Xmas Break- what to do about the garden while we are away?

It is time for our Xmas break so we are considering what actually needs to be done in the garden before we take a week off and visit our youngest daughter(daughter number 3), husband and 2 young boy for Xmas.  It is a very exciting time for us because we get our middle daughter (daughter number 2) and her 2 children travelling with us, then they will stay with daughter number 3 and we are booked in to 5 star accommodation (to celebrate our retirement) not far from them and across the road from the fabulous Manly beach,.so looking forward to lots of fun times.

Planning the lead up and what needs to be done to keep our plants alive and well is underway.
We have people staying in our home while we are away but do not want to put too much work in the garden on to them as they will be on holidays too!

Whats going on in the garden leading up to hols?

Outdoor Vegetable garden - will be watered thoroughly before we leave
We have let this become quite minimal leading up to Xmas knowing we would be away so we have:
Beans that are almost at the end of crop and beans that not yet crop, carrots a couple of weeks of pulling, lettuce ready now that can be distributed to neighbors before we leave, tomatoes some will be ready before we leave others will ripen and can be used by our house sitters along with plenty of herbs (flat and curly parsley, Thai sweet basil, basil, mint, chili, curry plant, oregano, garlic chives).

Netted garden - will be watered thoroughly before we leave
Boysenberries, raspberries, passion-fruit, rock-melon, sugar-melon and paw paw that should be ready not too long after we return

Glass house - house sitters will turn on the tap for mist spray for 1 hour every second day
As we did in the vegetable garden we have scaled down what we have in the glass house and will get stuck into planting more once we return from the Xmas break.
We have a couple of things that we planted in there as experiments to see how they would go so the pumpkin vine that has gone wild does have a couple of pumpkins on that will not be ready until after we get back but are growing nicely. These have been pollinated by hand.
Tomato bushes (Roma and Grosse Lisse) that have also gone wild, have not been pollinated by hand, as such, but by me shaking the bushes once flowering to spread the dust around and hopefully cause pollination, yes this has worked but not to a huge degree and I intend to work on this over the next year, do have a few tomatoes on these bushes so it has worked a little at this point - room for improvement here!
Corn seed that has just shot really should have been left until our return but should be ok for another week before being put into the garden on our return
Clivia seeds that have shot
Magnolia cuttings will be left in hothouse 
Water lilies  left in hothouse with trays under to hold water
Sweet Potato in pots 1 left in hothouse 1 left on back veranda watered thoroughly before we leave  

Sturt's Desert Pea These are my babies and have been shot from seeds 5 plants from 50 seeds. I have been moving them in and out of the hothouse to give them protection and exposure to sun and avoid them becoming too damp/dry/hot/cold, so, as you can imagine, I do not want to loose these plants.  I am going to re-pot them to a larger pot with a high percentage of sand to ensure good drainage and will leave these with my son in-law along with the precious bonsai plants and instructions!!!!!!! :-)

Outdoor garden
Cucumber, Zucchini, Pumpkin and Fruit trees will be watered thoroughly leading up to our departure and hopefully will be okay until we return.

Roses in large pots  drip water bottles
I have purchased some drip spikes to attach large water bottles to drip feed the roses and at the moment trialing these to work out the best settings to use and hopefully this will eliminate the need for anyone to water them while we are away.

Outdoor flower garden water thoroughly leading up to our departure
Maple trees
These trees are still young so I will use the drip feed as above for these 4 trees and cover with shade cloth to avoid damage to the leaves from the hot sun.
Snapdragons, portulaca, petchoa, daisies, Gardenia, penstemon and other odds and ends 

Miscellaneous potted plants
Will be grouped for effortless watering by the house sitters

WISHING YOU ALL A SAFE AND HAPPY XMAS

Growing your own Vegetables

Good reasons for growing your own vegetables:

1.  Control what is used in the growing process, Most people do not like eating food grown with the use of chemicals

2.  Enjoy the planting from seed or small seedlings, watching them grow, satisfaction when the crop is a success, the picking, cooking and serving a vegetable ...yes I love it all!

3.  Life is about learning and everyday I learn something new about gardening - that makes me happy and hope it does you too.

4.  Save money, not having to buy vegetables is a huge saving in your food expenses

5. Fresh vegies do not go off as quickly and can be from garden to plate whenever you want them

Where to begin with your vegetable garden

The first thing to do when beginning your garden is to think about what you eat and how much of that particular vegetable you eat. Plan your gardening around that, make a list of what you and your family eat.  It is smart to grow what you want to eat and would normally buy from the supermarket or fresh vegie market.

