Howdy, Green Lifers!

Welcome to August.   In the Nyoongar calendar, we're heading into Djilba - which is when the seasons begin to change (towards what we'd call 'Spring').  It is the time of conception; many native animals are breeding now so their young are born into a season of plentiful food.  In our local bush, Acacias are flowering, and some of the other wildflowers like Hibbertia and Hovea are beginning to flower, too!  Every week at this time of year, the bush comes alive with something else flowering.
It is the time of year in the South West of WA that we're still having rainy days and cold weather, but there's also cold, clear days that can bring gorgeous blue skies and perfect conditions for gardening.  Why not #wanderoutyonder this year and check out the wildflowers.  No time for a long trip?  A take a picnic up into the hills and enjoy!  We're so very lucky compared to our friends & relatives in the Eastern States that are locked down.  Our thoughts are with them - we all appreciate how lucky we are in the West right now.  Let's hope it stays that way; we've all got a responsibility to do our bit.

We know from what happened here a few months back that spending time in the garden becomes an important way to de-stress.  Many people are looking at new projects around their home and garden;so we've got an article below on vertical gardening, becoming a bit of a trend with builders & landscape architects.  If you're looking for a challenge, it might be for you! Gardening (in particular growing your own fruit, vegies & herbs) has so many other benefits to our overall physical AND mental health.  If you're a new gardener since Covid-19 we welcome you to the Green Life tribe!  

With Spring just around the corner, it's time to get busy in the garden.  Days are getting longer, which is the trigger for many of our plants to emerge from winter dormancy and put on new growth.  While we had a good start to winter rains in May & June, July (at least while I'm writing this) has been warmer and dryer than the average, and many of our plants are a little confused.  Some things haven't gone dormant that normally would have by now, and lots of people are telling me their roses are still flowering!  If that's you, and you're not sure what to do - we've got some advice from local gardening expert Deryn Thorpe.  Check it out below.

Hopefully we'll providing you with inspiration to get out and enjoy your garden this month & we look forward to seeing you soon.

Cheers

Linda (& the Team @ The Green Life Soil Co)

In this newsletter:

Jobs to do in the August garden
What to Plant NOW
Roses - to Prune or not to Prune
Vertical Gardens in Perth
Photo competition winner
VIP special offer
Retailer update

