April 2018 Meeting

It was a grey old day and only a small turn out this month at Shirley’s place in Windellama. Our president Warren was also unable to join us as he was gallivanting off around the globe, so he passed the duty of meeting chair to Irene for the day. Unfortunately, Irene didn’t have Warren’s bell handy to keep the meeting in order and of course while Warren’s away the Garden Clubbers will play, or rather chat incessantly! Lloyd was feeling a tad outnumbered this month as the only man in attendance, so he had a snooze on the couch while we had a good natter over a delightful array of cheeses and dips about almost everything except Gardens.

We did eventually get our heads to the topic at hand and found out what was happening in everyone’s gardens. Anna told us how she had been planting out a new raised vegetable bed and was having success with garlic, leek and parsnip all grown from seed! Anna said she believed some of her success was thanks to her use of “Curly’s Compost” which is made from an array of excrement’s and worm castings. Irene reminded us that it is ideal to check your soil PH levels to get an idea of which compost may best suit your soil and to remember that PH levels can vary greatly from garden bed to garden bed, so it is important to test them all individually.

Katie’s butternut pumpkins have done almost as well as the weeds despite being planted fairly late in the season and her tomatoes have gone rogue but due to problems with ‘bottom rot’ on all but the cherry tomatoes, Irene advised her to try and locate them in a different bed next season to avoid a reoccurrence of the condition.

Irene and Lloyd have zucchinis coming out of their ears at the moment, Irene rotates what she plants in her vegetable beds regularly and again, use of quality compost and having a securely fenced area has been very helpful in consistently giving them abundance of vegetables – their greatest pest in fact being Lloyd himself who has a penchant for beans and is known to eat more off the vine than he brings inside.

Joy continues to fight the battle of the weeds in the mulched gardens around her dry creek bed and has been busy drawing up plans for a new shed.

Anne is delighted to have her first lemon on the “lemon tree” she bought years back that turned out to be grafted and has only ever produced limes. Anne has also been busy with the back-breaking task of splitting and transplanting agapanthus plants.

Margaret has been enjoying golden beans and has been busy planting her sweet peas ready for winter and potted up an array of succulents in her green house.

After the formalities we set off for a tour around Shirley’s garden. As we headed out along the back verandah we were impressed by the gorgeous potted gardens in which Shirley has planted a variety of beautiful flowering succulents into large individual pots, undercover and safely away from the hungry wildlife; the effect is wonderful! We headed up the back of the house yard and all immediately turned green with envy at the sight of Shirley’s impressive and very well kitted out shed. After daydreaming what we could do if we each had spaces like that we headed back outside and wandered around the tiered garden pathways and admired the size and beauty of some of her succulents, eagerly snapping up the offer to take some of their rogue babies home with us.

Shirley has always struggled with harsh soil conditions as well as persistent Kangaroos eating and damaging plants, but she has learned over time that the Roo’s don’t particularly like the taste of Iris’s, Geraniums, Lavender or Rosemary and has found that these, along with a range of succulents and cacti to be the most ideal plants for her heavy clay and rocky soil type.

~ article by Katie

Our next meeting will be held at the Wetlands in Eastgrove, Goulburn. It is appropriately located on May Street as the meeting will be held at 10 am on Tuesday May 1^st (which is also Joy D’s birthday!) Please arrive on time as we will be taken on a tour which will leave at 10:30 sharp. Also note that there are no toilet facilities at the Wetlands so we will have our morning tea and meeting elsewhere after the tour.

August Meeting 2017 Truffle Hunting!

We were all very excited about our local Willowglen Gardeners’ invitation to visit Tarago Truffles and the day dawned with bright sunshine after 24 hours of (well-needed) non-stop rain – a big relief, especially for our hosts Denzil & Anne Sturgiss. Denzil led us to their Trufferie & asked for volunteers to sizzle but no takers so he turned off the electric fence after we took turns to swish through the foot bath – no dirt, mud or alien germs allowed.

Denzil planted the Trufferie in 3 stages from 2002 to 2009. Acorns & sterilised truffle spores are planted into a pot & form a symbiotic relationship – then the small trees are planted into the ground after 18 months. First truffles are expected in 4 years after planting out. Holly Oak & Old English Robur Oak are used & hazelnut trees planted between each oak tree. Tree roots need sun & frost – open canopy between trees, sprinkler for each tree – 13 million litres of water used per year.

On to the hunt! After Dusty the dog has indicated a truffle, Denzil digs carefully with a spoon so as not to damage the truffle. The truffle smells earthy but surprisingly also sweet. Wazza, John, Carolyn, Jude & Irene all took a turn of lying on the ground sniffing the truffles after Dusty indicated. (What photos, hehehe.)

We returned for morning tea & our usual chat about members’ garden experiences this month. Wazza has a common birthday shared with all horses, and today was the day – happy birthday Wazza & all the other horses!

Wazza’s lemonade tree suffered badly from our recent -10 o C temperatures. Jude said a wombat ate all their broadbeans despite being grown in a mesh covered garden and now they have about 40 roses to prune – a mammoth task – we’ll call her Rosie in future.

Best wishes go to Jackie as she recovers from even more hospitalisation & treatment and to Doug who still drove daily to hospital although suffering a very painful knee injury. Joy said a chainsaw took to John’s leg but he’ll survive. Her limes are perfect but yellow skin (only green inside) and her lemons have no juice.

