Open garden: Davey family retreat

DAVEY family garden: 118 Ryans Road, Mount Marshall, Queensland.

The Davey family garden.

Davey family garden: 118 Ryans Road, Mount Marshall, Queensland. Owners: Rita and Paul Davey Open this weekend 10am to 4.30pm. Entry $7, under 18s free.

Describe your garden: A magnificent 300-year-old gum tree is the reason we bought our 2.2ha block, between Warwick and Allora, in 1983. We designed and built the house, and gradually developed the garden among the gum trees as our family grew. Adding ponds transformed the front garden and ­attracted a host of wildlife. It took us five years, working only in school holidays, to dig out under the house to add more rooms. The excavated dirt and rock helped create a large patio and two creek areas. The garden folly we built next is a circular indoor barbecue area but our grandson calls it the beehive. Then came a dam, the succulent gardens, and incorporating our solar-panel array sympathetically into the garden.

What makes it special: Views of ­distant mountains, majestic gum trees, stunning sunrises and sunsets and an abundance of wildlife including goannas, wallabies, echidnas, lizards and birds.

Biggest successes: Turning the long rocky ridge that made mowing a disaster into a tranquil dry creek bed, with grevilleas and ornamental grasses tucked into pockets of soil. The mulberry tree planted for our children now delights our grandchildren.

Don’t miss: The flowing creek bed, ­dotted with topiary swans formed from Ligustrum ‘Lemon, Lime and Clippers’. Topiary horses play in and around the rose garden — Paul welded the frames for them. A row of huge terracotta pots along the veranda gives a Mediterranean feel, reflected in some of the garden plantings such as pencil pines, roses, daylilies and salvias.

Extras: Morning and afternoon teas with homemade biscuits and tarts, light lunches, plants for sale, country music being played. Nearby gardens also open are Reppels, 21 Drayton Street, Allora and Kyle Garden, 46 Raff Street, Allora.

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FLORA

JUNIOR Landcare and Yates have just launched their latest challenge, engaging children in a winter vegetable growing experience.

The challenge is open to young people living in Australia, aged 17 and under, who may enter as individuals or as part of a school, community or family group.

Entrants receive a free packet of seeds of carrot, lettuce, radish, broccoli or spinach and can use a range of resources on the website to help them grow a successful crop.

By uploading photos and stories of their growing experience they can win a monthly prize, as well as vying for the major prizes, judged at the end of September.

Entry is free. Registrations close on April 4.

Go to: juniorlandcarechallenge.com.au.

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TWIG

Q. How can I stop my pot plants being burned by the sun? They’re too heavy to move.

Tracy Baker, Perth

A. Lie a piece of shadecloth or even an old tablecloth over vulnerable plants on heatwave days. Use clothes pegs to attach it to stems or the pot rim. Burning is worse if the soil is dry, so water thoroughly in the morning. Use this method to protect new seedlings in garden beds, or valuable but easily burned plants such as standard weeping Japanese maples.

Q. Why are all my New Zealand flax plants browning off and dying?

Tasha Walker, Perth

A. From the photo you sent it’s apparent they are sunburnt and heat-stressed. As they are planted in front of an enormous rock, heat effects are magnified because the rock absorbs and reflects heat. New Zealand flax, being from a cool climate, hates having hot roots and the leaves will burn in full sun. Kangaroo paws might do better in this spot.

Q. Our Banksia ‘Giant Candles’ has been in for three years but has yet to flower. It’s 2m tall, healthy and in full sun.

Bob Beveridge, Caloundra, Queensland

A. Native specialist Fairhill Native Plants, not far from you, advises it is usual for ‘Giant Candles’ to take that long to flower. They grow up to 5m tall and need some maturity to produce the spectacular 40cm-long flowers. Flowering is from autumn to early spring so hopefully it will flower this year.

Q. We just bought a new house that has a vegie garden. What should we do to the soil before we plant new vegies?

Suzanne Roach, by email

A. Test the soil pH (inexpensive kits are available at garden centres) so you can adjust it as needed. Replenish organic matter with generous amounts of compost. Aged animal manures, blood and bone, rock dust and worm castings are also good. A copy of Organic Vegetable Gardening by Annette McFarlane will be an invaluable guide.