http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/ Daily gardening tips from Don Burke en-AU Copyright 2013, CTC Productions Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 12:22:59 +1000 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:14:27 +1100 Gardening Generated with Love, Digital Guru 2012 - http://www.digitalguru.com.au/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips/logo_rss.gif http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips 58 90 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Well, the reason may be that your potting mix was no good. Burke’s Backyard has just tested 30 different bags of potting mix from several states in Australia: some were good, some were very very good and some were not so good. In fact some were bad enough to kill plants.

On page 73 of the final March edition of the Burke’s Backyard magazine, soil scientist Kevin Handreck and I go through the results. Some potting mixes performed well above expectations and some of these good performers were quite cheap to buy.

So, it may not be your fault if your pot plants are dying. Get the March edition of the Burke’s Backyard magazine (with the dead gnome on the cover) to find out which brands are best. On sale now.

Hooroo, Don. ]]> 81 Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:14:27 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Most dams around Australia are full, so we can spare some water for the grass.

In most areas, applying a wetting agent over all of your lawn will minimize water requirements and maximize the lawn health. If you use a product like Scott’s Lawn Builder (fertilizer) in the blue pack there is a wetting agent in it. Sounds weird doesn’t it, a dry wetting agent?

Don’t scalp your lawn; ideally a lawn should be at least 3cm (1 ½”) high. Race tracks are around 10cm (4”) high for optimal results.

And trim the edges of the lawn carefully. Even a crook lawn looks great with crisply trimmed edges.

Research has shown that people relax better with a lush green lawn.

Happy relaxing!
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You have precious days left to get the place looking good.

A tidy-up around the barbeque area is a good idea and think about seating and a table for the guests. Maybe a new table & chairs is a good idea.

Look for ugly areas in the garden. Sneak some potted colour (temporary plants) into that spot or just get some new mulch and freshen it all up.

Get another Esky or two for outdoor protection of meat, salads and fish during barbeques to avoid tummy upsets. Ice cooler packs for storage in the freezer are really good too. Merely cooling the grog is not the complete answer.

Grab a big box of mangoes and maybe a leg of ham. These are the perfect easy meal over the Xmas break.

& Merry Christmas.
]]> 79 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:21:30 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Snakes almost never start a fight: they just try to slither away. The main reason for snake bites is when people are trying to kill one.

Leave snakes alone. If a snake comes into your garden and you are worried about the kids and pets, call a wildlife rescue group.

If a human or a pet is bitten, try to keep the person still and calm and try to identify the snake (from the distance).

Then go to hospital. The odds of survival are very high.
]]> 78 Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:34:54 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
I don’t talk to my plants but I do listen. Plants will let you know what they need if you are observant.

A slight drooping of the leaves means that the plant needs water. The better you get at observing leaf angles, the better your garden will grow.

If a plant is tall and spindly this may mean that it’s in too much shade. This is called etiolation, where a plant reaches up for the light.

Young cuttings or seedlings that die off from damping off usually are etiolated and are actually dying due to lack of sunlight.

So, a plant that is spindly and tall may need moving to a sunnier position. Be careful moving plants into more sun in summer as this may cause leaf burn – maybe do it in autumn.
]]> 77 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:58:37 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Some are worthy of note. At my place, rock warblers, that look like a red robin, live and breed in our garage. In the wild they live in caves.

In the tropics sun birds nest under car ports and even in entrances to house or in sheds.

Willie Wagtails nest in sheds and barns often on top of fluorescent light fittings.

Plovers can be a pain. They scrape out a nest on the ground and defend their eggs and chicks by dive-bombing passers-by. Please put up with them and the odd swooping magpie.

While these birds can be a nuisance, they are part of the best thing in Australia: that is, the fact that our wildlife is still alive and wild and here!
]]> 76 Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:19:13 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
These superb little grass-like plants produce orange coloured pendulous flowers. They are very rare in gardens but sometimes available as cut flowers.

A specialist native nursery may stock them. These are raised-swamp plants. That is, they like access to water. So, buy a large shallow saucer & put it just below ground level in the bottom of the planting hole. Cover the saucer with a little soil and plant the Xmas bells plant as normal in the hole.

This will provide an underground water reservoir for the plant. This works just as well with Dog Roses (Baueras) and stream lilies.

An underground water reservoir.
]]> 75 Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:13:35 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
1. Regular checks around the front end of the dog for ticks.

2. Flea control: regular vacuuming is still the best method of getting rid of flea eggs.

3. Create cool areas for the pets to relax in. Shady areas under trees or shrubs are excellent as are areas under shade cloth or roofing.

