Focus On Gardens in Manly West | Garden centre

Focus On Gardens

Locality: Manly West

Phone: +61 418 757 934

Address: 22 Berrimilla Street, Manly West 4179 Manly West, QLD, Australia

Website: http://focusongardens.com.au

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25.01.2022 Isnt it great to see some winter colour out. This time of year can be a bit dreary if there are no flowering plants in your garden. If you have room in your garden or better still live on acreage, the Brisbane Wattle (Acacia perangusta) puts on a lovely yellow show during the winter months. It is a graceful small tree - growing to 6m tall.

24.01.2022 Soils ain't soils most of the time. We dug up some soil at the Laidley property while I was there and I returned home to add some of my home made compost. The original soil was dry, extremely hard to dig out and clayey when wet. With the addition of compost the soil was 'brought back to life'.

23.01.2022 Soils aint soils most of the time. We dug up some soil at the Laidley property while I was there and I returned home to add some of my home made compost. The original soil was dry, extremely hard to dig out and clayey when wet. With the addition of compost the soil was brought back to life.

23.01.2022 This week Year 5 at St Martin's school filled the worm tunnels with vegie & fruit scraps. Vegie seedlings were planted in early august and we are using Nutri-tech's Backyard Blooms and Backyard Boost, both organic liquid fertilisers.

23.01.2022 Italy is leaving the cold winter behind and headibg into spring. The delicate perfume of the flowering Wisteria wafts through laneways and streets and is proof that warm weather is on its way. As well as residents, many restaurants and eateries have baskets and pots of flowers decorating their businesses.

21.01.2022 Winter has officially been declared, however, the rain is keeping us all warmer than usual. What plants have you noticed that are now flowering around your neighbourhood? If you have any plants you would like to know about, please ask. One colourful plant is the Poinsettia. Euphorbia pulcherrima blooms in winter. It is a lover of regular watering, full sun and humus-rich well drained soil. Their flowers are actually called bracts which are leaf like. They require more darkness and less light to flower. They make great plants to have in pots on decks and balconies. Visit your local nursery to see the different colour cultivars.

21.01.2022 Don't forget to plant some colour in your vegetable & herb patch. These are also companions in the garden and have other uses apart from looking pretty. Marigolds attract pollinators and predatory insects, Garlic deter ants & aphids and slugs, nasturtiums deter aphids and the OIL from the Calendula flowers can make a potent organic herbicide. There are so many lovely flowers that will be beneficial in your garden.

20.01.2022 The cool temperatures of Winter are almost here and with the change in seasons, comes the delightful and fascinating flowers of the Fuchsia. Known for their pendulous dainty flowers, these plants really grow well during the cooler weather. Fuchsias are ideal in a hanging basket, pot or window boxes and will grow well in a warm light shade position.

20.01.2022 This week Year 5 at St Martins school filled the worm tunnels with vegie & fruit scraps. Vegie seedlings were planted in early august and we are using Nutri-techs Backyard Blooms and Backyard Boost, both organic liquid fertilisers.

20.01.2022 Did you get some rain?? We received 10ml last night, not a lot - plants are looking fresh this morning though. Hope to get some more! Bring it on - I say

20.01.2022 Happy Bastille Day if you are are celebrating this day of independence that has been a national holiday for centuries. The national flower of France is the gorgeous Iris. Its stylized version of the flower is used for the countrys insignia and national emblem. The iris, or fleur-de-lis, has been used to represent French royalty since the 13th century and is said to signify perfection, light and life. In heraldic designs used by the French monarchy, the three petals also represented wisdom, faith and chivalry.

19.01.2022 Isn't it great to see some winter colour out. This time of year can be a bit dreary if there are no flowering plants in your garden. If you have room in your garden or better still live on acreage, the Brisbane Wattle (Acacia perangusta) puts on a lovely yellow show during the winter months. It is a graceful small tree - growing to 6m tall.

17.01.2022 By now you will have harvested or are in the process of harvesting your winter grown produce. Cabbages grow really well in the cooler months here in the subtropical and can be sliced, stir-fried, steamed in butter and a little black pepper AND used raw in coleslaw. Red cabbage is a great colour for coleslaw.

