Palmers are your garden and outdoor living experts with over 100 years’ experience helping kiwis grow great gardens. Visit us online or at one of our 14 stores in the North Island. www.palmers.co.nz 0800 PALMERS (0800 725 6377) homegrown feijoas, ready to eat blooming bulbs – time will tell Spring may seem ages away but plant your bulbs now, and these little underground time capsules will reward you with stunning colour in a few months’ time. Here’s how to get the best out of your bulbs. •  Most bulbs grow best after a cold snap – so place them in a paper bag in the fridge for about 4-6 weeks before planting. •  Which way’s up? It can sometimes be hard to tell which way around a bulb should be positioned. If you’re not sure, plant the bulb on its side – the stem will manage to find its own way up. Good work, Mother Nature. •  If you’re happy with where you’ve planted your bulbs, pop a little marker in the ground (like a plastic rod or an ice block stick) once the foliage has died back, so that you know where to keep an eye out next spring. •  Six months of blooms? It’s not just a pipe dream. If you stagger your planting, you can make it happen. Plant a group every two weeks over a 6-8 week period in autumn. Then throughout spring, new blooms will pop up as old ones die away. Growing great feijoas  There’s nothing quite like being able to walk out to the garden and pick fresh fruit straight off the tree. Not only does homegrown fruit taste best, it can also save you money! If you’re thinking of adding a feijoa to your garden, here’s how:    Which variety?  •  For large fruit, try Apollo, Golden Goose (the largest of them all), White Goose, Antoinette, Den’s Choice, or Mammoth. •  For small to medium sized fruit, try Gemini, Kakapo, Pounamu, Triumph or Unique.   •  For a small garden,  try compact varieties like Bambina, Kakapo or Unique.  •  For a hedge, try Karamea, Apollo or Triumph.    How to plant  Feijoas are pretty hardy and will tolerate most soils, from heavy clay through to sandy soil. Dig a hole around double the depth and width of the container the plant came in, then fill the hole with a mixture of your existing garden soil and a good-quality garden mix. Once the feijoa is planted, a layer of Kolush Manuka Garden Mulch around the base of the shrub will help retain moisture in the soil and suppress weed growth. Remember to give the feijoa a good watering after planting.  It is a good idea to stake newly planted feijoas to keep them steady and protect them from wind and the lawnmower.  Feijoas are frost hardy and will survive temperatures as low as -10°C. Their ideal growing environment is full sunlight and with protection from strong winds.     Care and pruning  To keep your feijoa healthy and growing well, add a balanced NPK fertiliser in early spring, and again in summer. Feijoas are fairly pest and disease free but recently Guava Moth has damaged feijoa fruit across the country. Use a Guava Moth trap, which is chemical free and non-toxic. The best time to prune feijoas is after fruiting, so late autumn/winter. Feijoa shrubs can be pruned to achieve or maintain a certain shape and to stimulate new growth. They can also be pruned to open up the shrub to give birds easier access for pollinating. Remove any weak or damaged branches by pruning back to the main trunk.  a riot of colour with tulips Resene Poppy Palmers planting feature