Herb pots make it easy

A herb pot is an excellent method to keep plants growing and ready for use.  When you grow your own plants there is no need to dash to the shop just to get parsley. Home grown herbs, fruit and vegetables taste best and are very satisfying.  So how do you do it?
You will need:

6  herb pots  $36
I have used purple sage, curry plant, strawberries and oregano
15 litre bag premium potting mix $10
28 cm Herb pot $40
Prices are approximate

A herb pot should be in a sunny position, where it will receive at least 4-5 hours sunlight or more. They can be easily moved around your patio or garden to get more or less sun.  In a small pot it can be placed on a table where it is easy to pick herbs and strawberries and close to the kitchen.

Maples bleed when pruned in winter

Maples belong to a genus of deciduous trees with a wide range of small and large trees, many can handle full sunny positions and others need more protection from the scorching summer sun in Australia.  Some have very finely dissected leaves and appear to be fragile, whilst others have large maple shaped leaves like those on the Canadian flag.  They are tolerant of a wide range of soils and are extremely tolerant of cold and frosty conditions.
Pruning is not regularly required and usually shaping of a young tree is all that is needed.  Right now it is late winter and many plants are showing signs of new growth.  This is the time when many fruit trees are pruned but resist the urge to prune your maple in late winter.  The reason being they bleed considerable amounts of sap from each cut.
Heres an example of what happens when you prune your maple in late winter.  This is my tree and I needed to relocate it to make way for a new gate.  In its new position the shape was not quite right.

Do not be alarmed with the sap flow.  However make sure the cut is clean from sharp secateurs and not flush  against the stem or trunk.  All cuts should be made above the collar and angled away from the junction will allow the tree to heal.
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Spotted pardalote- an interesting little visitor to my garden

While doing my latest garden, I was lucky to have many visitors. Investigating just who the little fellas are I realised they have moved into my wall and dug a little nest.  The nest entry appears like a small round tunnel dug directly into a dirt wall.

Well I intend to be careful around the nest and let nature take its course.  Hopefully I will observe little babies soon.

winter flowering plants

I love plants and I think they are the champions or the star performers of our gardens like ornaments and sculptures they add that special personal touch. They can stamp a garden that in many respects says this garden belongs in a particular geographic region. Or does it? Many plants can live in different climates and different countries they just need the right conditions to thrive this could be called a micro climate situation. Where the growing environment is altered slightly to benefit and extend the range of plants that can be grown in situ. This means the plant will flower at different times in the growing season compared to the same plants growing in a different region. This I find is an interesting and rewarding benefit of a garden that is designed to maximise the growing environment for tender plants. I am keen to find situations and techniques people have used to allow tender plants to grow in regions where it is not considered possible. You're welcome to leave any related comments. Below is a collection of photos of plants in flower in Canberra, Australia for the end of May into June. I will be adding to this collection on a regular basis. Please check back at another time.

Your new garden could be spectacular

Ever wondered why you love being outside in a garden.  Is it ever just one thing that makes the experience memorable and enjoyable?    Many elements of the outdoors  play important roles in  making the outdoor garden an enjoyable place to relax.

I believe many of us take the experience of being outside for granted, or rather we know what is not nice.  However I think at times we struggle how to improve our outdoor spaces.  There is always a flood of new products that come onto the market at the beginning of each season.  Taking account of the new releases can help but you still need to put everything together in a tasteful manner.  My tips include the following:

1. create an ideas file these include photos, sketches or wish list. For example you might want a vertical garden http://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/ for something different
2. get to know the latest product releases for plants and new  hard landscaping features like pre cast pavers and blocks or perhaps water features and ponds.  http://trade-winds.be/product.php?id=39&la=enhttp://trade-winds.be/product.php?id=39&la=en
3. Go and see a designer to plan how you could pull together your ideas into a solution.  The key is to have a plan be imaginative and willing to give it all a go.

After doing this process you will see many options and usually just how much can be achieved is controlled by your budget.  A rough idea on how much you want to spend is important.  A flexible approach and desire to achieve will always yield a beautiful outdoor space.

The value of a new livable outdoor space is not recognised immediately in monetary terms but rather in the surprising amount of use and joy it will provide.  As soon as a new garden is created it begins to repay its value to you and as the plants begin to mature it continues to add joy!!

My New fork

I am absolutely wrapped in my new heavy duty garden fork.  Funny thing the delivery driver thought it was a bed head, we had a good laugh when I told him it was a garden fork.

Here is a photo link

http://twitpic.com/1thvaz

I guess you can understand what he thought.  This is known as a Gundaroo tiller, more information can be accessed from the link

http://www.allsun.com.au/BroadForkL.html

My poor old heavy clay soils are going to re-structured!!!

Value of fresh food

Today I had the pleasure of visiting a commercial vegetable garden near Gundaroo, taste the fabulous produce and enjoy the surroundings with my wonderful wife. The taste of fresh roasted corn cobs on the bbq is amazing. Corn fritters and tomatoes and the hot chillies were exquisite. Thanks to the chefs from the Gods cafe ANU.

Growing organic vegetables is a very satisfying thing, it is kind to the environment, tastes better and is cheaper.

Autumn colour riot is coming

Manchurian pears and some claret ash are starting to show signs of autumn. It is always exciting to watch and observe the subtle differences. Why do some trees colour-up first? This is usually due to do the temperature differences the tree experiences, being cooler night temperatures. Generally a hot dry summer means a stunning autumn in Canberra

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Gardens in Australia

Gardens in Australia

traditional garden thinking

Putting together a garden is largely a reflection of personality but it can have so many influences some being stronger than others. I believe a garden shows elements of creativity and art mixed with pragmatic and logical choices that depict the lifestyle of the people living in the garden. A garden clearly shows trends of an era, everyone remembers the swans in gardens made from old car tyres all painted a brilliant white, many people liked them and then decided to do something different.

