How to Plant a Shrub

If you've ever had shrubs that didn't plant well, and perhaps even died, take a look at how to plant them well.


Start off with the basics, something to dig with, some water and fertilizer and of course, your new shrub - this is Callistemon viminalis.



Dig the hole twice the width of the pot and to the same depth as the root ball. (Note: I usually would mix 1 part of this soil with 1 part cow manure and 1 part soil improver. In this case though, as it's an Australian native shrub, they're not big on fertiliser so I'll just stick to the blood 'n bone.



Transplant the shrub into the hole teasing any roots out if it's badly rootbound. Half-fill the hole with water and then backfill with the soil. Water generously after the shrub's been planted and then water regularly, at least every second day for next couple of weeks.



Make yourself a cup of coffee or herbal tea, stand back and admire the potential vista.




Gardening Plant Shrub Advice

Day 5: 21 Signs of Garden Fatigue

Herbs

If there were a group of plants which were the least prone to pests and diseases, herbs would be it. However, they're still a plant and they still need to be kept healthy.

Read on for more details....

GARDENING TIPS...

• Root rot - this occurs commonly in herbs, especially those planted indoors or in poor soil. It happens when there is minimal light and the herb is being overwatered. To remedy the situation, move the herb into a sunnier position and reduce the water supply. If the herb is indoors, place it near a window that receives considerable light throughout the day.
  


• Aphids - some herbs are prone to Aphids and while they can, in most cases just be hosed off with a forceful spray, they are best removed with an insecticide soap. As herbs are mainly used for eating or herbal teas, you should refrain from using strong pesticides.
  


• Overfeeding - herbs aren't heavy feeders so it's best to feed them prior to Spring with a slow-release fertiliser. You can also complement this with a liquid fertiliser applied every 6 weeks. Any more than this and you may find your herbs are struggling to intake all that nutrient and your fertilising will become counter-productive.

Gardening Herbs Advice

Mangosteen Juice Anyone?

Is this the new Wheatgrass?

Mangosteen's are a fruit that's native to Southeast Asia and are commercially grown in India, Brazil, Thailand, and Malaysia and other tropical regions. They're the fruit of a slowgrowing (6-25m) tropical evergreen that produces fruit twice a year - once in Autumn and then again in Spring. The fruit has been colloquially known as 'the fruit of the gods' and is one of the most delicious exotic fruits.

However, Mangosteen's are not only valuable as a fruit but also recognised as a health supplement. It appears that the rind, pericarp, of the fruit contains xanthones (a type of antioxidant) which apparently is good for the treatment of cancer or at least as a deterrent.

The main producer of mangosteen juice is Xango Juice which retails at upwards of $A25 per 750ml bottle. While this may seem a little expensive for a bottle of fruit juice, one has only to consider the health benefits. For a well-balanced read on mangosteen juice and it's benefits read A Friendly Skeptic Looks at Mangosteen.



Gardening Mangosteen Fruit Juice

Day 4: 21 Signs of Garden Fatigue

Vegetables

Even for the most amateur gardener, growing your own vegetables is high on the list of gardening priorities. The rewards of being able to harvest something you've grown yourself outweighs the minimal effort it takes to achieve. All you need is a plot of soil, some good-quality seeds and a source of regular water.

Well...that is until the health of your vegetable patch begins to decline and the rewards of your labour become insignificant at best. How do you keep your vegetable patch healthy and ascertain the level of its health? Read on for more tips....

GARDENING TIPS...

• Soil Condition - to ensure a healthy vegetable patch it all begins with the soil. Most issues that pertain to growing successful vegetables start here and if this is not maintained your vegetable success rate will fall. For more info on keeping your soil healthy check here...
  


• Pest Management - apart from managing your soil, managing and eradicating (if that's possible!!) pests is the next focus. Caterpillar's eating your cauliflowers, white moth's chewing their way through your lettuces and slater's biting the tops of carrots. Some people use chemical sprays which in most cases are only temporary solutions while others prefer 'Companion Planting'. Companion planting is the concept of grouping plants together that use eaach other's natural abilities to ward off pests and therefore allow more success with your vegetables.
  


• Water Source - of all the plants in your garden, vegetables will probably require the most water, and regular water as well. Without a regular water source, your vegetables will struggle to grow and fruit consistently. If you are producing small, inedible fruits or vegetables that seem stunted in their maturity it will most probably be linked to inefficient watering.
  


• Adequate Support - many of the climbing vegetables require support to enable them to grow and produce. If the support is not adequate or doesn't allow for good ventilation or sunlight exposure, these vegetables will struggle to succeed. Make sure your supporting frames are strong enough to hold the climber well into maturity without sagging or showing signs of stress from the increasing weight.
  

