It seems to have sneaked up on us this year, but there’s no doubt that Christmas is fast approaching. It’s a busy time of year as we all try to tie up loose ends before the festive season begins, and if you’re starting to feel on edge about getting bringing it all together, you’re not alone.

The stress of Christmas is in collecting and doing all the things we do to celebrate the holiday and uphold our traditions—things that are outside of our usual routines and not usually on our shopping lists. But if you haven’t already realised it, everything you need to create the perfect Christmas for your family and friends is actually right outside your door.

With a little bit of innovation, and the green thumbs you’ve been using all year long, you can have Christmas all wrapped up in a jiffy.

Garden gifts

Most of us spend a lot of time in the shops at Christmas, often looking for that elusive ‘perfect’ gift for the person who’s impossible to buy for. It’s a lot of time and effort—especially when that person would most likely prefer something you’ve made yourself with real heart.

The best part about gifts from your garden is that they’re also practical. If you garden for the sheer pleasure of surrounding your home with beautiful flowers and plants, you’ll no doubt find what you’re looking for already waiting in your garden bed. Orchids, bamboo and herbs all make fantastic gifts because they’re beautiful, hardy, and usable. For something really Christmassy, consider lavender for its symbolism—and the ability to sculpt it into whatever shape you like. Use any plain pot from a nursery or rural store and dress it up with a festive bow or a lick of paint, and your work is done. And if you only have seeds? Some people love a symbolic gift that they can use or make, and will appreciate a thoughtfully decorated packet of seeds that are full of potential and goodwill for the new year.

If you’re feeling just a little bit crafty, there’s virtually no limit to gifts you can make from your backyard. Consider making a terrarium: all you need is a large glass jar or fish bowl and some succulents, and you can surprise your loved ones with a charming little ecosystem you’ve designed especially for them. If you’ve got time, you could dry your own herbs and flowers for potpourri; and if you don’t, you might still find enough in your garden harvest to create fruit and vegetable hamper baskets for them to enjoy over the holidays.

Garden decorations

If you like to spend most of your time living and working in the great outdoors, it doesn’t really make sense to decorate your home at Christmastime with plastic trees and decorations.

It’s easy to spread the cheer by using what nature gave you, and bringing a little of the outside in to create some seasonal ambience.

You won’t have to look far to find some poinsettias in your local nurseries: they’re one of the most famous and symbolic Christmas plants, with their vibrant star-shaped leaves. They’re not native to Australia, but they do enjoy the climate, and they’ll do equally well in the garden or a pot to bring your home a pop of Christmas colour. Many of our very own native plants make appealing decorations too: Christmas Bush with its vibrant white star-shaped blossoms in spring (and bright red calyxes in summer); Christmas Bells with their festive red and yellow bell-shaped blooms; and Christmas Orchids with their symbolic white flowers will all look the part in your family’s celebrations.

You can even find baubles in your backyard. Apples are the perfect choice: they’re a traditional symbol of Christmas with their bright red skin, and they’re equally lovely as centrepieces or hung on a branch. But if going ‘all natural’ isn’t really for you and you’d still prefer to hang some tinsel and baubles, consider using some fallen branches instead of a plastic tree (or a traditional, but introduced tree species like fir or pine). Eucalyptus will bring a fresh, earthy fragrance to your home, and look pleasing against virtually any décor.

Garden food

If you’re a gardening enthusiast, chances are you’ve already been enjoying the fruits of your labour throughout the year. But Christmas is the perfect opportunity to take it a step further, and use the bounty in your garden to make luscious homemade gifts and an enviable spread.

Brisbane gardeners are a lucky bunch, enjoying many colourful, flavourful fruits and veges in season over the Christmas period. If you’re lucky enough to have citrus trees, they’ll serve you well for Christmas lunch: they’re the perfect accompaniment for glazed ham, barbecue meats, and vinaigrettes. And don’t forget the desserts: besides citrus, pears, passionfruit and other fruits will be perfect in fruit punch, cheesecakes and sauces; and strawberries are usually fat and ripe at this time—the perfect topper for the pavlova you’re making from your own hens’ eggs. If you haven’t already, you might also think about making your own preserves for your family meals and as gifts, including lemon butter and jellies and jams, and other infused vinegars, alcohols, oils, and essences.