Economic climate and the weather can have a physical effect on a persons activity in a garden but it need not be a limiting factor to the point where all interest in a garden disappears. Many positive and very satisfying experiences can be nurtured through gardening and all it takes is planning, persistence and patience.

That means it does not need to cost a lot of money but planning is important. How do I manage a garden, where can I get advice (thats right), when will I know it is the right time to plant or prune, what type of garden or plants are best for my garden?

Many of these questions will stop potential gardeners from attempting a new garden or simply changing an old garden.

If you need advice contact Chris e-scapegardens

What is written in an article may not work in your garden

I read an article recently from a well respected local gardening identity that left me feeling a little apprehensive. In the article it was suggested that Crepe myrtles are remarkably drought resistant.

I would like to qualify this statement by adding, it depends on the type of soil the plants are growing in. I have several crepe myrtles that are flowering earlier than normal, but I am constantly putting additional water on them to stop them wilting. I believe they do not have a strong root system and are mostly shallow rooted when they growing on top of heavily compacted soils.

If you plant these small trees or shrubs depending on how they are treated please make sure you prepare the soil properly. Ripping the soil, "double digging" and applying additional compost is a must. They are well worth the effort and will provide extremely beautiful flowers and have extra stunning bark to show off against Australian eucalypts. Some cultivars even have wonderful autumn colours.

Make sure you take advice from articles with a little bit of a sceptical view and concentrate on what will work in your garden. This can be achieved by knowing what sort of soil and drainage exists in your garden to help select the right plants.

If you have any comments please contact Chris

Exercise for your compost

I am not going to kid with you all, to make good compost requires a little effort, think of it as exercise that benefits you and gives you a boost and most importantly the soil is healthier too. Same same but different!!! When you get it right the garden will encourage you to keep it going, rewarding you with terrific results, just watch it grow!!. You will also encouraging comments from your neighbours like "Nice rake!!!"

So hows it done:

First my preference is to use materials you find in the shed, you will need star pickets (8), wire, chicken wire or mesh. Use these to construct 3 bays each to be a minimum size of 1 cubic metre, so 3 cubic metres. A cubic metre is 1 metre wide, 1 metre long and 1 metre high. You make the bays adjacent to each other, sharing sides so that they are in a line, the idea being you have one for loading in new material, one brewing and one that you are taking beautiful compost from and placing around the garden.

Now for the materials to add into the compost use veg scraps, foliage, leaves and bark, avoid meats, bread and newspaper concerns some people because of the inks. Meat and bread attract mice and dogs. Try and secure the compost away from your dogs as they nose around and eat all sorts of things out of compost.

Get some cow manure, cheap mulch like sugar cane and have it on hand to add to your compost maintaining a balance of air and water, not too wet or dry. Also what is known as carbon to nitrogen ratio sounds techo but its not think of brown and green. For example avoid a mushy sloppy mix this can happen when you add too much green that is grass clippings, veg and fruit and you will know when this happens as it stinks. In this case add your browns, like shredded paper, bark, cow manure. Get the idea

When loading up you first bay try and follow these guides. If you put a bucket of veg scraps add about 2-3 buckets of carbon rich material like dry pulverised cow manure or lucerne hay or a mix. Keep building up layers trying to keep with the proportions. 1 green 2 or 3 brown but it is like making a cake look after your mix.

Then get your yourself active and begin the turning over process, when the first bay is full it should smell sweet, be hot towards the middle and you will notice it shrink over time. Move the contents of bay 1 into bay 2, and start on bay 1 again. Over time you will be able to move compost into bay 3 where the mix will not be hot but is ready for the garden. How much time depends on the size of the material added to the compost, small shredded material will breakdown quickly. The same material will be quick in summer and slower in winter, the difference sometimes being weeks compared to months, but again that depends on how much work you are prepared to devote to your compost. A regularly turned heap will break down quicker regardless of the season.

Creative Expression in the garden

One should not hold back, being given an area to garden is like having a canvas to paint, a sculpture to construct and present with potential for movement, smells and temporal changes to make an exciting medium for expression. It has so many potential aspects to explore that garden artists should be recognised, embraced and promoted as artists. Often a component of a garden is recognised as a piece of art, unfortunately the whole setting is ignored. Indeed gardeners need to themselves as artists providing expression of themselves through the garden.

Perhaps garden art should be more of a collaborative process between artists to present a more digestible concept for art. The National Gallery of Australia has many outdoor art pieces in the sculpture garden, however this is not the type of fusion between art and garden I would prefer.

It is too expensive for the average gardener to have commissioned art works adorn their garden.

A more blended and integrated relationship between the character of the garden and application of a craft to the garden can be relatively cheap and easy to do. The addition of glasswork, mirrors and mosaics are examples where craft can become arty and very very effective. Creating interest and shape, texture and value to your garden. The atmosphere within the garden can be enhanced or transformed by adding art and craft.

How can this be done?

I watched with interest people doing glass blowing last week. The endless possibilities that glass present through shape, colour, form and texture are amazing. Working with a local college artist or doing a course will provide opportunities to enhance your garden with help from fellow students and tutors.

Only imagination and courage to be creative is required. ooh don't be shy