Top Summer Gardening Tips. Good preparation is critical for your garden to survive the wilting effects of the Aussie summer. Summer means different things to different gardeners. While many southern and central regions bake dry, for instance, the steamy Top End is rejuvenated by drenching storms. But for all of us, summer brings common challenges, such as dividing time and effort between keeping our gardens in good shape, and enjoying them during the summer holidays. Take care of budding plants. Does your camellia drop its buds and flowers? As camellias (pictured) initiate budding in summertime, sudden loss of buds and flowers is often a consequence of the plants drying out, particularly when they are growing in containers. Mulch and water deeply once or twice weekly during hot, dry weather to limit this common and irritating problem. Help pots to stay cool. Potted plants, especially those in terracotta pots, are vulnerable to overheating. Lightly mulch and, where possible, position them out of hot western sunshine. Remember that standing potted plants in saucers of water encourages root rot and mosquito breeding. Instead, stand them in saucers filled with sand, and keep the sand moist. Subtitles Alive (1993). Stay Alive (2006) Horror. Stay Alive In The Summer Bush (1958) Short Added: 8 years ago Runtime: 25 minutes. Around the Mulberry Bush. That a Japanese could even stay on the same courtwith the likes of. The Network of Email Newsletters. Here's what our subscribers say “ I get a lot of 'news' emails, but the Daily Brief is the only one I find time to read no.
This ensures roots stay cool and plants remain healthy. If potted plants dry out to the point where re- wetting is hard, soak them in a bucket of water for half an hour, then drain. Water early to avert mildew. Water in the cool of the day. The best time is morning but, if you water in the afternoon, allow enough time for foliage to dry out before sunset. This reduces the risk of mildew and other fungi attacking leaves, and there. Mildew frequently attacks roses, pumpkin, melon, zucchini and cucumber. Spray plants weekly with a solution made from one part cow. Repeat after heavy rain or irrigation. Add nutrients to the water. If you can only water occasionally, try to water plants deeply and use that opportunity to simultaneously feed and correct mineral deficiencies. Apply a soluble fertiliser with added seaweed. Water in potash around the base of fruit trees, especially citrus, banana and lychee, to improve fruit flavour and juiciness. The potassium in potash is also important for controlling anthracnose disease of avocado and mango, and it generally helps to improve plant vigour and resistance to foliar fungi. Keep the lawn long and lush. Brown, bare, weed- infested lawns are symptoms of scalping, which means cutting lawns too low. Instead, mow lawns as high as your mower permits. Longer turf wears better, but most important of all, a thick sward suppresses pernicious weeds such as oxalis and bindii. Fresh lawn clippings are great for activating compost heaps and mulching shrubberies, but only when applied in a thin layer, up to 5cm deep, as thicker layers can burn leaves and encourage collar rot on trees and shrubs. Keep lawn lush by foliar feeding with seaweed tonic once monthly and applying one handful of poultry manure per square metre each season, before rain or irrigation. Allow two weeks for this to green your lawn . Keep the water flowing. Check that hoses and irrigation systems are free of leaks, and unblock the nozzles. Clear debris from gutters so that every shower funnels extra water into your rainwater tank. Do you need another, bigger rainwater tank? Use mosquito mesh to stop mosquitoes and frogs from entering tanks and pipes. A good drink of water and a smear of sunblock are prerequisites, because that one five- minute job often leads to another, and another. Sunblock takes 1. In my Brisbane garden, a tea tree oil- based mosquito repellent is also essential. Save some light tasks, such as weeding or propagating, to complete in the comfort of a shady spot. Protect new plantings. Freshly planted vegetable and flower seedlings are likely to need a bit of sun hardening. Shelter them with 5. This helps them establish without harm. Plan shade strategically. Northern boundaries may benefit from some extra shade, but will this make a solar panel or hot water system inefficient? Strategically placing a deciduous tree, vine or some clumping bamboo to shield your house and garden from searing western sunshine is often a better option. For more information on using plants to shade exposed areas of your home, visit Your Home Design Guide and choose . Boost trace elements. Magnesium encourages robust growth and the production of energy in plants. Gardenias and roses in particular benefit from supplementary magnesium in summer. Also apply it to cymbidium orchids to help initiate flower buds. Add 1 heaped tsp of Epsom salts to 4. L of water. Either spray the foliage, or water it in at the roots. If the leaves of citrus, banksia, grevillea, camellia or azalea become stunted and mottled yellow, now is also the time to boost the iron content of soil by applying iron chelates. This acidifies soil and adds iron necessary for healthy growth. It takes a month or so to see a result. Look out for pests. In northern Australia, termites perform the same beneficial environmental services as earthworms, and activity increases where soils are warm and moist. Most species are disinclined to attack household and garden timber. But be on guard for pest species and keep garden tools with wooden handles, hardwood stakes and other timber temptations off the ground. Avoid spreading woodchip closer than 1m to