Gardening Vegetables Advice

This Week's Celebrity Gardener

George Bush - President of U.S.A.


The most powerful man in the world - Gardens! That's right, you heard it first on Amateur Gardening and we bring you an exclusive personal interview with the man himself.



AG: What inspired you to take up Gardening as a hobby?
George: When I was growing up, our next-door neighbour thought they had the best lawn in the street and I knew ours was really the best. I took up gardening as a competitive challenge.

AG: Describe your gardening 'Moment'?
George: It would have to be walking Thabo Mbeki around the gardens here at the White House. He loved the place and was amazed at the plant selection, the rolling lawns, the helipad, FBI shooting range...

AG: Now George, you've been harshly criticised in the press for not composting. Do you compost your waste materials?
George: Of course. Apart from the little thing I've got going in the Nevada desert I'm a big proponent of recycling our own home garden waste.



AG: Finally George, if you could change one thing in the gardening world today, what would it be?
George: Thrips. They're schemes are bent on destruction and evil and we need to route them out and rid ourselves of this terrible blight on gardening societies.


Celebrity Gardener

Day 3: 21 Signs of Garden Fatigue

Plant Propagation and Seedlings

If you're a keen gardener one of the greatest parts of our hobby is propagating plants and raising seedlings. It's the most self-gratifying test to see whether you've been successful, or alas - a failure! But don't take it personally, every gardener has failed in tying to succeed. It's part of life I guess.

While trying to succeed is the aim it is worth understanding the signs of healthy propagated material and seedlings. Read on for tips...

GARDENING TIPS...

• Moisture - extreme levels of moisture or dryness will affect your success with raising seeds or propagating plants. If it's too moist bacteria's and fungus' are more readily attracted and encouraged to thrive. If this is the case, remove the covering and/or place them in a sunny sheltered spot and change the watering routine.
  If it's too dry, your young stock will struggle to feed and become malnourished. To rectify this, increase your watering routine and find possible reasons why your planting medium is drying out. Possibilities; too much sun, inferior medium or just not enough water.
  


• Wilt - this usually occurs when you're cutting has too much leaf material present. Try trimming your specimens down to only a few leaves at the top. I was also shown a great tip by a gardener friend to cut the tips of each leaf before propagation. The reason - you could then readily see what was new growth.
  


• Strike Rate - we would all like 100% of our cuttings and seedlings to be successful but usually this is severly idealistic. It's good to journal your attempts and gauge what works and what doesn't. As you continue propagating and raising seeds you should find your success rate improving. If it's not, try to ascertain possible causes for failure and isolate them.

Gardening Advice Propagating Cuttings Seedlings

Outdoor Furniture Ready For Christmas

Summer was created for living outdoors.

How much more do we seem to come alive when spring arrives and summer isn't all that far away? That is until summer actually arrives and it dawns on us that it's hot!! Then it's time to sit in the shade or soak up some filtered rays and lounge for the next few months. That's how it is in Busselton, anyway!

So, if you're into lounging away those summer months what outdoor furniture do you need to have in order to do it in style? On our patio we have an 9-piece table and chair setting and thought I was fairly set for summer. That was until I stepped into the shop-of-discontent (formerly known as Bunnings) and viewed their range of outdoor furniture.

Upon reflection, and using a few minimisation techniques, I've come up with a short list of the outdoor furniture I NEED! These include;

• Bar


• Bar Stools (to go with the Bar)


• Wheel-able Esky


• Patio Heater (just in case it gets a little chilly)


• Outdoor Sofas


• Banana Lounges


• A Hammock


• Market Umbrella


• A New Gourmet 6-Burner BBQ


• Coffee Table (to go with the Outdoor Sofas)

There!!! I don't want to be too greedy but these things are apparently essential. How am I going to make the next-doors envious if I only stick to my table and chairs?


Furniture Outdoor

Christmas Tree Sorted?

What are you planning to have for a Christmas tree this year?


If you're like our family we've always gone for plastic Christmas trees over buying a fir that lasts a couple of days and then die. However, when I was a child, my dad did buy a fir for a couple of years in a row and I remember the fragrance that would waft through the house afterwards. Sentimentality....


Another option which we've toyed with is growing a container conifer which we can bring indoors each year for Christmas and then leave outside for the rest of the year. It makes a lot of sense. A living, breathing, non-plastic tree which doesn't take up storage space and can be reused year after year.

What does your family do for a Christmas Tree? Do you buy a cut fir prior to Christmas, keep a container conifer, or just bring out the plastic?