If you’re been keeping an herb garden, there are many ways they can be used throughout the Christmas period. Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger will all be handy when you’re making your Christmas pudding, gingerbread men, recipe-in-a-jar gifts, and clove-studded oranges for your ham. Rosemary pairs well with both ham and chicken—and doubles as a centrepiece or ornamental miniature Christmas tree!

Garden celebrations

If your family is like many others in Brisbane, you’re probably planning on spending a good deal of your Christmas holidays outside in the fresh air—but your yard is in need of a bit of maintenance. Now is the perfect time to get all your cleaning and clearing done, and have your gardens fresh and ready for Christmas days lazing about late into the afternoon.

Weeds and bindiis tend to pop up in this warm weather, so it’s a good time to get serious about lawn maintenance. Prune back your spring-flowering plants, lay fresh mulch, plan your pest protection, and start sowing your summer fruits and veges (pumpkins, melons, and capsicums) and you’ll be well ready for the festive season when it arrives.

You’ll find everything you need for your Christmas jobs at Gleam O’Dawn. Whether it’s garden tools or supplies, pet and farm animal care, or water and fencing, we’ve got everything you need to prepare your home for the holidays. Drop in or drop us a line anytime, and our friendly staff will be happy to help you spread the cheer into the new year.

Spring has arrived, flowers are starting to bloom and it’s time for you to start planting your edible gardens for summer. If you want to know more about gardening at this time of year, check out our article springtime gardening for fruit and veggies. An important aspect of gardening is fertilising, so we are here to tell you about our favourite spring fertiliser.

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It’s been a warm winter in Brisbane this year, and with the warmer weather already approaching, it’s time to start thinking about what to plant for spring and summer. If you haven’t already started your preparation, you might consider leaving aside the flowers and opting for an edible garden instead—besides keeping your garden tended and well-conditioned, it could save you money on your grocery bills, and turn your home-cooked meals into epicurean feasts.

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If you didn’t make it to this year’s Samford Show, you’ll be sorry to know you missed a bumper celebration. With the largest display of stud beef cattle yet, the staff at Gleam O’Dawn are very pleased to have been sponsors for such a successful competition.

Some of South East Queensland’s best beef was on display, with breeders on hand in the Livestock Corner to give valuable insights into the various breeds on show.

Livestock owners had access to a plethora of advice from local businesses: along with information and exhibits for feeds, fencing, and insurance, patrons enjoyed Gleam O’Dawn’s own expert advice and display of nutritional products, internal and external parasite control and disease management products, vaccinations, and other products and equipment for supporting essential animal husbandry.

It’s truly inspiring to see the beef cattle exhibit—the real heart of any rural show—the best it’s been in years, and we’re looking forward to an even bigger and better show next year.

Winter is descending on Brisbane right now, which means it’s a good time to think about how you’re going to take the edge off the cold when it really sets in. For many Brisbane homeowners, relying on electric heating, cooking and hot water is the answer—and it’s usually reflected in the big electricity bills they see in this quarter of the year.

While rates do differ between regions, and with waves of supply and demand, gas appliances generally cost less to run than electricity-powered appliances. For Brisbane homeowners in both rural and urban areas who are building, renovating, replacing old appliances, or those just looking for ways to reduce their electricity consumption over winter, installing gas appliances could be the right option.

LPG for cooking

One of the best ways to warm your home over winter is with hearty winter recipes. There’s nothing as comforting as fresh winter veggies when they’re cooked into soups, casseroles or slow roasted in the oven, especially if you’ve grown them in your own backyard and they’re full of rich flavour and vibrant colour. But if your old oven or cooktop has seen better days, it can be quite a headache to get your meals cooked, and you could save a lot of time and electricity by upgrading to a gas appliance.