4. Fresh water is essential. Get 2 bowls in case one is emptied. Keep the 2 bowls full at all times.

5. Never take pets out in the car in summer.

6. If your dog is suffering heat distress, sometimes plunging them into a tub of cold water will help to bring their temperature down.

Oh – and check the hours for your local vet and emergency services just in case.
]]> 74 Fri, 30 Nov 2012 10:31:56 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
1. Make sure that all garden mulches are topped up to about 3cm
(1 ½ “) thick.

2. If your soils seem to stay dry, treat them with a wetting agent. This will help your plants enormously.

3. Avoid severe pruning during the really hot months as many shrubs and trees can get sunburnt stems and trunks – especially Japanese maples.

4. Move pot plants that start to fry into more shaded areas.

5. Erect temporary shade cloth over plants in the ground that are burning.

6. Don’t plant a lot of new plants over summer as the young plants may cook to death.

7. Water the garden well about once a week – but keep an eye out for emergencies.

8. If you go away, try to get the kid from next door to keep an eye on your garden or pets.
]]> 73 Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:40:42 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
In Australia, we have adopted the first two plants for Xmas but never the mistletoe.

But do mistletoes exist in Australia?? Yes! Mistletoes grow all over Australia. When you are driving around, you’ll see a dense sphere of foliage, about one metre in diameter in gum trees. This dense weeping mass is mistletoe: a semi-parasitic plant.

It’s a wonderful plant that attracts the flamboyantly beautiful mistletoe bird plus mistletoe butterflies, etc…

Mistletoes do not serious damage healthy trees, so overall they are a good thing.

Kissing under mistletoe is a fertility ritual thought to produce babies.

So take care!

For more information, check out the December 2012 issue of the Burke’s Backyard magazine (p.110).

]]> 72 Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:21:08 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Some people make a wooden frame and put 12mm chicken wire on it. This frame is then put over their crops as they grow.

Some people drape nylon bird mesh over stakes etc to create an anti-aviary (an aviary to keep birds out).

Some people spray black tea or wasabi and water on their vegies to repel possums too.

- Oh and don’t let the chooks out into a vegie garden full of silverbeet, lettuce, strawberries, etc... The chooks will do untold damage. Fence them out!
]]> 71 Thu, 22 Nov 2012 11:03:29 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
But beware, many climbers can go feral and become awful weeds. English ivy and wisteria can choke trees to death. Ivy and Boston ivy are almost impossible to remove from house walls. The common jasmine, Jasminum polyanthum is an awful garden weed as are grafted passionfruits. The understock of grafted passionfruit can engulf an entire backyard.

All of this and we haven’t yet mentioned morning glory, cat’s claw creeper and even feral bougainvilleas.

Check out the vigour of climbing plants before you buy one. Always plant them in an open area where you can get at them to prune them. Never allow them to escape up trees.
]]> 70 Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:15:13 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Most brooms are abused and brutalized by both men and women. Correct use doubles their lives. For straw brooms, always try to keep the bristles unbent. Rotate the sides of the broom while sweeping to even out the wear. This way they sweep better too.

Small brushes are often just used at the tip. This wrecks the brush. Keep the brush’s bristles flat on the ground to even wear and sweep better. This increases brush life by up to ten times.

When storing brooms, stand them upside-down or suspend them on nails or hooks. If the bristles are laid on the ground they become mis-shapen and mice and rats may chew the bristles.

Care for your brooms – using them is then so much easier.
]]> 69 Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:35:44 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Sharpen your spade and push it into the ground and lever it away from you to create an open slit in the ground about 30cm (1 and a half inches) deep. Tuck the entire length of the prostrate stem of the grass (called a runner) into the slit, but leave about half of the leaves showing above the slit. Now firmly tread on the slit to close it up. Now only half of each leaf can be seen.

Water it well every day for about 3 or 4 weeks until you see new growth appearing. Then fertilise with a slow release lawn food. Keep watering every 2 days until rampant growth appears.

Well done! And it IS that easy.
]]> 68 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:58:51 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
A hose can be laid out on a warm, sunny day along lawn areas to define possible new garden zones. The hose enables you to see a particular garden shape that you might want to try.

Hoses can also be used to simulate garden path edges. Again, it allows you to see what a path in that position might look like.

I also use my hose to even out curves in the lawn edges. I lay the hose carefully along the ratty lawn edge then cut the edge cleanly with a sharpened spade.

Hoses are very useful – however on really cold days, they can have a mind of their own.

