So there I was with Noel Burdette, in the pre-dawn darkness of Brisbane’s Cannon Hill. Groggy but organised, and with only a smartly dressed security guard as a witness, we got stuck in. Long ago we’d decided that the front garden at 4BC Radio, home to the voice of Brisbane’s gardeners, needed a little buffing up.

A folding saw made quick work of pruning the Song of India (Dracaena reflex var. angustifolia) to shape. Prunings will be propagated;

Dead Lady Palm fronds (Rhapis excelsa) were removed, and are now composting;

Colour co-ordinated bromeliads were planted. We chose Aechmea blanchettiana, a lustrous, large-leaved Brazilian bromeliad with leaves the same colour as the stars above them;

A light mulch of mushroom compost added soil improving organic matter;

Lastly, a sprinkling of trace elements (aka micronutrients), iron chelates, magnesium-rich Epsom salts were watered in and around the plants using seaweed solution.

It’s one small step, but a fertile one, and in the right direction.

Jerry Coleby-Williams
22nd March 2014

Fancy a gardener’s escape with Jerry?
Click here to check out ‘from paddy to plate‘, Jerry’s Thailand and Singapore Trip, September 2014