The Horticultural Society’s Spring Flower Show was a resounding success. Thank you to all the people that scoured their gardens and brought in entries and kept our stewards and judges busy. Given the atrocious weather we had experienced leading up to the show, we were delighted with the large number and quality of entries. There are some truly talented gardeners in our Warwick area.
Once again the number of entries in the rose classes proved the aptness of the title “Rose City”. If you missed coming down this year, put it on your calendar for 2018.
With the rain that we have enjoyed recently, I hope you have all been inspired to get your summer vegetable gardens underway.
I have planted some Beefsteak and Gross Lisse tomatoes, and I’m looking for some Oxheart plants.
Recently, I was given and able to enjoy these varieties from plants that had continued to produce all through winter in a protected garden. I have never tasted such wonderful organically grown tomatoes in my life and the quantity from a limited number of vines was amazing. To be eating quantities of vine ripened tomatoes not grown in a hot house in spring was astounding. The vines were starting to look a little worse for wear, so they were pruned back, and I’m told are now flourishing and flowering ready to produce a crop for the second year.
I have planted watermelons and rockmelons in my new garden beds that have been fallowed through the winter. They should really go well this summer and I am looking forward to enjoying the melons in January. As I said in an earlier column, I am not going away in January 2018, I am going to be at home, so I can enjoy the fruits of my labour!
“Warpaint” was the watermelon of choice, as I am reliably informed by a fellow gardener that it is one of the best as he grew it very successfully last year. We’ll see as I have also put that old favourite “Klondike Special” in, so the competition is on.
Lettuce, radish, beans, cucumbers, beetroot, zucchini and squash have all yet to find a place, along with capsicum, eggplant and, something I have always wanted to grow and cook, artichokes.
Radish is a great crop to grow with children as they are so fast to come up from seed and so quick to mature to a size where they can be pulled, washed and eaten straight from the garden. Put a few seeds in every two weeks and you will have a succession of new plants poking their heads up, and the children will be delighted.
My three-year-old grandson has planted watermelons and was down watering them each day, but asked his dad, “where are the melons?“ He expected, in this modern instant age, that the melons would be ready to pick immediately! I have suggested that they plant him some radishes!
In the flower garden, the sweet peas are finished and have been removed and the posts and trellis dismantled.
I have had an idea for some time for a feature for a garden. In a past life, I have tried to describe it and get it in place in a farm garden but had not been able to adequately share the inspiration so it never eventuated. Lately, I have been better able to share the picture and now have the promise of the old wooden gate needed and help in putting it in place so next year my sweet peas should be able to ramble over it as I have imagined.
The snails have had a field day while my back was turned and done some real damage to the hippeastrums. Not to worry, a good feed and some care and they will be flourishing next year. I bought some plain white ones and have interspersed them among the dark red that I rescued.
The Jacobean lilies are blooming beautifully at present. Such a beautiful flower and so easy to grow in a pot or garden bed and seem to be almost indestructible.
Last year, I scattered some seed that my granddaughter in WA had sent me. It was from some lovely pink double poppies and a single red one came up among them. They were so easy to grow and provided a great display, so I let them drop their seeds in anticipation of another show this year. Sure enough up they came and to my delight have put on a great display for some weeks. Just one thing puzzles me though – this year they are all the lovely bright red!! Not a pink bloom in sight. My only explanation is, that like hydrangeas, they must be affected by the pH of the soil. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has an explanation. Luckily, I still have some of the original WA seeds so will scatter some next year and see if I get pink and red.