Here is a list of the vegetables and herbs that we grow and eat:

• Beans
• Spinach/
• Broccoli
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Cucumber 
• Bock Choi
• Carrots
• Pumpkin
• Zucchini
• Corn
• Potatoes
• Chilli
• Curly Leaf Parsley
• Italian Parsley
• Curry Plant
• Mint
• Garlic Chives
• Fennel
• Thyme
• Basil
• Sweet Thai Basil
• Capsicum

Garden Design Options

You might prefer to plant your garden straight into the ground.  If you do, it would be a good idea to put a border for the garden to stop the grass from growing into the garden and help control weeds it will also be easier at mowing time with a defined border on your garden.
When preparing the garden for planting digging the ground can be hard work but it can be done a bit at a time or there are small digger machines you can buy and use to make the digging easier.

You might prefer to use above ground gardens.  Especially if you have limited space/live in an apartment.  We have plenty of ground space but decided to go for above ground gardens for a few different reasons:

1. Less digging
2. More control over weeds
3. Do not have to bend down as low  

Plan how to set your garden out for convenience

It is a good idea to take your time in the planning stage of your garden.  Here are some ideas you might be interested in.  Divide the garden into sections considering how often you will go to that part of the garden.  Plant the things you use most often, closest to the house for convenience.

Example

Herb garden close to kitchen to make it quick and easy to pick herbs when you are cooking.

Vegetable garden easy access but not as close as herb garden - you are likely to pick every second or third day but not every day with most vegetables, some prefer to just pick and use as they prepare meals and if this is what you like to do then it is a good idea not to have the vegie garden to far from the kitchen.

Orchard further away as it is likely not to be accessed as often, at times for pruning, spraying, checking the fruit and picking the crop

Green houses are usually situated in a position taking into consideration the sun and light and visual
appearance in relation to your house  

This post is still incomplete 
 Companion Planting

When to plant   

How to prune your roses

There is much written about why, when and how best to prune your roses. 

Why prune your roses
Pruning encourages new growth on a rose bush which leads to increasing the number of flowers you will get on the bush and also helps control disease by the removal of unwanted leaves in the centre of the bush that could create an opportunity for black-spot to grow and spread. It is necessary to do the pruning to keep your rose bushes looking healthy, vibrant and covered with flowers in the spring and summer.

When to prune your roses 
Roses should be heavily pruned in the winter July/August or in some areas after the frosts so the new growth is not damaged... however, I consider myself (to a certain extent) to be pruning each time a flower is cut for a vase or cut for removal from the bush once the flower is aging and no longer looks attractive in the garden. So even though the heavy pruning goes on before spring it does to some degree continue through the flowering period.
There are some roses that are late flowering and should not be pruned until they have finished flowering, they include  Old fashioned roses, Rambler roses, Climbing roses and Banksia roses.

How to prune your roses
Tools to use
Be sure to wear good thick gloves to avoid being spiked by the rose bushes, use clean sharp secateurs and a clean sharp saw for thicker stems  I do not use my rose secateurs on any other plant, only on the roses and keep them stored in a clean cover when they are not in use.  The tools you use should be sterilised with disinfectant before you start and after each bush is cut before moving on to the next bush to avoid transferring disease from one plant to another.  When you are pruning it is a good idea to have a large container or throw sheet to put all the off cuts into, so as not to let them get into the ground, they could spread disease to your healthy plants.

How much to cut
Cut about one third of each stem, remove any leaves and old flowers and new growth at the bottom of the plant, cut off any old dead and dying wood to the bottom of the plant, it will be easy to recognise the old wood - it will be brown/grey in colour.  The branches that are shaped outwards should be kept for next years growth and you should remove center branches to encourage the plant to have open central room for air to circulate.  Or as my sister says ' shape it like a wine glass'.

After the pruning treat the rose bush and ground around it
Some experts advise to use Lime sulphur to spray the plant and the ground around the plant to keep it healthy and free from pests and disease.  I have not used lime sulphur myself at this stage as my roses are in pots. I am not sure that I will use lime sulphur when the plants are in the ground, I am reluctant to use the lime sulphur as it will burn young growth on the bush so should only be done immediately after the pruning takes place before the new growth begins.  This is for you to consider whether you want to use it or not.

After the pruning remove all the off-cuts  
As you were pruning you should have been placing all of the off-cuts into a bin or on a throw sheet, gather up any leaves and bits and pieces that have fallen on the ground, dispose of all of the debris.  Do not use any of the off-cuts in mulching and composting - avoid disease going back into the ground.

Sterilise and store your tools
Be sure to sterilise and store your tools, I do find it handy to keep the rose secateurs in the vicinity of the rose garden for convenience.

