Everything you need to know about mulching!

View as a webpage

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

Plant your own gourmet productive pots this weekend!

View as a webpage

Next on: Tonight 7.30pm, Rpt Sunday 1.30pm on ABC + iview   Coming up   Clarence meets a local gardening legend in Kiama, Costa drops into the trial garden at the Sydney Botanic Gardens, Jane plants out three productive pots and Millie explores alpine flora.   WATCH NOW     Video Preview   Tonight 7.30pm on ABC + iview   Jane shares some cracking combinations for planting out productive pots   Find out more       Factsheet Highlight   Fact Sheet   Millie travels to Kosciusko National Park, to explore the unique alpine flora of this iconic Australian landscape     Watch more         Gardening Australia Weekly Quiz What is a double flower? A) A flower with many more rows of petals than the standard single row      B) A plant that has produced 2 flowers on the same stem C) A flower that is the exact genetic copy of another flower   Answer to last week's question: Q. In plants, the 'petiole' refers to: A. B - The stalk that attaches the leaf to the stem     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 Ginger Sweet Corn Subtropical Climate Zone Carrots Eggplant Oregano Tomatoes Arid Climate Zone Celery Cucumber Lettuce Potatoes Temperate Climate Zone Basil Eggplant Oregano Parsley Cool Climate Zone Leeks Pumpkin Parsnip Shallots   What to plant this weekend   COOL Cool temperate gardeners, as your growing really gets going, it’s a great idea to check grafted plants and snip off unnecessary growth and sprouts from below grafts before they take over. Green, mean and often unseen, the caterpillars of the Cabbage White Butterflies are wreaking havoc on brassicas now. The best method of control – pick and flick the caterpillars and feed them to the birds Coming into bloom now is the Victorian Christmas Bush, Prostanthera lasianthos. This native shrub has menthol-scented foliage, masses of minty flowers, and is a stunner in a shady spot. TEMPERATE In warm temperate gardens, rosemary can be pruned back to minimise disease caused by hot, humid weather. Cuttings can be propagated or donated to the local RSL for Remembrance Day. Keep an eye out for the stunning metre tall, leafless stems and fabulous flowers of the native Pink Hyacinth Orchid, Dipodium roseum, putting on a show in native woodland at the moment. If your roses have finished their super summer show, it’s time to prune them back and deadhead. Follow up with a feed, and this will ensure a good repeat flowering come Autumn. SUBTROPICAL It’s hot hot hot in the subtropics right now, so make sure you harvest your fruit, vegies and herbs in the morning before the heat knocks your crops for six during the day. Melaleucas, callistemon and other woody natives are susceptible to the wicked webbing caterpillar over summer. If you notice clumps of webs in foliage, cut out and bag up for the bin. If cane toads have you jumping, get involved in the University of QLD Cane Toad Challenge citizen science project, testing toad poison and tadpole traps. Details on our website. TROPICAL Tropical gardeners, if you’ve noticed small holes in trunks and sawdust around your acacias, you may have borers. Grab a piece of wire and poke into the holes to stop them in their tracks! Tip prune and tidy passionfruit, this will promote fab flowers, and flavourful fruits that form on new growth. Give your plants the best chance of fighting of pests, and dust garden beds with garden lime monthly. This is a great way to increase the health and vitality of your favourite foliage. ARID Gardeners in arid zones, attend to fruiting and flowering plants and prune to remove unwanted seedpods. This helps the plant put its precious energy where it’s needed – roots and shoots! Have a ‘swale’ of a time this weekend and set up some simple soil swales to direct your precious water to plant roots and soak in rather than run off. Topping up mulch can also assist. If you have a patch of the plot not yet planted, why not whack in some sweet corn? These gorgeous grasses are wind-pollinated, so plant in a block, with about 30cm between each stalk   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