Maintenance & Care

Most people know moving some plants between Australian states is restricted to prevent pests and diseases. Bringing plants or seeds into Australia is far stricter, as even small breaches can introduce serious biosecurity risks. Plants must arrive free of soil and plant debris, clearly labelled with their full botanical name, securely packaged, and declared. Even soil on boots can carry …

Build your own olla watering system today and give your garden a smarter, low-effort way to stay hydrated while saving water and time. This easy watering system has been used for over 2000 years.  You can buy unglazed terracotta pots purpose built for this laidback watering system or you can DYI. Use two unglazed terracotta pots with saucers.  Fill the …

  There is not just one type of composting method, there is open air composting, tumbler composts, worm farms, direct composting into trenches and quite a few more types. Decomposition of organic matter can be a slow process, but this may vary with which composting method you choose. Here we look at traditional layering method. What materials can be used? …

  After fruiting has finished and before flowering occurs, reduce fruit tree by a fifth by pruning back over-reaching or unwanted branches, gall wasp affected branches, dead, diseased, crossed over or low branches touching the soil. This will create better airflow underneath the canopy and concentrate growth into younger more productive branches. Once the fruit tree is harvested for its …

  A question many gardeners wonder after they have sprayed a selective herbicide, see it wither and die and a month or two later spy it sprouting again.   It is not the original plant you sprayed, but its offspring. With selective herbicides (the ones you use on lawns), it will state on the packet which weeds it will target …

You read many articles telling you to mulch your garden, but the choices are many. So, how do you use mulch, and which one is best for your garden?   It is an aesthetic choice of how you want your garden to look.  When any mulch is applied, you want it to be to the depth recommended on the packaging. …

Winter is the ideal time to kill off various grass weed in your lawn before it reaches maturity and seeds. One grass weed produces 100,000 seeds! Did you know, fleabane is a problematic weed that spreads rapidly when left to seed, with one mature plant can produce over 100,000 seeds!   How to Kill Weeds in Winter As a rule, it’s best …

Most lawn weeds begin their germination and growth in winter, especially bindii, clovers and broad leaf weeds, so this is the perfect time to commence an eradication program for a weed free lawn through the spring and summer seasons. STEP 1. Winter lawn growth is slow in Winter so you can afford to keep the lawn longer to keep out …

  Deadheading is the removal of spent flowers, or ones past their peak, on annuals and perennials.  Deadheading may seem pointless, but it regularly promotes more flowers to develop because the plant does not spend energy producing seeds but concentrates on continual flowering. The plant’s performance intensifies, and a simple task enhances its appearance. To deadhead, you can snap the …

Spring is the perfect time for top dressing and fertilising lawns to take advantage of the warm weather growth ahead. For a wonderful green lawn right through to next year, start fertilising in early spring with Searles Lawn Food. Searles Lawn Food will slowly feed lawn roots and leaves for months to promote slowly thick, green, healthy grass – just …