Learn how to pick the perfect palm for your place! 🌴

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Next on: Tonight 7.30pm, Rpt Sunday 1.30pm on ABC + iview   Coming up   Clarence explains the importance of traditional burning techniques in managing native landscapes; Sophie propagates wisteria vines; Josh shows you how to pick the perfect palm for your place and Jane explores a native suburban garden filled with amazing plants and ideas!   WATCH NOW     Video preview   Tonight 7.30pm on ABC + iview   Jane meets a gardener whose love of Australian plants grew from a single plant to an impressive collection that fills her suburban backyard.   Find out more       Factsheet highlight   Fact Sheet   Josh visits a Palm nursery to learn about water wise palms and how to choose one for dry climates.     Watch more         Gardening Australia Weekly Quiz Which of the following foods is NOT from the rose (Rosaceae) family? A) Apples   B) Almonds C) Grapes See next week’s newsletter for the answer! Answer to last week’s quiz question: Q) Of some 1350 species of Acacia found worldwide, how many are Australian? A) -  b) Around 1000     DIY Project   If you’ve got the propagating bug after watching the ‘Homegrown Natives’ story, why not have a go at making your own newspaper propagating pots! They’re easy to make and a great project for gardeners of all ages.    CHECK IT OUT   What to plant this weekend   Tropical Climate Zone Cucumber Garlic Lettuce Parsley Subtropical Climate Zone Celery Peas/Snow peas Rocket Silverbeet Arid Climate Zone Broad beans Carrots Chicory Turnips Temperate Climate Zone Cabbage (Loose and tight-headed) Garlic Lettuce Onion Cool Climate Zone Artichoke (Jerusalem)  Broad beans Radish Shallots   Jobs for the weekend   COOL Dust off the secateurs to prune apples and pears! Remove inward growing branches, damaged wood and shorten side-shoots to four plump, healthy buds. Don’t bin your tree pruning’s– straight branches can be used as stakes or plant supports, smaller branches for garden edging and weaving, and fruit woods used for smoking foods! The soil is as cold as a dog’s nose, but rhubarb divisions can still go in. Plant crowns into compost-rich soil, spreading out the roots and leaving the top sitting just below the surface. TEMPERATE Plant an edible hedge of blueberries. A mix of varieties ensures an extended harvest – space plants 1m apart, on mounded soil rich with pine needles. As spring flowering bulbs like bearded iris and ranunculi start popping their heads up, a good feed with blood and bone will give them the tucker they need to rocket into spring Fringed Heath Myrtle, Micromyrtus ciliata is flowering now. This small native shrub is a great garden addition - tight, fragrant foliage and masses of red buds opening to white winter flowers SUBTROPICAL Save some space for ‘Mary Washington’ Asparagus. Tubestock or crowns can be planted now, and foliage cut to the ground. Harvest in as little as two years Colourful crepe myrtles have finished flowering, so take hold of those hedgers and give them a haircut. Lagerstroemia sp. flower on new wood, so todays prune is summers bloom! Show your timber tools some love. Sand splinters from wooden handles and apply a 50:50 linseed oil and turps mixture to help preserve the timber. Clean, oil and sharpen blades. TROPICAL The tropical staple, bougainvillea, are finishing flowering, so it’s time to don gloves, glasses and long sleeves and get pruning. They love a heavy hack back, flowering on new growth. Sow some easy to grow sweet potato tubers. These vigorous vines spread, so make sure you’ve got the space. Regular compost top ups keep them happy, and the foliage is edible. It’s the perfect time to pick paw paws. When harvested green, they are delicious in salads, or left to ripen for a sweet treat. If they have some yellow colour, they will ripen off the tree ARID Plan for spring and get a green manure crop in. Add life to fallow beds with faba beans, alfalfa, barley and buckwheat, cutting and turning into soil before seed set. It’s potato planting time! Using certified seed potatoes, sow your spuds in a sack, stack or even an old bin – just make sure you can keep adding compost and soil on top as they grow. Get wet this weekend and install a drip-irrigation system. Even a simple set-up is excellent for establishing plants, and can extend to pots, plots and fruit trees.   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.     © 2020 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

Become a soil sleuth, master orchid growing and learn a new technique to treat citrus gall wasp!

