The year is flying by … officially winter finishes at the end of August, but it seems this year we’ve missed out on our normal winter and we’ve gone straight into an early spring. This means you will need to start some jobs a little early than normal … like pest control in the garden and lawn mowing.
But there are some August jobs that still need your attention … like these below.
• It’s a good time to fertilise and
prune hibiscus so they develop
a bushy habit and produce lots
of flowers in summer.
• If you have a veggie garden,
don’t forget to water it once
or twice a week, the drier winter
winds will drain the moisture
from the soil.
• If you’re growing pineapples,
give them a side dressing of
complete fertiliser in late
August. They like acid soils, so
avoid using lime or dolomite.
• Spray the flowers of your mango
tree with a copper based spray
to fight anthracnose disease.
• Plant your new roses now.
Bagged and bare-rooted roses
are in plentiful supply.
• Fertilise your existing rose
bushes by mulching around
them with cow manure.
• Keep your strawberries fruiting
with a fortnightly feed of fish
and seaweed solutions.
• Divide your Michaelmas daisies
and rudbeckias in August.
Replant and fertilise with a
seaweed and fish emulsion.
• Apply a light application of a
lawn fertiliser to give your lawns
a small boost into spring.
• Start to lower your mower
blade height, as the lengthening
days allow the plants to get more
sunlight – so they don’t need as
much leaf area.
• Established passionfruit vines
should be fertilised in early
spring, use up to 1 kg of blood
and bone with 100g of sulphate
of potash added, spread onto
moist soil and mulch well.
• Make sure fruit fly traps are in
place in August.
• This is a good time to clean
out a water garden. Divide
waterlilies every year if they are
in a container, every 3 years
if they are on the bottom of the
pond. Re-pot into fresh, slightly
clay soil with either pulverised
cow manure or a slow-release
fertiliser added. Binding the
fertiliser into solid clay balls
helps to stop it floating away
from the roots. Top with a thick
layer of sand or clean gravel to
stop the water becoming murky.
