Guerilla gardening part 2

On the weekend I topped up the leaf litter and nearly got through the last remaining weed grass (top of picture). Three quarters of the strip is now done. The small Windmill and Spear grasses I planted that I transplanted from other road side spots in my suburb are doing well from the rain that we had last week and I will be continuing to add more soon.

Apparently my local council has been known to spray suburban road side strips but I can advise them that I do not want my strip sprayed!

http://anaustraliangarden.blogspot.com/2008/12/guerrilla-gardening.html

Talking fruit and vegetables

Well, our 50+ year old orange tree has not bared fruit for 3 years. I put this down to general neglect, age (Needed a prune to remove die back and promote new growth) and lack of nutrients / water. Over the past 18 months I've pruned the entire top canopy off in stages and all that is left is the new thick healthy growth. I've also been feeding and watering the tree every couple of months. In summer I was rewarded with a mass of blossom which has become a large crop of plump oranges.

I am maintaining the tree at this height / shape because it should remain at picking height and I can pluck out extra fruit to ensure what I have will be large and juicy. My son has one a day - juice with his breakfast - so they're barely reaching ripeness before being picked!

My lemon tree - of the same age - has also produced another BIG crop. These 2 above are bigger than tennis balls so far. Its a great change from when we moved in 4 years previous where the biggest fruit were the size of small plums. I love cooking with and eating lemons and should have a supply for most of the year now.

Meet my new container vegie garden! I've been sourcing 'broccoli bozes' from the local fruit store and love gardening in this way. With the bird netting over the top, my cat and dog are kept out which means no animal poo or 2ft deep holes to fill! Everything has been grown from seed and my pumpkins which I transferred to the ground have just opened their flowers so I'm anticipating some nice Queensland Blue pumpkins in the near future.

New Pond for the front yard

A couple of weeks ago I set up my glazed pot in a position near my new path in the front yard to set up as a pond. I added a native rush and some other pond plants from a friend and have a tiny solar powered pump sitting in the middle (with a little fountain effect). The water quality appears fine (compared to when the pond filled with rain water one time and went putrid in a few days). I will add some small fish to eat the mosquito larvae that is emerging so I will write about this when I find a close native fish dealer.

Having a small water feature really adds some body to the garden and looks nice when the sun shines on it. Our city is in the midst of water restrictions - including topping up ponds - however this is only for ponds larger than 1000L.

Garden back in action after summer

Well yes, I've been tardy in my posting but for 3 months of the year in Adelaide when its too hot to plant I only have progress reports for what survived. So what survived? Well, everything except for a Protea! The last few years I've been working out through experience what lives and what dies through our summer without much care and all of my indigenous (no surprise there) and natives look great - even my 6 tube stock Templetonia bushes. I only watered the tube stock and some other little ones about once a week.

Heat continues

The morning after! Well we had our hottest night on record in Adelaide. Minimum temperature was 33.9c (89F) and most of the night sat around 35c. One of our main train lines was shut in the afternoon yesterday due to track buckling and the bitumen was melting in various areas.

One caller to ABC Radio this morning said that a bee hive in their ceiling area completely melted, resulting in viscous honey all over their inside wall and floor! At the request of ABC Radio, the State Premier has advised that all public buildings will remain open to anyone who seeks refuge from the heat.

I haven't even ventured in my gardens for more than 5 mins, any pruning and planting is definitely on hold. I must admit though that all of my plants are doing well so far - just some tip droopage on my Olearia (Daisy bushes).

Temp reaches 45.7C today (120.3F) !!!!!

Yes, its been the hottest day in Adelaide for 70 years - nearly to the day. When out in the heat, the hot air felt like it was melting and burning your skin and face - not unlike a jetfire heater. Fortunately though I gave my little plants a squirt last night which has seen them appear unnaffected. I will continue to give them a drink each evening / morning as we are forecast to have 10 consecutive days above 100F. If we do, this will make it Adelaide's longest heatwave on record.

It is now 9:30 in the evening and it is still 38.5c (101F) and will probably remain nearly that high throughout the night. Every room in our house bar the lounge is 35c (92F). Several callers on ABC Radio today said that the temperature in the shade at their houses was 49c (Whyalla), 50.9c (Finnis Creek) and 51.9c at Andrews Farm (Outer Adelaide suburb). Thats 136.6F !!

Us European settlers are a funny bunch, at first we tried to bring England over here with our thirsty gardens, then we thought that we would find water in the desert and lastly we settled in areas of extreme weather and low water and complain!

Our current population is about 1.25 million and our State Government has a goal of attaining 2 million residents. Well I am surprised that he has not re-thought this projection given current and future water shortages across the country and other economic ans sustainability issues. But between you, me and the gate post I dont think that he will be serving another term.

Birds now visiting my garden since turning native...

Over the last few months there has been a dramatic increase in bird visitation and activity which I happily watch through my windows or whilst sitting on my front porch. The other day I counted 14 birds rummaging around the mulch! My husband recently commented to me that he would not have believed me if I had told him that planting a 'few plants' would attract so many birds so quickly!

Below are a few of the regluar species:

White Plumed Honeyeater

New Holland Honeyeater

Kookaburra

Piping Shrike

Magpie

Little Wattle Bird

Red Wattle Bird

Adelaide Rosella

Willy Wagtail

Adelaide Rosella / Crimson Rosella

Lorikeet

The current season determines which ones appear and how frequently. Currently I have 1 little Willy Wagtail, Piping Shrikes and Magpies and quite a few Honeyeaters and Wattle Birds visiting. My River Red Gum Tree is in flower now (This is the first time it has reached bloom with its beautiful white flowers in the 4 years that we have lived here - apparently they have a good bloom every second year).

