Grow UP, mate!

Sometimes I imagine people coming up to me and saying “Mike, your  blogs are the best thing about the internet, but I live in an apartment! I wish I had the space to grow more plants, my life is so boring without a garden. Maybe I’ll just go buy some Astroturf and roll that out everywhere.” At which point I start screaming and sweating and, depending on where I am, drawing terrified looks from strangers or exhausted headshakes from my family.

But good news friends, imaginary or otherwise! This week we are talking about Vertical Gardens, the answer to all your urban prayers!

So what’s a Vertical Garden then? Well there are a few variations on the theme but essentially it’s a framework or supportive structure that you fix to a wall, which supports bags or pots of soil you can grow plants in. They work well in any location, but have become extremely popular with balcony owners for the obvious space-saving reasons.

The staff at Four Seasons Nursery have been installing these for a while now, in residential, commercial and institutional settings. We’ve set them up in everything from a full sun backyard to inside a library, using succulents, climbers, annuals, even edible herbs. To call us experts would be an insult; we’re way beyond that now. We’ve even got an information page on our website, and if that’s not proof enough for you then nothing is: http://www.fourseasonsnursery.com.au/node/108

Now to be the best you have to use the best, assuming what you’re best at requires the use of a thing. Vertical Gardening does, it requires Vertical Gardens, and we use products from these upstanding citizens:

• Wall Garden - A modular pot/trough system that is ridiculously easy to install and maintain. They’ve got a nice little demo video here: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=smu3KKD5KdY]

And an instillation guide here:

• Atlantis - A grid-based modular system that can go as high and as wide as your surroundings will allow. Check out the team at Atlantis setting up a monster (with a funky Latino backing track, nice!) here:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FNjf0VqHXWo]

If you’re not sure which system is best for you, or if you’d like some extra information, come in and see us anytime. We’ve always got plenty of stock and can sort you out with the right system for you, plus all the plants and soil you need. Too easy.

Cheers,

Mike.

Grow Like a Pro no. 2: Lavender.

It’s been so long since we did one of these that a skeptic might think the ‘series’ had been forgotten. Shame on you skeptic; we don’t forget things, we were just giving you enough time to get your orchids into good shape. Now that they’re all green and budding and bursting from their pots it’s time to leave them be (they thrive on neglect, remember). Let’s turn our attention this week to one of my all time favourites; Lavender.

Lavender (‘Lavandula’ botanically) is one of Mint’s many cousins, and has 39 different species within its genus. By far the most common are Lavandula dentata (French/Italian Lavender) and Lavandula augustifolia (English Lavender); you rarely see any of the others growing around Sydney.

Popular with aromatherapists and naturopaths, Lavender’s medicinal potential is (extremely) old news; the ancient Greeks knew of its calming properties, and it was used extensively in hospitals during World War 1. Its flower spikes are incredibly versatile; they’re used in dried flower arrangements and potpourris, teas, baked goods, as cake decorations, even (apparently) as a substitute for confetti at weddings. Apiarists will tell you that the honey made by bees fed on Lavender nectar is some of the best in the world, and it sells for king’s ransom in Europe.

But forget all this – unless you’ve got a several-acre backyard you won’t be growing lavender for its skills. You’ll be after its outrageous good looks.

Lavender flowers like crazy almost all year round; soft purple spires rising from a mass of delicate grey foliage. It smells as good as it looks too, and it’s a sure-fire way to bring in the birds and bees (literally; this is a family blog).

So how do you grow it? There are really only two main things to consider; drainage and pruning.

Lavenders like a drink but their roots love to rot; if you’ve got even a trace of clay in your Lavender bed they’re done for. If planting them in the ground it’s best to dig down about 600-700 millimetres, then spread a layer of sand about 100 millimetres deep. Backfill the rest of the hole with really free-draining soil mix, loaded with organic matter. Four Seasons Nursery has all the sand and soil you’ll need, in bulk and in bags. We can also help you out if your garden bed is nothing but clay, with a variety of soil conditioners and a heap of smiley advice-giving staff to talk you through it.

