The Amico Team

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:00:41 +0000

I am happy to introduce our hard working team…

Our individual teams are equally well equipped

Our expert team can handle any job, no matter what the size

We have the muscle equipment for large area and large scale work

We also have the delicate expertise to handle smaller horticultural jobs

Manicuring and aesthetics are as important as controlling plant growthOf course, the clean up and waste removal is part of the professional service

Waterwise Gardening

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:41:19 +0000

Continuing on from the previous entry on Sustainable Gardening, I thought I would give some tips into water conservation.

The Botanic Trust Website provides some good tips on maintaining your garden as well as how to “get smart with water”.

Our garden uses 25% of all household water so conserving this water is essential for our environment. Some good tips are:

Water thoroughly established trees, shrubs and lawns less frequently but deeply - water slowly to allow penetration.
Water your garden early morning or evening to reduce evaporation.
Mulch your garden with organic materials and compost to reduce evaporation and week growth.
Choose plants that do well in dry conditions. These include many Australian natives, succulents and mediterranean plants.
Group plants with similar watering requirements.
Consider a water tank - Sydney has decent rainfall so a 1000+ Litre tank will prove quite effective.

Sustainable Gardening

admin — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:32:27 +0000

Most of us are already aware that our lifestyle, home and garden have an impact on the broader environment. The real question is how or what can we do to change any negative effects we may be having?

With regards to our garden, we can impact the environment with fertilisers or pesticides. We may have weedy plants escaping from my garden into surrounding properties. Is our garden water intesive? All these should be considered as we build and modify our home oasis - the garden.

Some ideas you may want to consider to help our environment are:

Composting - helps recycle green material from the home and improves your garden with a rich fertiliser
Mulch - will reduce water consumption
Plant selection - picking the right plants for your garden will mean haelthier plants that do not have problems from bugs and pests
Get rid of weeds

Homegrown makes culinary comeback

admin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:00:15 +0000

With the economic downturn hitting the hip pocket and slicing weekly grocery budgets, more suburban families are creating their own herb gardens and vegetable patches for straight-out-of-the-ground freshness on their plates and in their cooking.

So the release of Herb And Vegetable Gardening: The Definitive Guide to Growing and Harvesting Herbs and Vegetables is not only timely, it’s also quite possibly all you’ll ever need to start your own edible garden and nurture it for years to come - no matter whether you have a large plot or just a few pots.

The information-packed, nine-chapter “encyclopaedia” has beautiful colour photos of gardens, plus closeups for plant identification.

Throughout the 376 pages, you’ll find hands-on information and tips for choosing the right herbs and vegetables for your conditions, garden design, gardening basics, how to grow healthy herbs and vegetables, how to propogate plants, troubleshooting pests and diseases, extending the season of your crop, harvesting and storing, growing herbs for medicine, cosmetics and cooking.

Create a fragrant herb carpet, mix up a batch of corn fritters, snip some basil for a tasty pesto, make a sweet-smelling sachet for a drawer or wardrobe, make a pawpaw mask for oily skin, and find out what to use fennel for - just a few ideas found here.

Herb and Vegetable Gardening is published by Murdoch Books. RRP $45.

- Sunshine Coast Daily Online