Guerrilla gardening!

Yes, I have decided to take over the Council owned street strip out the front of my house!

Up to now, this piece of land between the footpath and road outside my house has been happily used by Kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum) - and we all hate the Kikuyu grass here as it is another introduced species that is listed as a weed in my state - except the previous owner of this house, as other neighbours tell me that he spent every night watering the blasted stuff which used to cover the whole front yard!

Above: Some of the Kikuyu cleared and replanted with local Spear and Windmill Grasses.

The reason I chose now to take on this particular area is because with the beginning of summer comes dying off of the Kikuyu (At the end of summer this area has been just bare dirt with some patches around the edges). I started in a patch which had died off and worked outward in the area above. There are some remnant Windmill and spear grass species around the area that I collected (Just a couple of plants out of numerous in streetside and park patches) along with seed. These have understandably taken really well and the Windmill Grass has put out some new shoots.

This is after leaf litter has been added to cover the bare dirt - done this afternoon.

At first I was just going about adding a few plants but this afternoon I got stuck into the Kikuyu (I couldn't help myself!) right through the centre of the whole area and I just happened to have a heap of leaf litter from the front garden area outside of my son's bedroom.

Try to picture this in the near future - Beautiful healthy big native / indigenous grasses and plants covering this area, some flowering. This will be providing food (Nectar from my Calistermon Harknesses) and nesting materials for the local native birds that area now visiting my garden.

My inspiration has come from the Windsor Street Linear Trail in the Council area of Unley in my city. (Below). A former open creek which has been channelled under the approx. 800m street with beautiful landscaping created from remnant indigenous species of the area. The below picture was taken only 3 years after planting! The Unley Council website notes that over 20,000 rare and endangered plants are here. I spoke with a resident of the street who said that the lizards of his garden now live here and that there are a few bird species visiting the area that he has never seen before in his 40 years living on the street.

Windsor Street Linear Trail, Unley, Adelaide, South Australia.

View of my front garden



Wow - the salt bush in the foreground has really taken off. Planted only a few months ago as a tiny tube stock, it is now 1 ft high! I have kept tipping it (Pinching out the growth tips with a finger nail to encourage thicker side growth) to get this bushy look. I have another to the left of it and the contrast with the reddy bark chipping looks nice.



Middle right you can see some Wallaby Grass that I planted, along with a Hardenbergia Violacea growing up the front of my River Red Gum.

Today I collected some more seed. The dried flower heads of my Chocolate Lilies (The long stems and flowers dry off and detatch from the bulbous base in the ground and awaken next Autumn) were full of little black shiny seeds so I will store them in my seed box and plant them next Autumn. Each flower head contained up to 12 seeds.




Spear Grass Seeds


There is a reserve at the end of my street which, apart from many Eucalyptus, has an all but barren under storey (plants under the trees). I did however find several Spear Grass growing in 2 small patches on the north side so I collected some seed by pulling along the length of the 'shafts' with 2 fingers, thus removing the seed heads and tails. A friend of mine who is an expert in local seed collection and growing in my area said that these are probably (Hopefully!) remnant induviduals of plants that were quite common in my suburb before European settlement. So you can see that it was a nice find considering it has been 120+ years since this species flourished here.

Finished my Rock Garden

Windmill Grass (Chloris Truncata)

I decided months ago that a small area near my house/ driveway in the front yard would be made into a rock garden. This would replace the old termite eaten sleeper 'triangle' garden that served no purpose other than to annoy me. Our neighbour shifted and offered his large front rocks to us which my husband moved into place last weekend.

It is a small area - 1.5m x 1.5m triangle that I have filled with some Windmill Grass (Chloris Truncata), Kangaroo Grass (Themeda Triandra) and Wallaby (Austrodanthonia) Grass - all indigenous to Sturt.

We received a nice long shower this morning - much needed as we have just experienced one of Adelaide's driest October. The ground under the bark / weed mat that covers the front yard is always so moist now and harbours a ton of worms. This is nothing like the dry, hard clay that it used to be with the periodic Kikuyu grass (Horrible stuff!).

Oh, that reminds me, I had 2 new street trees planted out front. Two Callistemon Harkness. My Council only plant one type of tree for each street in the suburb and this was it. These lovely red 'bottlebrush' grow to 4m high and are a source of nectar for the native birds. 'Harkness' is a hybrid between C. citrinus and C. viminalis and has a weeping quality.

Here is a better picture of one of my nesting Rosella's...

Here is the website for the producer of the parrot box that I bought. There is also information regarding native bird attraction and the importance of providing indigenous / native flora for wildlife attraction - plus links to other websites on where to find out more specific information where you live.

http://www.faunature.com.au/index.html

What a sight - the good 'ol Red Back spider

Well....I found another rock in my back garden to use for my bird pond and I knew that there would be a Redback under it - we have the biggest Redback's in my back garden. Bodies are the size of a marble. I was right, and here is a picture. Unfortunately this mum and her babies did not survive long after this picture (This is the extent of my cruelty to animals for the sake of my son getting bitten).

My glorified bird bath

Today whilst my son was having his nap I decided to create a small pond / bird bath in my front garden. I have lined the base with cement and will seal with Bondcrete when this drys. It is shallow - deepest part is about 18 / 20cm deep and is there to provide some water for birds and perhaps the geckos I see on my red gum.

I thought this would be nicer and blend in better than a conventional bird bath or water dish. When the water and pebbles are in it should look quite nice!

Yes, its official!

