Christmas Is Coming!
Another month has slid by and we are starting the run towards Christmas, a sure sign being the Pageant happening this Saturday. Not sure where the year goes!
Typical spring weather pattern
We’re still in a pretty typical spring weather pattern, seeing some warmer days interspersed with a few cooler showery ones and often accompanied by some strong winds. What this means is that we now need to be very mindful of our garden's requirements. I know that I’ve been giving my garden a good drink lately, especially my fruit trees, as the light showers don’t penetrate the soil deeply enough to be beneficial. As fruiting trees are trying to develop and grow their fruit at the moment you need to make sure that they get adequate water otherwise the fruit will end up being undersized and tasteless, a mature citrus, for example, would be looking for around 100 litres per week.
Paying attention...
Paying attention to your plant's leaves is a great way to see when watering is needed, they will lose their vibrant green colour and go limp when they are getting dry. Your lawn will be the same, the leaf colour changes and when you walk on the grass the leaves don’t spring back upright when you’ve moved. Water lawns deeply ( min 25ml application ) weekly to keep them looking good and if you haven’t fed your lawn... definitely get onto that now. Lawn beetle can start to become a problem now and if your lawn develops irregular dead patches and birds are actively feeding on your lawn after watering these are two signals that you may have this problem. There are granules and liquid preparations that can be used to control beetles, both are simple to use, but one of the best defences is to keep your lawn healthy and growing strongly. Don’t mow too short either now, raise the height of the blades a notch or two to keep a bit more length in the lawn, not only does this help to reduce weeds but it provides shade to the root system as well helping to save water.
Black spot and mildew on roses in particular are still quite rampant at the moment. They are quite easy to control with one of the “rose” sprays, available either ready mixed or in concentrate form. Aphids are around in good numbers too on some plants and these can be controlled in a number of different ways. Simply hose them off with water, spray with something like Pyrethrum or Eco Oil or you can wait for the Lady Birds and other natural predators to arrive and clean them up for you.
Perfect time to visit one of our garden centres!
This is a great time in garden centres, an absolute riot of flower colours and shapes to brighten any spot in your garden. Daisies, Kangaroo Paw, Osteospermum (African Daisies) and a host of other plants are in full bloom just begging to find a home in someone’s garden. With so much to choose from it may be a little daunting trying to work out what to get but that’s where our garden staff come into play. We’re here to give you advice with all your gardening projects and answer your questions regarding all things garden.
One of the all-time classic garden plants is the beautiful Hydrangea and they are now in stores in a range of sizes and colours. Very suitable for growing in pots as well as in the ground all you need is a position facing south or easterly where they may get some early morning sun but are protected from hot sun and wind. Keep the water up to them as they like a drink and feed regularly. Even when the flowers are past their best they still look showy and can be left on the plant for ages. They make a wonderful gift too, much cheaper and long-lasting than a bunch of flowers!
There's still time for those summer veggies
If you haven’t got all your summer veggies in don’t despair, there is still plenty of time. All the heat lovers; tomatoes, capsicum, chilli and cucumbers etc. can go in the ground or pots now. All the vegetables I mentioned need warm soil temperatures to do well, 16 degrees and above, so with that in mind, you can still be harvesting fresh home-grown veggies in no time if you start now. The biggest problem is choosing what to grow!
If you are wanting to grow flowers to provide colour for Christmas you need to look at that now too, most seedlings eg. Petunias will need 6-8 weeks to be well grown and in full flower. Once planted feed them fortnightly with a liquid fertilizer like Powerfeed to keep them growing and producing blooms.
As always when the weather warms up we ask you to top up the mulch in your gardens. This is the single best way to preserve moisture in the soil while helping to suppress weeds at the same time. Applications of Seaweed-based products will help plants cope with heat stress, this can be applied through the soil or as a foliar spray, and using “wetting” agents is always a good idea. I always treat my entire garden at this time of the year especially pots and hanging baskets.
Final notes
Finally, another recurring reminder, be sun smart! Over the weekend it wasn’t particularly hot but the sun still had quite a bite, so cover up, use sunscreen and drink plenty of fluids. Above all, get out into the garden and make the most of this wonderful time of year.
Shop Some Of The Monthly Offers
Ask one of our knowledgeable garden staff members for advice if you have any questions regarding anything having to do with your garden, indoors or out. We would be pleased to lead you on the correct path. Call us on 1300 165 165 or visit your local store.