It’s not hard to see where the expression ‘cooking with gas’ came from. Cooking enthusiasts, like professional chefs, always prefer gas cooktops because they give instant, effective heat, which is important where their creations rely on precise temperature control.

Gas cooktops can also do things that electric cooktops simply can’t—like flambéing, charring and toasting. If your house is full of foodies, installing gas stoves and ovens could warm your home with festive winter recipes.

But for many Brisbane residents, warming the inside of the house isn’t the only concern: one of greatest charms of Queensland’s lifestyle is that outdoor dining and entertaining doesn’t have to stop over the cold months.

LPG for heating

LPG is a good solution for heating in many homes, whether it’s used to generate radiant or convection heat. One of the most energy efficient and healthy ways to warm your home this winter is with a gas fireplace.

Gas fireplaces generate good amounts of heat, and fast: you turn them on, and enjoy instant relief from the cold, without the work of building a fire from real timber. And while real wood-burning fireplaces have their own benefits and appeal, gas fireplaces are often a safer, healthier alternative. There are no emissions to breathe in, so they result in a better indoor air quality: you can still enjoy the welcoming, warming ambience of a fireplace without the smoke of a real fire. There’s also no ash or soot to clean up because they’re clean burning, and they’re safer because you can turn them off instantly without waiting for the flames to die down naturally. With a range of built-in and portable options, a gas fireplace could be the best decision you make to warm your home this winter.

But LPG’s heating power isn’t just used in gas fireplaces. LPG can be used in gas heaters, too. Most options are portable and have strong, fast heating power. To further save energy, you can draw your curtains to keep the rooms heat in, install draught excluders and close off rooms, not in use.

LPG for hot water

Not many people know that heating water accounts for around 25% of a home’s overall energy costs—and it’s only natural that in winter that we spend longer in the shower, using hotter water.

LPG hot water systems, whether they’re storage heaters or continuous flow systems are reliable and efficient. Tankless systems save on energy because they only heat the water as it passes through the system, giving you hot water on demand. When you use LPG, you’re also reducing your carbon footprint, with up to 75% less greenhouse gas emissions than electric systems.

There are some other surprising benefits to choosing LPG water systems, too: they’re less bulky and take up less space than regular systems, and can last up to 20 years. If your family members are finding themselves being left cold and soapy when they’re last in line for the shower, now could be the right time for you to make the switch to an LPG hot water system.

LPG for greenhouses

LPG is a versatile source of warmth during winter, both inside and outside Brisbane homes. If you’re like many other rural and suburban gardening enthusiasts, you might be looking for ways to keep your plants protected during the cold months.

LPG can be used to warm greenhouses, improving plant growth and protecting vulnerable species from cold damage. Blower heaters can be used to fight off the frost in backyard greenhouses, helping you to maintain the health of your adult plants. It can also be used to enrich the greenhouse atmosphere with the CO2 that growing plants need to thrive. 

As an accredited ELGAS distributor for Samford and surrounding areas, Gleam O’Dawn offers prompt, same-day deliveries of household LPG cylinders. Contact us anytime to find out more about using LPG, and we’ll be happy to help warm your home this winter.

Ticks are common along the east coast of Australia, and Brisbane’s warm climate is especially attractive to them. There’s still a few months of heat left before the seasons turn, which means it’s still important to think about protecting your pets from these nasty little critters.

Most pet owners know about paralysis ticks because of how dangerous they are. And if you’re living in the more rural parts of Brisbane and Queensland, you should always keep them in mind, because they’re common in the area. But paralysis ticks aren’t the only ones to worry about: there are actually about 75 types of ticks that live in the area, which are also known to cause sick pets and big vet bills.

It can be really scary to find a tick on your pet. And it’s definitely important to make the right decisions when you do find one, because if they’re left untreated, your pet can become very ill. But before you start to worry too much, there are a few things you can keep in mind that will help you choose the right treatment if it happens, and a few ways to reduce the chances of ticks getting stuck into your pet in the first place.

Checking your pet for ticks

Identifying ticks

If you find or suspect a paralysis tick on your animal, act fast: take them to the vet straight away, because the earlier they have treatment, the more likely it is that they’ll be no worse for the wear in the long run.

