Happy Easter , keep an eye out for that bunny in your garden!🐰🐣

Neat and tidy footpath.

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Happy New Year!! Best wishes for 2017

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Happy Father's Day!

Spring is on its way- Cherry blossom time

Tomatoes Growing Tomatoes in Sydney By Jenna Beck Tags: growing tips, growing tomatoes, harvesting, pest control, tomato plant Preparing To Plant Choose an open position for your tomatoes that receives at least six hours of full sun each day. Tomatoes grow happily in most soils but, like all plants, a little time spent on their soil will go a long way to healthy plants and an abundance of fruit. If you have clay soil (like many areas of Sydney), it’s best to raise the planting area to help with drainage. Add compost to help with soil structure, Dolomite to prevent blossom end rot (calcium deficiency) and a Tomato and Vegetable Food around one week before you plant your tomatoes and water in well. If you grew tomatoes last year, it’s best to choose a new spot for your plants this year to eliminate any risk of soil borne disease. Plants can be returned to the same location the following year – though the longer the better. If you’re planning to plant in a pot, choose a good quality Tomato and Vegie growing mix to plant them into. Choosing Your Variety There are a huge number of varieties available, with differences in growing habit and the size, shape, taste, colour and acidity of fruit. Here some of our favourites that we grow at Flower Power: Small Fruit Varieties Cherry Cocktail: This early maturing variety produces large clusters of sweet, bite-sized cocktail fruit. Grape: A very heavy yielding variety producing long clusters of sweet fruit. Lady Bug: A sweet cherry tomato producing lots of 10-cent piece sized fruit. Orange Pixie: A sweet tasting dwarf variety producing masses of large cherry tomatoes. Perfect for pots. Sugar Snack: A small, cherry sized fruit with a sweet full flavour. Sweet Bite: Smaller than traditional cherry varieties, this early maturing variety produces hundreds of juicy, bite-size fruit. Tiny Tim: Produces sweet cherry sized fruit on a dwarf bush – perfect for pots. Tommy Toe: Super sweet, bit- sized balls of fruit that produces hundreds of 50-cent piece sized tomatoes. Medium to Large Fruit Varieties Apollo: Produces high yields of full flavoured, round, red fruit early in the season. Big Bite: An extra-large, full flavoured beefsteak type tomato. Black Krim: An heirloom Russian variety from the 19th century with a full flavoured, slightly flattened fruit. Grosse Lisse: Medium to large deep red fruit mid to late in the season. Health Kick: A delicious plum variety containing 55% more antioxidants. Oxheart: Originating in Hungary, this old-fashioned favourite has fine, feathery foliage and heart-shaped pink fruit with meaty flesh. An heirloom variety perfect for sandwiches. Patio Supreme: Early to mature with full flavoured bright red, flat fruit on a compact, dwarf bush – perfect for pots. Roma: Rich red medium to large egg-shaped, full flavoured fruit mid to late in the season. Totem: A delicious truss bush variety with medium sized red fruit, perfect for pots. Truss: Truss tomatoes are sweet, juicy and easy to roast . They can be grown in-ground or in a large pot and need a stake to climb. Planting & Growing When you’re ready to plant, place your seedlings about 70cm apart. This may seem like a lot while they are this size, but any less and they’ll be crowded when they grow. Your plants will need support as they go, so put in a hardwood stake around 5cm from the plant, or try a tomato cage. Mulch the plants well, preferably with an organic mulch like Sugar Cane that will add nutrients back to the soil as it breaks down. Mulch should be applied 5cm thick with a 5cm gap around stems to prevent collar rot. As the plant grows, choose two main stems and tie them to the stake at 30cm intervals as they grow. Once these two stems are established all other side shoots (laterals) should be pinched out to keep the plant tidy and manageable, as well as helping the plant concentrate on fruit production. Stems should be pinched off once a week as they can get wild very quickly! Feeding To get the most out of your tomato plants, it’s best to keep them well fed. Use the Tomato and Vegie fertiliser that you added to the soil prior to planting to feed them once a month as per the pack instructions, commencing when your plants first start flowering. If your plants seem to be fattening up with leaves instead of fruit, try adding potash to encourage flowers and fruit. Watering Tomatoes require lots of water and regularly. Drying out will drastically reduce their yield, and irregular watering leads to blossom rot – a sunken black patch on the bottom of your fruit. Water your plants weekly, and once fruit has developed try to water daily during very hot weather. Try to avoid overhead watering as this can encourage leaf blight and other fungal diseases. Pest Control Tomatoes are as popular with pests as they are with people, but it’s easy to protect your crop. Here are some pests and diseases to look out for. Caterpillars: Will eat holes in your leaves and green fruit. Pick off if it’s only a small problem or spray with Dipel or Success Ultra to protect your plants. Fruit Fly: Will lay eggs in your ripening fruit – ugh! Try Eco-Naturalure or hang fruit fly bait traps near your plants. Aphids: These rascals suck sap from foliage and spread plant disease. Check your plants for ants – ants are themselves harmless, but come to feed on the sticky residue left by aphids and white fly so are a sign of an aphid problem. Spray with Conquer, or try to encourage the aphids natural enemy to take up residence – the lady beetle. Tomato wilt: If this disease has set in all the leaves will wilt and the plant will appear very dry. What’s happening is the stem inside is dying and unfortunately the plant can’t be saved. This will happen if you don’t keep aphids under control so prevention is the best cure! Early blight: If you notice tomato leaf spots and yellowing lower leaves you may have tomato early blight. This disease causes damage to the leaves, stems and even the fruit of the plant. Treat with Yates Liquid Copper Fungicide. Blossom end rot – bottom of the tomato fruit will discolour and rot. This is a sign of calcium deficiency. You can try to add Dolomite at this stage but it’s likely to late. Companion Planting: For a completely organic approach, try planting basil and/or marigolds with your tomatoes – they can help to deter aphids, white fly and nematodes (a disease affecting roots). Harvesting You’ve successfully grown your first tomato, and now it’s time to enjoy it! Pick your tomato when it is red-ripe. As pretty as they look, leaving your fruit on the vine too long will cause it to lose its sweetness and become floury.

