Cacti and Succulents are Native Too!

SYDNEY GARDEN TALK 2RRR 88.5 FM Saturdays 12noon-1pm, Wed. 5-6 pm
Feature Interview: Attila Kapitany, President of the Australian Cacti & Succulent Societ. http://www.cssaustralia.org.au/
Vegetable Hero:Carrots- daucus carrots sativus.
The simplest way to sow carrots is to mix a packet of seed with once cup of river sand, pouring the contents into seed drills or just broadcasting them in 10 cm wide row. Cover the seed with finely sieved compost. Not too thick or they won’t germinate. The sand makes germination easier; but because sand drains so quickly you need to make sure the carrot seedlings don't dry out at this crucial stage.
Carrots have one of the longest germination times of all vegetables; often taking over 3 weeks.
To help with the germination, add a packet of radishes. These germinate in 4-5 days, and help break the surface crust of the soil. The radishes will be gone in a few weeks so no problems with overcrowding there.
Thin the carrot seedlings out when they're about 5cms (2 inches) tall, when they have 4 little leaves to a distance of 2cm (a little under an inch).
Carrots need about 5cm between plants so they can grow the root without pushing onto other carrots, which would stunt/prevent growth of root of harvesting size and shape.
Design Elements: Mediterranean Dry Gardens.
Plant of the Week: Dahlia-March "to do" list.
Continue to remove spent blooms to encourage new flowers to grow, otherwise the plant is fooled into thinking it had better set some seed before dying back for the end of the season.
The more you pick, the more flowers you will have coming on. Always pick with a decent stem, and cut it off just above a leaf node so that the next laterals can grow on. Keep up your spraying with caterpillar spray-something that contains Spinosad.
Continue to disbud where required, and keep up your watering and spraying regime. Water in the cool of the evening, and give a good soaking once or twice a week. This is better than a quick watering every day which achieves very little.
What to do in april-Excessively wet soil may cause the tubers to rot, so if your weather has been wet and stormy, you may want to wait for a drying trend.
Dig and prepare a 30cm-12 inch diameter by 30cm or 12 inch deep planting hole. Mix a shovel full of compost, a handful of bone meal, and a little Dolomite lime to the soil which was removed.
What's On