Newsletter – November

Easy Raised Garden Beds

Hint – Christmas Idea! 

Knock, Knock!
Who’s there?
Lettuce.
Lettuce who?
Lettuce in, its hot out here. 

Time to Plant in

SE QLD

                                                                            Nov 2011

Hi David,

Congratuations to Allen who was the lucky winner of a Greenbo Planter by completing the short survey in last months newsletter!

Thank you to everyone who did answer the survey, it will help me to provide content in this newsletter that is most useful to you.

Something that did emerge from the survey that blew me away was the number of people who’s lives are been changed by the stacking gardens.

You may like to see some of the comments here on our Productive Gardens blog.

Beat the Bugs

 These stink bugs can be a real pain. Because of their hard shell, they are protected from many of the safer sprays. Citrus trees are their favorite and they’ll perch on the new growth and suck out the juices which will kill off the tip.

Here are a couple of ideas to get rid of them. It’s always a good idea to wear glasses as they can spray secretions which can sting as well as stink.

1. If the tree isn’t to large, use a vacuum cleaner to suck them up. Preferably, use a bag type so it’s easy to dispose of them.

2. Once again, if the tree isn’t too big (and it’s best to keep them trimmed so you can reach the fruit anyway) grab some old bread bags. Put your hand into the bag and start grabbing the bugs. When you have a few, withdraw your hand turning the bag inside out and tie it closed.

3. Make your garden more bird friendly. This fellow pictured has a wonderful time keeping my lime tree free from stink bugs.

With the warm weather approaching, it’s time to consider how to best keep your stacking garden producing bountiful crops of fresh herbs and salad greens that you need for alfresco dinning or the impromptune barbeque.

Lettuces that are allowed to dry out get very stressed which means they will start going to seed early and that makes them very bitter. You can keep your lettuce crisp and tasty by making sure they have access to the moisture they need.

That’s why we have designed a new automatic watering system especially for the stacking gardens. It’s run by a battery operated timer tap that feeds drippers which each deliver 2 litres per hour. This means you only need to have the timer coming on for about 15 minutes every few days.

Take the worry out of getting someone else to look after your stacking garden while you’re away these holidays.

Check out this short video.

Hi David,

As promised here are some pictures of the stacking garden we won!

(Entered at Gold Coast Home Show)

Was so flat out that we only planted it up a few weeks ago and I thought it would take a while before it flourished, but as you can see it has taken off within weeks, and all from the tiniest seedlings!!  I can not get over it!!  And all this from a family who has NO idea how to grow anything!  Quite a few months ago we purchased a pre planted box of herbs…. but our lack of knowledge on what plant was what (seriously we have absolutely no idea about plants) meant that we didn’t use it and it was hard to maintain.  In contrast we have labelled each of the plant sections in the stacking garden so we know what each plant is, and it is so easy to maintain.  Had the yummiest spinach and herbs in tonight’s dinner, it is so satisfying to eat something we have grown!!

Thank you so very much, can’t even begin to explain how grateful we are!!

Regards

Belinda

Gold Coast

Stacking Gardens Christmas Special