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English Box

With its dark green leaves, English Box remains a very popular ornamental plant for gardeners.

Valued for its tolerance to being pruned within an inch of its life, its evergreen nature has a great acceptance for topiary and hedging. At this time of year, English Box can be planted bare rooted. It’s also a great time to give established English Box a good feed of Grow Better Blood & Bone and lime to keep them green!

June Special Offer: Bare rooted English Box $4.95 each (was $12.95)

Bush roses 

Winter is a great time of year to buy and plant bush roses! There are many varieties to choose from including Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, David Austin’s and Delbard’s. Bush roses require at least six hours of sunlight per day, so find a suitable position where they can soak up the sun before planting!

June Special Offer: Bare rooted Bush Roses $9.95 each (was $19.95)

Stand out with our exclusive grafted roses!

We’re very excited to announce the arrival of our exclusive double and triple grafted roses! With five different varieties exclusive to ASQ Garden & Landscape, these plants will bring a unique element to your garden.

Neapolitan Delight is a fragrant rose bush boasting three unique blooms. One has a pink flower with a dark centre, another has a soft yellow flower with a red eye and the third flower displays different shades of pink, peach and apricot.
Cotton Candy was grafted using three different iceberg varieties. With white, burgundy and pink blooms, this rose bush is the perfect option when you can’t decide!
Strawberry Clouds offers two unique flowers. One has a soft yellow flower with a red eye, while the other displays different shades of pink, peach and apricot.
Lemon Sorbet is a fragrant rose bush with two unique blooms. One has a soft yellow flower with a red eye, while the other is a traditional iceberg with soft white petals.
Rhapsody Swirl offers two beautiful flowers. One has a unique purple-blue flower, while the other displays pure white flowers.

Visit your local ASQ Garden & Landscape store to pick up your double and triple grafted roses before they sell out!

It's time to order your bare rooted fruit and ornamental trees! 

We are fast approaching the time of year for planting your bare rooted fruit and ornamental trees! At ASQ Garden & Landscape we have access to a great range of quality trees at affordable prices. Save money by buying bare rooted stock, and get the planting and growing guidance you need from our friendly, qualified staff.

Order forms are available in-store now or you can download a PDF version by clicking here! All orders are due by May 31, 2017 so come in and see the team at ASQ Garden & Landscape today, and find out what the best options for your garden will be.

Come along to our May demonstration day to find out all about planting your bare rooted stock!
Date: Saturday, 13 May 2017
Time: 10:00 to 10:30 am
Venue: ASQ Garden & Landscape Eaglehawk, Harcourt and Maryborough

Tea herbs – for a refreshing cool tea this summer!

Herb teas are far from flat and flavourless! Whether you are looking for fruity or spicy, soothing or lively, simple or sophisticated, you can find a tea that has a taste and personality that suits you perfectly! A cool and crisp iced tea is the quintessential summer drink and is delightfully refreshing. It can also offer flavour options and health benefits beyond those of a traditional tea. And best of all, you can grow the ingredients in your very own garden!

Chamomile – German
- Promotes relaxation and sleep
- Anti-inflammatory
- Great for both the garden and in pots

Mint – Ginger
- Aids digestion
- Anti-inflammatory
- Fast growing and great in pots

Sage – Pineapple
- Antioxidant
- Anti-inflammatory
- Promotes sleep
- Great for cottage gardens and pots

Peppermint
- Aids digestion
- Promotes healthy skin
- Muscle relaxant
- Great for pots

Lemongrass
- Aids digestion
- Promotes healthy skin
- Anti-inflammatory
- Great for pots

Potting mixes - buyer beware!

There is a misconception with many consumers, that potting mix is just a bag of dirt! This couldn’t be further from the truth. Like anything, you pay for what you get.

Grow Better only produce potting mixes that are made to Australian Standards. Australian Standards ensures quality. Grow Better are audited by Australian Standards on a quarterly basis and we do a self-audit for every 70 pallets that we produce. One measure that is undertaken is to ensure that a radish root grows 4cm in a specified time frame.

Terracotta & Tub mix is a complete potting mix. It is made from 100% graded pine bark, is composted for 6-8 weeks and is turned 4 times. Both the pH levels and temperature are tested on each turn. Microbes, nutrients and moisture are added prior to the composting procedure. Terracotta & Tub contains a slow release fertiliser, a wetting agent and water storing crystals. This mix is also ideal for hanging baskets as it holds 10% more moisture than a premium potting mix.

So when you invest in a great plant, don’t cut corners on your potting mix. Your body requires nutritional food and so does your plant!

Spring

It’s certainly been a cold and wet winter this year and at last we are starting to see a rise in temperature and a few more sunny days ahead on the weather forecast!

