What To Do
Presenter: Sue McDougall
The threat of fire is ever present whether you live next to bush land or in a suburban area, and even though it is autumn the threat is still here. Sue visits a suburban home where the garden has been affected by fire. The fire started over the fence in the next door neighbour’s yard, but the fire spread by going underneath the fence and igniting the mulch the burning all the baby native plants.
Many of the small plants were completely destroyed, but nature is amazing really. Plants like the Melaleuca will shoot away quickly if they are cut back hard as long as the main bark hasn’t been scorched at ground level. Fertilise them now to encourage new growth. Water is the key to getting them to regenerate, so you will find winter is the time the plants will put on lots of new growth.
Kangaroo paws can sometimes look bad after flowering at the best of times. And after the fire had damaged the Kangaroo paws in the garden, the owners thought there was no hope. You could look at it as a blessing really, All the dead leaves were removed and the amount of new shoots that have developed are amazing. If yours are full of dead flower stems and diseased leaves, you can prune them back to ground level and at the first sign of rain throw some blood and bone around them.
Another threat in the back yard is white ants. You can tell if they are around because of the mud piles that look like someone has splattered mud on the tree. Sometimes they can live quite happily in the bark but in really bad cases they can get right into the try and cause it to be unstable, and that is when you should get it checked out.
Trees like gumtrees are really special to have in a garden and that is why it is so important to look after them. They create a habitat for birds and keep a garden cool in summer. Gumtrees drop their leaves all year round, which is the down side particularly in summer. So if you are looking for a deciduous tree to plant to cool your backyard and have the bonus of letting in the winter sun now is the time to look for the brilliant autumn colour you would like to have in your own backyard.
It has been a particularly hard year for certain varieties for deciduous tree you find they may not develop beautiful colour, the leaves go crunchy and then drop off. It is because we have had such a hot dry autumn.
If you want some more ideas and inspiration when it comes to planting trees in the garden pick up the latest edition of the Garden Gurus newspaper. You can find it at your local Mitre 10 store and other good garden centres.
Nelson Garden is open Sunday the 13th May
10am – 4:30pm
47 Canterbury Terrace
East Victoria Park
The threat of fire is ever present whether you live next to bush land or in a suburban area, and even though it is autumn the threat is still here. Sue visits a suburban home where the garden has been affected by fire. The fire started over the fence in the next door neighbour’s yard, but the fire spread by going underneath the fence and igniting the mulch the burning all the baby native plants.
Many of the small plants were completely destroyed, but nature is amazing really. Plants like the Melaleuca will shoot away quickly if they are cut back hard as long as the main bark hasn’t been scorched at ground level. Fertilise them now to encourage new growth. Water is the key to getting them to regenerate, so you will find winter is the time the plants will put on lots of new growth.
Kangaroo paws can sometimes look bad after flowering at the best of times. And after the fire had damaged the Kangaroo paws in the garden, the owners thought there was no hope. You could look at it as a blessing really, All the dead leaves were removed and the amount of new shoots that have developed are amazing. If yours are full of dead flower stems and diseased leaves, you can prune them back to ground level and at the first sign of rain throw some blood and bone around them.
Another threat in the back yard is white ants. You can tell if they are around because of the mud piles that look like someone has splattered mud on the tree. Sometimes they can live quite happily in the bark but in really bad cases they can get right into the try and cause it to be unstable, and that is when you should get it checked out.
Trees like gumtrees are really special to have in a garden and that is why it is so important to look after them. They create a habitat for birds and keep a garden cool in summer. Gumtrees drop their leaves all year round, which is the down side particularly in summer. So if you are looking for a deciduous tree to plant to cool your backyard and have the bonus of letting in the winter sun now is the time to look for the brilliant autumn colour you would like to have in your own backyard.
It has been a particularly hard year for certain varieties for deciduous tree you find they may not develop beautiful colour, the leaves go crunchy and then drop off. It is because we have had such a hot dry autumn.
If you want some more ideas and inspiration when it comes to planting trees in the garden pick up the latest edition of the Garden Gurus newspaper. You can find it at your local Mitre 10 store and other good garden centres.
Nelson Garden is open Sunday the 13th May
10am – 4:30pm
47 Canterbury Terrace
East Victoria Park
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