Coming up

Jerry explores a restored mangrove wetland, Tino meets a gardener just shy of 100, Millie makes a garden hoe from items commonly found in the shed and Jane shows us how to deal with compacted soil in the garden

Gardening Australia Weekly Quiz

A) Solanaceae      
B) Brassicaceae
C) Pottiaceae

See next week's newsletter for the answer!

Answer to last week's quiz question:
Q) To kill weed seeds in horse manure, you can:
A) b - Hot compost it before using it.

What to plant this weekend

Tropical Climate Zone

• Celery
• Cucumber
• Pumpkin
• Squash

• Beetroot
• Chives
• Leeks
• Sweet Corn

• Capsicum
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Sweet Potato

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Lettuce
• Shallots

• Beetroot
• Cucumber
• Leeks
• Radish

What to plant this weekend

COOL

• It’s coriander time!. Planting now will stop this handsome herb from bolting to seed, meaning more foliage for your culinary capers.
• Liliums are finishing up with their fab flowering, so remove spent flower heads by cutting about halfway down the stem. This allows enough foliage to remain to boost bulbs for next year.
• It’s time to get cabbages into the ground. Plant in full sun, allow plenty of space and interplant with land cress (Barbarea vulgaris) to act as a foil for the Cabbage White Butterfly.

• Give your summer flowering hydrangeas a helpful haircut. Prune the stems that flowered this year back by a third and leave the rest – they’ll flower next year!  
• A summer sandwich staple and winter warmer, beetroots are a ripper crop in the home garden. Soak the seeds overnight, and plant into rich, friable soil, spacing apart to about 20cm each.
• For a tough spot in a sunny rockery or hanging basket, fling in a Fan Flower (Scaevola aemula). These native groundcovers are as tough as boots and bear vibrant purple flowers for most of the year.

• Plant the pea that brings the native bees – the pigeon pea! This tough, versatile legume provide seeds perfect for dahl, and attracts a host of beneficial bugs.
• While it might sound like a dance, the Achacha is actually a delicious fruit – tangy, sweet and tasty! This small, evergreen tree (Garcinia humilis) is a Bolivian beauty for backyards – give one a go.
• For year-round colour, consider some awesome Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii varieties). These perennial cottage classics love heat and humidity, flower prolifically and are great performers.

• Possibly the ultimate tropical flower, Heliconia’s are wrapping up their months-long floral show, and will benefit from a tidy up, so remove spent stems and old leaves and use as mulch.
• Short, stocky and dead-set delicious, give a Wax Gourd (Benincasa hispida) a go. This resilient climbing vine produces large “melon-like” fruits that can be eaten in salads, stir-fries and pickles.
• If your cordylines are losing their colour, it could be time for a feed. A nice whack of organic lawn food will give them a balanced kick of nitrogen and potassium, perfect for bringing back the bling!

• Sedum Autumn Joy has great all-year appeal. These succulents are successful in the sunniest of spots, have great upright form, and flower clusters that change with the seasons.
• A tough, attractive living mulch for hot spots is the Creeping Boobialla, Myoporum parvifolium. These great groundcovers establish quickly, flower prolifically and tolerate some foot traffic
• Delicious and nutritious, Fava Beans can be sown now. A staple in Egyptian and Middle Eastern dishes, these quick and easy to grow beans can be podded and eaten fresh or dried and stored.