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Expert Tips Outdoor & Exteriors RENO ADDICT

Reader question: what to do with my raised veggie patch?

Reader Wendy has been struggling with her raised veggie garden and wants some advice from our Resident Expert Charlie Albone.

She asks:  “Hi Charlie. I am in Melbourne and I have tried so hard to establish a veggie garden in a raised garden bed. I’ve done three lots of planting with no success except for a few tomatoes. I want to rip it all out and put flowers instead. What flowers do you suggest?”

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Charlie says…

To get good veggies you need lots of direct sunlight — about six-to-eight hours a day — and if you’re not getting that, you won’t get much produce. Your problem is most plants that flower need lots of sun too! I’m assuming you have a shady spot from what you’ve told me, so I would go for something a bit unusual like Hydrangea Quercifolia or the ‘Oak leaf Hydrangea’ as it’s also known. This gets a lovely white spike like flower. If I’m totally off and you have a really hot spot and there’s something else up with your veggies, I would plant Euporhorbia ‘Diamond Frost’ or maybe annuals like Petunias.

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Interiors Addict

Off-Topic Tuesday: Get a free skin cancer check with Spot Check Month

Skin cancer is a disease close to my heart as my mum, Patricia Bishop, sadly died from the disease when I was 3 years old. That’s why I wanted to give publicity to Spot Check Month and encourage you to get a free skin check. This is also why, 6 years after moving here from England, my skin is still as Pommy white as it ever was!

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Aussie media personalities Fifi Box, Emma Freedman, Hayden Quinn and Bondi Rescue lifeguards Greg Bishop, Tom Bunting and Brad Malyon, have teamed up for Invisible Zinc Spot Check Month – encouraging Australians to check their skin for bad spots this January. Launching with a nationwide competition, the month sees $150,000 worth of free skin cancer checks being offered at clinics around the country.