Real World Gardener-Horticulture, Gardening, Learning to Grow

TALKING FLOWERS

Value For Money Cut Flowers

 

Cut-flowers are a luxury product and consumers demand a certain standard of quality and value for money.

How much would you like to spend on your cut flowers?

$35? $45? Or much more?

If you’re bit on the Scottish side, and moths fly out of your wallet when you open it you might want to consider those flowers that might cost a bit more but will last for up to two weeks in the vase?

Hang on, I think we all want that really don’t we?

Alstromerias and Carnations

But let’s first delve in to what happens between the grower and you the consumer.

Sure there’s roadside stalls where Jo the flower seller can you give you “quality flowers at a cut rate price.”

But how often is Jo there, and he’s growing them in his backyard.

What about the real grower?

This is how the chain goes, grower, then wholesalers, exporters, auctioneers, florists or supermarket buyers and the local shop.

So don’t whinge about the price of cut flowers, got it?

Here are some suggestions for long lasting flowers in the vase.

Carnations -2-3 weeks

Chrysanthemums-3-4 weeks ( bargain)

Astromeria-2 weeks

Delphiniums-2 weeks

Gladiolus-10 days.

I'm talking with Mercedes Sarmini from www.flowersbymercedes.com.au

DESIGN ELEMENTS:

Gardening for the 5 Senses: Taste

Probably one of the easiest senses to stimulate when it comes to gardening because it’s all about food and eating.

The sense of taste of course so how else can you stimulate the sense other than putting in a veggie garden.

Coffee bean tree.

 

I'm talking with Chris Poulton, Sydney Convenor for the Australian Institute of Horticulture and an experienced horticultural lecturer and consultant.

Our suggestion is to grow as many herbs as you can.

Don’t be limited by the fact you’ve only got a windowsill, or balcony garden because all you need is 4-5 hours of sunlight a day to grow these things.

Increase your taste range in the garden with some native bush tucker such as finger limes or those bromeliads which have fruits on them.

You could also try growing a coffee bean tree, Coffea arabica, pictured above.

Not only do you get the red berries but the flowers that appear all along each branch, are heavenly scented

If you have any questions about five senses gardening or have a suggestion either for me or for Chris why not write in or email me at www.realworldgardener.com

THE GOOD EARTH

All About Wicking Garden Beds

Wicking pots, or wicking beds are nothing new, ask any African Violet society member.

They’ve been using wicks in their self -watering pots very successfully for years.

 

Just imagine though, if you had a veggie or other garden bed that uses this self watering idea.

That would mean your vegetable garden would get watering from below.

Let’s find out .

PLAY: Wicking BedThat was Margaret Mossakowska from www.mosshouse.com.au _26th September_ 2018 

You can build a wicking bed yourself easily enough with recyclable materials.

Here's how Margaret put hers together.

Photo: Margaret Mossakowska

Use wooden crates from a fruit market and scoria if you can’t get vermiculite. 

Margaret sources vermiculite in bulk from pharmaceutical companies that use it as packing material.

Start with a frame, then line it with something like pond liner or even black plastic.

Lay in some aggregate and ag-pipes.

You need to build a 10 – 15 cm layer of this base on top of which you place a coil of ag-pipe connected to an upright pipe which is where you’ll fill with water.

Credit: Leaf Ninjas

 

On top of this, place a layer of geo textile fabric,a 10 cm layer of vermiculite then your best garden soil.

The soil shouldn’t be more than 30 cm high otherwise the wicking system won’t work. 

For veggies the soil should be 20 - 30 cm to give them room to grow.

Tip: Don’t forget to put in an overflow valve about half-way up the sides.

One more thing, it takes a week for the wicking system to start working properly after you first fill the reservoir, so don’t forget to water your vegetables everyday until then.

If you have any questions about beds either for me or for Margaret why not email [email protected] or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

TALKING FLOWERS

Sex of Flowers

Complete Flowers: Incomplete Flowers

Bisexual: Unisexual

Plants can have complete flowers or they can have flowers with only male or only female parts.

Complete flowers, also known as hermaphrodite, or bisexual flowers have all the reproductive parts: the Stamens and Pistil ( stigma, style and ovary) inside the flower.

