Garden Clinic Blog
Keep in touch with what we're doing, there's always something going on. Our team has been busy gathering interesting, helpful and exciting stories for you to enjoy. Seasonal inspiration from our garden to yours.
Australia Day Pack
22 January 2021 | Kent RossCelebrate Australia Day in your garden this year with the stunning Buckinghamia. Trialled in sandy and heavy clay soils and everything in between, the iconic Buckinghamia, native Ivory Curl tree, flowers every Australia Day. You’ll love the huge, cream-coloured, grevillea-like flowers as much as the birds and the bees.
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In the Vegetable Patch: It’s time for another tee pee
03 December 2020 | Sandra RossLate September we planted our first tee pee with cucumbers, beans and a yellow cherry tomato called Honey Drop, in the centre.
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What to do this week: Time to plant passionfruit
03 December 2020 | Sandra RossPassionfruit are among the most productive of backyard crops,
especially when the bees do their thing. Now that summer has arrived
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What to do this week: Scent, Scale and Drama
26 November 2020 | Sandra RossLilies are flowering on cue, late spring and summer. Tall, elegant lilies standing on strong stems in the back of the border and delightfully fragrant. Small varieties are fantastic in pots. Lilies love morning sunshine with protection from strong afternoon sunshine.
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In the Vegetable Patch: Zucchini is a vegie in a hurry
26 November 2020 | Sandra RossIt’s time to plant this tasty summer vegetable. Quick and easy to grow, zucchini take 6 weeks from seed sowing to harvest
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Spotlight: Oak Leaf Hydrangea
26 November 2020 | Sandra RossHydrangea quercifolia is one of our all-time favourites! We love this beautiful hydrangea with lush curvy leaves, a similar shape to the oak (quercus), hence the name ‘oakleaf’ (quercifolia), and long graceful conical flower heads.
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What to do this week: Protect your blueberries
19 November 2020 | Sandra RossBlueberries are in full production at present. These pretty shrubs, with delicate, pink, bell-shaped flowers, give way to delicious purple-blue berries full of goodness and high in antioxidants.
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What to do this week: Plant a lemon tree
12 November 2020 | Sandra RossSpring is perfect time to plant a citrus tree; lemon, lime, orange and mandarin. Not only do they look beautiful – with glossy green leaves, gorgeously fragrant spring blossom and winter fruit in warming colours that glow in winter light, but they also taste great.
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In the Vegetable Patch: Time to sow beans
12 November 2020 | Sandra RossFor 200 years, fresh beans have been the second most popular home-grown
vegetable in Australian gardens (after tomatoes). With low calories,
lots of protein, fibre, and packed with vitamin C, A and K,
beta-carotene, folate and potassium. But the best bit? There are
varieties for every situation.
A Trifecta of Flowering Trees
11 November 2020 | Sandra RossThe mauve mantel of Jacaranda, the best-recognised of three late spring flowering trees, has been cast over our world. Jacaranda flowers so well in our latitude that many people think it’s a native plant. But that honour isn't ours!
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In The Vegetable Patch: Manage Tomatoes
05 November 2020 | Sandra RossTrim lower leaves of tomato plants It will help prevent disease spreading in mud splash.
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What To Do This Week:Take frangipani cuttings
05 November 2020 | Sandra RossOctober / November is the perfect time to propagate frangipani cuttings. It coincides with the ideal time to prune frangipani. We pruned our huge 20-year-old pink frangipani early October to allow access for people to walk under it. All pruning wood was made into cuttings.
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Spotlight: The exotic Orchid Cactus
05 November 2020 | Sandra & Linda RossYou have to stay up late to enjoy the opening of the Queen Of The Night cactus, it flowers between dusk and dawn. But other orchid cactus flower during the day and can be grown in a basket producing masses of cascading flower all through late spring.
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What to do this week: Plant summer flowers
27 October 2020 | Sanra RossPlant up summer flower planters to brighten your balcony, deck or patio.
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In the Vegetable Patch: It’s time to plant summer vegetables.
27 October 2020 | Sandra RossAre you a new gardener and inspired to start a vegetable patch, but don’t know where to start? There are five steps to consider when starting a patch from scratch. Position, garden bed construction, crop rotation, soil preparation, and feeding. Get this combination right and you'll be harvesting a bumper crop in no time
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What to do this week
21 October 2020 | Sandra RossIt’s all about pruning this week as flowers fade. Spring flowering shrubs should be pruned as soon as flowers finish. This allows the plant to make new growth which will flower again next year. If you delay pruning, your plant will not have time to regrow the flowering wood for next year’s flowers.
