Count
down to Christmas!!!
Can you believe it? Another year is drawing
to a close and like us you are probably wondering...
where did it go?
It’s now time to start thinking about
Christmas and we have some great ideas for
presents to buy. Take a look at our wonderful
gift baskets: a Rose Lovers Gift Basket, Herb
Basket, Young Gardener’s Basket and
a Native Gift Basket, each packed with goodies.
More about them later…
As well, in this issue we talk about what
you need to be doing in your garden now to
put your feet up and enjoy it over summer!
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In this edition:
WE
KNOW WHAT'S GROWING ON...
Summer is the time of year when
it’s nice to just sit back and enjoy
all the hard work you’ve done in your
garden. Here are some tips for ensuring that
your summer garden is looking its best:
Recently it has become very windy that means
that on days when we don’t experience
rain our garden soil dries out and really
hardens up. So, top of the list for the summer
garden is ensuring that you protect your plants
from drying out:
- Mulching – Weed,
then water the garden well, and layer mulch
to a depth of approximately 10cm around
your plants and over the rest of the soil
bed. Our preferred product, Dalton’s
Mega Mulch is available in 40litre bags
from the Garden Centre.
- Eco-Wool Mats –
Heather discovered the benefits of this
wool processing by-product when she planted
trees in the hottest part of our summer
last year. The mats (50x50cm) maintained
a moist root run around the trees and suppressed
weeds. (Anne particularly noticed this weed-free
oasis several months later as Heather had
been a bit tardy about weeding the rest
of the bed)!
- Saturaid and Waterwise
– As is often the case, planting new
shrubs and perennials occurs around this
time just before you leave for a Christmas
break. If you’re planting out over
the next month and worried that the soil
is too dry, then pop in and talk to us about
the benefits of adding either of the above
to the soil as you plant.
- Water Timers –
Nynex Gardena Electronic Water Timers
are the worry-free way to ensure your garden
is watered during your holiday away.
Planting: To enjoy plenty
of bright colour with the added bonus of scent
plant heliotropes, nicotianas
and English lavender varieties
now – these are all plants with reasonable
drought resistance.
And of course, when planting, remember to
always water in new plants with a good liquid
fertiliser. The Living Earth Compost
Tea just released for summer
gardening is an organic blend suitable for
all types of plants.
The other important job to be doing now is
getting on top of the weeds. In particular,
its time to get serious with any convolvulus
as this can smother favourite plants very
quickly in the summer. We recommend you use
Yates Woody Weed Killer, diluted with a little
water to get rid of this nasty garden pest!
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GREAT CHRISTMAS
GIFT IDEAS
We have some great ideas for Christmas gifts
this year including gardening gift baskets.
These baskets are loaded with all sorts of
goodies for the garden and gardener. We’ve
created a range of baskets, which vary in
size and price, some ideas include:
Rose Lovers Gift Basket,
priced from $49.95. This includes a pair of
Rose Lovers Gardening Gloves, a cake of Rose
Soap, a Rose, Burnetts Gold Rose Fertiliser
and Yates’ Rose Gun.
Young Gardener’s Basket.
Priced from $29.95. This includes a fruiting
strawberry, a swan plant for the Monarch butterflies,
sunflower seeds and bright cotton kids-sized
gloves.
Native Gift Basket, priced
from $49.95.This contains 2 small hebes, fertiliser
for New Zealand plants, organic Compost Tea
and DOC’s new book: Plant Me
Instead.
Herb Basket, priced from
$29.95. This includes three herb plants and
a quality Fiskars fork and trowel set.
We can add items or change any of the items
in the baskets if you wish, just let us know
what you’d like. All of the gift baskets
come attractively wrapped in clear cellophane
and tied with ribbon. What could be easier
or a more welcome gift for a garden lover!
If you are interested in ordering one of
our gift baskets, please email us and we’ll
get back to you with some ideas.
And still on
great Christmas gift ideas:
- Weed Wand - this eco-friendly
tool is ideal for getting rid or unwanted
weeds. The wand is like a weed sprayer,
except that it shoots flames and not harmful
chemicals. Come in and see for yourself.
- Trugs – the ever-handy
trug. So versatile and useful not only in
the garden but around the home as well.
Team up a lovely green or red trug with
one of our weed wands. Or take advantage
of the new designer colours and you have
another great Christmas idea.
Don’t forget, we also have all our
usual lines including the Wolf Tools, gardening
gloves, pots, and some fabulous flowering
plants!
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HOT
SHOPPING LIST
Here are just a few things you can buy before
Christmas to set the scene.
- Pohutakawa tree–
have a real kiwi Christmas with a pohutakawa
forming the central piece in the garden
or on the deck. Dress the tree with some
pretty outdoor lights and decorations and
sit back and watch the children’s
faces light up!
- Come in and see our range of Yates ‘Guns’
– This is a new range of ready-to-use
products including general bug and insect
spray.
- Flowering Hydrangeas
– big plants with masses of blooms
to fill a gap in the garden or have an instant
garden in a pot on the deck or at the door.
To finish off, we’d like to remind
you that we have our own Karori Garden Centre
Gift vouchers that you can purchase at the
shop and are redeemable at our garden centre.
If you wish to send gardening vouchers to
someone out of our area, there is a fantastic
new on-line ordering system to assist. Log
on to www.gardenvouchers.co.nz
to purchase nationwide vouchers and you can
even have them sent directly to your recipient!