Jobs to do in the August garden

• Rose pruning. If you haven't already done so, it's time to give Roses and other perennial flowering plants their winter prune to encourage a flush of spring blossoms.  (See our feature article below from Perth gardening pro Deryn Thorpe regarding rose pruning.)  
• Feed. Keep feeding your winter vegies that are still producing. A light feed with seaweed tonic and some fish emulsion are perfect every 1 - 2 weeks to keep things going.
• Select the best plants for seed saving. Label these plants and continue to feed & observe for pests.
• Check on your compost. Piles that you've created with winter weeds & autumn leaves should be cooking nicely. Check on the nitrogen to carbon ratio - if the piles are too wet, add more shredded dry material. If they're too dry, add a bit of water. A handful or two of blood & bone and a good turn over of the pile should get things cooking again. Start a new pile for new material and monitor your existing pile every week - it should cook nicely for you to use with in 1-2 months for your Spring crops.
• Select & plan your seed propagation. You can start to raise some Spring vegies. A few seeds in trays that you can move around and keep warm will give you a great head start (providing they survive the rest of winter). A few seeds sown every few weeks will mean you'll jag the right time early on - covering your bets.  
• Take photos or make some notes of your Winter garden - where you grew what vegies. What worked (what didn't work) and what do you think might be a good idea to try next Autumn/Winter? Taking 5 or 10 minutes to do this now is better than trying to remember what it looked like in six month's time.
• Get ready to feed up your fruit trees. It is possibly a little early at the start of the month, but heading to the end of August/early September (and depending on the weather) it's time to feed up your Citrus trees, and your deciduous trees that will be emerging from Winter dormancy. We recommend a good slow release fertiliser or soil improver that contains rock dust (or use rock dust separately) - the trace elements will lead to healthier plants and better tasting fruit.  Beware of too much nitrogen alone for your citrus trees - lots of sappy green growth is perfect for citrus gall wasps.  Speaking of this pest; inspect your trees and make sure any galls have been removed; in late Winter the young adults will be emerging - if you see little exit holes in the galls you're already too late.  The adults will be laying eggs in your citrus trees sometime late August/September.  Sustainable Gardening Australia recommends using yellow sticky traps in your citrus to help; but don't leave them in the trees too much later in the Spring to avoid catching other beneficial insects.  Also be aware small birds can be caught in these traps - so do use the ones with protective cages or do some googling to fashion your own.
• Citrus Gall Wasp - newsflash!  Soon - GLSC will have a kaolin clay product available to use as a protective spray against this pest.  More news to follow next month.
• Spray your fruit trees. If you need to spray peaches/nectarines for peach leaf curl, or against brown rot or other fungal diseases that affected last year's crops, make sure you're ready to go at the appropriate time. With peach leaf curl there's a specific window just as the new growth buds are about to burst; if you miss it you're already too late.
• Plan. If you're going to build new garden beds, or relocate existing ones, now's the time to plan and build. If you're wanting to go no-dig and use up some decaying plant material & weeds, it's a good time to start so things can begin decomposing. Solarise soil with plastic to cook weeds before you mulch any new paths, etc. See our article on organic weed control (including solarisation) here.  Time poor?  Consider the Foodcube (pictured right).  Australian made from food grade recycled plastic, they're a wicking bed kit that's ready to go.  Fill it with our Certified Organic Vegie Mix and you're guaranteed to grow!
• Plant trees & shrubs. Bare rooted trees are now available & it's the best time to plant before they emerge from dormancy. Consider planting some flowering native plants to bring in birds and pollinators. Visit a good nursery on a lovely, sunny day and get some advice about what variety/ies will suit your garden, situation & site, and soil type.
• Weed your garlic!  (actually - weed all your vegie garden) but garlic in particular dislikes competition, and you'll want it to be doing as best as it can over the next couple of months, as bulbs will be starting to thicken up now.  The work you do now will pay off in late Spring when it's harvest time.

What to Plant NOW

There's still time to get some crops in the ground of potatoes, onions, peas, broad beans. And there's Asparagus, Rhubarb & Jerusalem Artichokes (pictured right - they're related to sunflowers!) - in store @ GLSC.
Click onto the highlighted text above to go to the fact sheets for these plants for the detailed growing information you need to get started. 

You can also begin to start some seeds off in trays - but my advice would be to do a few only. There's still plenty of time, and no need to risk all your seed on one roll of the dice. Remember our free downloadable When to Sow guide for Perth also has some handy tips on germination temperatures and times - check it out here.  We've recently stocked up on spring/summer seed varieties (including lots of tomatoes) so come on in and stock up! (And check out our VIP special offer this month!)

Vegies to consider growing now include: Artichokes (Globe & Jerusalem), Asian Greens, Asparagus, Beans, Broad Beans, Beetroot, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Choko, English Spinach, Kale, Kohl Rabi, Leek, Lettuce, Onion, Parsnip, Peas, Potato, Radish, Silverbeet, Snow Peas, Spring Onion, Turnip.

Plus many herbs will grow well now - still time to grow Coriander, for example. (Pictured right.)
See our Planting Guide for Herbs here (free download).

... That is the question we posed to horticulturalist and journalist Deryn Thorpe.  She graciously provided us with this information:-

Winter has been so warm that many roses have not gone into dormancy this year, especially in warm coastal areas.

Most roses will still need a prune. I delay pruning most roses until the flowering flush is over but any roses with black-spotty foliage are pruned even if they have flowers as they look very unattractive and I don’t want to allow the fungal spores to hang around and affect new spring growth on other specimens..