houses or timber sheds, and keep soil dry in this zone to help divert their foraging. Protect untreated timber, such as benches and garden bed edging, from decay. There are some non- toxic products around that are safe for making kids. Use your time wisely. Sometimes it. If you have a bit more time, and live in a moist region, place granular fertilisers such as poultry manure on the soil and cover with mulch. Apart from keeping soil cool and conserving water, mulch stops stormwater washing fertiliser away. If you have plants growing among hungry trees, give the plants a foliar feed so they can absorb the nutrients directly, rather than the tree roots getting to them first. How much water is enough? In my Brisbane garden, I don. Thirsty citrus and banana top the list as, without enough water, they won. But how else can you tell if a plant is parched? Moisture- loving plants, such as pumpkin or impatiens, may wilt at noon, simply because they can. Gingers are better indicators of dry soil, because they roll their leaves when stressed. Always inspect your soil to see if more water is really necessary.> > 1. How to grow frangipani trees> > How to grow tomatoes in summer. All about the Australian bush fly. Bush flies! Why they pester you. The female bush flies pester you most. They want. protein. They need it to. develop their ovaries, to prepare eggs for the next. It hasn't got much protein. But it's useful if the flies are thirsty, and it. They. don't need much protein. For example, if. female flies are fed only sugar. They can be. deprived of protein for about two weeks. By. the end of five weeks without. They can find an animal in seconds. They also fly. immediately to fresh dung: if you scrape off. Why the small bush flies pester you more. The smaller the female bush fly, the more she needs extra. The small bush flies are short of. This happens if. there are too many larvae competing for the food, or if. They're. desperate, protein- hungry females. They want that. protein in your tears, in. They have exterior skeletons. Fat ones that don't bother you too much. The bush flies watching the scene must have. They. breed there because there's. And from each cow pad, up to 2. They. bred in animal dung, but there were snags: kangaroos and. So the flies had poor breeding material, and. Huge, splashy. cow pads. And there was nothing much to stop flies. In some. parts of Australia, a few types of native Australian. These beetles cut down fly. For example, the Onthophagus. Western Australia, and Onthophagus granulatus. Onthophagus. australis in south- east Australia. They were some. help in reducing fly. But not nearly enough. If the dung beetles aren't active enough to. And they add up to a big area: new pads can make. How the bush flies get into the cities. In the winter, bush flies die out in the southern part. Australia. It's too. The. population rises and falls with rainfall and. The flies come south in steps, in. The wind acts. like a one- way valve: when the wind blows from the. They stay where they are. The females start laying eggs, just as the air. It's the new- bred flies from these rich breeding. They reach Canberra in about the. September. By October. Victoria. Sometimes they get. Tasmania (by. December). There. are records of ships at. It. was invaded by flies when it was 3. Fremantle.) Most entomologists. Tasmania. If the. The females from the. The new generation of flies. This. can go on for several weeks. Ten. times ten times ten times.. No wonder we. notice a 'sudden' fly problem. The pastures dry, the cows. The same. applies to the next generation. So. the bush flies almost disappear. But the flies pester me here in the desert. And. there aren't any cows! You'll. find them in the central. And of course bush. Not their numbers per. When to expect them. Sydney. Bush flies blow in from the pasture- land breeding areas. The waves. of flies grow denser. November and December. The peak comes. in January. The. numbers then drop slowly until the end of March - - and. They counted flies at. Sydney and passed the. CSIRO.) During the. Of these. 3. 9,8. January (2. 1,4. 30). The peak is in December or. January. It. occurs around homes in the outer suburban areas each. In winter, the fly dies out in Victoria. States to the north of us, carried on the northerly. The. reason: they're only a problem now and then, when they. Perth. Bush flies are first noticeable in October. The numbers. rise steeply in. November. They peak in December (when people and food. December barbecues). By the end of. January, almost all. In the south- east, the bush. March.). The pattern in Perth is very regular. To the. north- east, there's a. By. September, breeding increases rapidly. Temperatures are also high. They then breed in the. A kind of chain- reaction. December. Breeding. By the end of. January, it's all over: near the. Brisbane. There isn't much of a bush- fly problem here. The. pasture- lands around Brisbane. A few bush flies. Canberra. Some bush flies start appearing in October and November. December. Then they reach a. There are still bush flies around. March. Only in. April are they really gone. They don't start breeding there. December, and. by then the quality of pastures and cattle. This. makes the breeding areas around Canberra one. Alice Springs. Bush flies are always around, but not normally in great. The fly. population normally rises quickly after heavy rainfall. The. flies breed fast in the dung, then spread out looking. But if the weather remains dry, in a month or two. Also. there's the 'desert effect' we mentioned earlier: there. Any. targets there are. Alice, for example) can get pestered a. Tasmania. Unpredictable. Sometimes Tasmania gets no bush. When they appear, it's only in the warmer months. Subtropical areas. Bush flies are active in the northern subtropics all. After the. summer rains start, the numbers build up to a peak in. The numbers. usually stay high over winter, but then drop quickly. There's a rapid decline. Temperature and other things that affect how many. Yesterday the bush flies were all over you, up your. But. today it's all quiet. Hardly a fly in sight. But. some of the factors have. Temperature. Below 1. C, bush flies. don't fly. But only. short flights. As the. temperature rises, they get more and more active, and. And at. 3. 