Emu Valley Newsletter – April 2016

  • Date: 19th April 2016
  • author: Neet

Around the Garden in April   by Neet

Guess what?..... I’m back at work and would just like to thank everyone for the kind thoughts, phone calls, gifts and messages, what would I do without you?!
The garden here is showing obvious signs of Autumn, as is the temperatures! Cool starts, sunny days and fresh nights. Once we get a bit more rain it will be time to plant out with the ready to go plant labels to put alongside them. Our fertiliser delivery will be here early next week so we will be using this around the new plantings and also mulching as we go…. well this is the plan anyway. It’s a lot of work for Maurie, Trevor and I so if there are people out there that would like to help us, then please let me know.

There have also been some busy beavers working in Japan! From sourcing and the delivery of the slate for the path way to the knee and back breaking pain of laying them! It looks fantastic fellas, well done!

My tips for the Autumn gardener…..

  • Now is the perfect time to give your lawns a bit of TLC after the dry and harsh summer. By feeding the lawn with a slow release fertiliser before winter when most things grow so slow, it will give the grass the strength it needs by putting down a good root system and will also help thicken up.
  • Mid Autumn ( when we have hopefully a bit of continual rain) is a great time to get planting and transplanting. The soil is still warm which allows productive root growth before the slow and cold winter.
  • Bulbs can also be planted now and summer flowering bulbs can be dug up and stored in a planting and storage basket or an airy box.
  • Instead of using the leaf blower this year and wasting free and valuable material, how about raking up the leaves and using them as the main ingredient for leaf mould? It won’t take up much room and as a soil amendment, it will be worth it. Allow the leaves to rot down over winter. Some leaves take a lot longer than others to start breaking down, unlike oak leaves, so there is a need to add blood and bone or cow manure etc to help the break down process along a little quicker. Leaf mould helps with drainage and improves the water holding ability but also helps to enrich existing garden beds for those gardeners who already are lucky enough to have good quality soil.

Ok well that’s enough reading now, so time to get your hands dirty and happy gardening.

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