 

Examples of complete flowers, are tomato flowers ( self-pollinating) Hibiscus ( pictured), roses, tulips, passion flowers. 

The pollinator visits the flower and brushes past the stamens. 

When the pollinator visits the next flower, the pollen is rubbed onto the sticky stigma. 

If it's the right type of pollen ( fits the opening) then the flower will be pollinated resulting in some sort of fruit.

Flowers which only have male or female or called Unisexual .

Some examples are watermelon, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin,white mulberry,coconut flowers,and birch.

For fruits to occur, pollinators must visit the male flower first then transfer pollen onto the female flower. 

Can be problematic sometimes when only male flowers appear on some cucurbits for the first few weeks.

I'm talking  with Floral Therapist, Mercedes Sarmini.from www.flowersbymercedes.com.au

DESIGN ELEMENTS

Five Senses Gardening: Smell or is it Perfume?

As gardeners you’ll already now that some plants have flowers that have smell or perfume, and some plants have leaves that have smell or perfume.

But if you want a really perfumed garden, you might want to think about including plants in the garden that you don’t necessarily need to crush, rub or touch to inhale their sweet perfume.

What does that mean you should do?

Let’s find out.

I'm talking with Chris Poulton, Sydney Convenor for the Australian Institute of Horticulture and an experienced horticultural lecturer and consultant.

Magnolia Champaca

 

Some suggestions for introducing more perfume into the garden that will pervade the whole garden.

Sweet Olive, (Osmanthus fragrans), 

Honeysuckle, 

Jasmines, 

Angel Trumpets, 

Michelia varieties, (now included in the Magnolia family) like Port Wine Magnolia; Magnolia Chamopaca, and many others.

All of these plants just throw their scent out into the garden without you having to lift a finger.

If you have any questions about five senses gardening or have a suggestion either for me or for Chris why not write in or email me at www.realworldgardener.com

PLANT DOCTOR

White Fly Control

Are you experiencing a cloud of insects fly up when you disturb some of your plants?

Maybe you’ve had that in the past and haven’t been successful in removing them from a particular plant.

Whitefly infestation

If that’s the case, there’s things you can do about it before that cloudburst of insects descends onto your garden.

Let’s find out .

Sweet Potato Whitefly

I'm talking with Steve Falcioni, Marketing Manager of www.ecoorganicgarden.com.au

 

PLAY: whitefly_19th September_ 2018

Are you surprised that there’s several species of whiteflies?

Shooing them away every time you go out into the garden isn’t successful. 

The numbers will soon build up into the hundreds even thousands.

Symptoms:What To Look For:

Don't confuse them with scale, because the whitefly juvenile stage can look like scale.

If your not 100% sure that it's whitefly larvae that you're looking at,there are other symptomes to look for.

Whitefly are sap suckers and will ssuck the chorophyll ( green part) out of the leaves.

Whitefly also produce mass of honey dew to which, sooty mould will settle.

Control:

You must take action because whiteflies suck the sap out of your plants’ leaves. 

Botanical oils work the best but you need to be able to spray under the leaves. 

Using a pump action sprayer with help with the underneath the leaves. 

Do a follow up spray 3-5 days apart to get the juvenilies. 

Neem is approved overseas for this problem on edibles but only on ornamentals in Australia. 

Encourage lacewings into your garden because the love whitefly as much as they love aphids. 

If you have any questions about controlling whitefly either for me or for Steve, why not email [email protected] or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

PLANT OF THE WEEK

 Malus floribunda, Crabapple

Flowers on this tree are so spectacular that you’ll be wondering why you’ve never planted it in your garden.

Not only that, it’s easy to grow, is a small tree and is quite hardy.

But maybe you have one in your garden, and you’ve had it for years.

So instead you’re the envy of neighbours all around you but they’ve been either too afraid to ask you what it is or have been trying to sneak cuttings.

 

Crabapple Tree. Photo M Cannon

I'm talking with the plant panel were Karen Smith, editor of Hort Journal www.hortjournal.com.au and Jeremy Critchley, The Green Gallery wholesale nursery owner. www.thegreengallery.com.au 

Let’s find out about this plant.

