Contact
By Email:
justin [at] thistlebrook [dot] com [dot] au
By Post:
Thistlebrook Garden School & Nursery
237 Hampton Road,
Hampton QLD 4352
By Phone
P: (07) 4697 9371
The garden and nursery are not yet open to visitors, except by appointment to those customers who are picking up their tree order or attending a workshop. Please give us a call prior to dropping by.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Justin, I’m a gardener and reader of your column. I am currently Co-Ordinator of a small not-for-profit After School Care and Vacation Care program at Gabbinbar State School, and we have started a Vege garden. I am wondering if you would be interested in visiting our service during the school holidays to talk to the children about gardening, worm farms, etc. We have a gardening day planned for the 18th of January, but this could be moved. Any feedback would be gratefully received! Thanks , Davina
Hi Justin,tried to email you a response when I received yours and it was sent back.Just wanted to say thanks for your advice and for putting the response in your column.I have put up some shade cloth around the pink lady,though only half way up,so i hope that will do.the leaves on the bottom half look pretty bad with the black spot but the top hasnt got any yet.the granny smith is powering on with no signs of stress or disease and I am looking forward to buying another 6 or so trees off you next winter.
Kindest regards
Mandy
Clifton
Hi Justin
Do you have an effective and humane way of controlling snails in the garden?
Thanks
Heather
Thanks for the question Heather.
Thanks for the question about snails. Probably the most humane way to control them is using beer traps. These can be made from old glass jars, or green plastic traps can be purchased from hardware stores. The snails crawl into the traps, get drunk on the beer, and drown. I think it’s a waste of good beer though, so an alternative is to fill the traps with yeasty water or watery vegemite. A far more effective control in my opinion is the use of snail pellets based on Iron-EDTA. These have a very low toxicity, won’t harm pets, and the iron breaks down into a soil nutrient without harming earthworms.
Other than letting a couple of ducks loose in the garden (they love slugs and snails), another non-toxic option is the use of copper tape as a barrier. This works well around the edge of raised vegetable beds, and repels the snails rather than harming them. Copper works by imparting a mild electric shock to the snails when they make contact with it, and can be purchased through mail order company Green Harvest.
Hello there
Great website..just a quick question…my ‘just joey’ roses look healthy enough and have been in the ground for about one year, however the stems seem to break and hang there as if something heavy has fallen on them and broken them. The wood looks as if it’s rotted or something. I cut off these stems and the plants still grow healthy enough but it happens again…Do you know what this problem is?
Regards, Jenny.
Justin
your article on the billowing grasses is making me homesick!
Gday Russell
It’s probably getting a bit late but was wondering where asparagus and rhubarb crowns can be accessed in the Darling Downs -Maranoa areas.
Regards
Marc
Hello Russell
We live west of Surat, besides the Balonne River Where the soil is a glorified sand and all sorts of wogs give our vege garden curry. Have been reading some dope about about spraying Neem oil as a deterrent/repellent, but the source of the info comes via retailers. Russell, do you or your readers have any experience with this product as to its effectiveness or is it another snake oil brew?
Cheers
Jen
Thanks for your question Jenny. I can’t vouch for neem oil personally, as I haven’t used it yet, but I can tell you that it has a long history of use in places like India. Proper neem oil is an extract from the neem tree Azadirachta indica, and is effective against insect pests both as a contact and preventative spray. It can be used a drench for soil-borne pests, and also has some effectiveness as a fungicide. Sounds too goo to be true, but all indications are that it is very effective. The reason it has only recently come onto the market is that the regulators wouldn’t allow it’s sale as a pesticide, and still only approve it for use on non-food plants, despite the fact that it is widely available for use overseas. So legally, I must advise you that neem should not be used in your vegie garden. However, what you do in your own backyard is generally your choice.
Cheers,
Justin