Aside from moisture the only other way a Lavender will spoil is if it is left alone for too long. They are the polar opposites to orchids; they need attention, frequently, in the form of a stylish haircut. Trimming your Lavender by up to about a third of its size every few months will stop it from developing the gnarly wooden ‘trunks’ they get, and keep it a nice dense bush with scores of flowers. Once they go woody there’s no going back; they’ll never be as dense and there will never be as many flowers. It’s pretty much a write-off at this point, which is sad and expensive. So keep your shears sharp, clean and close, maybe under your pillow, so you never forget. Your Lavender will thank you and you’ll have a perfect excuse to get a new pillow every couple of weeks. How good are fresh pillows! Very good.

And that’s pretty much it. Keep them in your sunniest  spot, keep them well fed, and keep an eye out for the usual suspects; aphids, mealy bug and co (though Lavenders have pretty good pest-resistant levels). Plant them in groups of at least 5 for best effect; the more the merrier with Lavender. We at Four Seasons Nursery have scores of them for sale, in different sizes and cultivars. Come choose a few today!

Cheers,

Mike.

Don’t fight it, hide it!

There’s an old saying from Poland that, roughly translated, warns: “a guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year”. Now if you’re anything like me you would have zoned out after the words ‘old saying’, but seeing as it’s barbeque season this one might be worth paying attention to.

Let’s say it’s your turn to host this coming weekend. You’re famous for your skills with a set of tongs, and your partner’s a master at diffusing awkward silences. Everything’s going to be perfect; everyone’s going to be smiling, laughing, having the best time of their whole entire lives.

Pump your breaks my friend - before you go and order a ‘Host with the Most’ t-shirt with your face on it, maybe you should settle into one of the guest’s chairs and have a look around. Chances are you’ll see some things you normally wouldn’t have noticed; a mass of weeds bursting from a cracked paver, or a neglected courtyard corner filled with cobwebs and dog hair. These are the things the Polish of old were talking about, and these things will ruin everything.

We need to do something, but there’s no time for anything serious; it’s back to work tomorrow, and besides, your wallet is still recovering from Christmas. We need a quick fix, and a cost-effective one too.

We need a pot.

The art of hiding a tricky spot with a pot plant is one landscapers have been practicing for ever; it’s quick, easy, cheap, and if done properly looks fantastic. There are a couple of points you need to consider;

1. Size; make sure the pot will suit the spot, and that the plant you are sticking in it won’t be too small or grow to be too large.


2. Colour; look at the surrounding walls, floors and features, then work with what’s already there. Choosing a pot for ‘contrast’ is extremely difficult; far better to work with the existing theme.


3. Weight; especially important if you’re putting it on a balcony. We have many lightweight options for such situations.


4. Water; pots dry out. Fast. If it’s a sunny spot you should choose a drought-tolerant plant, and then spice up your potting mix with some water crystals.

The range of pots we have at Four Seasons Nursery is insane. All manner of size, shape and style is represented in our giant Pot Court, plus there are a whole host more available by order through our website - http://www.fourseasonsnursery.com.au/pots.html

We’ve also got a heap of potting mixes, water crystals, mulch and gravel in store, plus a whole host of pot-suitable plants to fit with any style of garden. Our staff are always more than happy to help you choose, plus we can deliver to anywhere in Sydney. Why not take a photo of your trouble-spot and bring it in? It saves time and ensures you’ll leave with the perfect pot.

Come see us anytime!

Cheers,

Mike.

A real summer!

We are right in the thick of summer now, and so far it’s actually behaving like a summer, which (aside from blowing everyone’s minds) is generating a rate of growth in the garden we haven’t seen for ages. The mornings are hot and the evenings are cool, giving your plants all the energy they need without burning their delicate new growth. Plus every other evening we’re getting some healthy summer rain, occasionally a storm. Here’s a fun fact about thunderstorms; lightning infuses the falling water with extra nitrogen, making it like steroids for leaves. Keep an eye on your new foliage in the days after a decent storm, you’ll notice the difference.