By the way, don’t coil up your hose: this leads to kinking. Lay the hose out along the garden near the lawn edge.
]]> 67 Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:49:09 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Many soils and potting mixes rapidly dry out and then the soil particles become waxy and refuse to get moist again. You can water your plants every day but none of your water may get to the plants roots.

To test this, water your plants, wait until the water has SEEMED to soak in, then scratch the surface with your fingers.

If it is totally dry underneath, you have a water-repellent (or hydrophobic) soil.

Get a wetting agent from your local nursery or hardware store and apply it as directed.

This is a huge problem in Australia, yet most people are in complete denial about the problem.
]]> 66 Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:34:06 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Potatoes are checked about January or February by digging up one tuber. If they are big enough, then it’s time to harvest.

Tomatoes are picked when they are reddish with a little green still showing.

Carrots are pulled up when a test carrot that you dig up is big enough to eat.

Herbs get a haircut every 2 or 3 weeks.

Happy munching!
]]> 65 Thu, 08 Nov 2012 10:35:08 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
So check out the puppy or kitten prior to purchase.

Ask for veterinary certificates on hip dysplasia, knee joints, heart health or whatever plagues the breed that you desire.

Good breeders will already have done many tests prior to sale. If they have done no tests, shop elsewhere, as a dog with congenital problems can easily cost $5,000 - $10,000 to fix up.

Virtually all breeders of purebred dogs and cats in Australia are backyard breeders. This is fine, but you should look out for evidence of professional practice and duty of care, prior to purchasing.

Good luck with your puppy or kitten.

]]> 64 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:18:11 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
The flannel flower will grow in a pinch of soil on top of rock. It’s also a great pot plant. Once they have grown in your garden they will drop seeds and pop up year after year. They love semi-shaded areas under gum trees or she-oaks – in the right spot the flannel flower is incredibly hardy.

Nurseries and hardware stores sell flannel flower plants and flannel flower seeds are easy to find – google flannel flower seeds and there are heaps available.

Flannel Flower – Actinotus helianthi – the native birth flower for November.
]]> 63 Tue, 06 Nov 2012 11:23:18 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Chocolate
Avocado
Grapes, sultanas and raisins
Apricot kernels
Macadamia nuts
Green potatoes

Also avoid rat and mouse baits & snail baits: these kill dogs.

Some plants are chewed by dogs and they can kill them:
Lilies, Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (Brunsfelsia), oleanders, stephanotis fruit, potatoes and eggplants, must bulbs and many indoor plants.

If you are confused – Dr Chris Brown covers all the poisonous things for dogs and cats in the November 2012 issue of Burke’s Backyard Magazine.
]]> 62 Mon, 05 Nov 2012 12:02:34 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
1. Now is the time to take cuttings. Get a trug or a bucket and fill it with water, then add a dessert-spoon of household bleach. Push all cuttings under the water as you collect them. Plant them later on in a peat and sand mix.

2. After flowering, cut most shrubs back about 20 to 30 cm (about a foot). This tidies the plants up and creates more flowers later on.

3. Now the BIG one: use your index finger to scratch the surface of pot plants to see if they need watering. Often plants get totally dry.
]]> 61 Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:42:57 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
1. Vegies need full sun all day (or forget it!!)

2. Fertilising is essential: use Dynamic Lifter for all vegies. Keep applying it every 2 or 3 weeks for leaf vegies, but stop fertilizing fruiting vegies like tomatoes, beans, etc as soon as you see some flowers.

3. Water them every day or two.

4. Harvest them while young & replant immediately.

5. Rotate crops (leaf vegie followed by fruiting or root vegie).
]]> 60 Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:56:18 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
I always like to cheer up these areas. Obviously soft plants like maidenhair ferns and club mosses can do a lot, but have you ever thought of white flowering plants?

White flowering plants (or even variegated-leaved plants like lamium) really lift dark areas.

White impatiens, erigeron daisies, white heleborus, variegated-leaved hostas, white flowering camellias, white fuchsias, pieris, white hydrangeas, etc.

Most shade-loving or shade-tolerant plants are sold in the shade-house areas of nurseries – but in general, nursery staff can advise customers about which plants grow in the shade.

- So why not cheer up your dark, dingy areas of the garden.
]]> 59 Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:17:09 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
The mixture of sulphur-yellow flowers of cape weed with the purple of Patterson’s Curse in many areas of western Australia is truly beautiful. The ground is washed with complimentary colours.

In Europe, the common pasture of grain crop weed is the Red Flanders Poppy – one of the world’s most beautiful flowers.

Wild olive trees in South Australia can be heart-stoppingly beautiful – and the wild olives taste far better than the larger cultivated ones.

So spare a thought for your local weeds. Most of them are here to stay, no matter what we do.