A lovely pair of Adelaide Rosella's (Crimson Rosella, yellow variety) has moved in to my new nesting box that I mounted. Recently one was seen in my Red Gum and last weekend it brought or attracted a mate. They spent a few days checking out the spot and flew down and into the nesting box a few times. On Tuesday one of the Rosella's (I presume the female) was in the box for most of the day and continues to remain in the box each day.

I am very excited to have been able to provide these birds a home as tree hollows are hard to come by in suburbia and they obviously want to nest here amongst us. The box is just under 4m high up and I was thinking of shifting it higher until I saw that the pair that have chosen my tree are quite happy to settle in whilst I work in the garden below.

Their call is beautiful and some chatter sounds like that of a budgie. I hear it all day!

More planting on the weekend - completed!

The reddish colour of the bark chipping in the front yard where the grass used to be is looking less dramatic now (A good thing) due to the mass of Red Gum leaves and sticks falling over it. Pretty much all of the grass / weeds under it have died and the ground under the weed mat remains moist with plenty of worms!

I planted 2 clumps of Chocolate Lilies (Anthropodium Strictum) in my front yard. Description from Backyards4wildlife: "Chocolate lilies are a tussocky herb that flower from Spring to Summer. The purple flowers are chocolate (vanilla) scented and appear on a branched stem up to 1 m in length." They really do smell like vanillary chocolate! They will die down in a few months so that is why I have clumped them near 'markers' in the garden so I know where they are.

A Carpobrotus rossii (Pigface) resides in the foreground (A very low ground cover 'succulent' with pink daisy like flowers) with some Chocolate Lilies (Anthropodium Strictum), Knobby Club Rush (Isolepis nodosa) and other species in the background.

This is a Frankenia pauciflora (common sea-heath). Small shrub developing white/ pink flowers. A coastal plant that originated from specimens a bit further north than my suburb which is also near the coast. I like the slight reddish tone it has and also the texture of this and the salt bush plants. Information about the Sea Heath:

http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/texhtml.cgi?form=speciesfacts&family=Frankeniaceae&genus=Frankenia&species=pauciflora

My husband commented on how he really likes the 'native look' and plants that I have chosen as he used to be more of a formal English garden / fernery type man.

New website launch: Urban Forest Biodiversity Program - Backyards for Wildlife

The following is taken directly from the site:


Why a Backyard for Wildlife?
In Australia, gardening has been recognised as one of
our favourite pastimes and what we do in our home
gardens has the potential to benefit or harm the
natural environment.

By choosing to develop and maintain a garden that
follows the five basic Backyards for Wildlife principles
(see below), you can help contribute to a better local
environment while at the same time conserve our local
flora and fauna, create important habitat, reduce your
maintenance costs, and reduce the threat of invasive
environmental weeds.

Backyards for Wildlife principles:

1. USE LOCALLY NATIVE PLANTS.
2. USE PLANTS THAT ARE A RANGE OF HEIGHTS.
3. PROVIDE FLOWERS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
4. MANAGE YOUR PETS RESPONSIBLY.
5. MINIMISE CHEMICAL USE.

Please consider applying some of these principles to
your own backyard, so that together we can all help
grow a great living environment for Adelaide.

Find Out More
Visit www.backyards4wildlife.com.au to access more
Backyards for Wildlife and biodiversity information
including an interactive map with lists of what grew in
your suburb prior to 1836, a plant database and
contact details for specialist native plant nurseries.

______________________________________________________________
This is an invaluable source of information including a very eary to use plant database that you can input certain criteria to which it will reveal you best suited plants.

The information is also presented in a format for school children and there are educational resources and fact sheets.

The basic principals can be adapted to any urban place in any country.

My Espalier Rosemary: 7 months on

Yesterday

Remember when I turned my creeping rosemary into an espalier on a trellace back in summer? With the whole plant basking in full sun there has been quite a bit of growth and density with beautiful purple flowers all over it at the moment। I am letting the front ways growth continue for a while - but I have tipped the leaders to encourage more outward growth। This time next year, it should be covering the whole trellace - I hope!

See the original photo from January's post:
An Australian Suburban Garden: First Summer task - Beautifying my Rosemary

First Sturt Desert Pea has awakened !

Yes, I found and bought some Sturt Desert Pea seeds from the nursery at Belair National Park:

http://www.stateflora.com.au/location.html#belair

This creeper like plant is South Australia's state flower, however, as it only grows naturally in the north of the state (The driest state on earth apparently and very unpopulated and remote) no one I know, including myself has even seen one! It is hard to come by plants or seeds in the 'city' but there are a few suburban gardens around the place that have them flourishing.

Flowering Sturt Desert Pea
Seed Germination

The seeds are the size of a grain of sugar and have a hard dark brown coating. Instructions advise to soak the seeds in hot water for up to 24 hours until they have swelled. Well only 4 seeds swelled when I did this so I carried out the other instructions to put a little 'nick' in the casing of each seed (Fun!) to crack the coating and sure enough after another soaking, they all swelled and did not float.

I planted them in seed raising mix in little seed trays and after 5 days, one has shooted (Another has the 'stem' protruding from the seed so this will also be erect in the next day or so).

I plan to plant them in the front garden as it is north facing - to the sun and I am creating a little rock garden to place them in. They can be hard to have success with apparently, but I think once they have passed the seedling stage they will be fine.

Maybe a new tenant in my front yard

This is a picture I took this afternoon from my son's bedroom looking in the front yard. This yellow variety of the Crimson Rosella was scoping out the wild bird box that I had mounted in my Red Gum.

It is so satisfying to know that you can attract wildlife to your garden! I have seen a few Lorakeets lately also as the weather is warming up.

I have heard a few Kookaburra's over at the Wetlands and recreation parks near my house but they have yet to venture into my suburb.

