Salvia plants add wonderful colour to a summer garden. They require only moderate watering, they can handle extreme heat, and they flower for months. Summer in Australia tends to be very hot and dry. Where we live temperatures close to (and sometimes over) 40 °C (104 °F) are not uncommon during the summer months. This extreme heat can be hard on our garden so we try to choose plants that can tolerate these conditions. Plants that require lots of water don’t tend to last too long in our … [Read more...]
Looking for Garden Pests at Night
I’ve been gardening for a while now so I have encountered quite a few garden pests. I’ve had to deal with aphids on the roses and cabbage white butterfly attacking my broccoli. Usually it is possible to have a close look at the plants to see what is doing the damage. That hasn’t been the case for our Dutch iris this year; they were being eaten by something that we couldn’t find! A similar thing happened last year that spoilt the flowers and it is very annoying! Last year we found that there … [Read more...]
How to Use Coffee Grounds in the Garden
I don’t actually drink coffee but others in my family do so I am lucky enough that I still have access to some coffee grounds. I have been adding coffee grounds to the compost for a while now but I have always wondered if there were other ways that they could be used in the garden. So I decided to do some reading and see if I could learn a bit more about how to use coffee grounds in the garden. I initially wondered if there would be any problems with just sprinkling them around the … [Read more...]
Bonsai Fertilizer: When and How to Use it
I have been caring for three bonsai plants over the last couple years and I have really enjoyed watching them slowly grow and take shape. I have a trident maple, a ficus, and also a serissa foetida. I love the red/orange colour of the maple in the autumn and the serissa has tiny white flowers in spring. They haven’t grown dramatically since I have had them but that is probably because I have been very hesitant about using any bonsai fertilizer! I know that bonsai are really just a small … [Read more...]
November Gardening Plus What’s Going on in My Garden
Wow where has the year gone? Now that the days are getting longer and the weather is warming up it feels like Christmas and the end of the year are approaching fast! I can’t believe that October is behind us and it’s already time to get stuck into the November gardening jobs! While the daytime temperature here these last few weeks has definitely increased we have still had a few really cold nights. Just when we think that we have used our wood heater for the last time the overnight … [Read more...]
October Gardening Plus What’s Going on in My Garden
Now that we are well and truly into spring there is a lot happening in the garden. Plants that were dormant over winter seem to be able to sense that the weather has changed and they are coming to life. Our apple trees are blossoming now and the other fruit trees have all got their new leaves. With everything coming back to life it is great being out in the garden and I am looking forward to getting stuck into my October gardening jobs! We are hoping that most of the really cold weather is … [Read more...]
September Gardening Plus What’s Going on in My Garden
The weather has been so lovely over the last few days which has really made it feel like it is spring already. The nice weather is not going to last for long though because they are forecasting rain and cooler weather from tomorrow. Regardless of the weather, it is great to be planning for our September gardening jobs because it means that spring is just around the corner! Earlier this month we had some quite chilly nights and mornings, it got down to -3 and -4 °C for a few nights in a row … [Read more...]
August Gardening Plus What’s Going on in My Garden!
It’s so great to be writing about August gardening! I don’t really want to be wishing the year away but now that August is almost here it means that spring is just around the corner -yippee! If you are following me on Instagram you will have seen that Mother Nature gave us a spring teaser this week. It was just glorious out in the garden on Monday - it was cool but there was not a cloud in sky! On Tuesday we were brought back to winter though with a cold wind, grey skies and showers (here’s the … [Read more...]