Gardening Christmas Tree

Day 2: 21 Signs of Garden Fatigue

Soil Troubleshooting

Without soil there would be very little garden and while many of the inner city dwellers opt for container gardening as they're limited by space, many other gardeners are limited to soil due to costs. So it makes sense to keep your soil healthy.

It stands to reason that your soil is the most important resource in the garden which has sparked considerable debate between fertilising plants vs. improving the soil. Me...I'm certainly sitting on the soil improving side of the fence. That being the case, how do you improve your soil and keep it healthy year after year and crop after crop.

Read on for signs of soil fatigue...

GARDENING TIPS...

• Non-Water Absorption - often soil can become impermeable by water. This is usually because the soil is packed to tight and won't allow anything into it. Sandy soils are easily penetrated by water whereas clay soils can resist it. However, very sandy soils struggle to retain the water and clay soils don't. How do you correct this problem? Trying adding some compost to your soil and digging it through where possible or using it to mulching where it's not possible. You could even try adding water saving crystals but this should only be viewed as a temporary measure.
  


• pH Levels - for various reasons your soils may be, or perhaps even become, too alkaline or too acidic for the plants you are trying to grow. On a range of 0-14 (0 being extreme acid; 14 being extreme alkaline) most plans prefer soil that is mainly neutral - 7pH but it will depend on the type of plant. Test your soil using a pH tester and then rectify acidic soils with lime and alkaline soils with compost and manures.
  


• Compacted soils - this is common with clay soils so if you want to break up the clay, apart from adding organic matter, try adding dolomite.
  


• Soil-borne diseases - this isn't common but can occur in your garden. Many gardeners who grow vegetables rotate their crops each season to guard against this happening in their beds. Apart from chemical solutions the best practice is to leave your soil fallow for a year or two.

Gardening Soil

Reading the Signs in Your Garden

Your garden is always showing you signs of its health - the problem is trying to decipher what it has to say!

I found a dead-patch in my lawn on the weekend and began freaking out as to why this was happening. Did I cut it too short when I mowed it last? Is there some bug (obviously from next-doors) that's started munching my urea-rich turf? Or, perhaps the kids have converted it to a high traffic area?

No. After careful inspection it was merely the patch was not getting watered by the reticulation. But, it could have been any of those problems so how do you know what to look for?

Tomorrow I'm going to start a series called 21 Signs of Garden Fatigue and it would be great to get your feedback from problems that you've had and how you've dealt with them as well.


Gardening Troubleshooting

Disney's Massive Landscape

Imagine the garden designed by the people that imagine!


A team of 600 horticulturalists typically start their day at 4:30am to manage garden's the size of San Francisco. The team installs more than 200 landscapes each year and plans their annuals 12 months in advance, just in case there's any glitches with plant choice. Take a look at some of their numbers;

• 30,500: Total acreage of the Walt Disney World Resort. At 47 square miles, the property is the approximate size of San Francisco
  


• 2,000: Total acres of maintained turf. At three mowings a week, that adds up to 450,000 mower miles per year or 18 trips around the Earth at the equator.
  


• 4,000,000+: Number of shrubs maintained in the landscape. In the Le Notre garden at the France pavilion, 985 shrubs were used to create an embroidered pattern
  


• 3,000: Number of roses planted in the landscape. Nearly 100 varieties of rose can be found in the Rose Walk at Epcot. The rose bed at Cinderella Castle showcases the All-America Rose Selection (AARS) winners.
  


• 8,500: Number of interior plants used each year by the Walt Disney World Resort. The largest and most diverse garden of interior plants can be found in the atrium lobby of Disney’s Polynesian Resort.
  


• 4,000: Number of hanging baskets produced each year. On average, each basket is in production for three months and “on stage” for three months. There are more than 800 baskets on stage at one time. There are more than 100 hanging baskets at the bus turnaround at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, making it the largest basket set on the property.
  


• 3,000,000+: Number of bedding plants and annuals planted each year. The largest bed at The Land in Epcot measures 20,000 square feet and contains up to 20,000 seasonal plants.
  


• 10,500,000: Number of beneficial insects released to control plant annually. Disney pest management technicians release ladybugs, lacewings, predatory wasps and predatory beetles. A single predatory beetle can eat up to 500 whitefly eggs a day.
  


• 3,500: Total number of plant species represented at the Walt Disney World Resort. The species represent flora gathered from every continent except Antarctica.
  


• 60,000: Number of poinsettias used to introduce the holidays to the parks. It takes 50 to 75 4-inch plants to create just one poinsettia ball for the holiday season.
  