Treating your pet for ticks

At Gleam O’Dawn, we stock a range of preventative tick products perfectly suited to Brisbane pets. We carry collars from Preventic, Kiltix and Ceresto which are known to provide good protection against paralysis ticks, as well topical spot on treatment from Frontline and chewable tablets from Bravecto and Nexgard.

Despite having a naturally large appetite, some horses can be surprisingly fussy when it comes to their feed. They may even snub the offering if it’s not to their taste, which is why it’s important to choose the right type for the animal—both their health and their temperament depend on it.

One of the more reliable types of hay is Lucerne, or alfalfa, hay. While Lucerne is often the subject of mixed options, it has a good nutrient profile—offering more protein and energy than grass or cereal hays and chaffs, with high concentrations of micro and macro minerals including calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A and E. While you do need to consider some factors in choosing Lucerne hay, it’s proven to be a suitable forage for many types of horses, particularly for performance horses.

As with other types of hay, not all Lucerne hay is the same. You should always inspect your hay before you buy it, and colour is an important indicator of whether or not it’s safe to buy. But there are, luckily, a few other simple ways to determine whether the quality is up to scratch—and whether it will appeal to the fussiest of your horses.

Colour

Although it’s not all about the colour, colour is important in determining Lucerne hay quality and nutritive value. It also reveals a lot about how the hay was made, and how it was handled and treated throughout the process.

The most desirable colour for Lucerne hay, as with most hay, is bright green. It indicates that the forage is free of mould and disease, and a good source of nutrients. If Lucerne hay is yellow, it may have been cut too late, or it might have been leached of nutrients after being exposed to rain during curing. Yellowing could also indicate that the hay has been sun-bleached, usually with exposure to direct sunlight from poor storage solutions. Although yellowing marginally decreases the palatability and nutritional value of Lucerne, it often only affects the outside of the bale, and the middle is often unaffected.

Texture

Some Lucerne varieties have a coarser stalk than many other hays. Don’t let this put you off: many horses actually prefer it.

Aroma

Harvest

Summer Lucerne hay is heavier and more tightly compressed than bales made in winter time. There are both winter-active and winter-dormant varieties of Lucerne, and the different requirements for cutting, conditioning and baling—as well as weather patterns—can impact on the quality of the hay.

There’s always a compromise between protein content and yield in cutting Lucerne. High-quality Lucerne hay with a high protein content is usually the result of frequent, short-interval cutting, so favour this process where you can. Where the Lucerne is cut in longer intervals, it’s often stemmy with low nutritional levels.

Dryness

It’s important to check the moisture levels in Lucerne hay before you buy it. This is because moisture content is the primary determinant in whether the hay has been cured properly or not.

Seller

Perhaps the most important part of choosing high-quality Lucerne hay is in the seller. The seller should be experienced and reputable, and offer refunds and replacements if the hay isn’t suitable for consumption by your horses. They should have the expertise to reject supplies of Lucerne that show the presence of weeds, evidence of weather damage and nutrient leaching, or improper curing, baling, and storage.

Lucerne hay and chaff are nutritious feeds for horses, and they’re most often palatable, and economical as well; but it’s important to remember that some horses will need extra supplements, depending on their age, breed, or health issues. Always ask a reputable seller for advice before buying your Lucerne:

At Gleam O’Dawn, our sales staff are always happy to share their expertise to ensure your animals are getting the best feeds available.

Reminder that the Aussie Backyard Bird Count starts next week(17-23 October 2016). You will not only get to know your feathered neighbours, but also contribute vital information to help see how Australian birds are faring. All you need to do is record the number of birds you see, download the app or submit your count online.

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Growing figs trees in Australia is rewarding due to their plump and juicy offerings and minimal ‘fuss’ care requirements. The ornamental tree compliments planting in traditional gardens, as well as large containers. To grow care free productive fig trees, follow these steps:
Growing Fabulous Figs

Growing Fruit Trees in pots is easy