My tea roses (these are old roses that are the forerunners of hybrid tea roses) are continually blooming and many naturally bloom through winter. These are roses like Comtesse de Labathe (aka Duchesse de Brabant), G Nabonand (aka Jean Ducher) and Rosette de Lizzy and Mrs B R Cant which were mostly bred in France from the mid 19th. I usually prune them in late spring or early summer after a flush of blooms has finished. They only really need pruning to shape - or once every three or four years which is terribly convenient if you get too busy (or lazy) to prune.

While most people recommend a spray of a fungicide after pruning I find that if I pick up the diseased foliage this is not essential in the hot, dry climate of Perth. Since learning more about the role that soil fungi play in plant nutrition and health I prefer not to use fungicides unless absolutely necessary.

Deryn is a keen rose grower and co host of All The Dirt Podcast, Australia’s most popular gardening podcast. There are more than 120 podcasts on a wide range of plant, garden and sustainability topics available on www.allthedirt.com.au or through any podcast app.

Vertical Gardens - Upwards and Onwards!

But do they work in drier climates?  I will just come straight out with it and say I'm not a big fan of them in Perth.  Admittedly, some are done very well.  There are some large scale commercial walls that are amazing (like the one pictured here which is featured at the refurbished Midland Gate Shopping Centre & installed by Deep Green Landscapes). But behind the scenes, there has been a lot of work in developing high-tech growing systems and a lot of very careful plant selection.  Most have automatic moisture sensors that operate computer controlled retic over multiple zones, delivering regular water to only those cells that need it, and several times a day if required.  Commercial green walls are regularly maintained and replanted as necessary in order to keep them looking good.  Most have interlocking 'tiles' that are planted up, and are easily swapped out from time to time to refresh plantings and allow easier maintenance.  They're expensive to install and maintain, and specialist firms are usually involved in their upkeep.  I wonder how 'green' their ecological footprint really is - but I guess it's a better than a blank concrete wall in terms of habitat, heat islands and aesthetics. The cells used in Midland (pictured right) are planted up using an unusual mix of native plants including Eremophila Glabra Prostrata, Westringia and Lomandra.)

2) Plant selection.  This is absolutely key to your success.  Have a look at vertical gardens elsewhere.  What is similar to your site, or different to your site?  What varieties have been chosen?  How big will they grow?  How long will they last before they need to be replaced with younger plants (if they're going to get too big).  What is their growth habit and will it suit a vertical space?  How much water do they need?  If there's ever a need to consider plant groupings based on water requirements - this is it!  Gravity will mean the plants higher up are going to have less water available to them between waterings; while those lower down may end up with wet feet.  

4) Soil and growing media.  We always stress the importance of soil to the ultimate health of your plant - and vertical gardens are no exception.  Soils need to be lightweight AND retain moisture.  Cocopeat, vermiculite and perlite are traditionally used in vertical garden growing media.  Also useful is spongolite, silica and Charlie Charcoal - again; lightweight products with the ability to hold on to moisture, and some other special and useful properties.  We have all of these available at GLSC.  Can't be bothered trying to make a growing medium yourself?  We make a ready to use Vertical Garden Mix which we've supplied to a number of commercial installations; and we also bag this in our standard 25L bags if you've only got a small project to work with.

Vegies & Herbs in Vertical Gardens

Unfortunately many of our traditional vegetables and herbs originate from countries and climates a little less harsh than ours - and there are not too many that thrive under the stressful conditions of exposed sites, reduced area for root growth, and insufficient/irregular water available.  So it tends to be tricky to grow herbs and vegies this way.  If you want to have a go at food crops in a vertical garden system, pay particular attention to soil quality, available nutrients and moisture.  Smaller growing plants (lettuce, strawberries, spinach, chives, garlic chives, spring onion, oregano, thyme, mizuna, tatsoi, radish, chard, small chilli varieties) will be the better ones to try.  Consider them annuals and have succession plantings in small pots ready to swap out plants that are struggling, tired or have grown too big if you wish to have your vertical garden in tip-top shape all the time.  Liquid feed with fish, worm whiz or kelp regularly to keep nutrition up.  Watch for diseases in crowded spots - you want your green wall looking lush but vegies often need good airflow to avoid fungal issues.

