July 28th, 2013
REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney,
streaming live at www.2rrr.org.au and Across Australia on the Community Radio
Network. www.realworldgardener.com
Real World Gardener is funded by the Community
Broadcasting Foundation
REALWORLD GARDENER NOW ON FACEBOOK
The complete CRN
edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/ , just click on 2RRR to find this week’s edition. The new theme is sung by Harry Hughes from his album
Songs of the Garden. You can hear samples of the album from the website www.songsofthegarden.com
Design Elements
with Landscape Designer Louise McDaid
On last week’s design elements we
mentioned that we always have some parts of the year when there’s a bit of a
hiatus-nothing much in flower in the garden, and we’re looking around for
something the zhoosh it up, and make it more appealing.
We then talked about what exotics
fitted the bill for all year round colour. Now it’s the turn of native plants..
Of course you don’t have to all
native or all exotic because many plants fit into either category.
The trick is to put those plants
together that like similar conditions, and have similar or contrasting leaf shapes. So spiky leaved
exotics with spikey leaved perennials, and little green leaves of exotics with
little or similar shaped leaves of natives. Or go for that contrast.
July 28th, 2013
REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney,
streaming live at www.2rrr.org.au and Across Australia on the Community Radio
Network. www.realworldgardener.com
Real World Gardener is funded by the Community
Broadcasting Foundation
REALWORLD GARDENER NOW ON FACEBOOK
The complete CRN
edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/ , just click on 2RRR to find this week’s edition. The new theme is sung by Harry Hughes from his album
Songs of the Garden. You can hear samples of the album from the website www.songsofthegarden.com
Compost Capers
with Cameron Little
Improving your soil is so important
for a healthy garden.
You might be lucky and already have great black soil, but
for most gardeners we’re either battling sandy soil or heavy clay.
It’s true that sometimes you just
can’t get enough of your own compost to make any difference unless, that is, you
employ some willing helpers.
Now you know that as earthworms
burrow through the soil, they consume large quantities of soil and fresh or
partially decomposed organic matter from the soil surface.
Earthworms their
droppings or casts as they go about their business which is invaluable
nutrients for your plants.
As earthworms travel up and down and
through out the soil, they mix soil from the different soil layers with plant
and animal debris from the soil surface.
This mixing helps to make more
nutrients available for plant growth, and helps to create a better soil habitat
for all soil organisms. I
f you’ve got any questions about
worms, or worm farms, why not drop us a line. to realworldgardener@gmail.com or by post to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville
NSW 1675, or post them on Real World
Gardeners facebook page, we’d love to hear from you.
July 19th, 2013
REAL WORLD GARDENER Wed. 5pm 2RRR 88.5fm Sydney, streaming live at www.2rrr.org.au and Across Australia on the Community Radio Network. www.realworldgardener.com
Real World Gardener is funded by the Community Broadcasting Foundation
REALWORLD GARDENER NOW ON FACEBOOK
The complete CRN edition of RWG is available on http://www.cpod.org.au/ , just click on 2RRR to find this week’s edition. The new theme is sung by Harry Hughes from his album Songs of the Garden. You can hear samples of the album from the website www.songsofthegarden.com
Design Elements
with Landscape designer, Louise McDaid
I have a friend who for years has
been trying to get the pink blue and white hyacinths to flower at the same
time.
Each year she buys these bulbs and
has attempted to plant them in pots at different times. But no, with repetitive
stubbornness, these Hyacinths just refuse to comply, as if obeying some other
higher order.
So what do you need to do to get
other flowers to open at when you want them too? Here’s a bit of a hint….
I never can get my blue flowers to
open up at the same time as the yellow flowers in the front garden. So to beat
this conundrum, I’ve planted bushes with yellow foliage like Abelia, Frances
Mason, and variegated Buxus to name a couple.
If you want a white garden, there’s
plenty of plants with white in the leaves, that you could add. Then you need to
pick something from each season that has a white flower whether annual or
perennial, it doesn’t matter.
It could also be a tree like the
Handkerchief tree, which is much admired in English gardens, but grows equally
well in Australia.