Some thoughts on liquid fertilizer

I noticed this week that Beasley's Nursery has a Dosmatic fertilizer injector set up next to their seedling house. This grabbed my attention for two reasons Beasley's present seedlings as well as any garden centre I know (not mine frustratingly, but that's another story) and because I was asked about fertilizing seedlings a couple of times during the week.  Applying some feed to seedlings will become particularly important over the coming months as garden centres try to extend the shelf life of their plants as turn over drops away in the hot months.

We walk a fine line when it comes to fertilizer, too much and plants rush away on us, too little and they stress which can lead to all sorts of other problems.  Realistically we offer seedlings that we expect will last a couple of weeks before being planted out as long as they are watered as needed.  We have a few strategies to achieve this: a small amount of "micro-fine" controlled release fertilizer mixed into the growing media, regular liquid feeding to keep plants toned and a relatively heavy doe of liquid feed as plants are dispatched. To maintain quality plants in a seedling display I strongly recommend continued application of liquid fertilizer.

I recommend Debco Plant Food - All Purpose, it's a well balanced blend that should maintain healthy plants without producing triffids.  Bare in mind that I am not a fan of plant junk food that offers easy green, super green and lush growth. At Scotsburn we use blended liquid fertilizers either Campbell's Diamond White or Krystalon White, fairly obviously they are pretty much interchangeable products from different manufacturers. We use around 1g of fertilizer per litre of water, once a week should be plenty but be prepared to increase the frequency after heavy rain or hot weather when extra irrigation will wash out feed. I haven't tried organic materials such as Charlie Carp but I expect that with a little trialling they would produce perfectly good results... just too expensive for use in our situation.

How is liquid fertilizer best applied.  It's best that the plants are not stressed when fertilizing; not too hot, soil not too dry or too wet. A watering can will do the job perfectly well but will become frustrating if feeding a large batch of plants.  Sage Horticultural has a range of fertilizer injectors, I notice starting as cheaply as $195.00 that simplify the process of fertilizing so that it is just part of the watering process.


A"Venturi Fertilizer Injector", simple, effective and remarkably cheap. 

Can I measure the value of my Vegie Garden

Are you proud of your vegie garden?


A project to collect yield data from urban food gardens 
Food gardens in urban backyards, can be highly productive, they can provide fresh nutritious food at low cost and low energy inputs. Are they am under-recognised food source ?
This project is seeking gardeners willing to measure their harvest for a season, scales can be provided if needed.   It doesn’t matter what gardening style is being used -   Mediterranean, Asian, biodynamic, traditional English, Permaculture or whatever as long as it produces food.   An analysis of the yield data will be published and hopefully assist local councils in their support for food gardens.
As well as harvest measuring the project will interview gardeners and create short case studies on gardening techniques for the local area.  
If you are interested to participate or would like to hear more please contact us.

Thanking you, all the best,
John McKenzie
e:  abundantgardens@optusnet.com.au     mobile: 0421 699 306
A project by Permaculture Melbourne   ( www.permaculturemelbourne.org.au )



Great cause. Sounds like fun.

Fuchsia Trials

When I first started working at Scotsburn back in 1987 we were going through a tough period, not dissimilar to what we have experienced of the past few years. We tackled our problems in much the same way by testing and trialling new plants in the hope of steadying a listing ship. Scotsburn had tried indoor plants and ferns and when we were really desperate we tried Christmas Trees, the less said about our trees the better. Amongst the varieties tried were Fuchsia baskets.  My Uncle Robert loves his English style perennials including Fuchsias, he is also a collector. I like the idea that gardeners fall into two categories: collectors and controllers. Rob is definitely a collector although I have to admit that his beautiful garden shows distinct signs of 'control' these days. Well Rob put together a terrific collection of named Fuchsia varieties but I don't remember them selling and honestly I glaze over whenever we start talking about individual varieties named after someones cat. I was young and strong willed and ended up taking the opposite course by focusing on seedlings and bloomers and deleting all the "non-core" products including Fuchsia.  For better or worse that tactic suited us well at the time.

When things turned nasty with the introduction of water restrictions a few years ago I initially tried to remain focused on core business.  I lost count of the number of times I was asked if we had started growing cactus. My response was "no we'll stick to our knitting. Not everyone can grow Cacti". But over time we grew more & more desperate and ended up growing potted bulbs (refer to note on Christmas Trees) and contract growing herbs for next to no return. And guess what! Fuchsia got another run. We grew a few, madly out of season due to a lack of any real understanding of the plant... and they sold. So we took some of our own cuttings and we found we could do that and grow a good plant... and they sold. This year we have put together a program to grow our Fuchsia baskets and have them ready for November/December (Christmas) sales. And with no little pride in my team, they have nailed it... and they sell!

We only have 2 varieties in baskets this year Dark Eyes and Trailing White (I think it's White Eyes, but White Eyes is supposed to be an 'upright' variety) and we have plenty of them.  We have taken cuttings of half a dozen more varieties for next year's November sales. It's hard to express how exciting it is to find something that we grow well and people are interested in.

So to Uncle Robert, my apologies, but I did listen it just took a long time to act.

The essence of Lavender

My mother in law visited the Bridewstowe Lavender farm some time ago, based on her photos I have wanted to see it.  My only experience with "Lavender Farms" in Victoria has been very underwhealming. So when we were offere the opportunity to grow plants bred at Bridestowe I jumped at the chance. Bridestowe has a long and interesting history, at least I think so, my kids might not agree. They have also built a great horticultural/tourism business that's worth having a look at. it's fair to say they'll sell anything with tha slightest association with Lavender. I've a suspicion that gardeners prepared to buy a Bridestowe coffee cup will be keen to grow their own Bridestowe Lavender.

We potted tube stock from our supplier back in July. These special plants so we chose to grow them in 200mm pots to ensure they had the best chance to show their potential, but back in the cold and dark of July we really did wonder if they would ever fill the pots.  Well they started showing green shoots in September and have very quickly filled out. We still have a month or so before they reach peak flowering and that says to me it's time to show them to the public.  I'm sure gardeners will want to catch the best of this year's flowering season.

We have 3 varieties grown from breeding done on the Bridestowe Estate.  These are English Lavender cultivars (Lavandula angustifolia) selected and sorted to produce flowers, colours, fragrance and oil exported around the world.
Bridestowe Elizabeth: Ideal for cut flowers. This is an excellent hedging lavender with strong, robust stems. Their performance in pots to date suggests they also make ideal container plants. They have medium Purple flowers with Red undertones. Plants will grow to 1m.


Bridestowe Myra. Highly Fragrant. Myra is a classic 'richly perfumed' Lavender. This cultivare emphasizes the breeding done at Bridestowe to to maximize production of high quality essential oils. Of course this makes Myra ideal for flower arrangements and pot pourri. Myra will grow to about 1m.

Bridestowe Philippa. Culinary Lavender. Who knew? Culinary Lavender must be low in Camphor, I assume to make it palatable. In pots Philippa has a riotous growth habit and will grow out to a mounded plant to 60cm tall. "Bridestowe Philippa may be used fresh or dried to impart sophisticated flavours to sweet or savoury dishes". I had to quote that, I am in awe. If you have any good recipes calling for Lavender please let me know and I'll pass them around.