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What To Do In The Garden This March

In our gardening calendar we have officially arrived in Autumn.  Here are some jobs to keep you out of trouble in the garden this month....

Create Your Best Garden Ever

Do you have big dreams for your garden this year, but don’t know where to begin with landscape design? Get started on the right path with these 7 basic design rules:...

What To Do In The Garden This February

Watering, weeding, mulching and feeding are the most useful jobs you can be doing this month in your garden.  In fact February is 'Feed n Fert' month, so grab a good quality granular fertiliser and feed all the plants in your garden.  It might be wise to wait for a day that we are expecting rain, so that the fertiliser can be watered in well....

Ideas For Your New Years Garden

The New Year always brings about new intentions, plans to revitalise parts of our lives and our gardens are no exception. Tidy out the shed, rejuvenate garden beds and attempt to grow new plants, flowers, fruit & vegetables. Here are a few simple & inspiring ideas to kick start a successful gardening year.1 / PLANT MORETake a look at what plants are growing well in your local area & then add them to your landscape - why not take a look at natives, bird-attracting or bee-lov...

What To Do In The Garden This January | Top Garden Ideas

Now is the time to sit back and enjoy the garden with friends and family over the holiday season.  The abundance of flowers and summer colour and harvesting fruit and vegetables. Don't worry if you didn't have time to plant fresh herbs and lettuce.  There is still time now to pop to the garden centre, get some seedlings and pop them in.  I'm enjoying my basil and tomato plants that I only planted on the 23rd December. Here are my essential top 3 garden ideas for January......

How To Mulch Your Garden Perfectly

Picking the right mulch for your gardening needs is an important step in determining how much of the product you will need.  Fine Mulch: Fine mulches include products like ground hugger & forest floor mulch, which is partially decomposed wood products and shredded mulches commonly found in nurseries. These products are useful for adding a bit of colour to your garden, as well as improving your soil and encouraging the growth of your plants.  Coarse Mulch: Coarse Mulch includes bark nug...

The Ultimate Guide To Weeding

Loosen up the soil around the weed to ensure that you get as much of the roots out as possible - helps prevent them from growing back....

10 Signs You Should Invest In A Garden Design

Do you like the way your yard looks? Does it invite you to spend time in it? Do you want to enjoy warm afternoons outside, reading a book and relaxing? If the answer is no, your garden may be part of the problem. If the layout doesn’t flow, there may be a general lack of inspiration for you and your family to spend time in your outdoor space. The layout can also make maintenance and keeping it tidy a challenge.  Our garden designers at Sculpt Gardens got together to identify the top ...

How To Create A Garden With A View

We were lucky enough to enjoy an afternoon at this beautiful house on the cliff in Castor Bay late last year.  The wonderful garden design framed the view perfectly - out over the Hauraki Gulf to Rangitoto and beyond.  And yes - the pool was as cold as it looked for Molly & Charlie.  Sadly, we aren't all lucky enough to have a wonderful view like this, but we can all create a view within our own garden; regardless of the surrounding landscape. First, find an appealing object or vi...

A Checklist For Looking After Your Lilly Pilly Hedge

Since writing this article - the problem has got worse and worse in Auckland. This is what we are doing now.Sculpt Gardens no longer uses Lilly Pilly (Eugenia ventenatii) in our garden designs, using instead Syzygium Resilience (Psyllid resistant Lilly Pilly) from Blackbridge Nurseries.If you already have lilly pilly in your garden, the new solution we are using with HUGE success is TREE HEALTH BANDS from Cross Hills Nursery with their Super Thrips Killer.  You don't nee...

Does Your Citrus Look Sooty? Great Care Ideas for Citrus Gardens

Sooty mould affects citrus trees and it is at this time of year when we are wanting to pick our lovely lemons for hot lemon and ginger to ward off colds and flu .Sooty mould is a black fungal disease that develops on the fruit, stems and leaves. It is a secondary infection as it grows on the secretions of scale insects like aphids, mealybugs and whitefly.To treat it - wash off the soot by wiping with a strong detergent / soap solution over the tree in the cooler months, like now!  It is imp...

Watering 101 - How To Keep Your Plants Alive This Summer

With forecasters predicting this summer’s El Nino weather pattern to be one of the top 3 or 4 driest on New Zealand’s record, what is the best way to water your garden?...

Should I Use Weedmat In My Garden?

Most gardens on Auckland’s North shore have a clay soil type.  Clay soils are often berated for getting waterlogged, causing root infections for plants and being difficult to dig – all of which are true. However, clay soils are full of essential plant nutrients too.  When weed mat is put on top of a clay soil and then pebbles or mulch placed on top of that, the soil becomes compacted and hardened.  This can lead to anaerobic and waterlogged conditions during wet conditions, wh...