Our tomato season survey needs your feedback

How was your tomato crop this season?
Despite record summer heat, many gardeners enjoyed a reasonable harvest – particularly where the crops were protected by shade.
Sadly for many, results were disappointing.
So what are the lessons to be learnt from the 2019 growing season?
If you grew tomatoes this season your results and comments in our end-of-season tomato review, will help all growers next year in their quest to grow some of the top tomatoes in town.
Results will be published in the Good Gardening newsletter on Friday, April 5 and summarised on ABC Radio Adelaide’s Saturday Talkback Gardening.

You can complete the brief online survey form here »

Check for nematodes as the tomato season ends

Before removing the last of this season’s spent tomato bushes, check their roots for signs of nematodes.
If there are large numbers of small galls along the roots, you have a problem and tomatoes should not be planted in that spot next year.
There are no chemical controls available for home gardeners but you can buy varieties with resistance to this nematode.

Bidens Campfire makes a stunning impression

This is a very colourful, fast-growing, low, clumping plant with an ability to produce masses of blooms during autumn, winter and spring.
The daisy-like blooms are bronze red, single and surprisingly large while the canopy is low-growing but compact (20 to 25 cm x 25 to 30 cm).
Bidens Campfire looks great when mass-planted in the front of a small garden bed or along a pathway.
The look is also effective when you mix Campfire with other colour plants in a large courtyard container. Definitely a sun-lover and extremely easy to grow.

Bidens Campfire are available from leading garden centres.

Plenty of choice for autumn vege planting

If you’re thinking of growing vegetables this autumn, there’s a smorgasbord of crops that will be ready to eat by late winter or early spring, providing they are planted soon – maybe after the present warm spell.
All being well, you could be harvesting broccoli, mini cabbage, lettuce, silver beet and peas, along with a range of Asian vegetables and herbs.

» Broccoli – hard to beat

Put broccoli at the top of your planting list. A punnet of well grown seedlings planted this weekend should produce tasty, fresh, ready to harvest heads during June.
Green Duke is the quickest maturing variety, producing a single large head.
Green Sprouting takes a few weeks longer to mature and, while the main head is smaller, once cut it will sprout again, producing numerous mini heads.

» Root vegetables and bulbs need phosphorus

If you are an organic gardener and rely mainly on animal manures to grow your vegetables and bulbs, keep in mind these provide a very good source of slow release nitrogen and sometimes potash, however they lack phosphorus.
This element is critical for early plant growth and in particular the development of strong healthy roots.
The problem is easily rectified by incorporating superphosphate (50 to 100 g/m²) into the top 10 to 15 cm of the planting area.

It's a good time for repotting

Plants that produce strong growth during the growing season quickly fill the available container space, particularly if it is relatively small.
In this situation, there are two options.

Root pruning – remove the plant from its container and using secateurs, remove 2 cm of root growth and potting mix from around the root ball and 2-4 cm from the base of the root ball.
This will allow you to replace the smaller root ball back into its original container. Back fill with quality potting mix containing slow release fertiliser.
Water well and allow the plant to recover in a shady but well lit location for at least a week.
Moving to a larger container – a plant that has been in the same container for more than year and is likely to increase in size over the next season will also benefit from re-potting into a container that is 20-30 percent larger than the original.
Remove the plant from its container. Cut off any strong roots that are circling the root ball and re-pot into the larger container, again using quality potting mix.

Don’t fertilise the lawn just yet

It may be autumn and this is the season most gardeners like to fertilise their lawn.
But wait a little longer. As SA turf adviser Stefan Palm points out in his lawn blog this week, it is all to do with timing.
There are very good reasons for waiting just a little longer.

More information »

Collecting windfalls will curb pests, diseases

As fruits begin to mature, a small percentage invariably falls to the ground.
In most cases, these fruits have been damaged by birds, insects or disease.
Removing windfalls on a regular basis is a very effective way of reducing and even preventing many of the insect pests and diseases that occur during the growing season.

Planting bulbs in containers – growing tips

Place the bulbs so that they are covered with potting mix equal to their own depth.
Space the bulbs 5-10 cm apart.
Use a quality potting mix that contains enough fertiliser to start the bulbs growing.
Once the first set of leaves is fully formed, begin a fortnightly program of feeding with a liquid or foliar fertiliser.
Keep the potting mix just moist but not soggy wet.

Get ready to attack your nutgrass

If you have nutgrass growing in your garden now is the time for action.
Nutgrass grows from numerous, very difficult-to-destroy bulbs.
However, in the coming weeks, the plants will be producing energy in their leaves for storage within their bulbs.
This makes them very vulnerable to the systemic herbicide, glyphosate.
If you spray or wipe the leaves of nut grass, the chemical will be absorbed by the leaves and moved into the bulbs and they will slowly die.
However, the weedicide must be applied while the plants are making active growth.
It may sound perverse, but watering the weeds three to four days before spraying or wiping will improve their destruction significantly.
Repeat spraying next season will be needed.

