Charlie Albone: What type of gardener are you? 

Last weekend was not only a record-breaking one as Telethon raised more than $83 million dollars. It was also one filled with laughter, tears and a chance to engage with many of the keen green thumbs in Western Australia. I had people come up to me and show me pictures of their lawns before and after following my advice, others with questions on how to improve what they had, and those who simply wanted to show off their prized plants.

I loved seeing all of your gardens, but it got me thinking — what type of gardener are you?

I think it is important to know what type of gardener you are so you can tailor the type of garden you have to your individual positive traits. As a garden grows the maintenance will need doing and knowing the relationship you have with gardening will allow you to modify what you have so you can successfully look after it — because a well-maintained garden always looks better.

There is the utterly obsessed, where all they tend to think about is gardens, what needs doing outside, what they need to plan for next season, or what they can spray, cut or transplant right now. These types of gardeners can’t think of or talk about anything else — it’s like an obsession.

I’ll admit I’m a bit like this, but I do find time to sit outside and enjoy the fruits of my labours. Being able to relax and enjoy the garden is one of the best parts about the hard work that goes into it, and one part of the gardening process that is often moved down the priority list when there are a few jobs to tick off that list.

At the other end of the scale are those who are just starting out. They have minimal experience, but they want to learn, and they love plants.

I was one of these once, about 25 years ago. I should also mention here I don’t think there is anyone with “brown thumbs”, as many tell me they have — there are simply those who don’t have the experience in gardening yet. I wasn’t born with green thumbs; I had to learn it all and most of that came through experience, but I held onto the information that was given to me as I was interested in it all.

Learning from what you do in the garden is key to becoming a good gardener. If something grows particularly, well work out why — is it the aspect, the soil, the fertilising, irrigation, or all of the above?

The same goes for if something is struggling — why? You’ll learn much faster as a gardener if you dedicate less time, more often, rather than trying to cram it all into a big day once or twice a month. Working little and often allows you to pick up on the nuances of the effects of what you are doing.

Of course, between these two types of gardeners are many more: the lazy gardener loves the final look of the garden but can’t be bothered to do it. The ‘all the gear and no idea’ gardener is far too overzealous with the pruning and mowing and often cuts too much off everything. The impatient gardener stares at their seeds waiting for them to germinate, gets bored of it and gives up or heads out to the nursery and spends big on advanced plants.

Knowing when to do nothing is a skill that must be learnt for all types of green thumbs. Often you can overdo it just for the sake of doing something. In this case, I recommend stopping worrying about your garden and just relaxing.

The main culprits that can do more damage than good are if it’s too wet, if it’s the wrong season, if feeding has been done or it’s just too hot to be outside. In any of these cases my advice would be, if you’re tired, sit down and have a nice cup of tea in the garden and if you’re full of energy, just go and turn the compost!

Q: Thank you for your great article in The Sunday Times (Springtime Mow-Jo) (The Sunday Times, September 22, 2024). Can you please suggest a recommended wetting agent product that you’ve had success with? Kevin, Mandurah.

A: There are many great products on the market. I work with Richgro and have great results with their products, but really look at the situation you are applying it to and buy accordingly. For large areas, use a granulated soil wetter. For pots, concentrates diluted into watering cans are best, but there are also great click-on hose bottles for the lazy gardener!