverland in South Australia, where I spent many school holidays working and firmly caught the horticulture bug. After finishing high school, I was fortunate enough to land an apprenticeship in horticulture working at TAFESA’s Urrbrae campus. During this time, I negotiated all sorts of training that wasn’t part of my regular timetable and with the extra knowledge, it wasn’t long before I was encouraged to get my teaching qualification and return to the organisation as a trainer. 10 years later and things have gone full circle. My regular day job involves lecturing across a range of horticulture topics and I now coordinate TAFESA’s horticulture apprentices from across the state.

What do you enjoy most about teaching horticulture? I love getting hands on with plants and being out in the sun (or rain, but it is all part of it). We get tired and we get dirty, but there aren’t many vocations with as many smiles and laughs. The best people are in horticulture and it is great reuniting with graduates in industry and seeing what they have achieved.

How did you begin your horticultural-based travel? During my apprenticeship, I gained a place in the Yates 6 Pack program with the International Plant Propagator’s Society, which allowed six young people to travel interstate and attend the Society’s annual conference and it was eye opening. I gained exposure to what was happening, not only around Australia but around the world. So, when I learnt the Society also offered an all-expenses paid exchange program to South Africa, I was barely back home before my application was in. The next year I was on the plane and after the experience of touring South Africa’s nursery industry, I was quickly hooked on horticulturalbased travel.

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Over the next few years I did anything I could to experience more of the world of plants abroad, from scholarships to volunteering with AusAID and on and off, I’ve been able to spend around five of the last ten years working in horticulture overseas in some shape or form.

What have been your favourite top three places to visit? And what made these places or people so special? That’s a really hard question. For adventure, the Solomon Islands are almost trapped in time and as off the beaten track as you can get, while the people in rural Tanzania and Vietnam were undoubtedly the friendliest from my experience, so I have a soft spot for those countries. From a horticultural perspective though, the innovation in Singapore and Israel is out of this world but I think the most interesting places would have to include: The Floating Gardens of Inle Lake, Myanmar - where floating beds of decomposed reeds and water hyacinth are used to farm over 61000 tonnes of tomatoes annually, on the lake’s surface. The eco gardens of Cappadocia, Turkey – where paddock to plate farming allows visitors fresh Mediterranean produce among some of the most surreal geography you will ever see. The living bridges of Sohra, India- these bridges are found surrounded by caves and waterfalls in one of the wettest (and most beautiful) places on Earth. They have been fostered and developed over hundreds of years and are actually alive, woven from the roots of Ficus elastica.

What can we learn from these people and places? One thing I’ve noticed over and over, is that the people in the places who have the least, are some of the happiest and most generous. I guess when everyone is content living in the same way, no one is comparing themselves with anyone else or feeling like they are missing out on something and I think that’s a trait we could all adopt.

Once travel restrictions are lifted, where are the places that you would like to visit next? I think the Amazon would be amazing, the cloud forests of Peru would make a great side trip and the floating villages of Lake Titicaca would be the horticultural icing on the cake, but that is another hard question, the world is a big place and the bucket list is long! Images courtesy of Dan Austin.

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