Episode: Five
Date: 16th May
Story: Garden Lessons
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane

There are a few prickly problems which you need to watch out for in your garden at this time of the year, and Trevor shows you how to save your favourite plants from them.

Roses

Pruning is always good at this time of year. In some areas of Australia, one last prune of your roses can mean one last flush before winter dormancy sets in.
You must always watch out for suckers when pruning. Suckers are the root stock of the rose which drives vigorous and wild growth.
It is very important to remove them, but only do so by hand. Do not cut them with secateurs, as this will result in more new shoots that will eventually take over your plant.
The trick is to watch out for them occurring under the graft. You can tell wild roses quite easily, for their leaves are completely different to your rose and the thorns are hooked.
If you see big strong shoots coming out of the base of the plant, don?t worry. This is a good sign, as they are water shoots and are in fact the future frame of the rose.
Water shoots means your roses will grow well and produce a lot of flowers in the coming years.

Passionfruit
One problem that occurs with passionfruit this time of the year is a weed-like plant that is typically associated with this plant.
The root stock of the passionfruit suckers from the roots of the plant, as it makes its way up through the soil.
There is only one way to treat them, and that is to cut them above the soil surface.
After cutting them, paint on some glyphosate, a systemic herbicide. This travels down the stem and kills it, along with the immediate emerging roots which support the new plant.

Lemon-Scented Geraniums
Geraniums come in a huge range of different scents and fragrances, one of the nicest being the lemon-scented geranium.
Geraniums are rich in oil, and are what is used at the base of many house deodorizers that we can buy at the supermarket.
To save money, simply grow this plant, put a bunch of its leaves in a vase and place in the bathroom.

The lemon-scented Geranium can grow to an approximate height of 0.7metres and to a width of 0.9metres.