We are now at that point in the Aussie Spring where by moisture can be stripped out of the soil and once is has gone it can be a nightmare to get back. 

I once left an area of soil totally uncovered and without water and when I finally put water on it ( a lot of water) it never got more than a few mm in to the surface! 

Topping up sugar cane mulch regularly and maintaining moisture levels is priority at the min. Also protecting seedlings from sun burn and wind burn.

Guys when is the best time to cut down the Roses? I was tempted today but thought I'd check just incase lol

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The best time to prune roses is March, when you can identify budding nodes that are facing the right way (usually outward facing) to create an open and even shape to the bush. 

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Shrubs can be Trimmed a bit now to save any wind rocking and damage by Snowfall.The Proper Prune is done in March as already stated by above post.

Thanks to both

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Another tip for roses is to cut using a hedge trimmer. This will leave a horrible splintery mess, however, in the spring there will be growth from the splinters. Lots of greenery gives the bush more vigour and consequently more flowers...

My Pyracanthas are looking great

 

The Ones that get the full Summer Sun are out covered in the little berries, we have Orange and Red Pyracanthas, The ones the otherside of the garden are not covered in berries though and I'm a little worried with these because we had last Years berries on them all the way though the summer, the berries didn't drop and we never got the white flowers  !!!...Hoping there just be later to develop

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The pyracantha may need a good mulch and fertilizer

 

 

pyracantha.co.uk

Jonesy, there could be a number of reasons for this but as long as the shrub looks generally healthy, I don't think you need worry.  Pyracanthas flower on one year old wood, so a hard pruning last year could affect the current year's flowering, or even the harsh winter may have had an affect on them.  

Pyracanthas are generally forgiving plants that grow in most soil types, they'll flower and berry in sun or shade, but thrive best in full sun.  The ones not in full sun may have just had a rest this year.  Fruiting shrubs tend to do that for no obvious reason and you did say they'd done well last year. 

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Is anyone growing their own garlic.  It's the right time to plant it now, so I've sent for some from the IOW garlic farm and I'm going to plant some in my border amongst the flowers.

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Is anyone growing their own garlic.  It's the right time to plant it now, so I've sent for some from the IOW garlic farm and I'm going to plant some in my border amongst the flowers.

Easy to grow and trouble-free in my experience, but make sure that it's somewhere that gets full sun, and mulch the bed a bit. It's no coincidence that the UK's only commercial garlic farm is in one of the sunniest places in Britain.

 

And on a separate topic, how long can my nasturtiums keep going? Will they give up of theri own accord before we get a severe frost (of which no sign at the moment)? They're still producing flowers like mad on the coast here - lowest air temp 1C so far, though that same night only five miles away in a sheltered valley it was -3C, and nasturtiums there were limp and dying the next morning.

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Jonesy, there could be a number of reasons for this but as long as the shrub looks generally healthy, I don't think you need worry.  Pyracanthas flower on one year old wood, so a hard pruning last year could affect the current year's flowering, or even the harsh winter may have had an affect on them.  

Pyracanthas are generally forgiving plants that grow in most soil types, they'll flower and berry in sun or shade, but thrive best in full sun.  The ones not in full sun may have just had a rest this year.  Fruiting shrubs tend to do that for no obvious reason and you did say they'd done well last year. 

Thanks Caz, the Ones in shade are looking very healthy, nice green leaf and they did well all through summer keeping it's fruit and giving great colour but obviously I might pay the price this Year because they didn't get the chance to flower and produce fruit like the ones that were in full sun 

 

When I purchased these 3 years back I didn't relise I Picked up Orange and Red but I'm pleased I did because the mix of the Colours look great ..I only paid £2 each

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Anyone got any advice about what I can do with composting leaves.

We never had trees before at our old house, this garden has a large sycamore and some other trees.

Last year I swept them up and bagged them, but the bags seemed to have gone all holey and fallen to pieces.

I assume, I shouldn't compost them with the garden other stuff.

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Nothing wrong with composting leaves, unless you've swept them up from, say, an oily garageway.

Your average small garden heap may have problems digesting a lot of wet leaves stuck together, though, so add them at intervals separated by e.g. cut back stems of perennials, to give some ventilation. If there's too many for that, dump them in a hidden corner (every garden has one?) turn them over every month or so, expect something useful in a year (or two?)

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Is anyone growing their own garlic.  It's the right time to plant it now, so I've sent for some from the IOW garlic farm and I'm going to plant some in my border amongst the flowers.

Easy to grow and trouble-free in my experience, but make sure that it's somewhere that gets full sun, and mulch the bed a bit. It's no coincidence that the UK's only commercial garlic farm is in one of the sunniest places in Britain.

Could I grow garlic in my cold greenhouse, I was wondering what I could do with my greenhouse in the winter, I've only had it about 6 months. So any ideas would be great.

Thanks

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Is anyone growing their own garlic.  It's the right time to plant it now, so I've sent for some from the IOW garlic farm and I'm going to plant some in my border amongst the flowers.

Easy to grow and trouble-free in my experience, but make sure that it's somewhere that gets full sun, and mulch the bed a bit. It's no coincidence that the UK's only commercial garlic farm is in one of the sunniest places in Britain.

Could I grow garlic in my cold greenhouse, I was wondering what I could do with my greenhouse in the winter, I've only had it about 6 months. So any ideas would be great.

Thanks

Trees and shrubs are my forte and I'm a novice with garlic and I'd think it depends which variety you grow.  Some garlic needs to be vernalised - experience a dormant winter period but I'd think as long as you don't give them extra protection from frost, you'll be fine.  If you grow them in pots in your cold house, you can move them outside in early spring when you'll need the room for sowing seeds.  I bought mine as a named variety with specific growing needs but you can use supermarket garlic.  Have a look on the garlic farm website for more advice http://thegarlicfarm.co.uk/growing_garlic.aspx

My garlic has arrived.  I've given a bulb each to my sister and daughter and the rest is going in my border amonst my climbing roses, which should not only give me an edible crop next summer, but should also keep the aphids off my roses!

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Guys when is the best time to cut down the Roses? I was tempted today but thought I'd check just incase lol

Not about to cut mine yet, they are still flowering!  (they are not late season roses)

My climbing roses are still flowering too BN!  It's all this mild weather! 

Most shrubs can be cut down once the sap has stopped rising, which should be any time now, but the mild weather is prolonging the growing season this year.  If you cut back whilst sap is rising, they'll make new growth, which isn't really what you want as growth will be weak at the end of the growing season. 

I sometimes prune my roses in February if the weather is mild and I can see the start of strong new growth, that way they get a good early start.  A common mistake with pruning any tree or shrub, is not pruning hard enough! 

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Counted 176 nasturtium blooms in my (fairly small) garden while tidying up leaves yesterday. Ridiculous!

 

Still lots of leaves to come down, too - cherry falling fast; hazel, czech elm and small-leaved lime across the road hanging on.

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I dismantled our tomato greenhouse a couple of weeks ago and gave it to my son to use in his garden. If we grow any next year we will use large pots and grow them up canes.

Our climbing rose on the fence still has a few blooms on it, what an amazing Autumn it`s been.

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