5o. C, they head for the shade, like the rest. They just sit. in the trees, or maybe inside a house (the only time. Humidity. This hardly affects them at all. It. doesn't. matter much whether it's a sticky, humid day, or a very. If so, it's not the. But low. humidity can have an. Another surprising one: strong. They bother you almost as much on. Winds speeds of 3. But note. this: though bush flies take to the air on a windy day. Relative to the air, they fly pretty slowly. Solar radiation. Bush flies get more active as. Actually it's worse. Most of. the flies were caught in baited fly traps, and the. I quote). 1. Note the time, weather conditions, the temperature. Keep the females alive in tubes until you can dissect. If it will be. more than a day, put the flies in a fridge - - or pickle. Kill any live flies in alcohol, then dissect all. Pin flies ventral side upwards. Measure the width. Open. abdomen of females and remove ovaries. Note if pregnant. Remove spermathecae and squash under the coverslip on. Keep the following records for each fly: sex. Bush flies in the old days. We hear similar complaints from: D. Pelsaert about Geraldton, Western Australia in. Dampier about the North- West of Western. Australia in 1. 68. Gonzal about the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1. Flinders, with more bad news from the Gulf of. Carpentaria in 1. Grey, who confirmed that flies were still bad in. North- West of. Western Australia in 1. Sturt, about Cooper's Creek and west of the. Darling River in 1. They infest the whole air. The instant I inhale a fly it acts as an. And if Nature abhors. I swallow one a vacuum is instantly produced. They also cause great pains and discomfort to. And he was paying attention because he had. Probably he was. just lucky, and came. It came in. much as it is today - -. North. When this. But it's likely the fly got to Australia in an. Aboriginal boat, the. In that case, the bush fly. Australia as long as 4. But they bred. easily in kangaroo and emu dung - - and maybe in dingo. Up to 1. 50 flies can. Later. the female can mate again - - and sometimes once more. Some heroic. females might lay up to five batches of eggs. Then she walks. all over it, exploring all its little caves and cracks. If she's satisfied with. They come out about one a minute and get. She usually lays the whole batch in. The. result: anywhere from 5 to 5. One. end is more pointed than the other. An average. egg measures 1. For. example, the number of eggs per batch. Other. things being equal, bigger flies produce. As you'd expect, eggs take. The maggots. - - or to be more. They munch. blindly at soft, undigested plant and animal tissues in. They also. drink a liquid mixture of bacteria and digested food. First they need moisture. Second. they need air. Both. of these aren't always easy to get in a cow pad that's. To keep. moist, the maggots have to keep going deeper into the. But this means air. At first the. maggots feed on this wet inner surface. Then as this. shrinks, they dig into. But they keep backing up in their tunnels to expose. In pads that have been drying. A much larger number leave. And the final wave gets out. This knowledge about. P. M. He suspended some. So it. was only necessary to visit the maggoty cow. Under some. conditions, few maggots live that long. For. example, in a cow pad kept at. C, only about 2. 0 per cent of. This compares. to 8. C. And at temperatures below. C, no maggots. survive. At higher temperatures, the. At. 4. 6o C, for example, the maggots. In one experiment, 2. If there are too. And of course. there's the whole question of. But that topic I talk. It stops feeding. There it stays. while it turns into a kind of genetic mush - - that. It depends on the. If the soil is at around 1. C. the pupa stage lasts. On the other hand, if the soil is very. C. for example - - the flies come out of the puparia in just. C, but none. survive at 4. C. Survival also. C or lower. In. one experiment. The best survival rates in. At a 4% moisture. They may be small bush flies. If they are big, and female, they. If they are smaller females, they'll be less. In. warm weather, about. In cold weather, up to ten weeks. If the days aren't too hot, or. Bush- fly habits and flight performance. One of the easiest ways to recognise species of flies is. Bush flies rarely go indoors, and when they. But house flies - -. They don't. like pastures and. House flies don't do this (just as well too. They. don't like shady places. One easy way to shake off a cloud of bush. This might also give a clue about why the old- fashioned. To get. at your face, the bush flies have to go inside. Their genes rebel at this. They're programmed to. If the temperature. C, that's what they do. They head for. shade. They just walk - - and. If they walk. to a warm spot in the sun, they sometimes take to the. But then they. quickly slow down as the air cools them. You can. actually hear them slow down. For bush. flies, low temperatures are. They. also fly low. This can. be useful, if you can get the wind to catch them as they.
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