Courtesy Lawn & Landscape magazine, The Walt Disney World Resorts


Gardening Disney

New Liquid Fertiliser for Hydrangeas

GOLD'n GRO Fertiliser has just completed new test trials with astonishing results.


A Rhode Island nursery has recently undergone field tests on 7,000 hydrangeas. The manager had this to say about the trials.

The Hydrangeas fertilized with GOLD'n GRO 8-8-8 +4%S approximately doubled in size compared to the check plants. Flowering lasted almost two weeks longer, and the plants grew to a salable size in about 30 percent less time. The grower stressed that the GOLD'n GRO fertilized plants produced larger, greener, and more frost resistant leaves and stems and larger, and more colorful flowers.

What's even more amazing is the company behind the fertiliser, Itronics. It is the only company in the world recycling photoliquids, removing 99% of the silver metals and all of the other toxic metals used in them. This liquid is then converted to environmentally beneficial, chelated, multinutrient liquid fertiliser which can be used successfully on lawns and gardens.


If you're wanting more information visit their website.


Gardening Fertiliser Hydrangeas

Breathing Life Into an Old Garden

Do you have a garden bed that's in dire need of some resuscitation but not sure it's worth your time and effort?

Ok. So once a plant's dead - it's dead! There's nothing more you can do for it. But a garden bed - that's another story. We've...(I'm using the royal 'WE' here)....ok, my wife...just renovated a garden bed which runs along the dead side of the house. It's an awkward garden because it gets extreme shade and extreme sun; one part suffers from not getting enough water while the other gets water-logged every winter.

I know what you're thinking - pave it! That would be the easy solution but I'm not about to give up while there's still a chance. So we're....ok, you got me again...my wife...is trying a few different plants.

Deb fertilised the two beds with blood and bone and some rich cow manure and added watersaving crystals (mainly in the bed that gets the least amount of water). We previously had Mother-in-law tongues (you'd like these Marcus), Dusty Miller, Poached-Egg plants and some Jacobinia's. While this might have looked good in another bed it wasn't working in this one.

So we're keeping the Mother-in-laws (wise move!) and have planted some Celebration Border Alternanthus and moved the Creeping Jenny in front of it all. They're all very hardy plants and can sustain most of these extreme conditions. We'll post some photos if it works. If it doesn't - stay tuned for Breathing Life Into an Old Garden II.

Gardening Renovating Plants

How Much Mulch?

Is it possible to overmulch your garden?

Like anything, moderation is good. We have just started the annual mulching of our garden beds before the summer season arrives and evaporation removes the water we pay so much for from our plants. I'm a big fan of mulch, not only for its purposes but also for its aesthetic qualities. It's like putting a black background behind a photograph.

If you want to neaten your garden before you put it on the real estate market - mulch the beds. It makes an incredible difference. I've seen homeowners who have done this and instantly the house looks better.

So what types of mulch are there and what are their purposes? Read on...

GARDENING TIPS...

The types of mulch are varied and can be anything organic or inorganic.

• Straw/Hay/Lucerne - These are great to put around fruit trees and look great in cottage gardens. They're inexpensive materials and will keep down weeds very effectively. The best way to apply this type of mulch is to first put down some blood and bone fertiliser around the base of the tree. Overlay this with some newspaper to cover the spread of the tree and then cover the paper with sheep or horse manure (slow-release fertiliser). Finally apply the straw densely over the manure and water in.
  


• Manufactured Mulches - we've just applied some mushroom compost to our beds because of the ease of use and high manure levels within the mulch. Mulches purchased this way have a uniform colour, usually very dark, and can be easily spread across the garden beds. In our ornamental beds we applied some blood and bone before adding the mulch while we just applied the mulch (no fertiliser) to our native garden. The reason, Australian natives don't mind some fertilising but not in abundance.
  


• Material Mulches - these mulches are used predominantly for aesthetic purposes. They may consist of broken coloured glass, pebbles, woodchips or any other material than can still allow water to seep in and yet minimise evaporation.
  

What are the purposes for laying mulch?

• Aesthetics - this may or may not be the biggest reason for your desire to mulch. It all depends on what you're trying to achieve. You may be trying to create a particular feel to a landscape and these materials help convey that. It may be that you just want to neaten up your garden and are laying a backdrop for this.
  


• Feeding Your Garden - we usually purchase feeding mulches because we prefer to put these items onto the garden in the hope of improving soil quality. As these mulches break down further, they condition the soil and add to it.
  


• Keeping Weeds Down - this is a great strategy for using mulchand the reason why it should be applied generously. The heat and density of the mulch will slow down weeds from germinating and also being able to penetrate it. It also means that you shouldn't put your mulch right up to the base of the plant as it is possible to kill them.
  


