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Canberra Today 15°/18° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Fern favourites from the dark side

New frond growth on the Dicksonia antarctica tree fern. Photo: Jackie Warburton

Gardening writer JACKIE WARBURTON is busy with ferns and fertilisers this week…

ONE of my all-time favourite natives is the Dicksonia antarctica tree fern. Their fronds uncurl when the weather is warm and grow quite rapidly. 

Jackie Warburton.

They grow in a shaded side of a garden where not much else grows and in nature as an understory rainforest plant. 

There are some really beautiful examples of tree ferns and one of the best examples in Canberra is the Fiona Hall Garden at the National Gallery. Unlike other plants, they can be chopped off at the top and replanted. 

Their root system is fibrous and there’s not much of it. They need really good drainage and lots of sand. 

Watering tree ferns is done at the top, the crown of the plant. Fertilise with any liquid organic fertilisers and this will give them a burst of growth and will look lush and green for summer. 

FOR the first time I am looking forward to my Paulownia tomentosa flowering. 

I have read it can take many years to flower and I was doubting myself that I had planted it too close to the chook run and was getting too much nitrogen. Hopefully we don’t get any more frosts from here to see the flowers this year. 

FERTILISING with slow-release fertilisers can be done now as they dissolve with warmth and moisture and can last for several months.

There are many general-purpose fertilisers that can be used and remember to use native fertiliser on natives only. 

CITRUS trees can be grown in pots if space is limited. I have citrus in large pots and have lemons, grapefruit, mandarin and limes in large terracotta pots and surprisingly they fruit and grow well on a southern wall in my garden. 

They grow slower and I am happy with that to keep their size down. Citrus like lots of food and organic pelleted fertiliser is terrific. Feed them now and once more in autumn, and they will grow and flower well. 

Keep an eye out for black butterflies around citrus trees. They are more than likely the orchard swallowtail butterfly or large citrus butterfly. They are very pretty, but make sure they’re not laying eggs on the citrus leaves. Pick caterpillars off the citrus trees and dispose of them in the bin or squash them. 

SOW seeds of tomatoes, capsicums, eggplants (Solanaceae plants) into a good soft propagating mix in punnets ready for planting out in November. Worm-farm castings can also be used as a propagating mix.

For vegetables and herbs already planted in the garden, fertilise with any soluble fertiliser available and it will give a welcome boost to the yield. Using a watering can over the foliage will enable the plants to take up nutrients much quicker. Mulch to preserve water retention and give your tomato vine some support to climb towards the sun and it should produce fruit right up to autumn. 

A helleborus flower head… they like shade and grow from autumn and die down in the summer. Photo: Jackie Warburton

HELLEBORUS plants are a stalwart of Canberra winter gardens. Pick the flower heads and toss where you want them to self-seed and grow. Helleborus like shade and grow from autumn and die down in the summer. Some of their flowers are really beautiful. 

NOW’S the time to clean up the perennial garden of bulb leaves and prepare for summer flowers. Sprinkle some organic fertiliser on the bulbs and this will aid their flowering next year. 

In the cottage garden I have canna lilies, dahlias, liliums and other summer perennials coming through as the hellebores and bulbs die down for the summer. 

THERE will be a glut of insects in the garden this season due to all the rain we’ve had. The overgrown vegetation can cause an abundance of fungal diseases. Make sure there is ventilation and good air flow to help stop fungal and mildew diseases starting and causing damage in the garden. 

jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au

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Jackie Warburton

Jackie Warburton

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