 

PLAY: Malus floribunda Wychwood Ruby"_22nd August (30th August_2017)

 

There’s quite a few other varieties of crabapples to choose from with enticing names like Sugar Tyme  Showtime, Royal Raindrops and Golden Raindrops.

 

The bonus is even though it’s a small ornamental tree, you get these crab apples and if you’re into masterchef or other cooking shows, you’ll be wanting to make crab apple jelly to use on your cooking creations.

 

If you have any questions about growing crab apple trees, why not write in to [email protected]

WILDLIFE IN FOCUS

Budgerigar Melopsittacus undulatus

If you’ve ever travelled overseas and visited Botanic gardens, often you’ll find that they have a section of what they call exotic plants and or wildlife.

Recently I saw such a place in Ukraine and was rather bemused see that they had quite a few Australian birds and reptiles.

 

Some of these birds are so colourful that no wonder the local population think that they’re amazing and so exotic.

Let’s find out about one of them.

Budgies are closely related to Lorikeets and Figbirds and occur naturally throughout much of mainland Australia.

The places that you won't find them are from the far south-west, the north of the Northern Territory, Tasmania and the majority of the east coast.

Did you know that Budgies come in more than 100 colours, including blue, grey, white, yellow and multicolour. The majority, however, are green, which appears to be their ‘it’ colour, in the wild?

 

Did you also know that Budgerigars are a boom or bust type of bird and with this current dry season, one can imagine that there would be quite a number of fatalities?

However, recent research from Curtin University have discovered the fact that, much like mammals, budgies (Melopsittacus undulatus) have the ability to regulate the water they lose through their skin.

Their suggestion is that they can cope well in hot dry conditions.

The question is “but for how long.”

 

If you have any questions about Budgies of the bird kind either for me or for Holly, why not email [email protected] or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.

VEGETABLE HEROES

TALKING FLOWERS:

Edible Flowers

Why Eat Flowers: Did you know that Romans used edible flowers such as mallows, roses and violets in a lot of their dishes?

You’ve probably heard of and even eaten capers, but did you know capers (Capparis spinosa) are the flower buds of a Mediterranean evergreen shrub and have been used to flavour foods and sauces for over 2,000 years?

Edible flowers such as daylilies and chrysanthemums have been used by the Chinese and Greeks for centuries.

Which Flowers? 

Nobody says you should tuck into a plate of flowers, because that would be too much. 

If you suffer from hayfever, then give eating flowers a big miss as well. 

Never eat flowers bought at a flower shop or nursery as these may have been treated with harmful chemical 

Another warning, not all flowers are edible, and some are poisonous if you can’t identify the flower, then don’t eat it.

Which Flowers Are Safe?

Ms Calendula

Ms Carnation

Ms Clover  

Ms Cornflower

Ms Dandelions

Ms English Daisy

Mr Gladioli

Ms Hibiscus

Ms Honeysuckle

Ms Lilac

Ms Marigold

Ms Nasturtiums

Ms Pansy

Mr & Mrs. Peony

Ms Queen’s Ann Lace

Ms Rose

Ms Geraniums

Ms Snapdragon

Mr Tulip (petals)

Ms Sunflower

Ms Violets

Ms Poppy (seeds)

Ms Chrysanthemum

Ms Borage

 

I'm talking with Mercedes Sarmini.from www.workshopsbymercedes.com.au

DESIGN ELEMENTS

Five Senses Gardening: Sight in Garden Design.

 

Gardeners tend to busy themselves with tasks that need doing in the garden, often forgetting to revel in the sight that their garden is providing.

Taking stock of what’s in flower is important not only for the feel good moment it brings, but helps us to relax and really enjoy our environment.

The Seeability Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2008: How Macular Degeneration Affects Vision:

What can we do when designing a garden for the sense of sight.

Let’s find out about what, why and how.

I'm talking with Chris Poulton, Sydney Convenor for the Australian Institute of Horticulture and an experienced horticultural lecturer and consultant.

PLAY: Garden for the senses part 3 sight_12th Sept 2018

 

Take Chris’s suggestion and carry around with you the colour chart or colour wheel, so that when you’re buying a new plant, it fits in with what you want your garden to really feel and look like.

 

If you have any questions about five senses gardening or have a suggestion either for me or for Chris why not write in or email me at www.realworldgardener.com