Bridget’s lemon tree not producing despite following all suggestions. Wazza suggested keeping the
pots of citrus trees on large saucers full of water. Joy introduced Anne (our new Canberra member) who needs to move 2 large tall standard roses growing across the driveway. Wazza said to cut 2/3rds of roots and also 2/3 of tops, soak in seaweed solution 2 weeks before & after the move.

Carolyn said John chainsawed the old gnarly roots of the old rose bush they moved – it’s in clay & gravel and now doing well. She is picking bok choy but “the roos are growing fast”.
Tony & Sandra have a small problem – a wombat goes under the fence & the dog goes out through the hole but at least their garlic is growing well.

Irene’s broadbeans look good, Lloyd sold 3 wethers – and one has just given birth to a
brown lamb (strange but true). Kevin & Margaret’s lemon was burnt by frost but carrots & parsnips growing well (need fresh seed, keep it moist, don’t plant too deeply).

David’s MG garden is going well & the VW garden is nearly done but the Holden FX frame needs to be replanted (we’ll be able to see all this at our Christmas party). He’s reduced their rose pruning because he reduced the roses from 30 to 4.

Liz-Ann & Peter grew ginger successfully in the Blue Mountains this year and are happily cooking with it.

After our lunch (Anne’s delicious cauliflower soup, which Denzil topped with fresh truffles) Anne talked to us in the Truffle Shed about how she cleans, grades & packs the truffles. Our heads were full of the delicious aroma of the black truffles – much sweeter than the truffle farm we had been to in Provence a couple of years ago.

We then toured Anne & Denzil’s gardens – their citrus & other fruit trees are heavily covered with shade cloth to protect from frost. Anne said that Denzil is reorganising her veggie gardens, with garlic growing well.

Denzil has made very high raised veggie beds which gave us all ideas of how to save our backs. Wazza invited Anne & Denzil to our Christmas party, where they can sit back, eat & drink and chat with everyone about gardening or the world (just not politics), whichever appeals more.

Thank you to our friendly hosts, Anne & Denzil, for your warmth, hospitality & generosity. We really appreciated this opportunity and highly recommend the experience to you all www.taragotruffles.com.au

The Truffle Festival is still on around the Canberra region until the end of August www.trufflefestival.com.au . Our next meeting is on
Tuesday 5 th September at 10am at Ni &Alan’s place.

Article by Liz-Ann

A little break from the cold weather...

I was lucky enough to go on a (well deserved) holiday to sunny Brisbane in July, and it could have only been made better if I was able to bring the Willow Glen Gardener's up with me! I had not been to the sunshine state in over 15 years and had never spent any decent time in Brisbane so I was delighted to have the chance to see what a beautiful and clean city it was.

The view from Mt Coot-tha

We were blessed with perfect weather, blue skies and temperatures into the 20's every single day and so we had lots of time to explore the mass of parks and public gardens that are spread throughout the inner city.

One of the public pool areas at Southbank

As well as being an entertainment hub with hundreds of restaurants and cafe's, the gorgeous 'Southbank' has literally kilometers of manicured parklands stretching along the Brisbane river with an array of children's playgrounds and "aquativity" aka incredible lagoon style (free to access) public water park that I am assured is filled to the brim with adults and kids alike throughout the Christmas summer break!
Southbank parklands is also is home of beautiful 3 story high Nepalese Pagoda, a gift to the city from Nepal at the 88' world expo.

"Spectacal Garden" at the Roma Parklands

The Roma Street Parkland and Spring Hill are located in the north of the city and are an absolute must see if you are in Brisbane, perfectly manicured gardens just bursting with flowers and forests of tall leafy trees make it easy to forget that winter even exists.
'Fern Gully' with it's canopy of tree ferns and misty boardwalks lets you experience a sub-tropical rainforest right in the heart of the city and the large open parkland and amphitheater draw crowds of people in for special events throughout the warmer months of the year.

Photo's from the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha

We headed over to Mt Coot-tha which is the highest point in Brisbane, After soaking in the  breath taking view from the lookout and having an obligatory ice cream at the cafe, we headed down to the base of the mountain where we found yet another garden spectacular the "Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens".

The 52 hectares is free to visit and showcases the largest collection of Australian rainforests in the world! Much like a more colourful version of the National Botanic Garden in Canberra, there are a variety of 'zones' including a fernary, a steamy tropical greenhouse, tranquil Japanese garden and a bonsai house which is lovely, but still not as good as the one at the Canberra Arboretum!

Place your bets!

I have to admit the highlight of my time at the Botanic Gardens was when we were strolling through the 'arid zone' admiring giant cacti, we stumbled upon two big lizards having an all out territory war right in the middle of the foot path! Completely oblivious to the masses of people and prams surrounding them the lizards tussled and hissed putting on quite a show for their delighted spectators! We finally tore ourselves away after watching (and videoing) for about 10 minutes and they were still going strong!



So all in all, if you feel like escaping the thick frosts and icy winds of  the Windellama region for a while, then I highly recommend a holiday in balmy Brisbane to ward off the winter blues, but I warn you, it is hard to come back again! 

Article by Katie