So why not sit back and enjoy them!
]]> 58 Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:14:52 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
To save a garden like this, pick out two or three plants (or maybe even just ONE plant) that look really good. It may match the colour of the house or the fence, or it may simply do really well in your area.

Remove some of the ugly plants and replace them with the pretty ones. Planting many of the same plant almost always looks good. By the same plant I don’t mean twenty different plant colours of azalea for instance. It could be a row of white azaleas: all the one variety.

Mind you, a mix of different lavenders always looks good since all of the flower colours mix beautifully; the same applies to alyssum (with pinks, whites and purples) and echiums.

Sometimes just spot-planting a repeated plant like palm trees or even ferns will “pull a garden together”.

Try some plant repeating – it may improve your garden.
]]> 57 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:38:34 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Over the last 10 years one new release plant really stands out: that is a lomandra called Tanika. This plant looks like a grass, but usually has none of the ugly dead leaves that appear on true grasses.

Tanika has lime-green luxuriant leaves and grows about 60cm tall. It looks magnificent in group plantings along path edges, around ponds or as a feature plant in a pot.

Older style lomandras are sharp and may cut you and some are ugly. Tanika won’t cut you and it looks great.
]]> 56 Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:09:13 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
But you need to know how to do it. Most balconies are hot, windy areas where plants rapidly dry out. So try to avoid small pots – because they dry out rapidly and the plants become sick. Use pots of 500mm diameter or larger on balconies.

A shallow saucer under each pot is also a good idea – to act as a water reserve on hot days. The more plants you have the better. A group of plants create their own microclimate so that they all do better.

If all else fails, succulents (that is water-storing plants) like Yuccas and Geraniums are always good on balconies.
]]> 55 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:20:17 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Wherever you can, when buying rock, try to use new rock salvaged from excavations. Bush rock in the bush provides critical homes for reptiles, marsupials and many insects. Taking bush rock destabilizes bushland areas and is generally frowned upon, unless it is essential in land clearing for farms.

New rock can be aged by mixing up slurry of clay and water and spraying or painting it on the rock. Normal rock colour is mostly due to microscopic lichens and other plants.

Never place your rocks upright on garden edges: this is called the “shark tooth garden”. All rock should be used as it is seen in nature: that is, half-buried and flat on the ground.

If you have ugly concrete or mortar areas between rocks, consider pressing moss onto the concrete to hide it.
]]> 54 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:07:42 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
These curious plants are unique to Australia. Nectar-feeding birds go crazy over them. The flowers sort of look like the paw of a kangaroo and they come in many colours such as red, yellow, orange, black, almost white, green, etc.

The kangaroo paw plant likes full sun and good drainage. Cut off the flower stems after the flowers have died and give your plants some lime occasionally as well as some Yates Anti Rot.

Buy the tall 1.5m high flowering varieties as these tend to be far hardier than the cute little varieties that only grow about 30-45 cm tall.

Kangaroo paws are spectacular garden plants, particularly when planted in groups. Give them a go!
]]> 53 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:23:33 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
On top of that, bellbirds eat the lerps formed by psyllid insects, which live on gum tree leaves. They actively farm these insects to such an extent, that they can kill off gum trees in large numbers. So much so that bellbirds are a key indicator species for gum tree decline and dieback in many areas.

The bellbird chime is lovely, but their arrival is a real clanger for eucalypt forests.
The whole story is in the November issue of the Burke’s Backyard magazine, on sale now (22/10/2012).
]]> 52 Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:03:33 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
You will benefit from using your body well. For instance, always let the tool do the work: not your arms or body. A saw cuts best and easiest in gentle long strokes using the whole blade. Always use your feet (not your arms) to push a spade into the ground.

Don’t flail at things: use an axe in a gentle and fluid way. Take your time.

Alternate arms to prevent strains and blisters. For instance, for prolonged sweeping or raking, do some left-handed and some right-handed.

Sharpen cutting tools like spades, axes, secateurs and saws. For tools like spades and axes a bench grinder is really effective.

Don’t buy a chainsaw. Use a bow saw instead.

Try to develop smooth, easy movements with all tools: then you will still be pain-free and active when you are 80!
]]> 51 Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:09:43 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
They have soft ferny foliage and gnarled trunks – these are all living works of art! Japanese dissectum maples come in red, green or variegated leaf types and today, they cost about one fifth of the price of years gone by. All plant collectors should have at least one dissectum maple.

Rare rhapis palms are also really cheap these days (compared to the prices of some years back). Rhapis palms grow in tight clumps and are great feature plants or fence hiders. Like dissectum maples, they make great pot plants and all serious plant collectors have one.

