Keith Mundy
Often overlooked when selecting food plants for the garden is the extensive range of berries that are available in the marketplace for the home gardener. Always available during the winter period as bare-root plants but more varieties are now being made available as plants in pots with well-established roots and can be planted, near enough, all year around.
Although some can take up a fair bit of room in the garden it is best to select a site where they … Read more »
Keith Mundy
With spring now with us, I thought it opportune to discuss some issues that are relevant to this period in the gardening calendar.
Plants expend an enormous amount of energy in spring doing what they do, like flowering and fruiting or extending their size through new growth and now is the time to help them along with some additional nutrients.
There are some fertilisers that can be applied to nearly all plants, like blood and bone, but these don’t have all the nutrients available that are specifically required … Read more »
Keith Mundy
Well, here we are in the last month of winter and spring just around the corner and, with it, the start of the gardening year. New growth appears on deciduous plants, perennials wake after their enforced winter hibernation and bulbs pop up everywhere as new life begins.Well, here we are in the last month of winter and spring just around the corner and, with it, the start of the gardening year. New growth appears on deciduous … Read more »
Keith Mundy
With winter well and truly with us, it is opportune to mention once again the care needed for our birds and bees through these colder months. Apart from supplying a reliable water source for them in a shallow birdbath or dish, another important thing is to provide them with food during winter. Food can be provided by either artificially feeding them with purchased seed and the like or, more naturally, with seed and flowers on plants. Birds have a diverse range of diets – from … Read more »
by Keith Mundy
As the days are now cooling and with winter having commenced, I thought it was time to remind gardeners that the time is now right to look at the pruning of winter-dormant roses, trees, shrubs and fruit trees. Pruning of these plants needs to be done to form new wood for future flowering and fruiting.
If your garden is a bit closer to the coast pruning can be put off until July when the plants will be even more dormant. It is important to remember that pruning … Read more »
Keith Mundy
Heading into winter, I thought it timely to again talk about the genus of native plants that is probably the most widely grown in Australian gardens and that is Grevillea.
The plants in this amazing group come in many forms, from genuine species to varieties that have been developed by hybridisation where, usually, several plants have been crossed to select a plant that has all the good attributes of its parents. This hybridisation … Read more »
