 Growing Gardens
with Anita Morton
Lawn order
There's nothing like a smooth, green lawn - it gives a house that well-maintained
look, provides the best play surface for kids, and contrasts well with flowers
and shrubs. All you need to remember are the three Ps of good lawn care; pH, Pests
and Permeability.
Lawn grasses grow most strongly in neutral or slightly acid soil (pH 6.5 to
7). Scraggly lawns with moss growing in them have often been heavily fertilised
for years but never limed, so that the soil has become sour. Test it to make sure
this is the problem, and then apply one handful of lime per square metre and water
it in well. Test again in two weeks and apply another dose if necessary. Most
lawns will need liming every two years.
Winter is the ideal time to poison weeds like the dreaded bindii, which is
very common in lawns on compacted soil. Always read the label on the spray you
choose and make sure that it is safe for your type of lawn grass. Beetles and
wormcasts? Unless the whole lawn is dying, just leave them. Nature will restore
a balance.
Lawns need both air and water, which they can't get if the ground is compacted.
A small lawn can be aerated using the fork method; push a garden fork into the
soil to about half its depth and wiggle it back and forth. Repeat this every 15cm
across the whole lawn. If you have a larger lawn, it's well worth hiring a lawn-coring
machine, which will remove plugs of soil. Rake these up, then sweep some coarse
sand or sand/compost mixture over the lawn and into the holes left by the machine.
This will provide permeable channels to let air, water and fertiliser get down
to the lawn's roots, and encourage that smooth, green surface we love.
Lismore Garden Club News
The next Lismore Garden Club meeting will be next Thursday, July 7, at the
Lismore Workers Club from 1.30pm. Due to unforeseen extra business that needs
to be discussed there will be no guest speaker as previously advertised. For further
information phone Ron on 6624 7422 or 0421 021 451.
Now is the time to prune deciduous trees and shrubs and frost resistant evergreens.
Do not prune anything frost tender if you live where frost is likely. If in doubt
wait until mid-August to prune. Don't prune any spring flowering shrubs as you
will remove all the spring blossom. Don't prune passionfruit until spring, however,
grape vines should be pruned now. Sasanqua camellias can be tip pruned as they
finish flowering. From Over the Fence by Shirley Stackhouse.
This is an excellent time to prune frangipannis if you are frost-free. Those
of us that get frost should hold off until August. They are quite easy to strike
from cuttings of almost any size. Just throw the cuttings under a tree or shrub
for a couple of weeks to seal before planting. You can then plant them directly
into the garden with a little sand and water with Seasol or plant them into a
styrofoam vegie box with sand and a little peat moss and water in.
Finally: 'How fair is a garden amid the toils and passions of existence' -
Benjamin Disraeli.
Happy gardening
Ron Burns
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