Why not pop out this weekend to get some rare collectors’ plants like dissectum Japanese maples and Rhapis palms.
]]> 50 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:47:12 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
The thing to watch is collateral damage. Dogs, cats and possums will often eat these baits if they can get to them.

The baits are anti coagulants, that is they stop blood from clotting leading to the animals bleeding to death.

So you must place the bait stations well out of reach of family pets and possums as well. You need to evict possums from your roof prior to baiting for mice and rats.

Special bait boxes can be purchased from rural produce stores to keep the baits away from dogs and cats. I still place a couple of bricks on top of the bait boxes to deter hungry dogs.

So be aware when baiting. Take care to put rat and mouse baits well out of the reach of family pets and possums.
]]> 49 Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:17:36 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
But ivy-leafed geraniums are not Ivy, they are true pelargoniums (which is the botanic name for most so-called geraniums).

Ivy geraniums are superbly beautiful trailing plants that cascade down walls, drape beautifully from hanging baskets and thread themselves through wire mesh fences. They are not invasive; in fact they have beautiful manners.

Ivy geraniums come in many different flower colours: red, white, pink, purplish and multi coloured. While geraniums used to be used in mixed colours in garish gardens of years gone by, they can be used to create wonderfully colour-coordinated gardens that are very pretty.

Ivy geraniums are easy to grow and very easy to strike from cuttings. They are a graceful plant and, like all geraniums, do very well in pots.
]]> 48 Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:46:56 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
High nitrogen fertilisers like chook poo cause lush leafy growth, and low nitrogen fertilisers cause the plant to slow its growth and produce flowers and fruit. All vegies need a nitrogen fertilizer to get them going after planting. Leaf vegies need nitrogen fertilisers right throughout their lives. Even just stopping fertilisers altogether will cause flowering and fruiting in a few weeks, which is ideal for fruiting vegies. But don’t do this before the plant has grown to its full size. All plants need to grow for a while before they flower or fruit.

In an emergency, to get flowers or fruit, use Bloom Booster or Thrive Flower & Fruit formulation. These are low nitrogen fertilisers.

Once you see stunted growth and flowers on leaf crops like lettuce, silverbeet , spinach or cabbage – it’s too late. So toss them out and start again.

The Take Home Point?? Use nitrogen fertilisers like chook poo to produce lush green leafy growth in vegies
]]> 47 Mon, 15 Oct 2012 14:25:22 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
As soon as the new spring growth has opened up fully and the stems have become firm and mature, start taking cuttings. Azaleas, camellias, grevilleas, indeed most plants will strike well now, except shoots or branches that are still flowering.

Cut off stems about 10cm long (4 inches) and remove all except two leaves. The tip of the cutting must not be removed.

Dip the base end of the cuttings into Manuka honey and strike the cuttings in a special cutting mix, or even potting mix. The idea is to put up ten or twenty cuttings in a 20cm diameter pot, water them in well, and then enclose the pot and cuttings in an old plastic bag or even a shopping bag.

Place the bag and cuttings in a semi-shaded area for 6-8 weeks while the new roots grow. Cut the bag once the cuttings are rooted and allow them to harden off for a week prior to potting them up.
]]> 46 Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:36:54 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Laying turf is easy. Level the lawn area very carefully they lay the turf and water it in. It’s that easy.

To repair lawns using runners, cut off runners from healthy edge areas or purchase a few rolls of turf and gently take them apart.

Cut slits in the lawn with a sharp spade at about 45 degrees from vertical. Lever the splits open about 1cm and slide the runners into the slits so that none of the stems poke out, but most of the leaves do poke out. Gently tread on the slits to close them up.

Water in well with a seaweed product and keep them well watered (every 2-3 days) until new growth appears in 2 to 4 weeks.

As soon as the new growth starts, apply a slow release lawn food and more water.

Good luck with your grass.
]]> 45 Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:13:29 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
The best red varieties are Harkness, King’s Park Special and Endeavour. The best dwarf varieties are Captain Cook and Mathew Flinders: both reds.

Bottlebrushes attract nectar-feeding birds and are not fussy about fertilisers like grevilleas and banksias, so they are an excellent garden plant.

Perhaps bottlebrushes are a good gift for anyone with their birthday in October, since they are the native birth flower for this month. Remember that normal birth flowers are made for the Northern Hemisphere, and they don’t flower in the correct birthday month here in Australia.

But who needs an excuse to buy a bottlebrush plant?
]]> 44 Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:09:54 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
The smell of orange blossoms always makes me take in the smells, sights and sounds of spring.

