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- It’s Royal Adelaide Showtime, as if you needed reminding that you have
the rest of this week to catch the ‘ Show and in particular the
horticultural displays and exhibits in the Centennial Hall.
- I’ve been growing Wisteria in a large pot as a standard for the past two
years. Originally it was a tiny plant secured in a 5” pot and given a
bamboo stake to 1.5 meters. When it reached that height, I just kept
removing any growths that appeared above that bamboo. First year it looked a
bit weak, but last summer is thickened up to the point, where I could
probably remove the support.
- Right now my Wisteria is loaded with twenty flowering buds, all on the
2-year-old short spurs. It’s worth having a look around right now before
they start to flower so you get the appreciation of what wood to remove in
summer to get them to flower well next year. Cut all long and vigorous canes
off and you will have it flowering prolifically, rather than making loads of
lush green canes.
- If you make it to the show with a few kids in tow and you get out of the
sample bag mayhem in good shape, make it over to the Centennial Hall where
there are non-stop tastings of the juiciest tasty fresh apples, pears,
nashis and avocados at about the price of a box of matches and a whole lot
better for you and your tribe too. There’s also an ‘old style’ 1950’s
milk bar in the new extension of the Dairy Pavilion where a double chocolate
malt milkshake can be had with a banana split. If you get tempted to make
one at home remember to save the banana skin for your Staghorn Fern, they
love them.
- Every year I get the anxious wanting to know ‘is it time for tomatoes
yet?’ Well there’s still a high probability of us getting some frosts
before the middle of October, but it’s a good idea to start germinating
your favourite tomatoes or buy seedlings and plant them into 10cm (4”)
pots and keep them getting morning sun but up against the side of your
house, in the frost free zone.
- In these small pots you don’t fertilize them just water sparingly when
they wilt. Then when they are about as thick as a pencil, but still only
20cm high, but making the first flower buds, then you plant them out. That
way they go straight into flower and fruit production and don’t get
carried away with making loads of leaf, but no flowers. Oh sure they will
eventually flower, even if you do everything wrong, but this way they set
fruit months ahead of seedlings in the soil.
- Then when you plant your tomatoes in their chosen full sun spot at the end
of September or early in October, start feeding them with a high potassium
fertilizer, like the Phostrogen just-for-tomatoes formulation. Don’t be
tempted to plant your tomatoes too close to each other or the fence, as that’s
the cause of more fungal disease than any other cause.
- If you grow peaches and they do grow well in the hills in sunny spot,
because they get the chill they need to set fruit, then right now you need
to start the peach curl leaf control program. Any of the various copper
compounds will do, but you must spray a week after the initial spray, which
is best to correspond to the stage at which buds are swelling and bursting.
The copper compounds will not affect flowering if that has commenced or
still under way. If you have recalcitrant neighbours with peach trees, offer
to spray their’s too! Doing nothing will limit your fruit set per tree.
- To keep your bedding plants looking at their best and flowering rather
than wanting to set seed, you need to dead-head. That’s simply the task of
removing the spent flowers and stopping the seed heads from forming. It also
has the effect of keeping the flowers coming, since they realise they have
yet to set seed. Cruel really isn’t it? However well worth the effort.
- The Gawler Sweet Peas will also be on display and try passing them without
sampling the superb fragrance. The seed is available by email at
gawlersweetpea@aol.com
and a $2.00 packet buys enough for most gardens. Bradley
McDougall has a catalogue and call on 8522 5253 will see it in the mail. The
Gawler Sweet pea can certainly handle the hills cold soils and the seed keeps
for years.
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