So anyway with the summer comes summer holidays; most of us have a couple of weeks off now, while school kids and uni students seem to have several years. What a perfect opportunity for everyone to get their hands dirty! You’ll see the results of your hard work growing almost instantly, plus gardening is a great way to work off the inevitable Christmas bloating. If you’re looking for ideas then come see us at Four Seasons Nursery anytime, we’ll be here every day. Holidays aren’t really our thing - our workplace is a giant garden, why would we leave?

When you do swing by make sure you check out our new Homewares and Gifts section; loads of way-past-last-minute Christmas gift ideas, beautifully displayed in air-conditioned bliss. Here’s a sample-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty more in store!

Cheers,

Mike.

We’re back! It’s a Christmas miracle!

Before I begin, an apology; there’s been a bit of a lull in posting the past few months, primarily due to me being overseas - sorry for our absence! We’re back into it now though, and posts will be coming through every second Sunday. Mark your calendars and cancel plans accordingly.

So it’s Christmas again; time to dig out and unravel your tangled mass of fairy lights, then drape the blinking fire hazards all over your home. Time to buy your family gifts they don’t want and you can’t afford. Time to visit the in-laws...

Thank god for the trees!

Nothing looks, feels or smells like Christmas quite like a freshly cut Christmas tree. Try and be a Grinch standing next to one - it can’t be done. They lift your mood, they create the right atmosphere, they bring excitement to the kids and nostalgia to the grownups.

There are, around the world, a number of tree species used for the honorary role of Christmas Tree, though if you live in Australia chances are you’re using a Radiata Pine (Pinus radiata). These evergreen conifers can reach up to 30m high (and they get there fairly quickly), which is why they’re often planted as wind breaks in rural environments. As every year, we have heaps for sale at Four Seasons Nursery; we carry a range of sizes, from hatchback-friendly cuties to Jurassic monsters you’ll need a trailer for. Our staff can help you pick the perfect tree for you, as well as answer any questions you may have about caring for it.



Now some of you may feel that the Radiata Pine has become, over the past several decades, a little stale. If you are looking for an interesting alternative then we’ve got the perfect home-grown option; Adenanthos sericeus select, or Albany Woolly Bush.  It features feather-soft grey foliage, not unlike a pine’s in appearance, with orange tubular flowers throughout the year. You can keep it trimmed as a tight little shrub or let it stretch out into a 7m tree, thriving in full-sun to part-shade environments. We have a variety of sizes available at Four Seasons Nursery, though they are moving quickly so you’d better hurry if you want one for the 25^th!

Before I log off, a final Christmas present for you all; launching this year is our brand new website- australianchristmastrees.com.au/. There you’ll find all kinds of Christmas goodies, including info on our cut trees and other seasonal favourites. Check it out!

Cheers,

Mike.

Some winter warmth (colour wise at least).

Winter in Sydney is not nearly as grim as it’s made out to be. Don’t get me wrong, I hate it; it’s cold, it’s dark, and half of the trees in my area look dead (while the other half may as well be for all the growing they’re doing). But the claim that a winter garden is a stark and lifeless place is, quite simply, false.

There are scores of plants that produce flowers and fruit during the winter months, daring the birds and bees (and the more courageous/crazy gardeners) to brave the cold. The rewards for those that do are some of the most spectacular floral displays to be seen all year, and the cascading flame-like blooms of Pyrostegia venusta are one of winter’s standouts.

Commonly known as “Orange Trumpet Vine”, Pyrostegia is a vigorous climber that does what it says on the tin- swarms of orange flowers, shaped like simple wind instruments, grow in thick clusters all over the vine from May through to August. Hailing from South America, Pyrostegia can be found along the warmer coastlines of Australia, from Perth around to Sydney, thriving in full-sun positions. It has reasonable drought tolerance once established and works brilliantly as a cover over a boring fence or up a wall (with some wire or a lattice to assist it). A light trim after flowering will encourage healthy growth in the Spring, as will a feed with an organic fertiliser (such as “Organic Life Pellets”, available at Four Seasons Nursery) every three to six months.