• Slows Evaporation - one of the big reasons you would mulch your garden is to stop evaporation. During the hottest months it's quite possible to see more water being evaporated from your garden than you're applying to it. Mulching will slow down this process and allow the plants to retain their required moisture.

Gardening Mulch Water

Handcarved Sculptures From Clay

Free-range chickens just took on a whole new emphasis.

How could you not fall in love with these? We found them in Nannup, handcarved by a lady who creates individual sculptures of chickens in quirky poses. These sculptures were dotted throughout the gardens and were individually priced and made focal points of each bed. These three here would have set you back about A$400 each.

If I had the money, and my youngest son L. didn't have an affinity to hammers, we would have found no reason not to buy them. We have a similar area in our garden consisting of three silver birches, some dichondra and some spring-flowering daffodils where they would have looked right at home.

Gardening Handcarved Sculpture Pottery

Nannup Garden Festival

Holberry House Pond

Holberry House Open Garden

Blythe Cottage complete with Alstromerias

If you tried to measure the Nannup Garden Festival alongside the Chelsea Flower Show you would be sorely disappointed. However, for a very small town, they have an overabundance of gardens and gardeners which were zealous about their hobby.

We didn't arrive there until Sunday afternoon so the mood of many of the stalls and gardens was geared to finishing up and leaving. While this was okay (we didn't have too many people going out of their way to sell us anything) we did ponder the virtue of coming a day earlier.

The town, and even the outskirts, had opened up many of their gardens for the public to wander through and view. Holberry House, an accomodation lodge with incredible gardens, was one of our favourites with cascading waterfalls and a duck-infested pond.

The other highlight was Blythe Cottage which apparently holds a Guiness World Record for the largest tree dahlia (7.8m). This cottage seemed uninhabited on first glance but after tripping on the owner's dog and pilferring some of the juicy loquats we realised it wasn't.

Nonetheless, it was a fantastic trip out there and we were blessed with some awesome weather. I'll certainly mark the calendar for next year.


Garden Nannup Festival

Today's Job: Fences

Why do we erect fences?

I've been asking my wife this question for some time now - she calls this type of enquiry 'Procrastination'. Ok...so I'm not looking forward to putting up more fences. In fact, I would equate the experience to [INSERT A TEDIOUS BORING JOB THAT YOU DISLIKE DOING HERE]. Still, they need to be done.

While I'm not entirely thrilled with the prospect of erecting these new fences I am excited at the eventual result. The fence that I have to construct today will be the final one to delineate between our current backyard and our future tropical/spa garden. While we won't get to the spa garden for some time it will enable us to complete the backyard (which includes the vegetable patch and chicken run).

How am I going to do it? Read on through the hints and tips....

GARDENING TIPS...

There are a few views on this so I shall only share what I do and if it helps- great!

• Fence Posts - these should be set apart every 1.5 - 1.8m for optimum strength. These need to be supported in the ground by at least half the height above the ground. (Example: if the post above the ground will be 1.8m then the amount needed to go below the ground will be 0.9m. Total post length = 2.7m)
  


• Post Support - the views differ here but my experience would be to concrete or cement these in. The views differ because cement is porous and many believe they will store water and eventually rot. The other option is just to pack sand in but this gives less strength and can also rot the wood by the sand acting as an abrasive against the wood. If using cement, fill the hole at least half full for strength.
  


• Materials - while many people are turning to metal for their fence material of choice, I still prefer wood. The best woods to get are either CCA treated pine (Pinus radiata which has been treated with arsenic)or types of hardwood (we would use jarrah).
  


• Retaining Fence Posts - my project today doesn't involve these because I'm not building a free standing fence. If your fence is free-standing choose a post that is equivalent, if not bigger, than your normal fence posts and retain it using either a wire or pole type brace.
  


• Fence Pailings or Pickets - to keep consistencey with rest of the fences, we're placing Gothic pickets on these ones as well. The key to doing this well is, as we've found, to construct these on the ground prior to attaching it to the fence. I've seen and used both methods (the other being attaching them directly to the railings) but I've found it far easier to do it all the ground first.
  


• Paint Your Fence Pailings First - before we even started building these fences we painted all our pickets. This will reduce your workload considerably.
  



Gardening Fences Project

Metal Wall Sculptures for Your Outdoor Areas?

Never known quite what to adorn that undercover patio wall with?

The first time I was priviliged to see a metal wall sculpture it was hanging on a wall inside a local cafe. The cafe opened onto the beach and the wall sculpture was of a group of yachts moored together. The metal wires that made this beautiful piece of art intrigued me as they criss-crossed the metal canvas to give a 3D effect.