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Next on: Tonight 7.30pm, Rpt Sunday 1.30pm on ABC + iview   Coming up   Sophie visits a protea flower farm, Jerry gets tips from an expert orchid grower, Jane tackles citrus gall wasp and Tino shows you how to do a simple test that will help you understand your soil better.   WATCH NOW     Video preview   Tonight 7.30pm on ABC + iview   Tino shares a simple soil test that will help transform any gardener into a soil sleuth   Find out more       Factsheet highlight   Fact Sheet   Jerry meets an expert orchid grower to learn his secrets for keeping hardy orchids thriving     Watch more         Gardening Australia Weekly Quiz Of some 1350 species of Acacia found worldwide, how many are Australian? A) Around 500 B) Around 1000 C) Around 1300 See next week’s newsletter for the answer! Answer to last week’s quiz question: Q) What is the most consumed vegetable in Japan? A) - c) Daikon     DIY Project   Running out of space to grow vegies? Tino demonstrates an easy way to make a cheap vertical garden using a pallet! It’s a simple and fun project to do this weekend and a great way to increase your growing space!   CHECK IT OUT   What to plant this weekend   Tropical Climate Zone Beans (Climbing and bush) Carrots Onion Potatoes Subtropical Climate Zone Jerusalem artichoke Mustard greens Parsnip Shallots Arid Climate Zone Cauliflower Radish Shallots Sweet potato Temperate Climate Zone Broad beans Endive Peas/Snow peas Radish Cool Climate Zone Asparagus Chicory Shallots Silverbeet   Jobs for the weekend   COOL  It’s not too late to sow spring-flowering sweet peas! Pop in a two-meter trellis and sow seeds direct in a sunny spot. (Against a warm north wall is perfect!)  Mid and late season onions can be planted now. Into manure-rich soil, sow seeds in shallow lines, thinning them out to 15cm spacings once they have germinated.  Plant growth slows in places where we get cold winters, and when growth slows, nutrient uptake slows, so hold off feeding plants until the warmer spring months kick in. TEMPERATE  In warm temperate areas, Calendulas are winter winners. Excellent at attracting beneficial insects, the showy orange flowers are also edible, and add gorgeous, tasty colour to a salad. In pots or plots, sow some fast-growing fenugreek. As a sprout or planted out, this annual herb has a sweet, curry flavour, and is great as a green manure, cover crop or indoor edible. Sure, it’s winter, but there is no better time to plan for warm-season edibles. Find a sunny section of garden at your place and start a compost heap for sowing melons and pumpkins come spring. SUBTROPICAL  ts bare root rose time in the subtropics! There are loads of varieties that cope well with heat and humidity. Why not make contact with your local rose society for their recommendations  Grab a hard-bristled broom, some white vinegar and water and clean grubby pavers. Dilute the vinegar one part to ten in a spray bottle, apply to pavers and get scrubbing! Beaut stuff! You can have your flowers and eat them too. Sow Cosmos sulphureus now, a tough, self-seeding annual with showy, edible flowers and foliage, perfect in stir-fries...and the garden! TROPICAL Sow the seeds that are sure to make you smile – sunflowers. From dwarf varieties to plants over 2 meters tall, these happy Helianthus are fast, floriferous and fun! Looks like lettuce, tastes like coriander, have a crack at Culantro, Eryngium foetidum. Also known as Thai Coriander, the spiky leaves of this fast-growing annual can be eaten fresh or cooked. Zingiber spectabilis are coming into long-lasting flower now. Called beehive gingers because of their distinct, fragrant floral arrangements, these stunners are a tropical must-have. ARID Arid-loving, aromatic, attractive and tough-as, find space for Greek Horehound (Ballota pseudodictamnus). The soft, silver foliage compliments other perennial plantings perfectly. Kangaroo Paws will thank you for a feed at this time of year. Apply a general pelletised slow release fertiliser, alongside monthly drinks of a diluted worm tea for happy plants and beautiful blooms Upgrade your chooks accommodation, and plant a deciduous vine, like a grape, next to their run. This will give them much needed shade in summer, and let the light shine through in winter.   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.     © 2020 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