Ornamental plants in Vertical Gardens

Your choice of plants will depend very much on your site and prevailing conditions.  In a shady spot, traditional indoor plants like smaller philodendron species, devils ivy, begonias, old fashioned spider/ribbon plant, liriope and ferns can look spectacular and provide a lush, tropical feel.  For hotter areas, you may be better off with succulents like echeveria, sedum, haworthia and sempervivum - there are many cute colours and varieties to choose from.  A good nursery will be able to offer you advice - remember the concept of plant groupings.  Choose things that have similar watering requirements so they'll work well together.
Another really good choice is hardy bromeliads.  Again, there's a huge variety of colours and types to choose from, and they will lend a cooling, green feel to your vertical space.
Pictured here is Cherise from Garden Deva Landscape Design's vertical garden she recently shared on her Instagram page (@gardendevadesign) - her bromeliads look amazing and she says they're very tough, surviving on surprisingly little water, but it is not in a full sun position.

Lastly - if you're keen to have some vertical greenery around your home but you're not sure that a true green wall system will work for you - there are other things to consider.  Perhaps a climbing vine on a trellis, or an espaliered tree would work better for you.  Given their roots are in the ground (or at least in a pot, on the ground) it is a little easier to provide these plants with more "normal" growing conditions.  These plants can be trained to grow upwards, providing coverage for walls and fences, or privacy screening, and often require less maintenance.  

Photo Competition winner for August

So send in your photos via email or FB - we pick a winner at random each month, so next month it may well be YOU!  You've got to be in it to win it, so what are you waiting for?   

It's the time of year to get your Spring seeds started!  So to give you a helping hand, we're offering you a FREE bag of our Certified Organic Seed Raising Mix with any purchase over $50 this month.  So come on in, grab your seeds & other gardening goodies - and get growing!  

We'd love to welcome Blossoms Nursery in Denmark to the Green Life family!  So if you live in the Great Southern you too can find some of GLSC's products close to home.  Blossoms has a fabulous range of plants (including some unusual succulents) and lovely giftware too ~ you're sure to find a home/garden souvenir or two.  Get your #wanderoutyonder on and take a trip to the beautiful Denmark region and check out a great nursery!  (What other excuse do you need?)  Go say 'hi' to Kaye and Don (Blossoms' lovely owners) and support another local business.

Beaufort Garden World - Inglewood 9271 0585
Evergreen Studio - North Beach 0419 091 095
Garden Elegance - Subiaco 9381 2197
Guildford Town Garden Centre - Guildford 9279 8645
Nibali Stockfeed - Hamilton Hill 9433 2211
Stanbee Stockfeeds - Barragup 9581 2390
Thrive Sustainability - Lower Chittering 0408 157 301
Waldecks Bentley - Bentley 9458 5944
Waldecks Melville - Melville 9330 6970
Waldecks Kingsley - 9309 5088
Waldecks Stirling - 9254 6730
Zanthorrea Nursery - Maida Vale 9454 6260

Australind Landscaping Supplies 9796 1720
Blossoms Nursery (Denmark) 9848 2014
Busselton - U scape Garden Centre 9751 3995
Leschenault & Bunbury Markets - Fancy Plants Nursery 0428 844 597
Margaret River - Nutrient Ag Solutions (formerly Landmark) 9758 7677

All stockists carry different items (so give them a call and check!). If there's an item of ours they don't usually carry, in most cases they'd be very happy to add it to their next order for you.
Know of anywhere in your area that you'd like to stock our products? Let us know (as well as letting THEM know!) and we'd be happy to approach them.

Remember to keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages for news & updates regularly.
THANK YOU for being part of the Green Life family - stay safe, stay healthy & keep gardening!