Never forget that all citrus produce the wonderfully perfumed blossoms in Spring: oranges, lemons, limes, mandarins, grapefruit and cumquats.

Citrus trees are beautiful lush green plants that also produce fruit that are delicious, healthy and very attractive to look at.

Citrus make excellent pot plants as well. I would strongly recommend that you get the dwarf varieties of citrus. These grow around 2m or so tall, which is an excellent height for picking fruit. The fruit are just as big, taste the same – in fact the varieties are identical: only the tree is much smaller.

It’s un-Australian not to have an orange tree or a lemon tree in the backyard too! So get to it!

]]> 43 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:16:15 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Start your seeds or seedlings now and protect all your seedlings from late frosts, which will kill them.

Plant tomatoes 50-60cm apart
Use stakes if the variety requires it
Scatter some citrus or rose food around the area a week after planting
Fertilise again when the first truss of fruit appears
Water all tomatoes twice a week
Harvest the fruit prior to full red colour to avoid birds and fruit flies from ruining your crop.

Get some tomatoes – the home grown ones taste so good!

]]> 42 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:14:35 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
For instance, hammers come in light, medium and heavy models (all the same size). When buying a hammer, ask the salesperson to help you select a lightweight one. This will make your hammering both easier and more accurate.

When buying lopping shears (that’s the cutters that are more or less secateurs with very long handles) – select models with double-action hinges. That is, they have two different hinges near the blades to give you extra leverage: a bit like a block and tackle. These make cutting really easy.

Use Lanotec spray lubricant on secateurs, saws etc. – it’s made of lanoline so it smells better and is safe for your skin.

Also use an old serrated kitchen knife to cut off weeds just below the crown of the plant – especially in lawns.

]]> 41 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:31:13 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
The idea is to pick or buy some white flowers: carnations are excellent for this purpose.

Get some food colouring from the local supermarket and add 20 drops of food colour to each vase that you are going to fill with water.

Cut a diagonal piece of stem off the bottom of each flower to open up the pores, and leave the flowers in the coloured water overnight.

By morning you should have yellow, blue or pink flowers. You can also mix the food colouring to create your own colours. And if you are really adventurous you can use coloured flowers to begin with then create really lovely colour combinations with the food colouring.

This is a really fun project for the kids – especially on rainy days or on holidays.

]]> 40 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:29:47 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
On page 69 of the September issue of the Burke’s Backyard magazine, we show a photo of a purple and lavender garden seat that is orchestrated with purple azaleas and purple irises.

You need a symphony of purple and purple-pinks and lavenders to make purples work in a garden. Thus painting a chair or fence or a wall a matching colour is always a good idea.

Anyway, look at page 69 in the September issue of the Burke’s Backyard magazine for a very pretty use of colour in the garden. You can always adjust colours to look even better with a little inspiration.

Hooroo ]]> 39 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:27:17 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Small dogs often are small because they stop growing much earlier on. They tend to not mature as much as bigger dogs in both body and mind.

So puppies of smaller dogs have difficulty learning not to poo and wee everywhere. They sometimes struggle with training & discipline too.

Be aware that some breeds are like Maltese and Chihuahuas can be very aggressive as well. The Maltese is the number one dog dumped at pounds for both aggression and excessive barking.

The West Highland White terrier looks much the same as a Maltese but it is a far nicer dog to live with – and it is far less aggressive.

When buying a puppy of a small breed, check out mum and dad first for behavioural problems. This is good advice.

]]> 38 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:23:30 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
You see wind will blow over pot plants, so you pick them up straight away & they blow over again. Don’t pick the pot plants up until the wind has gone, even if it takes a day or two. If you pick it up straight away it will keep blowing over and getting more and more damage.

After you pick it up WATER IT immediately, as it dries out when on its side.

In perpetually windy areas (like coastal gardens) always buy very young plants. These won’t be blown over in the wind. DO NOT stake them as staking keeps them weak. When they outgrow the stake they will then blow over and maybe die.

In windy areas grow plants from very small young plants and grow them slowly, not too much fertilizer – and they will do far better.

There – no more problems with wind.

]]> 37 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:21:52 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
You need excellent light. Not good light – EXCELLENT LIGHT!! You simply can’t build things properly in bad light – especially at night.

Strip lighting of old-fashioned fluorescent tubes above the bench is great. Equally, some lighting behind you is good too to avoid shadows from your body. Real luxury is under-shelf or even under-bench lighting so that you can see all of your tools and you are able to measure and cut precisely.

A lot of poor workmanship comes down to poor lighting. And you can waste so much time looking for tools and other things under a dingy, dark bench top.