If well fed and watered Pyrostegia has outstanding resistance to pests and diseases, and it won’t take over your garden like an Ivy or Wisteria. Four Seasons Nursery has plenty in stock all year round, so if you’d like to see some colour in your garden during Winter, or if you have any questions about how best to grow them, pop in to the nursery today and speak to any of our ever-friendly staff.

Cheers,

Mike P.

Why your citrus is struggling.

Every day for the past few weeks people have been coming into Four Seasons Nursery with some photos of, or a story about, an almost dead citrus, and they’ve all been asking us “why?”. It could be a lemon, an orange, a lime, maybe even the unbearably tart kumquat (each to their own); whichever citrus they’re growing our answer this season is always the same; “the rain.”

We have just sloshed our way through the wettest Summer in decades, and Autumn was almost as bad. Now, as the temperature drops and the days get shorter, we are supposed to be given a reprieve from all of this water (Winter having, allegedly, less rain than Summer). Instead we’re getting more record breaking rainfalls- Monday was the wettest June day in half a decade- and there’s still more on the way. We are all well and truly sick of it, but we’ll live. Your citrus might not.

Why? Because citrus like it hot. They love the sun baking down on them, drying out the air and drawing out their flowers. They love a good drink too; they’re not overly drought tolerant, but they absolutely hate having “wet feet”. This is when there is so much water in the soil it has nowhere to go, and so it sits around a plants root system, causing it to slowly rot. For the past few months there has been more rain than most soils can drain, and so the roots of your citrus have been drowning. To add insult to injury the warm but wet summer caused insect populations to explode, and all the usual suspects (aphids, scale, citrus leaf miner, curl grub) have been running wild.

So what can you do? The first thing you should address are the pests; your citrus is having a hard enough time in the rain without being eaten as well. Have a look on your leaves for aphids and leaf miner, and on the branches and trunk for scale. Hit aphids with Confidor, leaf miner with Pest Oil and the scale with Antiscale- all of these are available at Four Seasons Nursery. Your citrus’ root system may also be under attack from curl grub; it’s hard to tell without having a bit of a dig, and with the roots in such a fragile state this is definitely not a good idea. An application of any Curl Grub Killer will ensure this isn’t an issue (also available at Four Seasons Nursery).

If you can improve your garden’s drainage without disturbing the citrus’ roots, for example by digging in an agpipe nearby, it will be of some benefit, and if your citrus is in a pot it is recommended you move it to a more sheltered position for a while (though still in as much light as possible).

Other than that all you can do is sit tight and hope for some sunshine. When the weather warms up in September you can give your citrus a decent feed; Four Seasons Nursery sells some excellent citrus-specific fertilisers that will do wonders.

If you have any questions please pop in to see us, we have raincoats for us and umbrellas for you.

Cheers,

Mike P.

New varieties of an old favourite...

The calendar may say it’s time for Winter but Autumn arrived late this year, and in the garden it still has some unfinished business. Most notable on its still-to-do list are the Salvias- some of the season’s flowering superstars, who are still looking amazing despite it being June.

Salvia is a massive genus in the Mint family (Lamiaceae), with around 900 different species of herbaceous perennials and annuals, including the edible varieties of Sage. Here’s a fun fact to impress (or annoy) your friends with- all Salvias have square stems! They have low water requirements, thrive in a full sun position and are covered in flowers from March until May (or even later, as we are seeing this year). A hard prune and a decent feed in Spring will ensure the best display of flowers next season; other than that they need very little attention.

[caption id="attachment_191" align="alignright" width="150"] Salvia leucantha 'Velour White'[/caption]

Salvias are a very traditional plant, commonly found in cottage and formally styled gardens, though they make an eye-catching addition to any sunny spot. Four Seasons Nursery has some newly developed cultivars in stock right now, which are fast growing, easy to maintain, and come in a range of vivid colours.

Salvia leucantha ‘Velour White’ grows to 1.5m high and about 2m wide. It features a mass of white flower spikes and is reasonably drought tolerant when established.

