Sue Visits the Yates Waterwise Garden Winner
Episode: # 30 22/12/07
Presenter: Sue McDougall
The great Australian Dream is to live right on the beach, waking up to a view of clear blue sparkling water and fresh air. What more could you want?
Well there’s one more thing that you might want and that’s a garden! The down side, if you could call it that, is battling against the wind to get things to grow. You may remember at the beginning of the year Yates ran a competition where you could win a Waterwise consultation with a Garden Guru and $1000’s worth of Yates water saving products.
This week Sue visited WA winner Clare Mairoano bearing gifts and ready to give out some Waterwise garden advice.
Sue: “Congratulations”
Clare: “Thank you very much”
Sue: “I can see you have already started.”
Clare: “Yes, I am aerating the lawn at the moment.”
Sue: “Do you find that the water just runs off this area?”
Clare: “Yeah it runs to the brick work instead of remaining in the grass.”
Sue: “Well, it is a great idea to aerate the lawn at the moment because any water goes to the plants roots. The next thing you might need to do is to also add a wetting agent.”
Wetting agents break down the waxy coating of the soil that forms when it gets very dry. This allows the water to penetrate deeper to the root zone where it is needed.
Clare: “Sue, this area has always been a problem, around the spa. We planted it in May 1999 and wanted it to be lush so we put in the palms. They really haven’t come good so we need some help.”
Sue: “Does the area get full sun in summer?”
Clare: “Yes in summer the full sun bakes right there.”
Sue: “Unfortunately the bamboo palms will never do very well, they do better in shade. So I recommend removing those and replacing them with the gorgeous Yuccas that are available at the moment. Cordylines and even the green leafed Dracaena will do better. They will all give you a beautiful, lush, tropical look but also be very waterwise. One thing I have noticed is that this Hibbertia has thrip damage, so you need to cut it back completely, improve the soil, control the thrip with Yates Confidor and really fertilise it to get it growing nice and strong.”
Sue: “For such an exposed situation this garden really is a credit to you.”
Clare: “Thank you it took us a while to figure out which plants to use, but the mirror bush and the diosma are really hardy and are doing really well.”
Sue: “I have noticed the Indian Hawthorn and the Native Rosemary which also look spectacular.”
Clare “Yes they are doing great.”
Now if you have a similar problem to Clare and feel like you need some expert advice why not join our garden club at www.thegardengurus.tv One of the most popular features of the club is getting your gardening questions answered by the gurus, all of the team at the gurus want you to have the best Waterwise garden possible.
Presenter: Sue McDougall
The great Australian Dream is to live right on the beach, waking up to a view of clear blue sparkling water and fresh air. What more could you want?
Well there’s one more thing that you might want and that’s a garden! The down side, if you could call it that, is battling against the wind to get things to grow. You may remember at the beginning of the year Yates ran a competition where you could win a Waterwise consultation with a Garden Guru and $1000’s worth of Yates water saving products.
This week Sue visited WA winner Clare Mairoano bearing gifts and ready to give out some Waterwise garden advice.
Sue: “Congratulations”
Clare: “Thank you very much”
Sue: “I can see you have already started.”
Clare: “Yes, I am aerating the lawn at the moment.”
Sue: “Do you find that the water just runs off this area?”
Clare: “Yeah it runs to the brick work instead of remaining in the grass.”
Sue: “Well, it is a great idea to aerate the lawn at the moment because any water goes to the plants roots. The next thing you might need to do is to also add a wetting agent.”
Wetting agents break down the waxy coating of the soil that forms when it gets very dry. This allows the water to penetrate deeper to the root zone where it is needed.
Clare: “Sue, this area has always been a problem, around the spa. We planted it in May 1999 and wanted it to be lush so we put in the palms. They really haven’t come good so we need some help.”
Sue: “Does the area get full sun in summer?”
Clare: “Yes in summer the full sun bakes right there.”
Sue: “Unfortunately the bamboo palms will never do very well, they do better in shade. So I recommend removing those and replacing them with the gorgeous Yuccas that are available at the moment. Cordylines and even the green leafed Dracaena will do better. They will all give you a beautiful, lush, tropical look but also be very waterwise. One thing I have noticed is that this Hibbertia has thrip damage, so you need to cut it back completely, improve the soil, control the thrip with Yates Confidor and really fertilise it to get it growing nice and strong.”
Sue: “For such an exposed situation this garden really is a credit to you.”
Clare: “Thank you it took us a while to figure out which plants to use, but the mirror bush and the diosma are really hardy and are doing really well.”
Sue: “I have noticed the Indian Hawthorn and the Native Rosemary which also look spectacular.”
Clare “Yes they are doing great.”
Now if you have a similar problem to Clare and feel like you need some expert advice why not join our garden club at www.thegardengurus.tv One of the most popular features of the club is getting your gardening questions answered by the gurus, all of the team at the gurus want you to have the best Waterwise garden possible.
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