16.01.2022 Trachelospermum jasminoides ( Star Jasmine)

16.01.2022 Well I have decided to change my cover - do you like it. I think it sums up what I am about. Healthy soils bring beautiful plants and an abundance of fruit and vegetables. I have been flat out showing the children of two schools that I teach at how to grow tasty vegetables organically. St Mary Mackillop Primary at Birkdale has a large garden area with 12 garden beds and now the chooks have joined the garden area. This pic shows the early stages of the garden beds

15.01.2022 Have you seen any worms in your garden recently. The dry weather isn't the only thing that keeps them away. Did you know earthworms will come to the garden like bees to a honeypot if you add well composted organic matter to your soil. They love the microbes in the composted matter.

15.01.2022 Healthy plants grow well in healthy soils. Adding organic matter to your soil is just the start to growing great vegies, herbs and ornamentals. This is what you may start with .....

15.01.2022 11 mm of rain is what we received from a torrential downpour yesterday afternoon over the bayside suburbs. My husband said it would hail and of course thats what happened, albeit very small hail covered our backyard. And then it melted away so soon after. The dark sky brought out a double rainbow. The garden is starting to look Refreshed !

14.01.2022 I have returned to both School Vegetable gardens to share my love of growing and eating your own grown vegetables with the children of the schools. At St Mary Mackillop Primary School, Birkdale, the year 6 and 7class have planted leeks, beetroot, strawberries and marigolds. This week they applied a liquid fertiliser, weeded and mulched the bed. Sun flowers that were planted last semester were also transplanted to another bed as Penola Patch garden area is also to become a ho...me to some chickens and a lonely hen. We are all looking forward to their arrival as soon as the hen house is completed. St Martins Primary School at Carina has another crop of vegetables planted this semester by the Grade Ones. Lettuce, beans, basil, tomatoes, parsley, beetroot and oregano are growing in their above ground garden beds. Keep viewing this site as there is more news to come regarding both schools. See more

13.01.2022 The jasmines and Jacarandas are all out in flower. We all know the highly perfumed Trachelospermum jasminoides (White Star jasmine) - the Trachelospermum jasmi...noides variegata (Variegated jasmine - pink, cream & green) which is used as a ground cover but did you know about the Trachelospermum asiaticum (Yellow flowered jasmine)? This is perfumed too but not as strong as the Star jasmine, I think. I am enjoying its wafting perfume through my kitchen window at the moment and will all through summer. See more

12.01.2022 At the start of this week I was visiting a couple that grow Lavender, Lemon Myrtle and Olives on their property just south of Laidley. There was an abundance of Monarch butterflies and bees all around their Callistemon (bottlebrush shrub). What a gorgeous sight!

11.01.2022 What Gorgeous weather yesterday to take in the sweet scent of the wattle while enjoying Fathers Day celebrations. To those Fathers out there, I hope you were really looked after by your children. How lovely that Fathers Day, National Wattle Day and the first day of Spring were all on the 1st September 2013!

11.01.2022 While some insects do not present as a pest problem, go and check out your citrus trees. I will be very surprised if you dont find at least 6 of these on your tree right now. Clues - they have 5 nymph stages, they are orange when small and turn brown as they age. They give off an offensive odour! ANSWER: It is the Bronze Orange Bug. Pick them off, spray with a plant based oil spray when orange or another option is to suck them up with the old vaccum cleaner - always good fun but a bit stinky!!!!!

11.01.2022 Did you know it is International Year of Soils 2015. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been nominated to implement the IYS 2015, within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership and in collaboration with Governments and the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

11.01.2022 I started about a month ago to harvest my Rosella flowers. They make a very delicious sauce over ice cream. My one plant is producing enough to feed the neighbour hood with ice cream and sauce.

10.01.2022 There's a constant buzz coming from the other side of the creek bed. As I walk through the arbour over the creek bed, the sweet perfume from the flowers of Dombeya tiliacea wafts thru the air. The Cape Wedding Flower as it is commonly called flowers in Autumn thru Winter and into Spring bringing masses of white bellflowers in clusters that the bees just adore!

10.01.2022 What a beautiful picture Noel and of course the Hoya Kerrii is so pretty! I have been looking for this Hoya since mine disappeared a couple of years ago! Shall have to keep looking.