Here is a link below to some information about the Crimson Rosella:



http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/finder/display.cfm?id=50

Not gardening, but a product of the garden!

I needed a tea towel holder for my tea towels. So instead of buying a hanging rack I decided to make one. There is plenty of river red gum bark chunks laying around the front garden - some have been there for 5 years and I picked out a nice one that was not too thick.

I had some spray clear laquer that I used to coat the wood after brushing it over with a dust brush then bought 3 x $4 hooks from the local hardware shop.

It has 2 small bits of square wood strip behind the mounting self tapping screws as the wood is very curved and would not sit flat.

I just self tapped them into the back of the kitchen door !

I also had a nice 'toilet' sign that I hadn't mounted so I also used some wood to mount this on. Its just self tapped into the door. I did both in about half an hour and they look great.

More planting

Yes, we had sun the other day! In went some more Grevilleas and Hardenbergia's. It's starting to fill up and in 12 months will look a lot more thicker. The Knobby Club Rush grasses are getting big now and are even starting to develop its little brown pom pom near the tip.

Link to the front garden pre-bark chips:

http://anaustraliangarden.blogspot.com/2008/05/saying-good-bye-to-grass.html#links

My Saltbush has a Birthday

This picture above was 7 days ago...

This picture was yesterday !

Not really (birthday), but I've given a health boost. You see, when I bought this from a hills native nursery 3 years ago, I 'planted' it in this spot not knowing what it was or if it would survive in my garden. I say 'planted' because the spot it is in is very rocky and I couldn't dig a proper hole for it so it kind of sat a bit above ground (Terrible I know!). Well I forgot about it and after a hot summer it did actually start to grow. (I guess having a baby causes some neglect in other areas for a little while like gardening.)

It has been doing okay and I knew it could be better with some TLC as this plant is indigenous to my suburb. On the weekend I properly filled up around the base, some nice clay / loam from somewhere else in the garden, re-mulched around the base (dead red gum leaves that are laying around) and gave it a water with some seaweed liquid fertiliser.

The result is above. On Saturday morning, a week after the treatment, the whole plant is reaching straight up with a mass of new, thick growth and it thicker than ever. It was patiently waiting out for a better day and it finally came!

I love picking and eating the berries so I cant wait for its next crop!

First drawing attempt...

Well its been about 15 years or more since I made a serious attempt at drawing. This is a Hardenbergia in pencil. I am in the process of creating a colour one, but figured it was a good idea to get a little practice drawing the features of the plant before creating a colour version.

It is still an average of 25 F outside so my son and I are playing new games each day indoors. I went out into the back garden yesterday (It's funny how you forget it is there when it is cold) and my aloe is flowering and my Chinese Cabbage in my vegie patch are huge!!

The spring onion, spinach, coriander and cos lettuce just keep coming and I my potatoe in a pot has a beautiful green plant sprouting from it.

When its too wet for planting, make a flower press

My pressed Hardenbergia

As mentioned, the weather is too cold even for ducks. I've cancelled numerous planting and bush caring days (With Trees For Life & The Friends of Warriparinga) at various locations near my area due to a chest infection and the cold so I decided to continue 'garden' work in a different form.



Flower Press

I bought a long pine board (Used for shelving), cut it into A4 size planks and stacked them. I then drilled 4 holes - one in each corner, threaded long bolts through the holes and secured with a wing nut. This is my flower press. I have gathered some Hardenbergia and Lavender Grevillea for starters. I press them between a sheet of grease proof paper then a couple of sheets of newspaper (Or a piece of thin cardboard) on each side then slide them between 2 'planks'. Complete drying can take months and a good heavy weight - like a few books - on top of the press makes sure that they turn out nice and pressed flat.

Australian Botanical Art

Sydney Parkinson



Sydney travelled with modern Australia's founders on their voyages around the coast and eastern Australia creating beautiful artwork like the one above of Australian flora.







Pierre-Joseph Redouté 1759 - 1840



A botanical artist and royal flower painter for the Empress Josephine. He travelled to many places including Australia to paint beautiful art work of the native flora and fauna.

There is something unique about this type of representation - simple yet detailed. I love these pictures and plan to create some of my own 'coloured plate' work :)

Winter is here

....and don't I know it! Adelaide has a very extended temperature range - from up to 119 F in summer to 23 F in winter (peak day temp). We've had a couple of months worth of rain, cold and wind. I've barely stepped foot out into my back and front gardens - except for some light weeding today when the sun actually came out.

My little Knobby Club Rushes lining the front path have new growth and are growing talled each day. The Hardenbergia appears static, but my Mother in Law advises me that they can grow a few cm a day in the warmer months! A friend of mine who is renovating his house removed some rubbish out the front to reveal a beautiful mature Hardenbergia vine growing all over his side fence. The spectacular mass of deep / light purple flowers is something that I am looking forward to in my front yard.

Front Yard Planting continuing

Aswell as the Grevillea's and the Hardenbergia's, I just finished the Knobby Club Rush (Isolepsis Nodosa) tube stock planting next to the front path. The Knobby Club Rush grows in a clump to about 1.5m high (If you let it) of solid green 'straws' with big brown pom poms on the heads.

This rush species, indigenous to the coastal areas only a few km's from my house was used by the Indigenous Kaurna people who lived on the Adelaide Plains before white settlement for basket weaving.

Backyard going well

The Salvia's, Coastal Daisy Bushes, Proteas and Rosemary's are doing well. THe last few months has brought much needed rain and that fact that I've worked out what works in the backyard in Adelaide (Besides Indigenous plants) means that I am having quite a high percent of success with what I've planted.

My Rosemary Espalier has not grown upward since the 6 inch spike it experienced when I first made it an Espaler but it's many side buds have taken to growth and the plant is now getting very full and is still covered with beautiful purple flowers.