As we launch into spring, it’s a great time to get back out into the garden and tidy up any mess the winter months have made! A job that will be waiting for just about every gardener is eradicating weeds. Even if you have been diligent with them over the winter months, they have certainly appeared thick and fast these last few weeks! Unfortunately, the spring conditions will only encourage them to thrive even more, so they need to be dealt with! Depending on the weeds you have in your garden, you should either hand weed, dig out or spray any emerging weeds now

With the weeds taken care of, now is a great time to add some new vitality to your garden! Select a few new plants to add some colour and vibrancy and find something that will change the look of an existing space in your garden. It’s a great time to plant just about anything! 

Your lawn will also need some love and attention after the cold weather and the winter frosts. A feed of PowerFeed followed by a good dose of fertiliser will help with the recovery process along with the promotion of new growth. 

You can also start your spring vegie patch now, and rejuvenate your garden mulch.

Spring is such an enjoyable season, and for those of us that love our gardens, it’s a great time to be out in it! We can help you with all the right advice and gardening products you need to complete your gardening tasks, so call in and see us today!

Winter

Winter is the perfect time to wander through your garden and see what needs attending to!

Use this opportunity to tidy up your garden beds, build compost, do some pruning and spraying as well as introduce new plants, or reorganise old ones, to give your garden a boost. Also apply a soluble potassium fertiliser such as Sulphate of Potash to open up the circulatory system of your plants to help thicken foliage and protect it from cold stress.

Many plants and bulbs can be safely lifted and divided now, as often perennial plants become overcrowded and benefit from this splitting and replanting process. It’s a wonderful way to introduce new plants, trade with other plants and bring new life to an old favourite within the garden.

You may have a rose that would be better suited in a new position, or a sun loving plant that has become overshadowed and no longer flowers. Winter provides a great opportunity to take stock of your garden and outdoor area, and make changes and improvements that you will really enjoy the benefits of come spring.

Autumn, the perfect time to plant beautiful bulbs!

Bulbs are very versatile and are a must for any gardener that enjoys a good display of colour in the spring. Planting bulbs is best done between March and May for most varieties. Good drainage is absolutely essential for your bulbs, so choose your spot carefully. If you are planting your bulbs in a garden we recommend using Premium Garden Soil and if you are planting them in pots, use a good quality potting mix – both available at ASQ Garden & Landscape.

Soil preparation for your bulbs is preferable a month or so before planting (so, right now). Dig in some Grow Better All Purpose Plant Seed and turn the garden bed over to at least the depth of your spade. Add compost or other fibrous material to enrich the soil and keep it open.

Mass planting in garden beds will be quite spectacular, but smaller plantings can look good too.
It is your garden, so you should do whatever suits your particular style!

Effective summer watering

Soil quality
The single most important thing in the long term, in relation to summer watering, is to consider the soil you’re watering and not just the plants in it. This means digging through generous amounts of organic matter, either in the bagged ‘all-in-one’ form of Enriched Organic Planting Mix, Organic Compost and/or one of the various aged manures from one of our ASQ landscape yards.

With existing gardens, it is very important to continue to feed the soil. This is best done by using the same materials you used when planting, but putting them on top of the soil instead. Then the worms and other good guys will incorporate them deeper into the ground, without damaging soil structure - as you would if you were to dig them through using a shovel. Doing this each year will have your garden continually building soil in a structured fashion, creating depth for roots to more easily grow. This will allow the smaller and larger pores, or pockets, to hold both water and oxygen evenly through a plants root ball, instead of pooling up on the hard clay base stopping the oxygen and leading to root rot.

Mulching
Second on the list for effective summer watering is good mulching. Once the soil has been considered and ‘fed’, you then want to protect it with mulch. It really doesn’t matter what mulch you use, sometimes the style of house and garden will dictate this. Needless to say, there is a huge range of materials from straws, barks and pebble mulches, available at ASQ Garden & Landscape. Mulching helps so much over summer (and winter for that matter), by smothering competing weeds, insulating soil temperature and stopping moisture loss due to sun, heat and wind.

Watering
Now the building and protecting has been done, it’s good to think about how you actually water. Little, shallow waters done too frequently will make your plants lazy and stop them developing a strong, deep root system. This causes them dry out much quicker than a plant that is well established. It is best to water slowly and deeply, so water an area until it looks like it’s running off instead of soaking in. Once you’ve finished watering everything, go back to the start and water again. Watering this way leads to stronger, more self-reliant plants.

Due to the summer extremes often experienced in our part of Australia, there are other things that can be of tremendous benefit. If soil has been neglected for a time, and exposed to harsh sun and wind, it becomes hydrophobic. This means the water will not penetrate properly and any watering is a waste until the issue is fixed. Rapid soak is a very quick, effective and economical way to increase the water holding capacity of the soil.

Wind protection
Another thing that is very common late in the hot Victorian summer, is strong north winds. These winds can literally toast a garden. If the weather prediction is a period of strong, prevailing northerly’s, Envy is a great protectant foliage spray that is somewhat like sunscreen for plants.  It will stop wind burn and excessive water loss due to evaporation. It is equally as good for frost protection too.