Oh and don’t forget to get a bench grinder, a drop saw, a really good vice – preferably one that rotates, plus you need lots of power points for battery chargers. Now of course I use gang plugs so that I can charge lots and of course I always get extra batteries so that as one is used the other is on charge. Mind you I heard of a guy once who …. (fades out)
]]> 36 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:20:06 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
To construct a bench you should use a builder’s product that is awesome: that is Form Ply. This is very robust plywood used by construction companies in formwork for casting concrete. It is used in high-rise building construction and it is an awesome product: water resistant, impact resistant and very strong.

It is designed to be re-used time after time: the perfect material for your bench (or a thousand other uses).

The product again is form ply. It is available in large sheets.

Now about the bench……

NO ONE is allowed to put ANYTHING on it – except you.

You must be firm on this or the bench will always be too full to use.

I remember a friend of mine, well!!! He had awful problems with … (fades out).
]]> 35 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:17:06 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Well there’s a new book called ‘Gifts of the Crow’ written by a professor of wildlife science (Dr John Marzluff) and illustrated by Tony Angell. This is no book of vague, unscientific nonsense. It is the work of a disciplined expert.

In Gifts of the Crow, chapter after chapter tell of the amazing intelligence and the cultural-excellence of crows. How they remember people who have attacked crows: how they pass this on to the next generation of crows. How the crows manufacture tools. How crows check the pouches of marsupial road kills for babies to eat.

How one crow learned to call local dogs with a special whistle, then lead the dogs away from home apparently just for fun. Other crows presented gifts to people they like apparently as a reward.

Crows are amazing: the book again is ‘Gifts of the Crow’ by Marzluff and Angell.

]]> 34 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:12:26 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Boronias are amongst the World’s best perfumed plants. The brown boronia has a stunning citrus crossed with daphne perfume. The flowers can be brown with a yellow centre, red with a yellow centre or yellow all over.

Boronias do best in pots in most areas and they live for about 3 years. Use some Yates Anti Rot to protect them from root rot. These small shrubs only grow a metre or so tall and flower from August to October.

So buy a boronia for friends or family that have birthdays in September or even get them some boronia perfume.

Boronia – the Australian birth flower for September.

]]> 33 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:10:58 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
This is the perfect time to visit our nation’s capital. Canberra features the best street tree plantings in Australia and also the new National Arboretum which is Australia’s finest collection of trees.

I’ll be there at Commonwealth Park on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th of October to answer gardening questions and to give talks.

Floriade is one of the best gardening events in Australia each year so why not pop along and participate.

Floriade is on from September 15th to October 14th.

See you there.

]]> 32 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:05:37 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Today it’s all about the gentle spring tart up.

To make the garden look really attractive, top up all the mulched areas with a thin coat of fresh mulch. This ALWAYS looks good. Ideally a mulch should only be 3-4cm thick – that’s about 1 ½ inches.

Throw out any old, sick pot plants plus the potting mix that they were growing in. Get new pot plants and fresh potting mix – I suggest a mix of 50/50 potting mix and coarse sand. This works better for longer.

Fertilise everything now. Use controlled-release fertilisers for pot plants and lawns. Use citrus food on citrus, fruit trees, vegies and roses.

Dig over the vegie garden, use the rose food and dig it well in. Wait a week before planting.

Fertilise native plants sparingly with native plant food.

]]> 31 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:04:33 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
If a plant looks as if it might be dead, snap off a couple of branches to see if they are dead. OR use a very sharp knife or box cutter to cut a slice of bark to see if it is green underneath.

If a plant has a lot of dead branches and rangy growth plus sawdust in branch crotches – perhaps it’s time to replace it with something else.

If all of one type of plant is sick or dead (e.g. azaleas or whatever) this is the perfect time to remove the lot and plant something else.

At the very least, you should prune all ugly, straggly plants back to a nice and tidy shape. Be ruthless though – you will be so glad that you were.

More on spring next time.

]]> 30 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:03:13 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Remove all sick &/or ugly plants. They have had plenty of time to recover after the drought: off with their heads!

Now is the time to rebuild, repair and replant.

Consider re-planting the vegie garden and areas for colourful groundcovers.

Replant where you have removed near-dead plants. Re-build hedges by replacing any sick plants.

Most of all, take a long look at the lawn. A lot of lawns, after the drought, look awful. If they are mostly weeds, spray the lawns with Roundup or Zero to kill them off and start again.

If the lawn is compacted, hire a power aerator from an equipment hire company.

Use slow-release lawn food plus watering if the spring stays dry.

Re-seed or re-turf the lawn too.

