Australian and New Zealand Gardening: bromeliads for novices and addicts, sep, 2012, 1 by weed_woman

weed_woman wrote:
Hello all. I have had a buy day again, keeping up appearances in case i win the comp and the garden is open to the public tomorrow. Also, i have been preparing for a plant sale, with an early shopper kick starting the sales this afternoon. noice!
hey Tash, thanks for the well wishes. i can't believe you guys are getting the really hot temps already! Its fairly warm here, for the time of year, but still OK for one layer of cloth. I will put it on in the next few weeks though, as i don't want to leave it and then cop the one hot, dry day we might get! It was overcast most of the day, which was good, as i did a preventative spray using Yates Rose shield yesterday, so I have been able to leave it on for 24 hours, and can wash the cups out tomorrow. I wouldn't normally leave it on if it is sunny. Your photos of the toothy neos are lovely. I am lucky that with the amount of space i have, when my tastes change in broms, i can relegate them into the garden.
Shirley, my lunches lately have been yummo! Ham and salad sandwiches or rolls. i even pick fresh lettuce, rocket, and snow peas from various gardens, including mine.
The Alcants respond very well to liquid fertiliser, like thrive e.t.c, and if you apply it regularly (every fortnight) you will get great results. I stop fertilising around April, then begin again in September.
bree, your gympie delight is cute. i don't think I have one anymore,but i sold a couple of pups on Ebay some time back, and the fetched around$35 each! I felt so guilty, but I had them advertised as small growers, so included a couple of mini fireballs and punctate types as extras. I originally bought mine on Ebay for $12, and it was labelled 'Blushing tiger' but it wasn't. I was happy to have Gympie Delight instead. I've since seen them here and there for $5, and they pup well, so plenty around.
hello colleen, nice plants you have there. i guess the difference in your seed growth, to ians, is the temperature? Have you tried a little bit of fertiliser in the misting bottle, when you water them? It helps to kick them along. Just keep it a weak solution.
Nev, your code system makes alot of sense. i usually have the name and date on the front of the label, and the seller and price i paid on the back. The only other time i wrote on labels was when i potted up Alcantareas, so i could see how fast they grow, but I was repotting them so often, the labels soon filled up. I'm not much of a record keeper. If there was something i really wanted to keep track of, I'd note it, but theres so much to do around here I am always sacrificing something else, and record keeping is easily sacrificed in my book!
Anyway, off to check the mail box, then make an early dinner, then off to the prize giving night. I will catch up again over the weekend no doubt.
Todays visitor to the garden
Sue