Some Salvia's have finished flowering so I have chopped back these by a third so I will experience another bloom.

I've moved my hanging baskets to the front verandah as the back yard under the Fiddlewood tree does not receive any direct sun anymore.

The Crimson Rosella - Visitor to my Garden

This morning I heard an unusual calling up in my River Red - I went out to investigate and found what I now know to be a Crimson Rosella. This bird is native to my area and I don't think that I have seen one in my tree before.

Perhaps he'll make a home in my new bird house that I mounted on the weekend - these houses can give hours of relaxation to watchers and a secure house to native birds. The Rosella's and Lorikeets (And Kookaburra) will be returning here in the next couple of months so I'll be one the look out for them!

The planting begins......

Hardenbergia Violacea

I planted the first few plants in the front yard today in the area that used to be grass. The Hardenbergia looks kind of like a eucalypt but it has the form of a vine climber with beautiful purple flowers about this time of year. I have planted a few to climb up my River Red Gum.

I also planted 2 Grevillea Lavandulacea which are nice red flowering creeper shrubs that are either side of the cobble path.

I secured a parrot / small bird box to the river red gum also - after winter I should hopefully see a Lorikeet making this their new home.

Winter is here!

I just had to post this picture of our kitchen fire-place in full working order. It is great to toast marsh-mellows in on a cold night after tea and gardening!

Front Garden Plant Selecting......

What better way to work out what you want to plant than by going out and visiting your local Botanic Garden or Recreation / Conservation Park to see those plants in their full size and glory!

My son and I did just this (As we basically knew what we needed and what it looked like) and were lucky enough to have a close by Botanic Garden in the foothills with descriptive labels.

Also, just around the corner from our house, the local Council has developed a small road-side reserve using indigenous species with an identification board of those species. It is several years old now so plants are established well and some are in flower.

I will be planting climbers and small shrubs in the front yard in the former grassed area, so as not to detract attention from the mighty Red Gum or my other native garden bed on the side. I also dont want a mass of large shrubs overtaking our view.

Check out this sneaky guy.....

Well, the bark chips have been layed out the front to replace the diminishing lawn that resided for I dont know how many decades. As you can see, some sneaky Oxalis has been pushing its way through the weed matting! All were promptly removed after this picture was taken. I will be spot removing and it will be interesting to see how long it goes on for.

Book extract: 12 things to help fruitfulness in Espaliers

ESPALIER FRUIT TREES

Their history & Culture

Methods of training / Pruning / Spraying / Grafting, etc

By Alan Edmunds

This great book contains 95% of information that I have tried to search for on the internet but could not find. It contains pages of secrets and tried and true methods of Espalier from an expert grower of several decades. Printed during 'The War of Liberation' (WWII), this Australian book is one that I will keep on hand for myself and friends reference.

12 HINTS:

Summer pinching or topping.

This is done to vertical leaders every 12 inches. This check helps keep lower buds from dying.

Horizontalising leaders.

Sap moves more slowly, buds are better fed and are more likely to become fruit buds.

Summer pruning of wood shoots.

Pinch off the top of wood shoots that emerge from the mother branch when 12 " long. Then 2 weeks later when the base in woody, cut off the shoot to 1" high (but leaving 1 bud). The weak eyes at the base of wood shoots make the most fruitful spurs if started into growth.

Semi-Cinturing above weak shoots.

'Half ring-barking'. Do it directly above weak bud (Not too big a cut though) and this should spring it into action!

Cinturing the whole tree.

Do it below the lowest leader just before the petals fall. Designed for pears - mild ring-barking. The next season should see profuse flowering. (The book shows a good photo of this). This is a centuries old Greek method to set the fruit of the Zante Currant.

Root pruning.

If tree makes ultra vigorous wood growth, open trench half way around tree and cut off roots cleanly 2 feet away from stem for tree 5 years old, 4 feet away for 15 year old tree. Ancient method used by Japanese bonsai trainers.

Manuring.

2-2-1 Manure. 2 parts superphosphate, 2 parts sulphate of amonia, 1 part potash.

**Note - ANY use of the above should always include strict reading of safety instructions **

Prune the fruits themselves.

The fewer the fruits, the bigger the remaining will be.

Grafting.

To fill any gaps on your tree, graft in buds.

Spraying.

Unless using home-made organic herbicides / pesticides - ALWAYS read and follow safety instructions.

Ensure pollinisation.

If necessary, plant another variety near by that flowers simultaneously - so that bees and breezes will ahve something to work with.

Get a hive of bees.

For pollination. - However I am under the impression that modern root stocks and fruits do not need to be pollinated to fruit.

Enchylaena tomentosa - Ruby Saltbush

Bush Tucker!

This little (Sometimes not so little) bush is found all over the place. I t has been used by the indigenous people of this land for thousands of years. The tiny berries are high in fibre - 20 berries are equal to 1 Weet Bix bar!

Most inland Australia has saltbush. Think beautiful dusk photographs of the Simpson Desert. I have one growing in my front yard. I bought it from a Nursery about 3 years ago in the hills and only recently discovered what it was. This plant has been planted in abundance in the wetlands opposite my suburb and I plan to go picking this week to add the berries to my salads, marinades and chutney.

Book Review - The Native Plants of Adelaide

The following is taken from the Trees For Life Website:

The Native Plants of Adelaide - Phil Bagust and Lynda Tout-Smith

Reviewed by Cas Liber

This A5 sized book is a well- laid out colour reference guide to Adelaide indigenous flora. Its subtitle, 'Returning the vanishing natural heritage of the Adelaide Plains to your garden' captures its aims quite well (and hopefully will help in its fulfillment!).