Salvia leucantha ‘Velour Pink’ is essentially the same as ‘Velour White’, but its flowers are a soft pink colour. The two form a lovely and subtle contrast when planted together.

Salvia mexicana ‘Lolly’ is a touch smaller than the ‘Velours’, growing 1.4m high by 1.4m wide. It features cool blue flowers on darker stems, and is known to be bird-attracting.

[caption id="attachment_195" align="alignright" width="150"] Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara'[/caption]

Salvia leucantha ‘Santa Barbara’ is the smallest of this bunch, at 0.9m high and roughly 1m wide. Its flowers are a similar colour to lavender, which stand well clear of the light green foliage.

These and many more Salvias are available now at Four Seasons Nursery, stop by any time to check them out!

-Mike P.

What goes in the veggie patch this winter

Hi Girls and Guys,

Just because you can't grow your tomatoes anymore doesn't mean you can't grow anything. For the last couple of years I've been very lazy, leaving my veggie patch to become weed infested throughout the winter then spending a few day preparing it for the summer and letting it go again. Heres a list of things that will go great in your veggie patch over winter making it productive 12 months of the year!

[caption id="attachment_181" align="alignright" width="117"] Carrot - great with roasts, salads or in stew[/caption]

When it comes to the cooler months, and what to plant think of all your winter favourites! What goes well with a roast chicken or a leg of lamb??? Things like Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Broad Beans, Red Onions and all the different types of peas, snow peas, snap peas and podded peas.

But these aren’t the only herbs and veges that love the cooler months, don’t forget all your leafy vegetables such as Rainbow Chard, Spring Onions, Leeks, Beetroot, Kohlrabi, Cabbage and all the different Asian greens such as Pak Choy and Bok Choy. Lettuce loves winter too so maybe get experimental and try growing some Cos, Mini Cos, Varying colours of Coral and Butterhead and my favourite the peppery taste of Rocket!

[caption id="attachment_180" align="alignleft" width="150"] Its all the colours of the rainbow with Rainbow Chard[/caption]

Garlic bulbs are a good idea to plant if you use a lot of garlic in the kitchen amongst Bolognese or over your Prawns split the bulb into individual cloves and they should be ready for harvest late spring early summer look for the foliage dying back and remember to keep the biggest and best one to replant next year!

Herbs can be hit and miss over the cooler months with cold wet feet and cold nights sounding the death kneel for herbs such as most basil’s (perennial and greek will still grow okay but lack the flavoursome punch of sweet basil) and others such as oregano, BUT maybe try growing Chervil, Fennel and now is the best time to grow the sometimes troublesome Coriander.

Many of these winter favourites now are available in dwarf varieties as well for those of you who are planting in smaller garden beds or in pots on balconies or for the adventurous using them in a wall gardens!

[caption id="attachment_179" align="alignright" width="112"] Don't forget the Seasol[/caption]

As its cools you may want to also think of using a liquid food to fertilize as it is available for the plants to use straight away. It is also a good idea to apply it over the foliage of the plants and at the same time mixing your liquid foods with seasol (a plant tonic) to increase pest and disease resistance!

On the topic of pest and diseases over winter you may want to keep an eye out for snails, slugs and caterpillars. For the slugs and snails a liberal sprinkling of snail bait (available now in child and pet friendly forms) or for those of you who use pots using a copper barrier tape around the top of the pot will stop the pesky buggers from getting in their. For your caterpillars, aphids and other insects that appear in the garden over winter try using a natural pyrethrum spray, which is made from the pyrethrum daisy and is safe for us, but will stop them dead!

Until next time happy gardening and happy eating 

Steve

Stay warm this winter with our firewood

As some of you know, we run a firewood business along side the nursery. We sell seasoned Ironbark from Queensland. Ironbark is one of the hottest, slow burning woods there is, so you will use less and stay warmer. On our Australian Firewood site you will find all the info you need about our firewood, pricing and pick up rates.

Please give us a call on (02)9986 1223 if you have any questions and we can help you stay warm and dry all winter long.

Matt Macri