Back into it

It's been a while and I can assure you I haven't been abducted by aliens. Intense study for a graduate certificate has kept me away but it's finished and looking forward to graduating.

In the meantime the summer plants have finished off and it's time for turning over the soil (great exercise) and thinking about what to plant in spring. Apollo tomatoes will be on the list since they performed remarkably well over a challenging summer. We picked the last of the tomatoes in early May, normally they would have finished long before then.

In other developments the downpours of early this year convinced us it was time to replace the ageing roof on the house. We signed up in early April and after many rain delays we got it done just this week. We've gone from a light green to a dark blue, looks great and because the house is on a slope below street level it's the first thing you see of it. The colour blends surprisingly well with the surroundings of the green of the eucalyptus trees. Something to take into consideration, blending the colours of the house with the garden.

Being Winter in Australia now's the time to prune roses. Pruning isn't as difficult as one might think. Roses are tough plants and are particularly forgiving of a hard prune. As a general rule I reduce the plant's size by a third. They put on a lot of growth this year due to the rain and I think I'll cut them back by half.

Here are my tips for pruning roses:

• Use sharp secateurs and wipe blades with methylated spirits before moving on to the next bush to minimise the potential spread of disease.

• Make a clean angulated cut about 5mm above an outward facing bud sloping away from it.

• Thin out inner branches of the rose bush to promote air circulation, important for controlling fungal problems like blackspot in warm humid conditions.

• Dispose of prunings in the green waste collection or the rubbish bin, not in your compost. As with the secateurs, hygiene is important here. Infected rose clippings in the compost bin could transfer disease and create problems down the track when the compost is spread on garden beds.

The roses will look like thorny sticks coming out of the ground. Spring is not too far away now and before you know it these sticks will be sprouting lush new leaves and the promise of delightful blooms from late October.

Prune roses by making a clean angulated cut above a bud sloping away from it.

 For colour a camellia is a welcome sight on a grey Winter's day.

This potted orchid was given to me by my parents more than a decade ago.  It really delivers a star performance at this time of the year.

Cheers.