Fertilise around your rose bushes
Place a 5 cm.-10 cm. layer of mulch around the rose bushes and water it in thoroughly.  I like to use organic pellets and sugar cane mulch on mine or Seasol liquid and sugar cane mulch but there are many fertilisers to choose from.

Feed, water and keep the roses safe from disease and pests

Intro 

I do not claim to be an expert in growing roses.  
This blog has been created through my passion for gardening and wanting to share the experience with those like minded people that have found how relaxing and rewarding the art of gardening is.  
I will share with you how we look after the roses that we have purchased (they are happy and healthy and flowering profusely to this point so I feel I am on the right track).  
I will share what and how often we feed them, water them and how we keep them healthy and free from disease and pests.

We live in the Northern part of the East Coast of NSW, Australia, so normally weather conditions are dry winters and reasonably high rainfall in summer.  Early 2013 we thought the rain would never stop, however, stop it did at the end of May and we have hardly seen a drop since, a couple of light showers, so we are very dry here but fortunately do not have the fire problems that we have seen in the Newcastle and Blue Mountain regions.

Our hearts go out to those affected by those fires down south and our thanks to the heroes of the Fire Brigade, other services and volunteers that have selflessly been there.

What I feed our roses

Our roses are in large pots and will be for several months yet.  The roses were purchased in June 2013, it is now Oct and they are not likely to be put into the ground until June next year so I am really conscious of looking after them carefully to ensure they are in a healthy state when ready to go into the ground.  I feed them with a handful of organic pellets of chook manure and water it in well.  There are several different brands available.  I also use horse manure and when it is dry make a liquid and pour that on or use the liquid from the worm farm (more about that in a future post) Seasol is used on all our gardens so to sum it up

Feeding with one of the below:

Organic Pellets, liquid from horse manure, liquid from the worm farm or Seasol

How often I feed our roses

Every 2 weeks I give one of the above feeds

How often I water our roses

The watering will be different depending on the area you live in, soil conditions and temperature.  Due to our roses being in large pots and not in the ground that might hold water better (especially if you use mulch of some type) I am watering every 3 days giving a good soaking but not overdoing it.  Of course if we are lucky enough to get rain then it is 3 days after the rain that I will water.

What I do to control disease and pests in our roses

As I stated above I like to feed our roses every 2 weeks to keep them healthy, healthy plants are not easy prey for the diseases and pests but I also use a natural spray remedy I make up thanks to my sister who passed the info on to me that it has been successfully used in one of the large Australian Botanical Gardens, so I gave it a go and it works for me.  

3 parts water to 1 part Milk in a spray bottle and give the new young shoots a spray to protect from black spot as they are beginning to shoot and while they are young and growing.  I do this every 2 weeks or if it rains then after the rain.  Although it is primarily for the protection against black spot it does also seem to deter aphids.

There are many sprays that can be purchased for your roses, I have tried a couple but personally prefer the milk mix as it does not seem to be so severe on the leaves. Some people I know use white oil.

This information Below is from a fact sheet from the Royal Botanical Gardens

Rose Diseases 

Powdery mildew caused by fungus
Black spot caused by fungus
Stem canker
Viral diseases - most common are rose mosaic virus and rose wilt.
Botrytis blight caused by fungus
Other diseases are mildew and rust

Rose Pests

Red spider mite
Rose Aphid
Thrips
Caterpillars
White fly

The Royal Botanical Gardens Domain Site (see link below) is a good source on information on these diseases and pests.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/plant_info/pests_diseases/fact_sheets/pests_and_disease_of_roses

Hybrid Tea Rose Just Joey

Hybrid Tea Rose Perfume Delight

Beautiful bright pink and true to the name it is definitely a Perfume Delight

Hybrid Tea Rose Champagner

I just love this Hybrid Tea Champagner beautiful soft cream, a very slight pink shade can be seen in the cream.  Champagner is one of our rose flowers that seems to be  longer lasting than any other that we have at the moment.

Hybrid Tea Rose Blue Moon

Roses

Retirement at last and I fully intend to 'smell the roses'.  The planning of the rose garden started 18 long years ago when we built our house, it was just a rough idea my husband, Ken, had to terrace an area on the south side of the house and put in rows of roses.  Work and travel took priority for all those years and now I have reached retirement and he has 3 more months of work and then we will have the time to put plans into action for the rose garden.  In the mean time I have been working on other areas of the garden and establishing the vegetable garden and it is becoming quite productive.
We have bought Hybrid Tea Roses for the first level of the terrace and have them in large pots.  I will post pics of them in the next couple of days.  Happy Gardening