09.01.2022 Look at this really gorgeous Bromeliad. Has anyone seen this before and can give me its name please?

09.01.2022 Have you seen any worms in your garden recently. The dry weather isnt the only thing that keeps them away. Did you know earthworms will come to the garden like bees to a honeypot if you add well composted organic matter to your soil. They love the microbes in the composted matter.

08.01.2022 Dont forget to plant some colour in your vegetable & herb patch. These are also companions in the garden and have other uses apart from looking pretty. Marigolds attract pollinators and predatory insects, Garlic deter ants & aphids and slugs, nasturtiums deter aphids and the OIL from the Calendula flowers can make a potent organic herbicide. There are so many lovely flowers that will be beneficial in your garden.

07.01.2022 What Gorgeous weather yesterday to take in the sweet scent of the wattle while enjoying Father's Day celebrations. To those Father's out there, I hope you were really looked after by your children. How lovely that Father's Day, National Wattle Day and the first day of Spring were all on the 1st September 2013!

05.01.2022 Following on from an earlier post.... BLUEBERRIES. They are absolutely laden with fruit - YUM. Blueberry muffins! However, LOOK what I found yesterday morning hiding in amongst them!

04.01.2022 Have you seen the hydrangeas in the garden centres? They are beautiful. I decided to have a couple of them in pots this year. A blue deciduous and a pink evergreen. Hydrandrea Avantgarde is evergreen and turns from white to pink and then green. You can also choose from red or white.

03.01.2022 One of my other favourite flowers is the Wisteria. It is just starting to flower and I have it as a standard to enjoy the weeping form. Oh how its perfume is INTOXICATING!!!

02.01.2022 It is quite a while since I posted anything. This long hot summer is really taking its toll on my poor plants. We have been getting occasional rain showers. YIPPEE ! I would like to make you aware of a disorder that is affecting my darling husband, Pete. Have you heard of MULTIPLE SYSTEM ATROPHY? Multiple System Atrophy is a rare neurological progressive disorder that has no cure as yet and is unknown to most of the community. It affects the multiple body systems in both male...s and females from about 50 years of age. MSA, as it is known as, is not known to be a hereditary disease and occurs sporadically with no known family history. Major symptoms of MSA include loss of balance, loss of coordination, severe low blood pressure which leads to dizziness or fainting, speech, sleep, breathing and swallowing, walking and urinary function just to name a few. About 1000 people have been diagnosed with MSA in Australia and many struggle with day to day life as muscles deteriorate over time. Life expectancy is 6 to 10 years. Research is currently being done in Austria only. RAISING AWARENESS WORLD WIDE!! See more

02.01.2022 With the warm or should I say hot weather arriving, so too will all those insects that love to eat and suck new growth on your plants. I found 3 of these colourful bugs on my native hibiscus. Cotton harlequin bugs - I left it there as it is so pretty & only es slight damage.

02.01.2022 The Peoples Garden in Halifax Nova Scotia - worth a visit.

02.01.2022 Theres a constant buzz coming from the other side of the creek bed. As I walk through the arbour over the creek bed, the sweet perfume from the flowers of Dombeya tiliacea wafts thru the air. The Cape Wedding Flower as it is commonly called flowers in Autumn thru Winter and into Spring bringing masses of white bellflowers in clusters that the bees just adore!

01.01.2022 How Beautiful the rain sounds! Our resident frog started singing yesterday or is that croaking - so I knew the rain was on its way. Our tank was practically empty and so was our pond. The tank would be 1/3 full now. All the frogs are singing in harmony. Hope it continues to rain all night and that you receive your share of rain too.

01.01.2022 It is the coming near the time for berries! Blueberries to be exact. You can grow them in a pot as I have done. Mine have lots of fruit and I have protected them from the birds by putting them under some white netting so the birds can not get any! They will be ready to harvest very soon.

01.01.2022 Who makes compost? Do you have a large bin, a rotating bin that turns with a handle or do you have composting bays? Or you just dont have one! I have composting bays, a bin for composting my weeds and now I have the new small Compot bin. Perfect for small house lots and requires only a hole to be dug in the garden or the lawn. Fill with scraps, secure lid and cover with mulch. I have tried them out and the Compot bin is absolutely fantastic for vegie scraps if you cannot do any other form of composting then try one of these. Phone me if you want to know more.