The leaves are falling... What are your plans over Autumn?

Can anyone confirm if this is philodendron? Using a photo app didn't help.

Anyone here good with antique tools? My long arm lopper[? I want to call it a billhook] is in dire need of a sharpen, but I'm hesitant to undo the bolt without knowing how to properly retension it.

Trying to get my head around crop rotation.

It’s not traditionally used for pots I don’t think but I just can’t face the physical job of emptying and sterilising all the soil and pots or buying more potting mix after the tomatoes and zucchini are spent. (They got hit by black spot and powdery mildew despite the spraying.)

I’m willing to pull out and dispose of the spent diseased plants afterwards and maybe dig in some manure but am trying to avoid the physical labour of emptying the pots and thought of treating them more like a garden bed.

Maybe I’ll try just chucking a different fungal resistant plant in there afterwards. Perhaps it might be ok if I choose resistant hybrids. Beans and peas are recommended after tomatoes and zucchini to restore nitrogen but also get fungal diseases so I don’t know.

I could just be lazy and do a manure crop over autumn or winter.

The leaves are starting to fall. Is it Autumn already?

What do you have planned for your plants or garden?

I’m going to try doing this.

Transparency, it could cost more than 10 dollarydoos. I wanted something with UV resistant plastic to not crumble so I ordered a 60L outdoor bin ($15) and its lid ($6-ish) from Bunnings plus delivery.

You also need to have, buy or borrow a drill of some kind. And buy or have soil

(Early so I don’t forget)

A heat wave is coming this week!

What do you have planned for your landscape, pots, patch, window box - or even the lone houseplant/cactus in your apartment?

This is the first time since 2010 a Corpse Flower has bloomed in Sydney, and the flower may last for as little as one day.

Details here: https://www.botanicgardens.org.au/whats-on/corpse-flower-sydney

It says ‘January’ but I have no idea if it’s a link that updates to the current month when clicked. Oh well.

Popping it here anyway

It’s getting hotter. If your circumstances let you now might be the time to consider irrigation, drought resistant plants, and mulch. And maybe some wildlife water!

What do you have planned for your landscape, pots, patch, window box - or even the lone houseplant/cactus in your apartment?

In my region of Australia, there are active community groups on Facebook but not really (to my knowledge) any other online spaces.

I want to move away from Facebook, but unless that local stuff exists elsewhere I can't fully quit. I'm involved in my local community garden, so I've been thinking I could set them up on a second platform (in addition to Facebook). It's only one piece of the community, but it would be something, y'know?

So I'm wondering - where does your local community garden have an online presence? What other platforms might be useful for this sort of group?

(We currently have a Facebook page open to the local community, a little-used website, and email and FB Messenger chats for members.)

I've got a wattle that currently has a thinner than ideal trunk. I've been looking into what I can do to encourage it to develop a thicker trunk. Mostly this seems to be about only providing the minimum amount of support it needs and keeping it loose so that the wind / swaying stimulates trunk growth.

But in passing I've heard that trimming the lower branches can also help. So far this is just a rumour to me and I'd like to substantiate it somehow. Have others heard the same?

Also - with the heat we're getting lately do I need to worry about stressing out the tree? I probably don't need to remove that many branches (should be less than 10%). Is there a good guide for how much I can trim without stressing the tree?

It’s coming into Summer, getting hot and sunny. I better get my cherry tomatoes and pumpkins going if it’s not already too late. And keep watering the zucchini.

In the hotter weather what do you have planned for your landscape, pots, patch, window box - or even the lone houseplant/cactus in your apartment?

Saving this for later. I’ve already found some whiteflies on my zucchini and I’ll be dealing with it on my planned pumpkins too.

I knew zucchini and pumpkin weren’t good companions but thought it’d be alright since they both take the full sun of my spot and separate pots would prevent them from competing for nutrients. I could even give both frequent Powerfeed at the same time.

But the downside is attracting the same kinds of pest. At least I can try the same methods to cover both of them.

I’m not sure about the soapy water though as apparently it can damage the leaves.

I have seen a few ladybirds before but not many and have since trimmed the grass. And I don’t know which kind of ladybird it was. Maybe if the pest problem gets bad I could buy and release more ladybirds

If you see this in time give your plants a good deep water while the morning is still cool, or do anything else you need to do to protect them.

My zucchini seedlings have been wilting a bit between waters already so I’ve looked into some things to help over Summer.

There are various options to give plants slow release water. They’re apparently good because it reduces stress from dryness or wildly varying amounts of water (which may result in zucchini becoming bitter/toxic or tomatoes splitting), reduces water runoff, and avoids root rot.

There are plastic spikes used with plastic bottles or terracotta spikes (aka ‘olla spikes’) used with long necked glass bottles. Note that terracotta spikes may take wear and the rim may break with a heavy wine bottle so from time to time those may need to be replaced.

Another option is to seal the bottom hole of a porous terracotta plant pot with caulk and bury it to the rim so it can be filled with water to slowly seep out through the soil. If you do it this way you can use the saucer as a removable lid. Other people choose to flip it upside down, caulk the saucer to the pot to make a sea

Posting this a day early while I remember.

Spring. A good time for vegetables. According to some table it’s a bit late now to sow tomatoes from seed? But you could still buy seedlings.

In the warming weather what do you have planned for your landscape, pots, patch, window box - or even the lone houseplant/cactus in your apartment?

This service is free via the EPA - apply through GardenSafe in Victoria and VegeSafe for the rest of Australia). The only cost is postage. You may choose to donate but it’s not compulsory.

It’s October and the maggies are singing.

As the weather warms up what do you have planned for your landscape, pots, patch, window box - or even the lone houseplant/cactus in your apartment?