John had very kindly helped us out at the last minute, as the one previously booked was not available. John’s nursery ‘Paradise Gardens’ is on Burwood Highway.
John has been growing azaleas for 50 years. He explained that now that they have finished flowering, is a good time to cut them back. You can cut back into the dead wood to encourage new growth. If a plant has died back quite a bit, only cut every second branch, as you don’t want to put the plant into shock, which will kill it.
The main problem with azaleas is lace bug. John does not recommend spraying the plants with strong chemicals, as these are harmful to humans as well as the bugs. The spray John uses is Confidor, and you need to spray three times in two-weekly sessions to kill bugs at all stages of their life cycle.
Wait about a month after pruning to fertilize, using Osmocote, followed by Blood and Bone or Phostogen, which will make them flower prolifically.
The potash in Phostogen is very effective in encouraging flowering rather than leggy growth.
Roses are subject to mildew and black spot, which requires a copper-based spray to eradicate. When dead-heading your roses, don’t just snip off the dead flowers, cut a bit further down, approximately eight inches, which will encourage new growth and make them continue to flower for up to nine months.
Being Remembrance Day, we paused for a minute’s silence at 11.00am.
John resumed his talk, reminding us that now is a great time to plant vegetables, and his preferred fertilizer for these is the good old fashioned Blood and Bone, mixed two parts to one part chicken manure. Horse and cow manure are fine to use too, but sheep manure often has lots of seeds, which can result in weeds in the garden.
Vegetables grown at home with organic methods always taste fabulous! Particularly tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers and the small cherry tomatoes can be grown in pots. John grows fresh lettuce and other vegetables to be served in the café at his restaurant.
Gardens enrich the environment in many ways and improve the atmosphere for the benefit of us all. We are fortunate in Melbourne not to have the pollution suffered by other cities such as Los Angeles. It is up to us, as gardeners, to keep this clean environment that we all enjoy.
Now is also a good time to plant all sorts of seedlings such as pansies and lobelia, for long-lasting colour.
Plants from tropical areas need protection from our hot sun, and also frost.
Potted plants are also very susceptible to drying out and need supplementary watering, even when it’s been raining.
Epsom Salts, containing magnesium, is excellent for keeping the leaves of your gardenias
green and glossy.
