Get ready for a Gardening Australia Christmas Special!

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Next on: Tonight 7.30pm, Rpt Sunday 1.30pm on ABC + iview   Coming up   Millie uncovers an urban mistletoe project, Costa meets a tropical fruit carver, Josh gets crafty for the holidays, and Jerry shares some tips on how to have lush, weed-free lawn!   WATCH MORE     Video Preview   Tonight 7.30pm on ABC + iview   Jerry shows us how to organically keep a lawn healthy and weed free   Find out more       Factsheet Highlight   Fact Sheet   Josh joins his children with a fun garden project – making drip painted pots     Watch more         Gardening Australia Weekly Quiz Spikes, panicles and umbels are examples of different types of...?   A) Small flowering shrubs often found in dry climates     B) Inflorescence structures in plants   C) Canopy shapes made by different types of trees Answer to last e-newsletter quiz: A - c) A form of tree pruning where upper branches are removed to restrict the height and keep upper foliage dense Find out the answer to this week's quiz in our next newsletter on 7 February 2020.     2020 Magazine Diary and Calendar   Find a full year's inspiration for your garden with the 2020 ABC Gardening Australia Magazine Diary and Calendar. Available from newsagents, bookshops and online   What to plant this weekend   Tropical Climate Zone Beetroot Capsicum Lemongrass Potatoes Subtropical Climate Zone Eggplant Lettuce Pumpkin Silverbeet Arid Climate Zone Basil Celery Coriander Zucchini Temperate Climate Zone Broccoli Carrots Cucumber Sweet Corn Cool Climate Zone Eggplant Oregano Parsley  Spring Onions   Jobs for the weekend   COOL ‘Tis the season to harvest spuds. Once foliage has lost colour and the potato stems begin to flop, lift the tubers, dry them out and store them somewhere dark. Hoe hoe hoe into weeds, especially the dreaded yellow-flowering cape weed. Lift these weeds from the ground and place upside down, roots and all, under plants to act as a marvellous mulch. English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is flowering fantastically now, so take the time to appreciate the colour and delicate fragrance of these old-fashioned faves, and if you don’t have one – get one in! TEMPERATE Protect your pot plants while you’re away this summer. Mulch the top of the pots, sit them in a saucer of water (or the bathtub) and you’ll be set! Get crafty and turn old paper into gift tags or decorations that are impregnated with seeds - your very own seed paper that can be planted after it’s been used. Check the website for instructions. In the vegie patch, make sure you keep tip-pruning herbs like basil, rosemary and oregano to slow down the flowering and produce even more delicious foliage, perfect for festive feasts! SUBTROPICAL Fruit flies are in full force in the subtropics at the moment, so don’t let them spoil your productive party. Place exclusion netting or bags over susceptible fruits as they ripen. Give your worms a happy holiday and relocate their accommodation into the shade for the summer. Place a wet hessian sack in the top of the farm to keep these critters cool. It’s the most wonderful time of the year to enjoy the colourful calyx of the NSW Christmas bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum). White flowers give way to stunning carmine sepals, making this a fab feature tree. TROPICAL The Christmas orchid (Calanthe triplicata) is in bloom now, its showy, pure white clusters of flowers on metre-long stems. Stunners in pots, contact your local orchid society to track one down. It may be hot, but it’s the perfect time to plant snake beans. These climbers are heavy croppers, and adore the heat so whack in a trellis, pop in some seeds and watch them grow! Give the gift of conservation with a potted aniseed myrtle, a rare native rainforest tree. Syzygium anisatum has edible, highly aromatic foliage, and is an excellent small tree for home gardens. ARID Peaches and nectarines are starting to fruit, so if it looks like your tree has a whopping crop, it’s a good idea to thin fruit now to improve eventual fruit size and quality. Get your vegie beds prepped for another round of planting in early February and sow a crop of green manure to improve soil health, vitality and water retention. It’s a pressie for your patch! Fertisilising stressed plants can tip them over hte edge, so if your plants are struggling through summer, give them water, compost and mulch, but don't be tempted to give them a feed.   Jobs for the weekend   After tonight’s Christmas special episode, we’ll be returning on Friday 7th February 2020 for an all new season of Gardening Australia. Until then, you can find fact sheets and watch stories on our website or keep in touch via Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.   From all the team, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and we'll see you in 2020!   Catch up on ABC iview   Never miss a gardening moment!   Watch more     Subscribe     Follow Us     The ABC sent this message to garden336.tool@blogger.com these details are included to help provide assurance that this is a genuine email from ABC. Any personal details and data acquired by the ABC from your participation in any ABC Online Services will be used only in accordance with the ABC's Privacy Policy.     © 2019 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC, ABN 52 429 278 345. 700 Harris St Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia.   Unsubscribe from this eNewsletter | Discover other email newsletters | Privacy

Everything you need to know about mulching!

