Each season the Rose Society of South Australia releases cultural notes, which are recommendations from the experts on how to care for your roses. Here are the winter cultural notes from Gavin Woods, Past President of the RSSA and the National Rose Society of Australia. Gavin is also Chief Judge with the RSSA and an International Rose Judge accredited with the World Federation of Rose Societies. The photos are of the Rose Society’s Rose of the Month – ‘Pepita’.
Brenton Roberts and his wife Libby have restored an old garden in the Adelaide Hills. Watching over the property is a beautiful old stone home which is also under restoration.
Brenton grew up in the area, and as many people do, moved away with work to further his career. This took him to Ballarat and Melbourne for 8 years, but the goal was always to return home. Brenton tells us, “We knew what we were looking for; a few acres and a home which matched our style. We found our dream property, which although affordable, was run down and quite overgrown. We knew this would mean a tonne of work – especially to make more bushfire safe. Whilst I’d been living in Melbourne, I studied at Burnley Horticultural College and undertook a Graduate Certificate in Garden & Landscape Design, and our new property was the perfect opportunity to allow me full reign with my ideas, whilst incorporating our family’s needs and wants”.
Unfortunately the current Covid19 situation has resulted in a lack of available vegetable seeds and seedlings, but don’t despair if you still have some seeds from last year or even the year before hidden in the back of your laundry cupboard. In many cases these seeds can still be viable if treated correctly.
Seeds have a date that is essentially a best before date, after which the seed viability drops off markedly. Seeds such as chilli, capsicum and even corn have a short shelf life, but now is not the time to plant these anyway. Unfortunately onion seeds fall into this group as well. Other seeds such as beans, peas and the brassicas are often good for up to 3 years, and others such as lettuce and radish are good for 5 to 6 years.
This week, Neutrog’s Microbiologist and R&D Manager, Dr. Uwe Stroeher talks about soil nutrient cycling, and how you can influence this to benefit your plants. The story of nutrient cycling is very interesting – many people think that in order for lush plant growth in your garden, you need lots and lots of nutrients. This is true to some extent, however in rainforests or tropical areas, in many cases the soil itself is nutrient poor, so the lush growth is due to rapid cycling of those nutrients. When leaves or other organic matter fall in these tropical areas, the insects and microbes quickly get to work in breaking down the material in order to make the nutrients available for the next round of plant growth. It is by the action of bacteria and fungi that the rainforest can support the diversity and vigour, however we can’t all have a rainforest…
As gardeners, I’m sure many of us have gone out into the garden after it’s been raining and you can smell that lovely earthy smell. You can often smell it when you turn over your compost heap. This is due to a compound called Geosmin, which is a compound secreted by bacteria know as Streptomyces. What it indicates is a soil that is biologically active – meaning it has a lot of bacteria and fungi in it. Exactly the sort of thing you want to have. Geosmin is a bit of a strange compound. Humans can detect it at very low levels and we love the smell of it in the soil. Geosmin gives beets that district earthy flavour, and it is even used in perfumes to get that earthy smell. We don’t know exactly why bacteria produce Geosmin – it may be to attract soil insect like the spring tails…
