Michael Coulter shares his Summer gardening tips on everything to do in the busy month of December including fruit trees, flowers and lawns. December heralds the start of Summer and a wonderful time in garden with the ripening of berry fruit and stone fruit not far behind. We have just received a good fall of … Read More
Lemon Verbena (Lippia citrodoro or Aloysia citrodora) When brushing past the foliage of a Lemon Verbena shrub, you are surrounded by a most refreshing perfumed fragrance, redolent of lemons. The leaves are light green, thin and pointed with a slightly sticky feel and a wonderful citrus aroma. This versatile plant which originates from Chile, could … Read More
This is one of the busy times in the garden when many of the fruit trees will start to ripen their fruit. Berry fruits are well through their season so a tidy up of any branches that have finished fruiting will give room for new growth in preparation for next year’s fruit. Strawberry plants can look … Read More
Unfortunately Covid-19 is still restricting us from meeting. As I write this I do miss the personal contact at the monthly meetings, but the plants carry on regardless! One advantage of the restrictions is we have plenty of time to spend in the garden and be up to date with every thing that needs to … Read More
One of the more interesting aspects of gardening is the identification of areas in the garden which have different climates. In these locations, we can grow plants that may be different from those of our neighbours and friends. Identifying microclimates also allows gardeners to plan their garden for the best results. To understand microclimates is to understand your garden, its orientation, soils, slope (if any), shelter, setting of the house, buildings, and anything else that directly effects the site. Gardeners also need to understand the microclimates of rainfall, sunshine hours, prevailing winds, wind types, temperature variation and the like. It is the combination of these factors which creates microclimates in the garden. Every garden has microclimates. Here is a description of some of the factors.
February heralds the beginning of peak harvest time for most of our fruit and vegetables that were planted in Spring and early Summer before Christmas. The flower garden will be blooming as the dahlias, begonias, perennials and Summer annuals reach their showy best.
The longer days of Summer are here along with the warmer days and nights which means plants will grow rapidly. There are many tasks in the garden that will need to be attended to on a regular schedule.
We have had some useful rain in the last month but not enough to sustain good plant growth so watering is needed. Watering is best directed to the areas of the root zone of the plants and given a good soaking so that they may need to be watered about once every 10 to 14 days dependant on how hot and windy the weather has been.
As I write this it has been raining overnight (18mm) which is the first real rain that we have had over the last month, the plants will really appreciate this and it will mean a few days without the need to water the garden.
I noticed that some plants are showing signs of significant frost damage which is causing the leaves to be rather distorted. This may appear as if the plants have been harmed by a herbicide, given time they should grow through the damage.
The frost may have also caused the fruit set on stone fruit plants to drop so it may be a light crop this year.
As I write this we are still experiencing changeable Spring weather, but in spite of this there has been plenty of good plant growth. Although we have had some rain it has been intermittent and the warmer temperatures have meant that some watering is still required. The planting of Summer vegetables and bedding plants should be completed by Christmas to give the plants time to grow to maturity. read more…
As I write this we are still experiencing changeable Spring weather, but in spite of this there has been plenty of good plant growth. Although we have had some rain it has been intermittent and the warmer temperatures have meant that some watering is still required. The planting of Summer vegetables and bedding plants should be completed by Christmas to give the plants time to grow to maturity. read more…