The book begins with a brief overview of the flora of the Adelaide Plains and remnants before moving into chapters based on occurrence ­ Common plants, Mallee Woodlands, Tall Woodlands, Riparian and Coastal, highlighting the importance of plant associations. The chapters have one individual plant to a page and make good use of space, generally with both a habit shot and closeup of flowers. Brief cultivation notes are also provided.

Some propagation notes and references for further reading are provided at the back of the book. Overall this is an excellent introduction to local flora for the inhabitants of Adelaide.

Salvias doing well

My 2 front porch Salvia's are loving their position. The red / pink flowering variety has been growing very upright but the deep purple flowering variety has decided to flow down the sides. I have noticed this characteristic with my other purple Salvia elsewhere in the garden.

After flowering I will give them a hard chop to encourage denser growth and more flowering - Salvias produce flowers on new growth.

Saying good bye to the grass

Here is the first stage of the front native garden. The existing dirt / lawn has now been covered in weed mat in preparation for laying the wood chip mulch. The mulch was layed today and looks stunning - I still have the edges to dig out and finish so the mulch sits nice and doesn't over flow.

A picket fence will be erected in the coming months so this will add a border to the front of the yard and provide an excuse to plant some indigenous standards - should I find them!

The weed matting is also importantly porous - allowing precious water to filter through the mulch to my River Red Gum roots.

I am going to research indigenous plants that are small / shrubby and have small root systems so as not to compete too much with my beautiful established tree.

Some areas under the tree receive full sun, other areas half sun and half shade so I will plant accordingly.

Creating Standards

I discovered a technique to rejuvenate your overgrown / messy bushes and plants. Standardise them. Standards are where a normal plant has been grafted into the rootstock long stem of a related plant to create a smart tidy look. You would have seen 'roses on a stick' - they are standards. Usually costing upward of $40 each, its cheaper to create your own.

See the attached picture of my lavender that looks much nicer now and allow more light in. Thinning has also been carried out.

Fighting pests with nature

Last night, I was taking a look at my backyard plants including my newly planted protea 'king'. My protea, although 50 cm high with one main leader, was covered from head to toe in tiny black insects. I was horrified and immediately created a concoction to rid them!

As instructed by my 'Companion planting in Australia' book, I simmered 500ml water, large shake of hot chilli powder and 3 crushed cloves of garlic then strained into a spray bottle after 20 mins. I then went out to spray and included my beloved lime dwarf and camellia.

This morning, the bugs looked as they did the night before, but with a wipe of my finger, they just dissolved and smudged! After a little rinse and wipe, the protea looked great again.

Apparently this mix kills ants, insects, caterpillars and spiders on contact. Its also safe for the environment and your wallet!

Warriparinga Wetlands Mighty River Red Gum

As promised, here is a picture of the tree I was talking about. Even though vain efforts are being made to do what appears to be wetting the top soil around it, I'm sure that it will last another 500 years.

Here are some more from the same area:

Just majestic!

It is also worth noting that these gums are the last remaining gums along the original Sturt River flood plain that existed up to the 1900's. Most native vegetation on the Adelaide Plains has been destroyed.

Gotta love figs !

Especially mine! I was going to get rid of this one but he had other ideas. When we first moved in to our house 3 years ago this fig was about 1.5m high with lots of straggly branches and not yeilding any ripe figs (Because of ants!). Its location - on the west back wall - was in a spot that we always wanted to renovate. Last year when the area was our dirt dumping ground I tried to dig it up and really hacked off and into its root system with a pick axe. We couldn't get it out so we just dumped about 1m depth of dirt on top and left the poor stump for about 8 months.

Well sure enough when the area was ready to be redone it was covered in a heap of yellow shoots when all the dirt was removed. I ofcourse felt guilty and set about giving it a new lease on life. Really looking at the stump, there was a main trunk that was about 20cm diameter that was cut down long ago. It must have originally been about 5 m tall I guess so there was a good root system down below.

About 3 months on (From the first picture) it has become a beautiful new plant that should give me some figs this summer - as long as I keep the ants away. I was watering daily for a week, then every few days and now maybe once a fortnight.

Warriparinga Wetlands - Ancient Red Gum needing additional watering

The Warriparinga Wetlands - a 'created' suburban wetland area where the Sturt River meets the Adelaide Plains - an ironic entrance to the cemented and contained river from the wetlands to the sea. I walk through here nearly every day or evening and have noticed a recent addition: a large water filled barrier/ container that is connected to dripping hose around the base of an iconic Gum.

I have touched 300 y/o Red Gums and a 500 year old Red Gum and its age sits (From my crude knowledge) around 4-500 years I would estimate by its staunch and thick torso that still displays a large canopy of green growth. This tree was around in the Middle Ages and has seen countless people (Aboriginals, white settlers), fauna and events over its lifetime so far and it is sad to think that in this 'dry time' it is in need of some TLC.

I will take and post a picture tomorrow!

March is the month for ...Planting, planting.planting!

Gee, so the wet and cooler weather has finally hit us. One evening my boy is in his birthday suit being cooled off by the hose because the temp is nearly 100 F at 7pm and the next night he is out in his winter clothes and beanie / blanket for a stroll because it is about 28 F !

So my little Proteas are in and I've just potted up a little River Red Gum (To remain in a pot) and a banksia - also in a pot. Because the ground is so dry from the past 6 months I've decided to plant in pots until we get some rain (Water restrictions allow for minimal watering times and I'd rather use the water I do use for existing plants).

