Spring plantings

Also get your plants in this weekend – while the moon is still waxing.

I’ve pulled out my gazanias, they only look good for a short time then they look crap the rest of the year. And the buggers keep popping up. I reckon they are a pest.
I’m going deciduous shade trees this year to try and keep my house cooler in summer. I’ve put in a coupla Manchurian Pears, a Claret Ash and a clump of Silver Birch (further away from the house) to act as a windbreak.

just dont leave your tomotoes on the windowsill too long or they will be nice and mushy.

Gazanias and african daisies? Puuuuuuuke.

If you keep your woolies tomatoes on a sunny windowsill and not in the fridge they taste much better.

Check out the guy who sells homegrown tomato plants at the ANU on Thursday and West Row on Friday’s.

Gotta be better than the crap tommies you buy at Coles or Woolies.

Put in some sunflower seeds (get a big bag from woolies pet section, not a tiny pack from a garden centre.)
Also I’d get some gazanias in at the edge of a lawn. They are tough and need little water, and will eventually self seed and start growing out into the lawn. African daisies will do it too.
Failsafe vegies are tomatoes, leeks and celery.

Charlie carp on the lawn – just watch it go nuts. You’ll need to get it nice and strong for the inevitable invasion of scarab grubs.

Oh yeah – wizz on your citrus as much as possible. You’ll be rewarded with masses of fruit.

Gotta disagree on the pruning Santa. It’s a bit late for pretty much everything. They’ll bounce back in most cases – but I reckon you’re better to wait till winter now.

fertilise and muclhing, perfect time. Do some pruning, however steer clear of anything that is bud. Hacking at those plants will put them into sress, and they will probably die. Plants recover quickly in spring, and those that are pruned, will bounce back fairly quickly.

If you have a watering system, now is also a pretty damn good time to have a fiddle with that and see what repairs/ alterations needs to be done.

If you have a cat or dog, this next one may be difficult… Start trying to attract birds and lizards etc into your gradens. This will reduce the need for you to go hunting for bugs and nasties, as the smaller predators will do this for you. Ponds, birdbaths, flowering plants are generally the best way to go. Start attracting the smaller things, and big things will come in after em. Too Easy.

As for what can be planted, just about anything will grow this time ofyear, for best results however, try to marry up annuals, trees etc to our climate zone. We are known as a ‘Mediterrianian'(sp. f**k it) or Moist temperate.

Go get em tigers.

Get yer summer veggies in. If nothing else, it’s always worth putting some tomatoes in – the ones you grow yourself don’t taste like cardboard. You can chuck most things in at this time of year (except most bulbs).