More on spring next time.

]]> 29 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:01:29 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
In the tropics, allamandra with its superb chrome-yellow flowers is a winner as is the purple –blue flowering Petrea.

But there are also ornamental grape vines for cool summer shade, wisterias for gorgeous blue spring flowers and some lovely native climbers like pandoreas which come in many different flower colours.

Some nurseries don’t stock a lot of climbers because they grow rapidly and get all tangled together, so you may need to hunt around for the ones you want. Or maybe ask your local nursery to get some in for you.

Climbers can give you rapid privacy, food, superb perfume, summer shade or stunning flowers.

Think about them.

]]> 28 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 10:00:13 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Most people claim that clay soils are no good. The truth is that clay soils are amongst the best soils in Australia, but the advice given on how to manage them is often quite wrong.

Clay soils need calcium to help them with soil structure. Soil structure is the correct amount of cracks in the soil that facilitate aeration and drainage. Calcium helps with this process.

Lime is composed largely of calcium, but it is a ground-up rock (limestone) and it is not very soluble. The new liquid limes are the answer: Eco-flo Lime, Eco-flo Dolomite and Eco Flo gypsum. This is a very cheap form of lime (around ¼ the price of bags of lime) and it works much better.

The Eco-flo gypsum is particularly good since it is fast-acting but doesn’t change the acidity of the soil.

Use liquid limes – they are the real answer for clay soil problems. (Plus organic matter)

]]> 27 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:56:05 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
There are many theories as to the cause, including tiny mites, bee diseases and pesticides.

Evidence is firming up, however, that the pesticide imidacloprid is a major part of the problem. This insecticide is widely used in home gardens under the brand name Confidor. Research is showing that Confidor, even in very tiny amounts, causes bees to become disoriented and fail to return to the hive.

For the control of small sucking insets and mites, you would be far better off to use harmless Eco Oil or Eco Pest Oil instead of Confidor. Equally, I have real problems with the use of Confider White Curl Grub spray over large areas of lawn.

Always try to use safe garden chemicals and use them only when you have to.


]]> 26 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:54:30 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
…And that is root rot.

Many areas that don’t usually get many problems with root rot have experienced real problems during the wetter weather after the end of the drought.

Areas in Victoria, Canberra – even in the mountains – have been badly hit with root rot. Plants such as daphne, boronias, banksias and waratahs have been hit hard. So too have pittosporums, photinias, murrayas and citrus.

So what do you do? Well fortunately there is a totally harmless product that stops root rot straight away. This is Yates Anti Rot. It is one of the modern products that is harmless to the environment, your pets and yourself. But it works really well against Root Rot.

For larger agricultural applications use Phosacid 200, but at home use Anti Rot.

Use it now as a protector for root rot prone plants.

]]> 25 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:53:18 +1100 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
Many people are very uneasy about snakes, but most snakes are harmless and also helpful. They eat rats and mice which would otherwise cause trouble around the house. Australian pythons are a very benign group of snakes and they are not poisonous. Our diamond python, Sarah, has been with us around the garden for about 20 years. She is a wild snake but is more or less one of the family. She is now over 3 metres long.

Most snakes will only bite if cornered or threatened. If you see a snake, walk away or stand still. The snake will go its own way too. Never try to kill a snake as this is the major cause of snake bites: someone (usually a silly male) attacking a snake.

It is true, by the way, that red-bellied black snakes control brown snakes. The black snakes are far less aggressive to humans than the pugnacious browns, so I am quite happy to have black snakes around my place.

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For native orchids, gently but firmly squeeze the pot to dislodge the roots from the inside of the pot, then use 10cm composted pinebark or even coir orchid mix to pot them into.

After re-potting, give the plants a liquid feed of any liquid organic fertilizer or an orchid fertilizer. I usually apply fertilizer every month or so at half strength.

If your orchids aren’t flowering, they need more sun.

Good luck!
]]> 23 Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:32:44 +1000 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips
As this young age, these tiny gourmet salad seedlings have lovely, subtle flavours. When you mix up the leaf colours of the different varieties, the micro-greens make any ordinary meal look as beautifully “plated-up” as a winner on Master Chef.

Attached to the cover of the September Burke’s Backyard magazine is a free packet of Gourmet Micro-Greens. In the mix you get amaranth, beet, corn salad and spinach: a colourful mix of different greens and purples.

You cut the greens for your dinner with scissors then they shoot again for another harvest or two in a couple of weeks’ time.

This is fast and easy food production at home.

Micro-greens are really worth a try!

]]> 22 Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:38:58 +1000 http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/dons_tips.rss