My mighty River Red Gum - Eucalyptus Camaldulensis

The River Red Gum is a very common tree on the Adelaide Plains and also throughout Australia. As my house is situated near a creek / old flood plains, this tough guy blends in quite nice. I am not sure which was here first - my house or the Red Gum, though it does look like a juvenile (Under 100 years old).

I've seen all sorts of birds in my tree - Kookaburras, Lorikeets, pigeons, Indian Mynahs, Sulfur Crested Cockatoo and a Koala who came very close!

The only plans I have are to place a spotlight at its base and to mount a couple of nesting boxes on its trunk. Information about the River Red Gum can be found below:

http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Eucalyptus-camaldulensis/index.html

Lemons are getting bigger...

As mentioned earlier, the current lemon crop is much larger and healthier than previous years and as you can see they are looking good. Current size is that of an orange (Twice the sizze of past mature lemons) so I'm looking forward to making a nice batch of lemon butter.

Bougainvillea - Everyones Grandma has one...

Well, mine certainly did and so do what seems to be every third house in Adelaide thats over 30 years old! Some are used as a screen along a fence but many are free standing trees with masses of beautiful bloom bunches.

The little example above started out as a small, cheap plant from the local supermarket about a year ago. It was about 15cm high and was quite bushy (Not the usual 1 or 2 leaders). Shortly after planting it suffered from the heat and in 1 day most of the plant became a brown, crispy heap! I cut off the dead areas and covered it with a make shift shade cover and continued to water every week.

New growth appeared and I trimmed back all but 5 new 'leaders' that grew up the trellace. A dwarf variety - I think that its actually going to cover the side of my shed in no time.

My first Protea

Protea's are beautiful plants and there are so many kinds available. Check out the below web site dedicated to them. I purchased several young ones from the ABC Car Park Garden Sale for a couple of $$. Now that the weather is better I have planted this little one in a full sun position at the rear of my back yard next to my large Aloe. Because the soil is more clay, I have dug out a large area and filled in with native mulch / soil mix. This particular Protea will only grow to 1m / 1.5m high and has gorgeous red flowers.

http://www.protea.com.au/site/growingproteas/basics.html

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Postponing Planting...(16th MArch)

Well, its about 105 F (40c) again today... and yesterday and tomorrow. It's been about 2 wks now and from memory we've had one decent rain fall in the last 5 - 6 months just before Christmas. I have a group of small shrubs that I am holding off planting until the weather becomes a bit cooler. I'm keeping them out in near full sun with moist soil because one local revegetation group have more success with seedlings / young plants when they are exposed to their regular conditions at an early age than when they have been sheltered / shaded.

Australian heat wave record broken!

Well it's official, Adelaide's current March heat wave is the hottest / longest on record since records began in Australia in the 1860's. Last night was the hottest March night - maintaining 80 Degrees F (30.2c) all night.

I've had to water my newly planted Salvias and some succulents (Their plump parts had 'deflated' from using their stored water to keep cool) and my juvenile lime / lemon trees only every few days. The Lavenders, rosemary's, roses and native bushes (Which make up most of my front and back gardens) have all been fine with no signs of stress.

I've delayed chopping off the canopy of my orange tree until next month otherwise the new young growth underneath will be damaged and also planting anything else until we get some cooler weather.

The Wollemi Pine - A living fossil

In the tradition of the Lung Fish, this beautiful pine tree was discovered by accident in the 1990's just outside of Sydney (Australia's largest city) in the Blue Mountains. Apparently it was said that the experts would not have been more surprised had a dinosaur walked down the street in front of them because this pine was only previously knwon from fossils dating back 90 million years and presumed to be up to 200 million years old.

With the aim of preservation, these pines (Located in a secret protected area) are now cultivated at a special security controlled nursery and they are available for purchase by anyone in the world for a very reasonable price.

I will be purchasing one on Friday for myself and one for a family member. The Wollemi Pine website is below:

http://www.wollemipine.com/index.php

Hottest March on record for Adelaide approaching

Tommorrow, if temps reach over 93 F then this city of 1.25m will be having its hottest / longest heat spell since records began in the 1860's. Saturday reached 113 F. I have been placing lots of 1.5l plastic drink bottles next to all of my plants (Cut the bottoms off and stick them upside down with lid off about 4inches in the ground next the the trunk / stem of the plant) and topping them up with water when needed so they can get through this weather. So far the rosemary's, lavender and salvias are not showing any signs of stress or die back.

Building a sandpit

Also last month I was busy preparing this area in my backyard for a sandpit for my son. It is situated under a large - what I believe to be a - Fiddlewood tree so there is shade all day. I dug out an area of 1.8m x 1.8m to a depth of 15cm then placed the 2 rows of railway sleepers for the border. The sleepers are held in place with ram rods (Used for housing foundations). I then used regular garden shade mesh to line the whole pit so it has drainage and bought approx 3 quarter of a ton of sand pit sand for $18! Originally I used a roller blind secured to the fence for a cover, but the roller blind has teared and it not suitable for outdoor use so I will be making a canvas cover. The depth of the pit is about 35cm.

Rosemary Espalier: 6 weeks on...

So last month I gave my little deformed herb a new lease of life and a fresh burst of all day sunshine. All of its leaders have grown 4 inches already and there is currently a mass of beautiful purple flowers all over. The original rosemary that this was a tiny cutting from has not yet emerged in bloom at all, showing that full sun available to the whole plant has paid off.

Verandah Camellia Sasanqua

This particular variety will grow to a height of 4m in 10 years in the ground. Even though this part of my verandah only receives morning winter sun, this Camellia will grow and do well but will not be expected to flower much because of the lack of direct sunlight.

I chose it because I wanted something with thick green foliage as compared to the usual climbers (Jasmine, etc) that is a bit leggy for a small feature like this.