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Next on: Tonight 7.30pm, Rpt Sunday 1.30pm on ABC + iview   Coming up   Jerry hunts down critically endangered wild macadamia trees, Jane introduces some stunning yet tough plants for the garden and Sophie shares some mulching tips to help plants through the summer.   WATCH MORE     Video preview   Tonight 7.30pm on ABC + iview   Jane shares a selection of summer stunners, plants that will survive and thrive in even the toughest conditions.   Find out more       Factsheet highlight   Fact Sheet   Sophie shows how the right mulch in the right place helps your garden beat the summer heat.     Watch more         Gardening Australia Weekly Quiz What is pollarding?   A) Digging a shallow trench around the base of a tree to form a moat for slow watering.     B) Removing the lower leaves from tree branches to encourage bushy growth. C) A form of tree pruning where upper branches are removed to restrict the height and keep upper foliage dense.   Tune in next week to test your knowledge! Answer to last week’s question: Question - What is a double flower? Answer – a) A flower with many more rows of petals than the standard single row.     30th Birthday year   It’s hard to believe where the year has gone…..but fear not! We have more gardening action coming your way. If you missed our 30th Birthday Special (or want to see it again!), be sure to watch next Friday at the usual time of 7:30pm (Repeated Sunday, 1:30pm). And on Friday 20th December, don’t miss the Gardening Australia Christmas Special, filled with enough gardening goodies to keep you busy over the festive season. Happy gardening everyone!   2020 Magazine Diary and Calendar   Find a full year's inspiration for your garden with the 2020 ABC Gardening Australia Magazine Diary and Calendar. Available from newsagents, bookshops and online.   What to plant this weekend   Tropical Climate Zone •    Basil •    Cabbage •    Sweet Potato •    Vietnamese Mint Subtropical Climate Zone •    Beetroot •    Coriander •    Rocket •    Zucchini Arid Climate Zone •    Capsicum •    Oregano •    Squash •    Tomatoes Temperate Climate Zone •    Chives •    Cucumber •    Lettuce  •    Pumpkin Cool Climate Zone •    Carrots •    Mustard greens •    Onion •    Radish     What to plant this weekend   COOL ‘Tis the season to harvest your spuds. Once foliage has lost colour and the potato stems begin to flop, lift the tubers, dry them out and store them somewhere dark. Hoe hoe hoe into weeds, especially the domes of the dreaded yellow flowering cape weed. Lift these weeds from the ground and place upside down, roots and all, in the sun to solarise before composting Lavender is flowering fantastically at the moment, so take the time to appreciate the colour and delicate fragrance of these old-fashioned faves. TEMPERATE Brambles and berries are putting on some great growth, so give them a helping hand with a feed. Top dress with lashings of lovely compost or cow manure. If you have evergreen shrubs and young trees that need relocating or replanting, this is your last weekend to do it before the weather gets too hot and you risk plant transplant shock. Get wet and wild this weekend and give your pond a good spring clean. Remove leaf litter and debris from the bottom, check pumps and filters, and add some barley straw to keep algae at bay. SUBTROPICAL Fast growing, tough as nails and delicious in stirfries and salads, kangkong (Ipomoea aquatica) is a perfect green for the subtropics. Grow in rich potting mix or even in water all year round. Yum! Brighten up your garden and bring in the bees by planting some amazing Agastache. Heat and drought tolerant, these pretty perennials will bloom right through summer once established ‘Ava go at growing an avocado, a ripper fruiting tree for the subtopics. The secret to success is good drainage, so prepare your soil well or keep them in a large pot and you’ll be smashing it! TROPICAL Cocky apples (Planchonia careya) are blooming beautifully at the moment. These sweetly scented night flowering natives bare edible fruit and are fantastic small shade trees. It’s the perfect time to lift and divide perennials such as taro, arrowroot, cocoyam and even bananas. Replant into cultivated mounds of soil mixed with loads of delicious compost. The unmistakeable scent of flowering gardenias is filling the air, so to keep these beauties at their best, give them a all-purpose good feed, keep the water up to them and mulch well. ARID Stressed plants are susceptible to scale at this time of year. To treat, remove heavily infested plant parts, squash scale with your fingers or apply horticultural oil in the cool of the day. Make the most of every drop of water and put in some low flow irrigation for your most precious plants. Dripline and soaker hoses are great options for gravity fed home systems. Zucchinis are starting to put on some fabulous fruit, so to keep them producing and tasting great, harvest regularly when the fruits are around 15 – 20cm.   Catch up on ABC iview   Never miss a gardening moment!   Watch more     Subscribe     Follow Us     The ABC sent this message to garden336.tool@blogger.com these details are included to help provide assurance that this is a genuine email from ABC. Any personal details and data acquired by the ABC from your participation in any ABC Online Services will be used only in accordance with the ABC's Privacy Policy.     © 2019 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC, ABN 52 429 278 345. 700 Harris St Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia.   Unsubscribe from this eNewsletter | Discover other email newsletters | Privacy