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In the Vegetable Patch: Scrumptious potato salad
21 October 2020 | Sandra RossIt’s time to think ahead to alfresco summer dining. Grow your own delicious produce and you will never go hungry.
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In the Vegetable Patch
15 October 2020 | Sandra RossThe energy of growing vegetables is palpable. Our tomatoes are growing 4cm each day! They are netted now to protect them from fruit fly and each one has a length of pipe for deep watering.
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What to do this week: Prune spring flowering shrubs
15 October 2020 | Sandra RossWe are taking the advice of Tony Matson from Cutabove Tools at our recent Garden Clinic class. Sharp and clean tools make gardening so much easier.
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5 Things You Need To Know About Roses
14 October 2020 | Sandra RossIt’s time to get those unruly roses under control. Spring is all about emerging rose buds. With some prior planning you can give your roses the best shot at a spectacular flowering season. Sandra Ross shares the 5 things you need to know to make them happy, healthy, fragrant and fabulous.
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What to do this week: Citrus Care
08 October 2020 | Sandra RossIf you take a few simple steps to care for your citrus you will be rewarded with a bounty of fruit.
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In the Vegetable Patch: Man the Barricades
08 October 2020 | Sandra RossAs fruit and vegetables begin to ripen all sorts of vandals lay claim. Ripening fruit can act as a beacon for birds and lizards in particular, so we put our minds to building protective barriers that let the sunshine in while keeping the rascals out!
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What to do this week: Comfrey Tea
01 October 2020 | Sandra RossThis home-grown fertiliser contains more potash and more nitrogen than commercial feeds, and costs only the price of a bucket and its water. Your vegetables will love it, especially your strawberries at the end of winter. Strawberries are growing well and already producing flowers and fruit.
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In the Vegie Patch: Time to sow beans
01 October 2020 | Sandra RossThis week in the vegie patch we're thinking about beans and when to plant them. It's a good
idea to wait until temperatures are reliably warm before sowing beans, so a few more weeks should do it. Meanwhile you can build your sturdy trellis
to support them, as beans can get heavy once they are in full growth.
Rose Care Pack
01 October 2020 | Dan WheatleyJoin the club today and you’ll receive Neutrog’s Sudden Impact for Roses, Richgro’s Black Marvel for Roses, and Amgrow’s Rose Spray to deter those pests. This will have your roses looking great this Spring.
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Spotlight: Poppy
24 September 2020 | Sandra RossWhen we think poppy, most of us think of the crepe-papery Iceland poppy, but there are other lovely species to grow and pick!
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Plant of the Year Lavender Pack
17 September 2020 | Kent RossOur plant of the year is the new range of lavenders from Plant
Management Australia called Lavinnova.
This week when you join the club you will receive one of
these new lavenders “The Queen” ready to plant into your garden.
In the Vegetable Patch: keep a close watch on broad beans.
16 September 2020 | Sandra RossBroad beans are so tasty, and so nutritious! It’s one vegetable you should try. Watch them closely at this time as the flowers are setting pods, for aphid attack. We sprayed our crop with Yates Nature’s Way (ready to use) garlic and pyrethrum spray.
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What to do in the Garden: time to plant avocado
16 September 2020 | Sandra RossPlant an avocado; better still plant two for better pollination rates and more fruit. Given the correct growing conditions these trees will bear heavy crops in three years. Mature trees can be affected by excessive rain and by hot and dry wind, especially at flowering and fruit set.
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Spotlight : Ranunculus
16 September 2020 | Sandra RossThere has been a revolution in the breeding of ranunculus. ‘Renaissance’ Ranunculus is a triumph with high quality, long lasting, consistent doubles in a range of colours. Up to ten flowers will open from a single tuber (bulb), and they are double from start to the finish. ‘Picasso’ is another fully double variety with a black centre and producing up to 10 blooms from each tuber.
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Star of the Season : Light and Lacy… Japanese Maples
15 September 2020 | Sandra RossAlan Jackson is crazy about maples! His nursery, Maple Springs is in Little Hartley where he propagates, grafts and grows 250 species of maple. Over the last 25 years he has designed and created Gory’u Japanese garden (which featured in the spring issue of the Garden Clinic Magazine). Alan is jumping out his skin with excitement as his maples burst into fresh new leaf. Click here to read our story.
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What to do this week: Feed the Flowers
09 September 2020 | Sandra RossHibiscus bring a glorious taste of the tropics to a warm frost-free garden. This week is your last chance to prune them. As they flower on new wood, the harder you prune, the more new growth is produced and the more flowers. Hibiscus are hungry so feed them every six weeks with either Sudden Impact for Roses (Neutrog) or Black Marvel Rose Food (Richgro) and water it in with a seaweed solution.