Rejuvenation: Plum Tree

Another neglected fruit tree in my backyard! This old plum tree was never pruned or shaped so it developed several main trunks and had all of its growth / plums way too high for picking ease. In winter I lopped of the whole top and cut off (Still need to be removed fully from their bases after summer to prevent sunburn) the other leaders.

In spring the new growth emerged and I have been removing any rearward shoots: the aim is to have a tree with lower fruit and a nice looking canopy. All of the long shoots that you can see have been tipped so that several shoots are awakening just under the old tip.

The white marble chip is acting like a 'mulch' and I plan to water and fertelize the tree on a regular basis: something that has been missing for many years. Plums fruit on last years growth so I wont have any until next season.

Completing the rear path

Today was the Australia Day Public Holiday and we finally finished the rear path. Originally the rear yard consisted mainly of a grass area with a 3m deep area of dirt along the rear fence line across the back. I have layed 30x30cm cement paving blocks and planted lavender, Salvia's, rosemary and a few others in the new garden bed areas.

The whole look is much better with the grass finishing before the garden edging so we dug out a 10cm trench for a path to run between. We purchased old red bricks for the edge and 10 - 15cm white marble chip for the filler (approx $85 ton). More cement paver blocks were cemented into place last night within the marble chip area.

There is still a bit of fixing to get the white marble just right but at the moment it already looks a million bucks compared to before.

Raspberries - Yum!

I planted 2 Tulameen variety Raspberry canes in my little vege garden last March. They have now spread (as they do) and I currently have about 16 canes. This summer they did not fruit but have been establishing themselves. I've been giving them a dose of granule fertilizer each month too.

I have been advised by one of Adelaide's gardening guru's (Malcolm Campbell) to only cut off growth that dies off in winter and to leave the green canes as they will produce fruit next summer. They can probably also do with some thinning out but I am reluctant because raspberries are expensive to buy and taste great!

New Valley Red Dwarf Peach

I bought this dwarf variety 8 months ago just before last winter. It currently resides in a 50l size pot and receives full sun. In the future I will have to move it to a larger size pot. Even though the plant was dormant it still produced new roots, securing itself in its current home.



When dormant and bare in winter I tipped each branch and there is now several inches of growth of new branches from each tip. The aim is to produce a compact tree with many branches so next winter I plan to tip again. This variety wont grow more than 2m high.



The fruit is plenty and plumping up - apparently the mature size will be that of standard peach tree fruit and ready in March.

First Summer task - Beautifying my Rosemary

The French word 'Espalier' is defined as 'The lattice work on which trees are trained, a tree so trained'. Taken from the Italian word Spalliera (Shoulder) it is an art well worth giving a go.

I've decided to train my little rosemary as it's been growing behind a garden feature (now removed) and I want it as a feature itself. I've secured a small trellace to my shed and secured the branches informally using flat velcro tape. I have trimmed off the lower twigs and now have 5 leaders to take the plant to new heights. Being summer here, I've been watching it daily for any signs of dehydration as now the whole plant is fully exposed - but it does receive morning shed shade and afternoon lemon tree protection.

Rosemarys are small bushes and I believe hard to train like this, but because it had deformed growth since being a tiny cutting it grew into a form that made this easy. I'm hoping that it will fill out all over the trellace and beyond.

I have several other Rosemary's growing in my front and rear yard as they have relied on rain only for watering (Even through 115 degree F heat spells).

The hardiest plant I have come across - Salvia Navajo

Apparently this is also called Autumn Sage and is a Salvia Greggii. Commonly seen in Texas and the Chihuahuan Desert. Salvia is the largest genus in the mint family.

My husband bought one for a few $'s 2 years ago and planted it in full sun in very hard rocky ground with no nutrients. With practically no watering, it grows so profusely that I chop it back by 2/3's at least twice a year so it doesn't get out of hand. The little 'blue bell' shaped flowers are very pretty.

I have planted 12 more (white and red flowers) in the back and front yard that have just gone crazy. One thing I have noticed though is that the white flower varieties have turned red (Perhaps related to the soil ph like Hydrangeas?).

I forgot about the front ones when we went away and the temp. was above 105 for a few days, but they look completely fine in our 'once in a hundred year drought' that we're experiencing.

Definitely recommended as a hardy attractive plant in hot areas.

An ongoing project: Fixing Lisbon

I adopted this beautiful Lisbon lemon tree (Citrus Limon - originally from Portugal, introduced to Aust. in 1824) that my neighbours tell me has been growing here for 55 years. It has a height of 3.5m and was in need of some TLC.


Previous problems: Tiny tasteless fruit, die back at the canopy, straggly appearance, ant / scale infestation. General neglect.


Treatments: 18 mths ago I applied mulch to the area and gave the tree several deep watering's. The very top branches were taken off as they were 50% dead twigs which resulted in vigorous growth between the 1st and 2nd mtr of height. The new growth was continually tipped and weighted downward with string ties (So I don't have to reach up high to pick fruit!) A mineral granule nutrient was applied every month and crossing / wayward branches removed.


Results so far: The latest crop of fruit that began last spring on the new growth and old original branches is now double the size of previous mature fruit - and it's not ready yet. The new growth continues to spread at a low height with new tiny fruit appearing.


Plans for March: To finish the rejuvenation by completely removing the old top canopy as it's still dying back and too high. This needs to be done when it cools down a bit as the current summer sun will damage the new growth. There will be 3 big branches to remove.

I also want to try putting a guard up at the base of the trunk to get rid of the ants. This can be done by wrapping a portion in say grease paper covered with grease.


Citrus, especially lemons apparently respond really well to hard pruning and this one seems to have many years left in him.