If you have not been eating delicious soups and casseroles all winter made with your own preserved tomatoes then now is the time to prepare your garden beds to grow a bumper crop of tomatoes so you have enough for summer and those warming winter meals.

Iris has been putting in seed for many of the lovely heritage tomatoes for weeks and the new 

​Although most Correa have finished their main flowering for the year (flowering from Autumn and through Winter) it is worth thinking of putting some in the garden for flowers next winter. They are a  welcome flash of colour in those dreary cold months and they provide nectar for the hungry honey eaters when there is not a lot else. My Correa were covered in flowers all winter and now that summer is coming will provide structure and greenery in the garden through the hottest months.
There are Correa for most positions in the garden, from filling a background position to front of garden bed or to fill a nice large pot on the balcony. There are Correa which prefer more shade and Correa which prefer more sun and most of them perform well in dry conditions and don’t miss a beat in the coldest frost.
Their main requirement is good soil drainage. This can be ascertained by digging a bucket sized hole where you plan to plant your Correa. Pour a bucket of water into the hole and if the water drains away in 10 minutes you have well drained soil.
At IDP Nursery we sell a range of Correa to suit most positions with more varieties in the pipeline. We have two variations of Correa decumbens. One grows to 0.6mH X 3mW, while the other is more ground hugging, to 3m W and with darker leaves and flowers. Another beautiful ground cover Correa we have growing is Correa nummulariifolia at 0.5mH X 1mW, with grey green leaves and prominent greenish flowers. In my garden this is in full flower now. A Correa that grows slightly taller but is also considered a good groundcover or low shrub is Correa ‘Dusky Bells’ at 0.6mH X 2mW. This plant is covered in red bells whether grown in shade or full sun.
Correa ‘Candy pink’ is slightly higher again at around 1mH X 1mW. This plant has performed so well in my garden, growing quickly with little attention other than extra water through its first summer. Now after 1 ½ years it is at full size, never missed a beat. Correa upright pink is another very hardy option. The official plant info says it grows to 1mH X 1mW but we have it growing at the nursery at least twice that size. It is dense, completely occluding weeds and providing great cover for the lizards. If you want a plant with larger flowers then Correa reflexa ‘Clearview Giant’ at approx. 1mH X 1mW might be the plant for you and if you are looking for lush green foliage then Correa glabra, at 1.5mH X 1.5mW, will perform wonders. There are several more in our for sale list currently so have a browse through our plant selections and find the one that suits your needs or come to Murrumbateman Market on Saturday to talk to me or Iris about what might suit your garden.
 
Whilst writing this I received a delivery of Correa which, once up and growing, will provide cuttings for new plants for you to try. So watch out for Correa Shiraz, Correa var. turnbullii ‘Mt Barker Beauty’, and Correa var turnbullii ‘Red Spiders’. 

What a joy and privilege it is to have native birds visit my garden. As I write this we are having a rare shower of rain and the cockatoos are squawking wildly, swinging upside down on branches and power lines in joy.

We have a great variety of birds visit here, from the largest Cockatoos, such as the Black Cockatoo, down to the tiniest Superb Fairy-wrens and, in between, birds such as the Wattle birds and Butcher birds. This year for the first time we have had a pair of Gang Gang Cockatoos visit regularly to feed in the Acacia trees.

Encouraging native birds to your patch is not rocket science. The main elements that they require to feel comfortable in the environment are water, food and habitat, or places to feel safe or nest.

I have a friend who is an avid and scientific composter. He turns out compost every 6 to 8 weeks. All green waste is mulched with either the lawn mower or a mulcher, and placed in the first of a series of three compost bins. After a few days, and regularly thereafter, depending on the heat of the pile, the compost is turned, sometimes every three days, and moved into the next bin. The bins are more than a meter square, made from fabulously thick railway sleepers and placed on a solid concrete pad. The piles are turned using a tractor.

If, like me, you find the idea of all that energy being used to compost a bit too much, I can assure you that you can compost in a much more sedentary manner, although you will not turn out compost as quickly as my friend. I have 4 compost bins made of wooden pallets which sit on heavy duty plastic sheeting to prevent the Eucalyptus roots from sucking the compost dry. 

A native grass frog sheltering in the compost bin.