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In the Vegetable Patch: It’s time to plant passionfruit
09 September 2020 | Sandra RossThe passionfruit vine is a vigorous, climbing plant with deep green leaves and fragrant, delicate, purple to white flowers with a distinctive corona. The vines are sensitive to frost and the fruit matures to a deep red colour and contains a sweet, juicy, orange edible pulp.
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Happy Hippies!
09 September 2020 | Sandra RossWe have been growing this exotic-looking bulb for three years. Hippeastrum is also known as Amaryllis. We started with one and now we have approximately 10 bulbs in five clumps. It comes from the tropical forests of Brazil and grows easily in a frost-free climate.
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Star of the Season: Clivia
09 September 2020 | Sandra RossThe classic burnished orange-red clivia has been overtaken by new lemon, lime and peach colours. Peter Hey is mad about the new clivia colours he is now producing – lime-green, bronze, peach, scarlet and apricot!
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Tim’s Fruit Fly Resistant Tomato + Fertiliser pack
03 September 2020 | Kent Ross
Have you tried growing tomatoes only to lose your crop to fruit fly. Then we have the solution –Tim’s fruit fly resistant tomato and you’ll have genetic
protection against fruit fly.
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What To Do This Week
02 September 2020 | Sandra RossWith the arrival of spring there is much to do in the garden. Plants are hungry! And in some areas the garden is dry and we need to keep the moisture
level high for good root growth. Here is our weekly checklist.
In the Vegetable Patch: It’s time to plant tomatoes
02 September 2020 | Sandra RossThe structures are built! The soil is powered up! The
agricultural pipes are in place. Now the temperature is
right to plant tomatoes.
Know Your Grevilleas
02 September 2020 | Linda RossThere are 365 species and 100 subspecies of grevillea, making grevillea the third largest genus in Australia. Many species attract birds into the garden as they produce huge quantities of nectar. They are so many different colours, shapes and sizes and they flower for such an extended period of time, there's so many reasons to grow them.
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Tomato Tragic's 3 Golden Rules
27 August 2020 | Graham Ross & Linda RossI want to inspire you to grow tomatoes, but I’d be fibbing if I told you it was going to be easy. But it’s definitely worth the effort! Here are the tomato-tragic’s three golden rules.
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What to do this week
26 August 2020 | Sandra RossGet ready, spring will be here before we know it. It's time to feed flowering bulbs, replenish moisture and give the Crepe myrtle a prune. Get those
‘last chance’ winter jobs done this week before spring has sprung!
Spring Inspiration
25 August 2020 | Sandra RossA new range and an old favourite garden this spring will be just what we need. Mr Fothergills summer bulbs and Nooroo, Mt Wilson
What to do this week
20 August 2020 | Sandra RossGet ready, spring will be here before we know it. As we come to the end of winter here is a list of ‘last chance’ jobs:
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In the Vegie Patch: It’s time to feed strawberries.
20 August 2020 | Sandra RossWe are feeding our potted strawberries with Rocket Fuel (Neutrog) and watering with Harvest seaweed (Amgrow). Remember to water the soil, not the leaves,
with a seaweed solution every two weeks.
The Magnolia
20 August 2020 | Sandra RossIn flower now with huge goblet-shaped blooms that burst from furry grey buds on bare branches. This is their charm; no leaves, just grey bubs and branches and glowing flowers. There are some incredibly beautiful hybrids available in your local nursery. Choose one now while they are flowering.
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Spotlight: on Mistral Anemone
20 August 2020 | Sandra RossIt’s a masterwork in plant breeding! Depth of colour and incredible vigour makes this anemone outstanding. Deep purple and bleeding into a blue centre with black stamens, its dramatic as a cut flower and no wonder the florists love it.
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Fathers Day Swagman Pack
18 August 2020 | Kent RossThis week we have a great special to get your Dad his hands on a Swagman battery operated sprayer. It comes with Wet and Forget to get your house looking great this Spring.
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What to do this week:
13 August 2020 | Sandra RossAfter heavy rain last week it’s timely to attend to our pots, check the drainage, make sure they are sitting on pot feet and draining freely. You can use a chopstick to open the potting mix and help with drainage.
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Early Flowery Spring
12 August 2020 | Sandra RossYou might remember we planted spring flowering bulbs in pots around Mother’s Day; tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, ranunculus and anemones. The first of these tulips and hyacinths are flowering!
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In the Veggie Patch: It’s time to harvest cauliflower
06 August 2020 | Sandra RossMany vegetable gardeners believe that the date to start planting cool season crops is on the first day of winter. Big mistake.
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