Page 12 - PR Mag Sep18

Spring Gardening Tips

Hello Gardeners, what a crazy Winter! The plants have no idea
what is happening because of the high daytime temperatures
we’ve experienced.
Don’t be fooled though, leave all your pruning until the middle of
September, as we may still see more cold weather. You should be
getting your beds ready now for Spring planting: Apply a wetting
agent, Organic Extra and re-mulch all your gardens to help your
plants through what looks like being a long, hot Summer.
We are often asked when is the best time to plant ‘this and that’
type of plant and the simple answer is, NOW! Unless you are
trying to grow tropical or temperate plants, you can plant most
sub-tropical plants anytime of the year. However, it is best to
avoid the hottest and coldest weeks if you are time poor and can’t
give them that little extra tender loving care.
If you are having trouble growing plants it could be that the Ph
of your soil is out of balance. Have it checked – it makes a big
difference if the Ph level is correct. Mulch from the tip and fresh
from a tree lopper can severely deplete your soil of nitrogen.
We don’t say not to use this mulch, just add some nitrogen rich
fertiliser to counteract the process. However, using composted
material will save you all the bother.
Use slow release fertiliser and don’t over fertilise your plants. Use
smaller amounts of fertiliser but put it on more regularly. Plants
are like us – they need food, water and a little TLC.
Happy gardening and have fun in the garden!
Bruce and Judi - Theo’s Garden Centre

as teachers strive to meet year level
benchmarks set out by the Australian
Curriculum. The challenge is to still meet
these educational expectations, while
at the same time encouraging high level
creativity that should come naturally to
all children. The Lakes College has found
that balance and continues to carry out
extensive research in the area of creativity
to ensure we are equipping our students
with the skills they need for future success.
The Lakes College has an extensive Arts
program, which commences in Prep
and comprises music (including the
learning of an instrument), dance, drama
The 4C’s of 21st century education and visual arts certainly engages and
– Critical thinking, Collaboration, encourages our young students and
Communication and Creativity are the their creative expression. Creativity at
foundational skills needed in the 21st The Lakes College is further enhanced by
century workplace. their STEM program (Science, Technology,
Prep students at The Lakes College are Engineering and Mathematics) which
already on the way to being successful encourages all Primary students to create
future entrepreneurs. original, valuable ideas to solve problems,
When we think of young children, either working collaboratively with
ensuring Creativity is alive and well classmates or alone.
seems to be a fairly easy task, yet it is just Children aren’t frightened of making
the opposite. Children have astonishing mistakes at The Lakes College, in fact they
capability and talents and yet the modern all recognise the importance of getting
schooling system which we see in most it wrong as part of the creative process,
schools, while engaging and fast paced, all part of providing a holistic education
often tends to inadvertently crush the which promotes the development of
creative juices of its youngest students every part of every child.