Fertilizer is Plant Food

Wow! This really is a subject that gardeners get passionate about. I should have paid more attention to fertilizers when I was at college but honestly I have always treated it as a topic that I could get advice about or read up on as necessary. Anyway plant nutrition is a subject that I will continue to look at intermittently over the next few weeks.
Natural sources of nutrition; containers; garden beds; vegetables; liquid fertilizers; chemical fertilizers; major and minor nutrients, over time I will try to cover them all in easily digestible portions (oh, yes I do think I’m very clever).
So, in the mean time here is a tip: fertilizer is plant food so I always like to draw comparisons with our own diet. Nitrogen = carbohydrates, Phosphorus = fat, Potassium = protein, don’t forget the calcium and what effect does excessive processing have?

Seaweed Solutions

I was giving a garden talk this week and one of the regular topics popped up; Seaweed solutions. What are Seaweed solutions good for and when should I use them?
I often (but not always) find that there is a great deal of confusion about these products. Maxicrop and Seasol are Seaweed extractions. Neither of these products is actually a fertilizer; they don’t carry enough of the major plant nutrients Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) to actually feed your plants. They are whole organism products so they hold a fantastically broad range of nutrients and hormones.
I like to compare Seaweed solutions with multi vitamins. They won’t feed you but if your diet and lifestyle are out of whack they can help balance things up.

What about Fish emulsions? I love the name emulsion! Ground up scraps from the fishing industry. Charlie Carp or Seasol Powerfeed are both promoted as fertilizers because they have higher rates of the major (NPK) nutrients than seaweed solutions. Charlie Carp’s site emphasizes that their product is organic and therefore has a very low nutrient base. Seasol’s Powerfeed is “fortified with extra Nitrogen, Potassium and a smaller amount of Phosphorus”, so it is organic based, not organic but your plants will get a genuine feed out this stuff.
I’m not recommending one or another, just highlighting that there are differences. There is no doubt in my mind that there are real benefits beyond just feeding your plants to all of these natural products. Just keep in mind that they are more like Multi Vitamins than a good honest feed.
Actually my research for this topic has led to an enquiry about commercial use of Powerfeed, I’ll let you know what happens.
I’m tempted to start a little rant on Blood and Bone, but I think I had best save that one for another day.

Autumn Pansies

On Wednesday our rep Di told me Scotsburn had the only potted Pansies available in the Melbourne retail market. No wonder sales were so good this week! Unfortunately we have finished that batch and the next is not quite ready, so next week looks pretty lean. I could moan about all the over sized stock we have thrown out over the past 2-3 weeks because we couldn’t sell it through that terrible February, but I think there is a more interesting story to tell…
For many years now we have targeted having our potted Pansies ready for sale from the first week of March. Demand is always greater than supply right at this point. Why? Because to have flowering Pansies right now means we potted them early January and we have had to grow them through all that hot weather. Petunias would be much easier and they still look fabulous, but nobody wants to buy them any more.
So how do we do it? Get Pansies ready this early? Well there is no special trick and we can have plants get thin and stretched at times, that’s the chance we take.
Our Pansies are grown in the full sun all year round. Some shade could help protect them from drying out completely on hot days, but they are really very resilient. Not drought tolerant like a Petunia or Zinnia but resilient. We need full sun to maintain compact plants and to encourage bud development. So long as they have sufficient water Pansies will even survive 3 days of mid-forties weather conditions.
If you are planting in hot conditions keep transplant shock in mind. Damage to roots when transplanting, coupled with the stress of hot conditions can lead to root rotting infections that may not otherwise harm the plant.
How can you overcome this? Water plants in really thoroughly and if possible apply Fongarid to protect the roots at this critical stage.
There you go, early Pansies are easy if you want them. Late Petunias look fabulous too. Autumn really is a beautiful time of year.

Goodbye to a friend

This week Scotsburn lost a real friend. Brian Jackson was manager at Linton’s Garden and Home for most of his working life. Many gardener’s know Michael Linton and his beautiful garden centre at Mt Eliza. Michael is justifiably proud of his nursery and he is always quick to give credit to Brian for his role in building the business.
What many people don’t realize is that for a grower of plants like Scotsburn, having our products displayed at a garden centre like Linton’s is the holy grail. Really good garden centre managers like Brian are extremely demanding of their suppliers and in return they are fiercely loyal. It can be very frustrating being the grower on the outside of the fence. It ain’t warm and fuzzy on the inside but you really know you have earned your place.
Brian gave us our chance at Linton’s and once we had proved ourselves he supported us in growing our mutual business.
So our thanks go to Brian. Although we knew you were really not well you kept that very private and your passing comes as a shock.
Our condolences go to Brian’s young family and his friends & colleagues at Linton’s.