Lavender By Justyn Taylor Tags: Avonview, Best lavender for Sydney, coastal garden, Cottage Garden, culinary plant, English Lavender, fragrance, fragrant flowers, French Lavender, Hidcote, Italian lavender, Lace, Lavandula, Lavender, Low growing, low maintenance, ornamental, rockery, shrub, Spanish lavender, stoecha Botanical name: Lavandula A little bit about lavender A member of the mint (Lamiaceae) family, lavender is a hardy plant best known for its beautiful fragrance. It’s a low-growing but mostly upright shrub featuring silvery leaves rich with aromatic oils. Lavender is a great low-maintenance choice as it’ll flush into fragrant, colourful bloom with very little attention. Height: Between 30 and 60 centimetres Width: Usually less than 60 centimetres, but occasionally extends to one metre. Lavender varieties There are three main lavender varieties: English, French (pictured) and Italian/Spanish. English lavender (Lavandula Angustifolia) Of all the lavender varieties, English lavender (often referred to as true lavender) is the most popular, thanks to its remarkable scent and colour. Its peak flowering season is midsummer but its aromatic leaves are fragrant year round. You can make the most of its long spikes by drying them or turning them into potpourri. One of the best known English lavenders is Hidcote, which grows well in cool, mountainous areas like New South Wales’ Southern Highlands and Sydney’s outer western suburbs. French lavender (Lavandula Dentata) Just as popular as English lavender, French lavender billows with strong-scented grey-green toothed leaves and long, furry, purple flowers. French Lavender is particularly happy in a pot, as a hedge and can also be mass planted. Spanish/Italian lavender (Lavandula Stoechas) This variety is distinguished by its flowers. Each bloom (in mauve, pink or white) is topped with a distinctive pair of petals which look like rabbit ears. Unlike other varieties, Spanish/Italian lavender doesn’t mind humid Sydney summers. Best lavender for Sydney’s climate Due to its Mediterranean origins, lavender likes hot summers and dry winters. If you haven’t had much luck with lavender, we recommend Super French, a variety that’s bred from French lavender but is more tolerant of Sydney’s humidity. If you like the look of Spanish/Italian lavender, you’ll love stoecha varieties like ‘Avonview’ and ‘Lace’. Both are bred from Italian/Spanish lavender in Australia and relish our humidity. How to use lavender Gardeners and landscapers grow lavender as an ornamental plant but it’s also grown as a culinary plant and for the commercial extract of essential oils. Flower spikes can also be dried for arrangements or used in linen pouches to keep drawers and cupboards smelling fresh and to help deter moths. Lavender is a great choice for coastal, cottage or rockery gardens and can make a striking impact when mass planted. Try growing it as an informal hedge, a specimen plant or near your vegie patch to attract bees. The ideal position for lavender Your lavender plant will perform best in a bright, full sun position. Plant in dry, well-drained, sandy or gravelly soils where it can enjoy good air circulation. Flowering Lavender comes in a range of shades, from pink and purple to off-white, depending on the variety, and can flower for much of the year. Caring tips Lavender enjoys tough love so little care is needed for plants to thrive. Once established they require very little water. If the spot your lavender is growing in doesn’t have great drainage, be careful not to overdo it. Lavender hate wet feet. Pruning Cut off dead flowers to help prolong flowering. Give plants a light prune all over after main flowering to keep plants tidy and full. If needed, you can do a harder prune (by about one third) however don’t go back to the older hard wood as these branches don’t always recover and can leave patches in your plant. Feeding Fertilise with well-decomposed compost and a little lime in spring and autumn to encourage flowering. Pests and diseases In areas of high humidity or if over watered, root rot due to fungus infection can be a problem. Organic mulches can trap moisture around the base of the plant, also encouraging root rot. To prevent root rot, avoid mulching and plant your lavender on a slight mound, to encourage drainage. Lavender is rarely attacked by pests but whitefly, aphids and scale can sometimes creep in, so look out for signs of stress and spray with Confidor. Companion plants Plant with pansies, roses, iris, scabiosa and other cottage plants or near vegies and fruit trees to encourage bees and other pollinators.

African Daisey Caring tips How to prepare for planting Dig through cow manure before planting. African daisies like to spread, so make sure you give them plenty of space. Feed Giving your plant a monthly liquid feed will help it produce more flowers. Prune You can prolong flowering by deadheading your plant once the first flush of flowers are finished. Watering While African daisies are drought tolerant, they will give you more flowers if watered well throughout the growing season