Please keep your questions for Talkback Gardening

Good Gardening is unable to answer individual reader's questions via email.
If you're looking for specific gardening advice please give me a call on ABC Radio Adelaide's Saturday morning Talkback Gardening or speak to the experts at your local garden centre.

Open Gardens

Saturday, Sunday March 16 &17
Tropical Cooinda
34 Cooinda Crescent, Athelstone
An abundance of colourful flowering frangipanis, hibiscus and bougainvillea, ornamental gingers, palms, yuccas, cordylines, cannas and cycads give a Balinese resort feel to the garden at Tropical Cooinda.
More information on the garden and directions »

Gardens open 10 am to 4.30 pm.
Entry $8 - OGSA members; $6 - Government concession card holders; children under 18 free.

More information on the 2019 season »

Talkback Gardening tomorrow

ABC Radio Adelaide Talkback Gardening this Saturday – phone me and Deb Tribe on 1300 222 891 and have your own gardening question answered.

Guest – Stefan Palm, home garden lawn adviser.
Topic – Is it time to change the way we grow our lawns?

Coming soon

Saturday, Sunday March 23 & 24
Bromeliad Society Annual Show and Sales Extravaganza
Maltese Cultural Centre, 6 Jeanes St, Beverley. Sat -9 am to 3 pm, Sun - 10 am to 3 pm. Free entry both days.

Wednesday, March 27 to Sunday, March 31
Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show
Royal Exhibition Buildings and Carlton Gardens, Melbourne.
More information »

Saturday, Sunday, April 6, 7
Enfield Horticultural Society’s Autumn Show
Saturday 12 noon - 5 pm, and Sunday 10 am - 4pm, Klemzig Community Hall, 242 North East Road, Klemzig. Admission $2. Enquiries 8251 2299.

National Rose Trial Garden, People’s choice weekend
National Rose trial Garden, Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

Sunday, April 7
Autumn Garden Festival
Clare Showgrounds Sunday, April 14 Food Forrest Open Day Gawler, SA.
More information »

Australian Plant Society Fleurieu Group and Friends of Nangawooka Flora Reserve, open day and native plant sale
Nangawooka Flora Reserve, Victor Harbor. 11 am to 4 pm. North of Victor Harbor on the corner of Waterport Rd and the Adelaide - Victor Harbor Rd. Soil testing available (bring a sample), grafting demonstrations.

Saturday, Sunday, April 13, 14
Rose Society of South Australia autumn rose show
Burnside community Centre. Saturday12 noon – 5 pm; Sunday10 am – 4 pm
https://sarose.org.au/https://sarose.org.au/

Native Plant Sale, Australian Plants Society
Adelaide Showgrounds, Wayville. Sat 10 am-4 pm Sun 10 am to 3 pm. Gold coin donation. Large range of SA grown plants from $5, including rare, grafted and local provenance and featuring small plants & groundcovers. Free pH soil testing, expert advice, workshops, rare books, artists, children’s activities and more. A list of plants available will be on the website a week before the sale. www.australianplantssa.asn.au

Saturday, April 13
ABC Gardeners' Market
ABC carpark, 85 North East Road, Collinswood.

Saturday, Sunday, April 27, 28
Festival of Flowers 2019
St Paul’s College, 792 Grand Junction Road, Gilles Plains.

Saturday, April 27
SA Fern Society – fern sale
Adelaide High School.

Saturday, Sunday, June 15, 16
SAROC Orchid Fair
Drill Hall, Torrens Parade Ground, King William Rd., Adelaide. Saturday 9 am – 5 pm; Sunday10 am – 4 pm. More information »

Regular garden attractions

Adelaide Botanic Gardens – free guided walks
Friends of the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide guided walks for the public at Adelaide, Mount Lofty and Wittunga Botanic Gardens, and Botanic Park.
More information »

The Waite Arboretum, Fullarton Road, Urrbrae
Open free to the public every day of the year from dawn to dusk, except on fire ban days. Free guided walks on the first Sunday of every month, 11 am to 12.30 pm.
Meet at the West lawn (Croquet Lawn) of Urrbrae House. Bookings not necessary.
More information »

Urrbrae House historic precinct gardens
At the end of Walter Young Avenue, off Fullarton Road, Urrbrae, or from the Urrbrae House gate, Claremont Avenue, Netherby.
Open from dawn until dusk every day. Free entry.
More information »

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